When we were originally looking for a venue, we came across West End online, and the pictures seemed nice. The draw initially was that the ceremony and reception could be held in the same building, in two separate spaces: no room flip, and no a...wkward transporting the guests from one venue to another.
The best thing about the venue is it's simple beauty. Both the downstairs and upstairs rooms are gorgeous, but can also be used as a blank slate to create your perfect vision. If you don't want to add much, the 1920s beauty will fill the room; or you can do what we did, and build your dream space.
My husband loved the logistics, and I loved the vision the space gave me. We used the downstairs room for our ceremony, decorated with lighting (candles and uplighting). The upstairs lounge area was where we held the cocktail hour, and then the ballroom was where we held the reception. Guests could enjoy a breeze on the balcony, or hang out in the cool alleyway (which is gorgeous for photos). Everyone was floored with the space, and were glad to be able to park in one place for the whole day (there is a parking lot across the street $5 all day parking).
Working with the staff (shout out to Lauren, Travis, Amber, and Erin) was great. They answered all our questions immediately, were very sweet, and helped make the day go seamlessly. Getting everything set up with other vendors coming and going was very easy and they had no problems with us bringing in a few extra decorations to set up last minute on our own.
Price-wise we were so happy. For two rooms, for ten hours, on a Monday, and booking within two weeks after visiting the venue we got some great discounts! Payment was easy, and we paid the full amount early just to get it out of the way.
Keep in mind, you buy wine through the West End or pay a fee for outside wine. For us it wasn't too much of an issue, because the price wasn't bad, and we could bring in as much beer as we wanted.
Over all, we loved it all!