Villa Maria

Villa Maria was the WORST part of planning a wedding. The venue is under extreme construction and we really had to dress the place up! My husband and I spontaneously found Villa Maria back in Feb 2021. Our initial tour was with John Rupp (owner) and Eduardo (groundskeeper). Before our first tour, we had thoughts of eloping or doing a small wedding since we knew weddings today in the post-COVID world would be insane and stressful to plan. During our tour, John definitely overpromised us many amenities we did not get. This is the most frustrating part. The only reason we picked Villa Maria as our venue was because John made it sound like it would be all-inclusive for a great package price. For example, John promised us these things would be ready on our wedding day and accessible for our use: the bridal cottage, grooms suite, great hall, courtyard, lower basement, ALL the hotel suites, in house catering, and in house bar. Really... he sold us on his “go getter” personality. He owns other gorgeous properties in the MLPS area such as the University Club, 310 hotel… etc. This was great news to us since that meant we would be in contact with people who strictly worked at Villa Maria and John would get the amenities done in time (we were so wrong). We signed the contract with the (then) e-mail coordinator(?) Julia Strauve and that in itself was a nightmare. She sent over contracts, bar, and food information from John’s other property, the University Club. We had to point out many missing items in the contract. About 1-2 months later, Julia was no longer our point of contact for Villa Maria and we were reassigned to Amanda Northrup. Amanda was very sweet, timely, communicative, and eager to help couples with any questions or concerns they have with planning. Along the way, she would send out newsletters to couples getting married at Villa Maria. My husband and I looked forward to these at the time since we got to see photos of the finished bridal cottage and courtyard. About 2 months before the wedding, Amanda went radio silent and we didn’t know why until another bride told us she was fired. Our emails to events@cwcos.com went unanswered up until our wedding day. This was SO stressful. Additionally, there was no event staff or anyone at the venue to tell us what we can/can’t do. There is only the two groundskeepers: Eduardo & Marta. Eduardo & Marta were very sweet and helpful the day before and of the wedding. Honestly, they are the only GOOD interaction we had with the venue. I really hope they are getting paid double of whatever they currently are. It takes a special pair to have to deal with the indecisiveness and changes of the venue. Unfortunately, we also weren’t made aware of the fact that we would no longer have in-house catering or bar until March 2022- which is VERY late. We quickly reached out to ALL caterers and beverages in the STATE of Minnesota and 90% of them were already booked for our wedding date! This was EXTREMELY stressful and rendered us so much extra time and money just to find a caterer and bar. Additionally, we had to scramble to find a room block- thankfully we found one with Lake City’s AmericInn- but it was not the tier of hotel we wanted our guests to stay in. On another note: I was so happy the bridal cottage was completed but WOW, that house is DIRTY everywhere. The toilet looks like someone left pee in it for years, the bathroom shower stall was difficult-almost impossible to open, the floors of the ENTIRE house was so dirty, my feet were BLACK within the first hour of walking around without shoes. Make sure you bring slippers. There were dead bugs EVERYWHERE, especially in the back room where the bridal party is suppose to get ready and in the Great Hall. I think this venue has a lot of potential, but it really shouldn’t be open to weddings until they have their logistics down, less construction, and more employees ONSITE. Regardless of all of the hassle we had to deal with, we do look back on our wedding day fondly only because we had wonderful vendors, families, and friends that helped make our day beautiful and memorable. It will be interesting to come back in a few years to see if there are any updates. For now, book your wedding with caution in mind.

We had a great experience as one of the first weddings at Villa Maria! Renovations are still ongoing so a few things were a little up in the air, but Julia (our event contact) and Eduardo (the property manager) both went above and beyond to make sure everything went smoothly. Our reservation was ceremony-only in the "North Lawn" space, but we also used the Woodhaven Lodge (as a weather backup and staging area), Ursuline Hall (pre-ceremony hangout area with A/C) and were even able to take a few photos inside the main hall. Once the renovations are finished we know this is going to be an absolutely gorgeous all-in-one wedding venue!

I photographed the first wedding at Villa Maria and it was absolutely beautiful! It has a European feel to it and endless grounds to use. Such a great option for couples who are looking to have plenty of room but also a grand private space (the chandeliers are epic!). It really is a one of a kind property!

This venue is visually stunning, has many great event spaces, and a great sense of history. My sister got married here and it could not have been more beautiful. There was an amazing cocktail hour in a building adjacent to the outdoor ceremony. Their reception was cozy and elegant in the main reception hall. Great acoustics for the live band and plenty of great space to dance! The staff were incredible and so nice! Would highly recommend.