Madison Museum of Contemporary Art

communications with their coordinator were positive. After a couple months from booking we reached out with a couple questions to no response. Our question was related to guest capacity because our contract said 175 limit, but our caterer was shocked to hear that and said they'd never done a group that large in the space, which really made us nervous as we invited 170 (157 came and it was tight). We followed up and were told that person left the position and we would be contacted by a new individual closer to the wedding. We didn't have a POC for many months in between booking and our wedding, but were hopeful that once the new staff came in that it would be okay. Unfortunately, the team that took over were new and seemed to have not worked in the wedding industry before. We totally understand staff turnover and tried to give them the benefit of the doubt when we had trouble getting questions answered during our walk through 2 months prior to the wedding as the new person had only worked there 2 weeks. We have been new at jobs too! However, while our interactions remained cordial, the communication was slow, uncertain, contradictory at times and we never got the sense that they were trying to make a positive experience for us, but rather that we should be lucky we are allowed to use the space. I will spare the details, but our outside wedding coordinator we hired ran into dozens of communication difficulties with the venue and had trouble accessing basic needs in the building due to lack of knowledge or training with staff. We were shielded from many of the issues, but prior to the wedding we asked for the lights to be set to dim, which they were not (fine, not a big deal), but the staff member there didn't know how to turn them down and then the system froze. Another staff member came in on his day off to fix the system, which was nice, but he rather rudely blew me off when I approached him to say thank you. Keep in mind we didn't ask him to arrive, he just showed up. We had also paid for the museum to stay open 1 hour later for our guests, which it was not. Not huge deals, the wedding was great. However, after the wedding, we received a very off-putting email with essentially a pdf report card with ~20 bullet points including minute to minute updates of the weekend. They said we would not receive our deposit back, citing us for so many normal aspects of an event such as vendors arriving 30 minutes earlier than estimated, a small vase of ours breaking on the dance floor and most notably for having food and drink in the lecture hall, which is the path to the bathroom. They said they were not going to return our security deposit because of these issues (and more). We have email confirmation of them telling us we can use the lecture hall freely even suggesting we put cocktail tables in there. I have never sent an email to a business refuting a claim like this before, but I took an hour of my honeymoon to respond to these claims with our concerns. Luckily, they apologized and returned our security deposit. Overall, we understand staff turnover, but were really disappointed with the lack of training/tools for new staff, all of the communication errors and overall lack of warmth in our interactions. We had a great day overall, but unfortunately can't recommend.

ULT to work or even communicate with. She is very pushy, fails to hide her disdain when you’re speaking to her, and makes you feel like you are a giant inconvenience, even if you aren’t asking for anything other than to use the space carefully and respectfully. We were originally told that the space upstairs that used to be the Fresco restaurant could be used by our caterer as a kitchen and bar area. When the new Events Manager took over, they stated that that was no longer the case and that we would need to pay $500 extra to use it. This was a shock, as we were only a couple weeks away, but as we were initially only given verbal confirmation we could use that space, there wasn’t much we could do about it. We brushed it off though, and decided we would work around not having that space at the last minute. At one point, she advised that we need to decide over a week in advance if we wish to use the rooftop or the indoor space, despite our contract implying that we had until the day of to determine if the weather was conducive to being outside. Later, when speaking to our DJ, she admitted to him that she only gave us that arbitrary deadline because we were “indecisive” and “wishy-washy” - we just hoped to wait to see how the weather was as we got closer to the event. In any case, gossiping about your clients seems a bit unprofessional, but we decided not to let it get under our skin. Moments like these were cropping up before the event, but it was at the event where things came to a head. The Events Manager was coming up to our wedding planner, parents and aunts as they were setting up tables and chairs and shoving them rudely while barking at them. We were well aware that they had an exhibit on display and needed for the general public to be able to get through for the first 2 hours of our event, but no matter how much space we gave them and how we crammed the tables and chairs, she would grab them forcefully and yank them out of the way while glaring like we were children. On a side note, it would probably be best if they don’t offer to host events while the museum is open to the public. We knew that was going to be happening beforehand, but they made it sound like it would be no big deal to work the space around our setup, and then it became obvious that just our presence was an issue. I think it’s perfectly fine to politely advise people on things and to tell them no when something isn’t workable, it’s the disdain she showed when she did that was so off putting. By the time the dance started, the lights which had been off for the whole dinner were turned back on, and the event staff insisted they could not be turned off again because of some issue with their lighting system. It made for three awkward dance hours, but honestly, we were just relieved that she wasn’t there any longer. Ultimately, if you do rent this space, you should know that the museum will be open for the first few hours of any event you hold, that you need to get EVERYTHING in writing, and that the Events Manager is not happy with you or anything you do. Book at your own risk. We highly do NOT recommend this venue.

was uncalled for and unwarranted.

in the big, glass-walled lobby area. The statue garden is gorgeous - it has flower gardens, a view over State Street, and two different ways you can set up your aisle. We had a cocktail hour inside the restaurant/bar area that's also on the rooftop, then downstairs for dinner and dancing. The photographer took all of her family/bride photos on the glass stairs, which are very sleek and dramatic-looking. We had a lot of fun dancing in the lobby, with disco lights inside and folks walking by and staring outside. The only downside of this lobby area is that the acoustics are a bit echoey, so you might have some trouble understanding any speeches unless you get the whole crowd to be quiet. Side note - if you're planning on doing an indoor reception here, I'd say it comfortably fits about 100 guests. We had originally planned to do a rooftop reception after flipping the rooftop ceremony area, but the weather pushed us inside, so I'm glad we had the lobby as a backup. It actually turned out perfectly! Bob was a great contact - responsive, friendly, able to meet with us and show us around. He helped us find a good catering company that knew the layout and was also fantastic. On the day of, he also was actively on-site helping, and he guided me (the bride) into position to come out to the aisle without my husband-to-be seeing me. Very awesome venue; highly recommend!