War Memorial Center

Secretly the best wedding venue on the lakefront! We were looking for a venue that was downtown, on the lakefront, with indoor and outdoor spaces, big enough to hold all 250 of our guests, parking - and in our budget. I didn't think we could find something like that, but the War Memorial Center checked every box and more! The venue has multiple spaces, and the entire center is reserved for your event! The outdoor plaza is huge and great for cocktail hour since it has the best views of the Milwaukee skyline hands down. The reception hall has been recently renovated and is modern with wood and gold accents, gold chandeliers, built in uplighting - just gorgeous. Tables and chairs are included and they do set up and take down for you! There is a separate, secure suite available to store your valuables and gifts during the wedding. Also, there is parking available for your guests if you need it (which is hard to come by downtown!). The events manager Jennifer was an absolute pleasure to work with. Her communication and attention to detail was such a comfort. I felt so at ease knowing she had everything under control as we were planning our wedding and on the day of. Everything was perfect, and I am so happy we chose the War Memorial!

Jennifer and her team at the War Memorial are incredible. Not to mention this venue is quite simply one of the best in Milwaukee. For a warm-weather wedding I don't think you can go wrong, every single one of the guests we talked to was amazed by how beautiful the venue was and all of them spoke very highly of the terrace overlooking the lake. If you're looking for your water-front wedding venue, this is it. Don't look any further.

Our wedding at the War Memorial was amazing! The space is wonderful for an outdoor ceremony and cocktail hour. The view is just incredible. The team also took care of our set-up and take-down, which took so much stress off of us and our families. And they really helped us figure out all of the details. It was an awesome day!

This venue is absolutely beautiful and will not disappoint! The backdrop to your ceremony is Lake Michigan and it is absolutely stunning. Our wedding was in August and it felt like a destination wedding. So many guests complimented us on how breathtaking the ceremony (held on Fitch Plaza) and the cocktail hour were. Being right on the lake with views of the Art Museum, the Milwaukee Skyline and the Lake ALL IN ONE PLACE is seriously the best! We loved the venue when we picked it, but it was so much more amazing the day of our wedding when everything came together. We also rented the bridal suite and were able to stare off into the lake all morning as my bridesmaids and I got ready. The bridal suite has huge windows with a lake view that also allow you to see the location of the ceremony so that you can see everything being set up, and your guests arriving. The reception hall is newly remodeled and has LED lights on the two side walls and the ceiling that can be customized to whatever color you'd like. To top it all off Joy and Jennifer are top notch. These two really know what they are doing and are excited with you and beyond helpful with the planning process all the way through execution. I would pick this venue again in a heartbeat. To make it even more special my bridesmaids and I did a yoga class the morning of the wedding in the exactly location that I'd be married a few hours later, and it was just a quick walk from our hotel, so my husband and I walked down to the War Memorial the morning after our wedding to watch the sun come up. Loved everything about it!

This was the perfect venue for us - stunning outdoor plaza overlooking Lake Michigan for the ceremony, and freshly remodeled banquet room for our reception. Jennifer was AMAZING to work with; her attention to detail and great communication made sure I wasn't stressed during our big day.

While planning for our wedding, my husband and I must have toured 10 venues throughout Milwaukee, keeping a detailed pro/con chart for each. After just a few minutes into our meeting at the War Memorial we threw aside our charts and booked their last available 2018 date. The ceremony view was incredible, prices were competitive and Jennifer (event coordinator) was amazing! We booked the venue having only seen mock-ups of the planned Memorial Hall renovations but felt like the work that was actually done to the hall far exceeded our expectations. It's been a month since our wedding and our guests are still talking about how beautiful the ceremony AND the reception hall looked. Jennifer was patient and responsive throughout the entire process. She and Joy arrived early the day of and stuck around for as long as we needed to ensure things ran as smoothly as possible. My husband and I feel like the luckiest couple to have had such a great experience with the venue and with the event team.

We toured a bunch of downtown Milwaukee wedding venues. We fell in love with the War memorial because of the view, but the price was also the most affordable of them all with no hidden costs like many other venues. Jennifer (on site wedding coordinator) was also great to work with. Always was quick to respond to emails and was able to answer any of our questions, calm any of our concerns, and was there the day of our wedding to make sure everything was going as planned. We had a mid-October wedding and planned the ceremony and cocktail hour outside. Don’t let the fear of bad weather stop you from picking the war memorial. We were scared it was going to rain and ruin the view and the reason we picked the war memorial. Sure enough, it poured that day. However, the overhang provided plenty of cover and nobody got wet. The view with the art museum in the background was still amazing and most of the guests assumed this was where the ceremonies were held regardless of the weather. We did our first look inside the war memorial on the stairs and they turned out great. The cocktail hour was moved inside the entrance/atrium area and provided plenty of space for everyone while still allowing nice city and lake views. We were worried the ballroom carpet was a little dated, but when all the tables, dance floor, decorations, and lighting was added, the ballroom looked as nice as any other venue and didn’t feel too large or too cramped. The layout provides a nice flow for Band/DJ/Guest Tables/Bar area. After the ceremony the Art museum and the city views provided great backdrops for night photos. Pick the war memorial, rain or shine you won’t regret it.

Jennifer was such a pleasure to work with! We definitely picked the War Memorial for the stunning view of the lake, but we're so pleased that she was a part of the package! It ended up raining during our ceremony and they waited to the last possible second to move it under the overhang. We loved all of our pictures and are so thankful the War Memorial was a part of our special day!

Jennifer, Robert, and the rest of the event team and staff was so great and fun to work with! I love how they always included the caterer, making everything SO much easier!This venue is priceless and captures the heart of Milwaukee so well. The views are beautiful, from the lake to city. I would pick it over and over again. Love love love!!!

Jennifer and team made our day absolutely perfect. Not only is the venue BEAUTIFUL, Jennifer is a pleasure to work with. She knew all of the information that every couple needs when planning a wedding. She had great suggestions, very organized and gave quick responses to emails. We are still getting compliments on how beautiful the venue is. We would highly recommend The War Memorial to anyone for their special day!!!

This venue is amazing! We got so much good feedback from our guests - Fitch Plaza is right on the lake and beautiful. We were able to have our ceremony and reception all outside, and it really gave us peace of mind that in case there was bad weather there is an indoor option for both ceremony and reception. And I cannot say enough good things about Jennifer - she made everything so easy and was so responsive to emails and questions. I would definitely recommend getting married here, I think it was the best decision we made for our whole wedding!

The WMC is the perfect wedding venue!! We are so happy we got married here. The breathtaking backdrop the Fitch Plaza offers were an extra special treat for every single guest who took advantage of getting new family/couple photos. Jennifer Wallner is so great at her job! She was very accommodating and helpful every step of the way. Made the process a breeze! Our Friday wedding was made less stressful by being able to set up entirely the evening before. None of my vendors had a problem getting in and set up. We highly recommend!

Book it before the date is gone! Jennifer is amazing! She was extremely easy to get a hold of and answered all of my questions. When we met for our final run through of everything she had questions for me on things I hadn’t even thought of. She helped us get everything together with the other vendors and I can not thank her enough for everything she did. Our day ran perfectly and it was because of her (& her team). Plus let's not forget the beautiful backdrops of the lake and Art Museum we had for our ceremony and family pictures. The beautiful location and fantastic staff make this the perfect spot to have any wedding!!

My husband and I used to live in downtown Milwaukee. Every time we would walk by the area, I always told him that I would like to get married at the War Memorial. The area is absolutely stunning... beautiful views with a lot of history. Since my husband is in the military, we were able to get a discount on the venue. Also, the helpfulness of Jennifer and the staff won us over. Emails were responded promptly, and as the wedding day got closer, everything came together. Jennifer was also great at calming my anxiety as the day got closer. On the day of the wedding, everything was beautiful. The staff did all the set up (chairs, tables), cleaning, and tear down of the chairs/tables. The husband and I highly recommend the War Memorial!

This was a great venue to have our wedding at. Right on the lake, possible fireworks in the summer dependig what weekend you have your event, and right in the center of downtown and the east side. Jennifer was great event coordinator and i would refer this place to anyone who is even possibly debating on a location to host a wedding or an event for that matter. If the weather did not cooperate their are still other great options. We did our pictures, ceremony, social hour, and reception all at the beautiful Downtowns Milwaukee War Memorial.

Great Location! Weather is always tricky, but Jennifer had plans A, B, and C for anything. It was great to have the ceremony and reception in one location. We were also able to take advantage of a military discount! The location does book up fast, but we had our event on a Sunday, which also save in costs, and we able to get the date we wanted! Thanks to Jennifer and the awesome staff!

The War Memorial was the perfect place for our wedding. We had our ceremony on the patio and our reception in the ballroom inside. The lake and art museum made the perfect backdrop for our ceremony and photos. The staff at the War Memorial did an amazing job setting up, tearing down, and making sure everything ran smoothly in between. A special thanks to Jennifer Metz, Katie, Zach, and the rest of the staff. Everything was just perfect!

This place fills up FAST - we booked 18 months before our June wedding date. In those 18 months we had 4 different wedding coordinators (which wasn't a good sign) and the outdoor plaza was under construction until 2-3 weeks before our wedding date. It really is a beautiful venue on the lake. Jen was our final coordinator, and was fantastic in the last few weeks before the wedding. She let us let up our own photobooth, and gave us a room to set up for a babysitter since there were a lot of kids at the reception. She set up our memorial table, guest book, place cards etc for us on our wedding day. She was great to work with! Since it's owned by the city, there is a lot of red tape involved, but if you're willing to get past all the bs then it's worth it. They gave us 3 parking options: 1. Guests pay for their own parking, 2. We get 15 spaces but have to provide the name of the driver and the make/model/license plate of the car or 3. Rent out the entire parking lot for a good $500. We didn't know how many people we going to be driving (we had 160 guests) and there was no way we'd make guests pay to park, so we just bit the bullet and paid for the whole lot. Overall a nice venue. My advice would be to get other great wedding vendors. We used Sound by Design as our DJ and they made the room look fantastic with their uplighting.

Event went well and view is gorgeous but I was billed for things after the fact that I was not told about up front. Frustrating when the policy is not explained to you and/or the venue tells you something different after you spend a lot of money there.

When I went to tour the facilities as a possibility for my wedding venue, I fell in love with the lake view and was sold right away. The venue is clean but the facilities are older and in need of some updating. The staff was very nice and accommodating. I recommend any other couples using this venue to check the catering and parking prices first because this may affect your budget as these are higher than expected. Also the chairs in the facility need to be replaced so I would considering renting chairs elsewhere. Overall a beautiful venue, and I'm overall satisfied.

The war memorial is a wonderful place to get married. Having the ceremony, cocktail hour and the reception all in one place was perfect. The location over lake Michigan was also amazing. One great service they have is the wedding coordinator, unfortunately the coordinator we had originally worked with left, but we had our wedding with Brie and she was great. She really worked to make sure everything would run smoothly and responded quickly to emails which is always a plus. I would recommend the war memorial to anyone in the Milwaukee area looking for a unique beautiful wedding! HOWEVER.....be sure to check if there are other events going on during the day/ night of your wedding in the area. I did and there was nothing at the time, but then a triathlon was scheduled (luckily for the day after our wedding) and traffic and road closures could be a pain, so look very carefully at events in the area before you pick a date!

Unfortunately, the day of our wedding was super foggy, so we couldn't see the lake despite being right next to it. ;P Nonetheless, Fitch Plaza of the War Memorial Center is a breathtaking space. It is right next to the Calatrava art museum, and is elevated above the walkway directly beside the lake. The view is breathtaking in all directions. You can see all the way to the pier by Discovery World and beyond. Even in the fog, it made for a stunning experience for an outdoor wedding. It felt as though it was a floating plane shrouded in clouds. The reception hall inside the War Memorial is a very large space, with a high ceiling and long windows. We had a small wedding, so there was a wall that we could pull to split the space. The venue is very adaptable, with everything being easily moveable. They had more than enough furniture on hand to accommodate all our needs. I don't know if we had an unusual case, but some of the planning and coordination was really painful. For whatever reason, the event coordinator we were working with changed three times, and in the end some details failed to be communicated to the representative on site on the wedding day despite the repeated reassurance otherwise. We had dropped off four boxes of votive candles for the florist, but the War Memorial rep on site didn't hear about them, and it wasn't until I specifically asked about them at the reception before she knew to look for them. I doubt that it mattered in the long run, but it was just really frustrating that no candles were set out before dinner and the caterer had to set them out while serving food to the guests. The day before the wedding, they set up the arch and all the seats for our wedding rehearsal. Times were hard to book because there's constantly things going on there, so we had our rehearsal at 9:00 AM on a Saturday. Otherwise, everything else was pretty nice. It was a bit of a chilly day, but out on the plaza, the sun reflecting off of the paving stones warmed up the immediate atmosphere and so it was actually warmer out on the plaza than under the overhang.

Everything was beautiful!

I knew I wanted to get married near Lake Michigan, but the prices in the area were out of my budget, until I came across the War memorial. They are very affordable & Amanda was so great to work with. SHe was very prompt in returning messages and made my experience great! The location needs some updating but still beautiful! I had a beautiful wedding & wouldn't change thing!

Great venue. Very easy to work with. Organized and help handle all the little details. Some delay in being able to reach them, but nothing major.

Very beautiful and amazing and different fir a downtown wedding. The staff was great

This venue was a no brainer for us...it was the perfect combination of city and Lake Michigan that we were looking for. The price point was perfect and you aren't nickeled and dimed for every little thing--choosing a winter wedding you can even save a little money as most vendors offer discounts! We had gorgeous photos and the set up in Memorial Hall worked perfectly for our 150 guests. Amanda was great to work with and is very knowledgeable regarding set up and layout. We'd choose the War Memorial again!

I've always dreamed of getting married outside and this was the perfect spot. Not only do you have the option of having the ceremony out on the plaza but if there's inclement weather there are several back up plans. There were chances of rain the day of our wedding and Amanda was great about keeping me up to date and letting us make a decision at the last possible moment. In fact my now husband changed it from Plan B to Plan A at even more last minute and they were more then accomodating! The Memorial Hall is a beautiful place for a reception. I was put off a little about the carpet choice, but you honestly don't even notice it, or see it with all the tables set up! The only issue was they were unable to figure out how to turn the lights down...which apparently has never happened before. They even called Amanda at home to try and figure it out, but no luck. Our guests didn't even notice unless we said something. It didn't bother them at all and we had a fabulous night! I thought pricing was very reasonable for a downtown venue and the prefered catering list made finding a caterer a breeze. We also loved that it was within walking distance of everything we wanted pictures with!

I had my wedding at the Milwaukee War Memorial at the end of May. We had both the ceremony and the reception there. We had the ceremony out on the patio, cocktail hour outside by the fountain and reception in Memorial Hall. We loved how our wedding turned out and we could not have asked more of the facility. The staff was friendly and very helpful. They had the rooms set up quickly and helped with setting up decorations. The facility was clean and well organized. I would highly recommend the War Memorial to any couple looking for a beautiful wedding location.

Loved this location. It was perfect for both our ceremony and reception. Event planner was very helpful and easy to work with.

It was a beautiful venue and the staff was amazing. Our guests came up to us all night and even weeks later telling us how cool the venue was. We had 1 minor issue during the reception, we told someone about a month before that we'd be doing a slide show and we'd bring in our mac to run it, when it came time for the slideshow the coordinator that night said they did not have the proper hookup for a Mac. We ended up getting it to work, but it wasn't in the right format and that was a little disappointing.

We were married a few weeks ago at the War Memorial. We had our ceremony outside and the reception inside. In addition to the low cost for use of this facility, their events coordinator Amanda is fantastic. She really made my life so much easier, given that I was planning my wedding from Washington, DC! We had perfect weather, but there is nothing more beautiful then an early fall day out on Lake Michigan in Milwaukee. We had cocktails inside the lobby, which is all glass and allowed for a really warm feeling. The reception and dinner were beautiful. Top notch location and great staff. We'll recommend this location to everyone!

Amazing location, view, and staff! My wedding ceremony and reception were here and it was absolutely perfect! Amanda took such good care of us & made sure everything ran smoothly.

When my husband and I first went to look at War Memorial, we got halfway to the car and decided to go back and book it on the spot! Not only is it a beautiful venue right on the lake, but the people here really have it together. We were very happy!!

The War Memorial is a unique facility. The hall is modern and the view of Lake Michigan and the Calatrava from Fitch Plaza is gorgeous. The reason I give four stars is the event coordinator (in my opinion) wasn't as helpful as she could have been. The only reason the girls and myself knew to start heading downstairs for the ceremony is we saw the mom's being ushered down the aisle!!

The War Memorial was a wonderful location. The staff at the War Memorial were very helpful, everything was very straightforward. I would highly recommend this location.

The manager was wonderful. She was very friendly and accomodating