Rudy's Redeye Grill

My husband and I got married here back in September 2022! I would 10/10 recommend having another event here! From the moment you arrive, until the very end of your special day, everyone makes sure you are being taken care of, details are in order, and everything goes smoothly! April was our event coordinator, she is so sweet, organized, and very professional! She helped us from the day we toured the property, to all the fine details. April gave me a little booklet with all the details, as well as a timeline for brides to stay on track. She ensured we would have everything we needed, and that her team would take care of everything that a bride worried about on their big day. She showed us around, gave us very clear estimates on what we would expect to pay. (Side note: I believe Rudy’s is a great deal compared to other properties around White Bear Lake.) They have the hotel attached, which guests loved being able to just walk to their room after the night was over. The restaurant/bar attached so even when the wedding was over, guests could go into the bar area and continue the night if they chose to! April listened to everything I wanted for our special day. She was able to accommodate guests with food allergies & put their minds at ease. She was there for the whole process, and came in day of, to make sure everything was in order and executed perfectly! Planning a wedding can be really stressful, but with her & her teams help, they put my mind at ease that everything was going to be perfect. The owner, Bill, was such a delight to see as well. You can tell that each person that works here truly cares about you, wants the best for you and your event, and loves what they do! The food was amazing. We had the Rudy’s Grand Buffet. Their chef can cook!! Everything was hot, well prepared, and even had a nacho bar toward the end of the night. All of our guests raved about the food! Their chicken was my favorite, along with the butternut squash. Yum! The bartenders were so kind & sweet. You could tell they were having a good time being there too! From start to finish, we loved having our wedding here! We would recommend Rudy’s to everyone to have their wedding! I think they also do small gatherings, work parties, birthdays, etc. Check them out!!

I started off my wedding planning with the hopes of finding a venue that would accommodate all of my needs (hotel accommodations, food and drink and cake service on site, etc) basically, looking for a one-stop shop for it all! I worked with April, who is the event coordinator for Rudy's Redeye Grill events. We began our planning in Dec 2022, we set our date on 12/31/23 (the following year), & the deposit to put down for a buffet style dinner for roughly 120 guests was about $500 - reasonable & affordable! When telling April of our plans for our date as well as expressing to her that we may have to wait until we get the deposit in, she had mentioned how they normally don't have any plans that goes on NYE & that if we had to wait a few weeks to a month to put down the $500 deposit, we would be fine. Two months pass, & we are ready to make the deposit for 12/31/23, April tells me how they "had such a great turn out for their NYE kids bash" that they had for 2022, & because of that, scheduled it again for 12/31/23 & therefore could not accommodate our wedding. When I was told I had to re-schedule our wedding date, I was pretty upset, but figured since I was working with a limited budget, that I would stick with this venue and just change my date to 10/21/23. Few weeks after that debacle, (mind you, this is in mid-Feb now) we set up an in-person meeting to go over menu, plans, etc. The space was cute & quaint, which was nice, and the food options looked great! Then it came time to ask about hotel accommodations, because a majority of our guests will be coming from out of town & would need at least 40 rooms at minimum; I tell April this & looks at me with all seriousness saying I should have already done this, and because I haven't, to make sure I set up that room block request ASAP. So, after my meeting with her, I go to the front desk for the Best Western Inn that is attached to Rudy's Redeye Grill, & they inform me that for the weekend that I am getting married, there are only 9 rooms available for a room block.....yet I was told initially back in Dec 2022 that I could reserve up to 25 rooms at a time, & that they would be able to accommodate. So to find out that was a lie, & that they could only accommodate 9 of our guests, I was even more upset. NOT ONLY THAT, but I also requested to have use of their bridal suite that they have (to use on 10/21/23) since I am having both my ceremony and reception at this venue...well, come to find out, they already reserved that room to another bride WHO WASNT EVEN HAVING HER WEDDING/RECEP. AT THAT LOCATION! So, despite the fact that I had my whole wedding scheduled there for that date, I still did not get priority of the bridal suite, which you would think that I would! Once I heard that, it was as if one RED flag after another kept popping up: having to change my wedding date because they failed to communicate to me of their plans, even though they were well aware of my plans to schedule a wedding on NYE 2023, not having the room accommodations like I was initially quoted when I contacted in Dec 2022, AND the fact I had no use/access to their bridal suite, even though I had both of my events scheduled at this place, all because they gave it to a bride who was having both her ceremony & reception elsewhere- I told them I wanted my money back and said I will be scheduling my wedding elsewhere. Thankfully, they refunded me, but still didn't make up for their ill-preparedness and lack of communication.

We had approximately 120 guests at our wedding reception, and we were extremely happy that we chose to have our reception at Rudy's Redeye Grill! Our guests loved the food and drinks, the staff were very helpful and friendly, and there was plenty of room for walking around tables and visiting! There were options for seating inside the reception area and poolside, both of which our guests utilized. Dance floor was also perfect for the size reception we had! Plenty of quality food options for meat eaters as well as vegetarians and kids! Thank you to Rudy's Redeye for a great night!

Overall this was a great location for our wedding. Jazmin was our coordinator and was incredibly helpful during the entire planning/ implementation of the plan. She came on the day of to make sure everything was in perfect order.