Three Rivers Parks - Silverwood, Elm Creek, Gale Woods

nearby. Mary, the coordinator, was very detail oriented and responsive, and the park itself is a gorgeous nature retreat just outside Minneapolis. The venue is largely a blank slate, they include the space & tables/chairs but don't offer any other services or assistance in setting up ceremony layouts that deviate from the reception setup, but we knew that going in and it was still a wonderful choice for us. The Great Hall is part of a larger building with a cafe that's open to the public during the day/early evening. We loved that Silverwood was reasonably priced and the $ we paid for our venue went towards Three Rivers Parks District, with the goal of supporting green spaces & nature education in MN. We 100% recommend to couples who are looking for a nature vibe in the city and who are ok with more of a "blank slate" venue.

re many scenic areas to take photos. The venue is affordable, and given its capacity - you could pay 2 or 3 times more at a private venue for a similar size and quality space. Mary made the planning process easy - she is incredibly down-to-earth and easy to work with. Since it is a Three Rivers venue, there are some strict rules to using it, so read them carefully and know that they are enforced. One other minor "con" is the bridal dressing room is basically a closet and it's right by where the guests enter, so as guests arrived, I had to "hide" in that room before walking down the aisle. All of that aside, I'd highly recommend Silverwood Park for other weddings due to the gorgeous venue, great value and ease of coordination.

We had about 165 guests, and this venue was the perfect spot, we weren't crowded, but it wasn't so big that it looked like we had no one there. The only decorations we did were centerpieces for our tables because the venue itself is beautiful enough to not need any decorations!

had many comments from our guests about how peaceful the setting was. It was the perfect place for our wedding!

ut the space alone is beautiful. Mary was stoking the fire during dinner and our MN, single degree temp night still had me and guests out there roasting marshmallows. #onlyinmn! The parking lot, the round about parking drop, the great hall, the windows lining the lake, the price!? All perfect. I wanted to find a venue that supported a NYE night without paying an arm and a leg. Mary provided a list of vendors who’ve had experience at Silverwood before for catering, transportation, photography, etc. While I didn’t use every suggested vendor, I didn’t realize how great it was to have a vendor have familiarity with the wedding venue! The caterer was a HUGE decision and narrowing it down to the list of zero waste, approved catering vendors to start with was, in hindsight, very helpful. Mary was the main point of contact we worked with. She was quick, thorough, knowledgeable, and I felt completely safe sharing ideas, asking questions, vocalizing needs (like being the point person for the late night pizza delivery) and trusting her to follow through. Absolutely loved have our wedding at Silverwood; the one stop shop for our ceremony, venue, S’more roasting and dance party site that wowed our guests at a very affordable price!

es.

edding due to Covid and they were super flexible and on top of communications. During the replanning process they were exceptional to work with. They worked with us and were consistently helpful, professional, and accommodating. The only complaint I have was that the person who was assigned to us as the day-of site coordinator was quite rude. The only complaints I received from helpers about our wedding were related to how she treated the. That said, our primary contact person through planning was exceptional, and so is the venue itself, so 5 stars it is.

Gale Woods Farm was super friendly and easy to work with during the planning process. She was responsive to emails as I needed information for different vendors that would be onsite on the wedding day. It is a great site to have a wedding with the farm animals, amazing ceremony background, space, and clean facilities! We are very happy we chose this venue for our big day. Our pictures look great with all the natural grasses and trees. I would highly recommend this venue!!

and simply pushed the tables closer to fill in the gap for the reception. This was not difficult, and the set up ended up being quite lovely for both halves of the day. We got married in early March on a negative 10 degree day with much snow on the ground, but the wedding ceremony and reception inside of Silverwood's wooden banquet hall, with beautiful windows overlooking the lake and the snowy woods, was cozy and stunning. (Make sure your photographer knows how to handle pictures in this bright window setting.) So the day of the wedding was cold, but lovely. Silverwood does limit decoration options (nothing too messy, or nothing that hangs up on the walls is allowed; also note that you're not able to get in to decorate until 10:00am the day of anyways), but the hall truly didn't need much to be special. The preparation process was mostly fine, but we did have a few minor points of frustration along the way. For one, planning a rehearsal time was difficult. Since the place is often booked out or in use, their options were very limited apart from normal working hours, and you are unable to set a rehearsal time anyways until the month before, per their protocol. You may have to consider having your wedding rehearsal off site, at least if your ceremony is in the Hall. I am not sure how this would be different if your ceremony is in the outdoor amphitheater. Secondly, food vendors. Silverwood has a list of approved vendors that you must have your catering from, but it does give several options that vary reasonably in taste and price. We went with Divine Swine and were very happy with them. However, we were hoping to have appetizers served by a local ministry/ catering company (Divine Swine was okay with this proposition), and we were disappointed that Silverwood made no allowances for this. You are able to carry in desserts from vendors outside of their approved list, and we made the most of this. Also, we ordered coffee from Silverwood's cafe (we wanted quality coffee that was sustainably sourced) and Divine Swine served it up for us. This was a great way to go! We received many compliments on the coffee, so props to the park's cafe for hooking us up! Thirdly, sound quality. If you want to really dance, you'll want to either hire a DJ or rent your own sound system. We were going cheap, so we simply used their AV system and an iPod. This was fine for our intents and purposes, but don't expect any bass from going this route. As far as music goes, they do have an upright piano to use as well. It does play beautifully-- pianist approved! If you have a guitarist, they will will need to bring their own amp. Silverwood's AV system cannot handle this well. Any high (eg. soprano voices) or low pitches (bass) will clip on their speakers. Overall, Silverwood was a great choice for us. It was very affordable, and their rules were generally reasonable. We appreciated their rules that were mindful of the environment. Our thanks to Mary for her organization and prompt communication.

he natural beauty of the park cannot be beat. Highly recommend!

the preferred vendors list, especially the caterers list. The wedding fair they host was fun as well. I love that my husband and I now have a romantic date spot to visit whenever we want to reminisce about our wonderful wedding!

ireplace burning all night, and there is a lake within view of the patio, and many mature trees - the majority of which are Oaks. The indoor space is mostly wood, with tons of windows, a large projector, and beautiful lighting - so pretty that you hardly need decorations. There are so many great places for photos all over the park - too many to choose from - and the event staff were great.We highly recommend Silverwood Park! ~Emily & Quinn

atio seating outside). The staff was super accommodating and attentive. And the grounds are a beautiful location to take pictures. Will we did not get married at Silverwood, it would be a beautiful place to have both the ceremony and reception. Highly recommend.

itself was beautiful and required hardly any decoration, while the surrounding park grounds gave the venue an “outdoorsy” feel. The patio that adjoins the Great Hall offers guests plenty of space to socialize outside and enjoy the beautiful park, and the stone fireplace gives the patio a warm cozy feeling. We had a s’mores bar outside next to the fireplace, which was huge hit with our guests! We had about 160 guests at our wedding, which seemed to be just the right amount for this venue. The only challenge with Silverwood is that it is a zero waste facility, so caterers must be chosen from their approved caterer list. In addition, most caterers will charge at extra “Silverwood fee” on top of the usual gratuity fees since the facility is zero waste. The staff at Silverwood were all very helpful and friendly, and they answered emails promptly. Lastly, the park offers so many great places to take outdoor wedding photos - this is one of the main reasons why we chose Silverwood and our photos turned out beautifully. All in all, I would definitely recommend Silverwood Park for anyone who is looking for a woodsy feeling venue in the Metro area.

eautiful facility!! They were easy to communicate with and work with for our wedding day. The park is beautiful for photos, and the hall itself is lovely with large windows and a vaulted ceiling. There was never a point in the planning process when I wished I had gone with a different vendor.

ng. It takes a crew to get things going. The fireplace was amazing with our winter wedding with 0 degree weather. You will not be disappointed with Silverwood, it has it all green space, beautiful decor and friendly staff.

l worth it because they are public parks. The best part is all the parks are beautiful. Our wedding was at Silverwood Park and I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful great hall and park grounds.

ly that kept everyone cool enough through our short ceremony. The one complaint we have about that area is that we weren’t initially told the timing of the nearby pool safety breaks and apparently anything they announce with the megaphone is heard pretty loudly throughout parts of the park. We ended up bumping up our ceremony time by 30 minutes so that we could avoid this interruption. We had our reception at the Elm Creek Chalet. It was beautiful, and it accommodated everyone well. Our one regret is that we didn’t hire someone for set up and tear down. They have a long cleanup checklist at the end of the night and it would have been easier and less stress on guests to hire out.

ey have a huge list of caterers to select from which provides a lot of choices for couples!

e married there. The one small thing I would change is I wish there had been more of a getting ready room for the bridal party (we had to get ready off site because the getting ready room at silverwood is a closet) but this is a small thing, otherwise it was perfect and the preferred vendors that work with Silverwood were all amazing1 No issues, the day went very smoothly and the staff were very helpful when responding to a small rain delay! It was a great day, highly recommend!

s. They were very responsive to answering our questions through e-mail and provided helpful documents such as a month-by-month wedding planning checklist and floor layout ideas. The staff was also happy to meet as the day approached to go over the logistics and test the sound and slideshow. We had a jazz band play for the first half of the dance, and then switched to our own playlist for the remainder of the dance. There was an issue with the sound system when we first tested it the week prior, but the staff was able to fix the issue and everything worked great. Silverwood also has a zero-waste policy, which was important to us since my husband and I are both in the environmental field. It isn't difficult to comply to, and all of their approved caterers are aware of the policy (our caterer was Mintahoe). We also had a designated clean-up crew at the end of the night to help clean up any spills and load everything up. It was fairly light cleaning since all the table cloths kept the tables clean and we didn't have any major messes. Initially I thought the 11:00 PM last dance policy seemed early, but we were exhausted by that time and were happy to start wrapping up! We had about 180 guests and did not rent out the extra classroom space. The coat room was a bonus since everyone had bulky jackets in December. We had 21 round tables, a large harvest-style head table, and plenty of room for a large dance floor area. We also used the outdoor fireplace for roasting s'mores, which was a big hit! The room itself was stunning with the large bank of windows and chandelier lighting. We received so many compliments about this venue. We would highly recommend Silverwood if you're still looking for a venue!

lks around the venue and reminiscing about our wedding!

clear off the patio. We had our wedding ceremony on the patio, overlooking the lake and the reception in the great hall. We were responsible for hiring caterer, bar, decorator and photo booth. Required a lot of little detailed work which family helped with as the venue doesn't offer a wedding planner. Got a lot of compliments from guests as we had the wedding dance in the great hall and had a bonfire on the patio after the reception for smores and quieter socializing time. Even though it was a lot of work, I'd definitely choose this place again!

own and does not require a lot of decorations. With the fireplace and some bistro lights--it looked perfect! We got married on the patio and had our reception inside the Great Hall. The staff (Alyssa and Rosemary) were great to work with--very organized and very friendly. The whole room was set up when we arrived in the morning to decorate. They have great adjustable lighting and a built in sound system. The staff were onsight to keep things running smoothly during the event. It was great. We loved spending our money supporting a great local park. Three Rivers also has a great selection of preferred vendors. (We worked with We Cater to You, Deckci/Cici Decor and Ask for the Moon Events.) Some things to note: You do need to have the venue cleaned up by midnight, so plan to end your wedding a little earlier. You cannot serve liquor (wine and beer are fine). There are other rules associated with it being a green venue. Check over the restrictions before you book to make sure it's right for you. I will say that NONE of these things turned out to be an issue for us. (We spent the money we saved on liquor buying craft beer kegs--awesome.)

The staff was friendly and helpful. My only complaint was that the great hall was extremely hot the night of our wedding and they had no way of controlling the temp of the A/C. Overall thank you for the great experience!

uld not be happier with our choice.

by not responding to e-mails or voice mails promptly (if at all). This led to a lot of confusion surrounding our rehearsal and on-site grooms dinner (we never got confirmation of the room set up we discussed, then when we got there it was wrong) and on our wedding day (the floor plan was never updated even though we submitted a written request via e-mail well before the deadline). These both could have been avoided by the coordinator simply responding to emails or voicemails. The Great: Our day of hosts were amazing. They helped us rearrange the floor plan the morning of the wedding and helped us clean up at the end of the night. They were both very friendly and helpful the entire night. Silverwood itself is absolutely beautiful and is a great place for a wedding. We would recommend it to anyone looking for a unique venue near the cities....just make sure to be extremely persistent when reaching out to the program coordinator.

ge!

ted a venue that would get people outdoors, but that also felt elegant. Silverwood is just that! We rented the amphitheater for our ceremony and had a perfect summer day! Oak trees provided some shade and a gentle breeze was blowing through the space. We rented some chairs, but many guests opted to sit on the rocks and grass. This is the feel we were hoping for! The patio was busy all night- from our receiving line, to cocktail hour to late-night s'mores. The staff kept the fire going and this drew a variety of folks outside. We made our own trail maps to highlight some of the local wildlife and encourage people to get out and enjoy the park throughout the night. The Great Hall was set per our request to accommodate a large Harvest Table for our wedding party and significant others. We had 272 guests celebrating with us. The room seemed grand and intimate at the same time. The AV equipment was a great way for us to share our wedding video. After dinner we had a dance. The space transformed well! The Classroom space was utilized for a trail mix table, a bar, and a photo booth. This space got a lot of use during the night. We were really pleased to work with the Silverwood staff. They were timely and effective in communicating park regulations and helping us to coordinate our vendors. They offer a list of 11 caterers and a variety of options for drinks and vendors who helped us create a personal look. I would recommend Silverwood to anyone looking for a venue that plays to Minnesota's strengths!

hen deciding on a venue, Silverwood seemed like the ideal spot. Our wedding was so fun and the setting/atmosphere was pretty perfect in our book - with the large patio looking out onto the lake, comfortable space for 250 people, accommodating staff and "green" regulations. The only drawback for us was not being able to set up in the Great Hall until 10 am and taking down all decor within an hour at the end of the evening—made the day a bit more of a crunch for all our generous family + friends helping us out. Other than that, we would 100% recommend to family, friends and strangers that appreciate great, deeply cared for place like Silverwood.

was great to work with, too!

e much decorating. The park was beautiful and perfect for pictures. However, since it is a public park we had to work around another bridal party taking pictures.

what you want it to be. They have a great outoodr patio that has a fireplace that they light and keep going throughout the evening. It also holds almost 300 people so if you are looking to have a lot of people it is a great option!

a lovely place to hold a wedding. A little part of wonderful in the middle of suburbia.

11:00 which I thought was early. Great support from the staff for planning.

ge my venue if I had to do it over again. That said, there are a few things to be aware of: as we began planning we realized it wasn't necessarily as budget friendly as a park might have you assume. There were many rules regarding their green initiatives (which I commend) but it increased the price of our other vendors. Also, Silverwood charged our food vendor a fee, which was obviously applied back on our bill in the end. The only thing provided by Silverwood was the reception tables/chairs; all else had to be rented/purchased. The only other gripe is that you need to end everything by 11 (cleaned up and out by midnight) and cannot get into the facility to begin setup until 10 AM the day of.

nd pavilion are all available for rent!

/clean up, and they won't let you in to set-up any sooner than 10:00 am on wedding day. Other than that, beautiful location for a good price.

dnt think anyone would go out there but everyone did. They do have some strict rules about clean up and end time. I didnt realize we had to stop the music at 11pm, which was waaaaay to early. That's the only regret I have about choosing this place but the beauty of the park and the friendliness and helpfulness of the staff more than made up for it. This place is an absolute GEM.

the outdoor patio with fireplace, very cozy! Our guests loved the place! The only negative is that they have a very specific cleaning checklist that needs to be done and if not they do not hesitate to take money out of the deposit. You may need more than a few people to help getting the checklist done in time. Overall, GREAT PLACE!!! Looking back, would not want our reception any where else!