The Loft At 132

The set up was perfect, rooftop was beautiful, and the staff were so fun!

We cannot offer anything but praises for Michelle, Bill, and Rachel at the Loft at 132. We immediately fell in love with the open space, the light/airy atmosphere, and the phenomenal rooftop at the initial tour. We also had an immediate sense from first seeing the venue and meeting Michelle that she and Rachel cared about us, our vision, and doing everything in their power to accommodate our dream wedding. Communication throughout the whole process was great. We felt that we were able to talk/ask questions whenever. When it came to the day of, Rachel was an absolute blessing in coordinating rehearsal/wedding day, especially with the last minute switch to an inside ceremony because of the lovely Wisconsin April snow :) We so appreciate the professionalism, dependability, and positivity that everyone at the Loft offered us. We plan to come back again for drinks on the rooftop. We cannot recommend Michelle and her beautiful space enough to anyone!

Things I wish I knew to look for when exploring venues: *You will need a day-of coordinator here because you are unable to get into the venue until noon which required us to have a later wedding and less prep time. We had phenomenal vendors who all played a huge part in the success of the day. *There is a $5k bar minimum but you will spend closer to ~$10k if you have rail liquor included at all. *Communication is delayed with the owner via e-mail. *You are able to leave decor/belongings in the bridal suite the night before the wedding. If we had known that, we would’ve saved some of our vendors time the next day. *The photos from our day are stunning and the venue itself is incredible as it feels like 2-in-1. The bar stopped serving our guests 90 minutes early during the reception because of a “wet floor” and this is when things began to escalate. There was no warning given to our us or our guests and when my mother offered to mop it up, Bill mimicked her. Instead of cleaning up the floor, they instead stopped serving every single person in attendance. If the management felt the dance floor was too wet, they should have stopped the music, mopped the floor, and asked guests to no longer bring drinks on the floor. Our guests would have cooperated and the venue would have sold another 90 minutes of drinks (that we were contracted for and we still paid for). Bill called our guests “animals” and “savages” which multiple guests told us the following day. Additionally, Bill told my husband to his face that our friends/family were “an animal show”. The owner chose to decline that in the comments of other reviews. If certain people were out of line, we believe they should’ve addressed them individually and/or confronted us. My husband was trying to defuse the situation and stop Bill from arguing with our guests from behind the bar, but he continued to engage with them. I believe both parties are wrong for arguing about the bar closing, however the unprofessionalism of the owner to continue to engage with guests stirred the pot further. We chose to have our last dance and leave early since ALL of our guests were unable to be served. Our vendors assisted us with this, but confirmed they had never come across such a bizarre situation before. We were unaware that someone dropped a chair off the roof (which we agree is completely unacceptable), however that guest was not asked to leave and we were not notified. This also had nothing to do with the bar being closed down which is portrayed to be one of the reasons it was in the comments. They were unaware of this occurrence until the following morning. I know another couple who got married here in 2022 as well and their bar service was also shut down early and they were charged $1500 to clean the “wet floor”. We paid our full bar bill even after asking them to update it based on guest count and the 1.5 hours that were not fulfilled, however they did not. We’re extremely disappointed with how our evening ended and would not recommend this venue to anyone (especially if there’s any chance your guests may spill as they dance). If you do choose this venue, review what happens if the floor does get wet in advance. We strongly support women-owned businesses and believe this situation has nothing to do with that.

As a former event planner, attendee of *one of the* early shut down weddings, and as someone who is planning a wedding myself, I 100% would NOT recommend this venue to anyone who wants their guests to have a fun time and enjoy themselves. To start, looking at any and all reviews that include ANY negative feedback, the venue's responses are childish, defensive, and condescending. Even if I had not attended one of the TWO *confirmed* weddings that were shut down early, I would not consider this venue simply based on the retaliation that is visible throughout these reviews. The wedding that I attended was cut short due to what the owners thought were overly intoxicated guests and a wet dance floor. This can happen at a wedding, sure, but the issue here is that no concerns/warnings were ever given to the bride, groom, day-of coordinator, or anyone else who was in attendance for the matter. The owners simply showed up, cut off the bar, and started berating guests. As a former event planner and restaurant manager, I know when things get out of hand, when you need to excuse a guest, or when you need to pause - clean something up - and continue the evening. Majority of venues are capable of handling these scenarios with a proper warning, grace, and professionalism that keeps the event running smoothly without causing a scene - considering this is their livelihood after all. The owners here did not handle themselves professionally and every guest I spoke to felt awful for the bar staff who deserved another hour+ of tips. As someone who is planning a wedding myself, I have asked 5+ venues in the area how they handle intoxicated guests or a wet dance floor and they were completely all astounded at the way this venue handled themselves that evening. A venue is built to handle wedding crowds that are there to ENJOY themselves and have a memorable evening - not be harassed by the owners and have their venue cut short. The one star, negative review, and warning to people honestly comes down to the fact that you own a venue to host events - large events that people enjoy themselves at and where alcohol is present --- if something goes wrong and you feel like you need to intervene, you do so in a way that does not disrupt the evening, or potentially ruin a once in a lifetime day for people. These owners obviously do not understand that.