Weddings Grand River Center

Sheri and her staff are so wonderful to work with. We told them what we wanted and left all the details up to them!

Our wedding at the Grand River Center was beautiful. We had our ceremony in the river room and reception in one of the ballrooms. Sherri and her team were fantastic to work with. Sherri had some great ideas that we hadn’t even thought of and our agreed upon floor plan was set exactly the way we had discussed. The staff there even had some of our rented decorations set up before we even got there. Sherri also worked with us to make sure we could have a wedding we loved in our budget, and I know it’s not for everyone but the Friday wedding deals at the GRC just could not be beat. We brought our flowers from Wisconsin from my mother-in-law’s shop, and when the refrigerator truck broke down on the way she Sherri went back after hours to make sure the flowers made it into the building when they finally arrived. Everyone loved the food and the late night pizza snack we chose was delicious. I received so many compliments about how awesome our wedding was and I would highly recommend a wedding at the Grand River Center!

The ONLY reason I am giving this even a 2 is because my wedding was still beautiful, despite having to deal with Sherri the "wedding coordinator" on site. When my husband and I went to the GRC, we fell in love immediately. It was a beautiful location right along the river, was attached by sky bridge to a hotel and very close to more, was large enough to accommodate all of our guests, and we could have both reception and ceremony there. When we first met Sherri, she seemed knowledgeable and was very friendly. That didn't last. There was a HUGE mess with us booking it, because clearly they are not very organized with their wait list (you cannot officially book until 15 months out). We booked it and thought ok great, we are good. WRONG. So many things to complain about for the next 15 months. Once we were booked, signed our contract and paid our deposit, Sherri totally lost the friendly attitude. She was rude, condescending, and treated our vision and us like idiots and children. Communications were horrible and our final meeting was awful. She also didn't send information from our final meeting to me, but to my in-laws instead, which she had already been told, communications were to go through my husband and I. She was so rude to me, my husband, in-laws, and mother, and used a tone with us as if she thought she were somehow above us all. She likes to brag about how long she has been doing it, and let me tell you, she isn't that good at it. Sherri is the wedding coordinator, and is who we planned everything with leading up to our wedding, however, the week of our wedding, communication was terrible and VERY LITTLE communication from her, she kept pawning me off on everyone else, who had little idea of what my vision and plans were (however, they were all much nicer than her). Honestly I wish I would have just been able to work with these other people all along. The night before and morning of our wedding, we were missing extra items we had paid to rent, missing tables for set up that were on our floor plan and when I and then my mother requested some tables be moved from behind the ceremony area (they looked terrible), she refused and said they had to be there (but NO they didn't). They also had our ceremony set up wrong and she refused to have it changed to the way our floor plan stated and how WE wanted it. We had already had to pay an extra fee for the ceremony set up and the morning of my wedding instead of enjoying the time with my MY MOM, dad, one of my bridesmaids, and a couple friends moved the ceremony set up to how it was SUPPOSED to be AND moved some big heavy tables away. Sherri was not there right when she said she would be and even though she said doors would be locked to the main event room, they were not. Every time she spoke to my mom, me, my personal attendant that day she was incredibly rude and snotty. Because of her, the week of my wedding was so stressful. I can say my wedding turned out amazing and was beautiful and I loved it, and at the end of the day what is important is that I married my best friend. However, my day did not turn out that way because of Sherri and her "years of expertise." My day was amazing because my mom worked her butt off to make sure things were the way I wanted despite the lack of effort and help and compliance from our venue. When you pay that much money to someone/a venue, you should not have to do that much of the work.

Sheri and her staff are fabulous to work with! They took care of all the details so we didn't have to!

We absolutely loved having our reception at the Grand River Center in Dubuque. We had an October wedding, and the view along the river was gorgeous. Our wedding contact at GRC was very helping in answering any questions we had along the way, and help our reception run very smoothly. We had many compliments about how beautiful the venue was and how great the food tasted. Would recommend to other couples!

Melissa and her team were amazing from beginning to end. The food was awesome and Melissa made sure that the planning process was easy and non-stressful. We could not have been happier and I reccomend them to ANYONE!

My husband and I held our wedding reception at the Grand River Center. Although throughout the year and a half of our engagement they went through 5 different wedding coordinators, they were all very helpful and friendly. The venue is beautiful and a perfect location. Everyone said the food was excellent also. Only thing we were upset about was the money. We were told we had to meet a $7,000 minimum which we did, and then got charged another $1,500 for tax and tip.

Great food and service!! The girls are so helpful in assisting with the planning of the reception! They will do anything to accommodate the bride and groom!

Rooms were fairly reasonable, great service working with the wedding coordinator. This hotel was very friendly and helpful even though we did not have our reception at their location, just our guests hotel block.

We first picked the Grand River Center because it was one of the few places that could hold enough guests for our wedding. Another bonus is it's location; it is attached to the Grand Harbor Resort and located directly across from the Diamond Jo casino (or guests loved that!) We did have a few bumps in the road with them. We started with one wedding coordinator that worked there and then she had a baby so another girl stepped into her position. A week before the wedding we found out the new girl was moving to a different company, so we had to deal with having to make sure everything we had talked to her about was getting relayed to the newest coordinator. When the day came and the wedding party was all over the place, the new coordinator Mitsy stepped in and made sure everyone was in their places. She was amazing! I would HIGHLY recommend using GRC for your wedding!

Lovely location!

When I saw this venue space, I fell in love. I knew that there was probably going to be a catch and there was. The food and service were absolutely awful. It was actually in edible. Many of my guests did not eat, as their steak was GRAY and cold. It was a complete embarrassment and I feel completely taken advantage of. My chicken was chewy and tasted like airplane food, actually I feel airplane meals are better. I brought this to Katie's attention and she was very nice and asked if I wanted something else. Well, steak was not an option, as my husband was eating gray, fatty steak that looked as if it came from a casino. And what about the other guests who were also served this disgusting food? No one seemed to care or try to do anything about that. The vegetables were straight from a can and the potatoes were instant with some nacho cheese sauce. I will say that our expectations are probably much higher than many, as we live in Chicago and are surrounded by fabulous restaurants. However, I grew up in Iowa and my family still resides in Bellevue and parts of Dubuque, so I have frequented many restaurants in the area. Even the small town, ma and pa restaurants in the area have better quality food. The Grand River Center should be ashamed of themselves for serving this quality of food. I am shocked that none of our guests got sick, probably because they didn't eat. They are clearly taking advantage of their clients because of the atmosphere that they offer. Now the service, or lack of. I specifically asked how many servers there were going to be, as I wanted to make sure that my guests were taken care of. I worked in restaurants for 15 years and use to work many wedding receptions at a 5 star restaurant in chicago. We Always had 4-6 servers and the food was family style. Katie informed me that "staffing is determined by the banquet and beverage manager, based on count and menu. My estimate, would be FIVE servers and one or two bartenders." We had TWO servers for a sit down dinner. Now, how on earth are two servers supposed to deliver the food, take deliver drink orders, and check on guests? It is NOT possible. The two servers were running around frantically. They left the trays of food next to the tables and disappeared to get drinks or whatever. I watched a 10 top wait for 10 minutes until finally my uncle served the food. Do you think it was hot? And what about the last tables served, who waited 30 minutes after we got our food? Where do you suppose their food was sitting? Under a heat lamp, yes. So gross and wrong. If this situation would have happened at my previous restaurant, the wedding coordinator and catering manager would have been assisting. Not here. I could go on and on but will stop here. Bottom line, if you want to sacrifice quality food and service, than maybe this place will work for you. I personally wish I would have chosen a different venue. It was difficult planning a wedding from Chicago. We tasted some food before the wedding and I told Katie that none of it was good. We looked for another venue after the tasting but they were all full. We knew it would not be good but never thought it would be as horrible as it was. My family and I will never recommend The Grand River Center and will be sure to share our negative experience with others in the area. *

The staff at the grand river center were excellent ! They were well organized and made our planning easier . there was always someone to answer questions and help us with our needs! The staff helped set everything in a different way because I wanted it different with no hassle .

Great food, ballroom, and setup for a wonderful reception.

Very accommodating, easy to work with staff. No surprise costs, work with you to provide you the wedding you want under your budget constraints. Beautiful view of the Mississippi, easy access to hotel rooms via skywalk (Grand Harboer Center - also great to work with and even handed out 90 individual gift bags at no extra cost!)

Absolutely LOVED our venue. The GRC's wedding coordinator, JoAnn, is amazing! She made sure everything ran smoothly and was exactly what we wanted. And the location is unbeatable, right next to the river makes for some breathtaking pictures.

Great all-in-one location. The coordinator helps you along the way and have recommendations for local vendors. Great food, beautiful view, and can accommodate many different sizes of weddings.

The service and venue was overall, fantastic! We couldn't have been happier. Kelly was exceptional in making the day perfect.

Decent service. They contacted me several times about table set up and still didn't get it right. Food was delicious!

Grand River Center was the perfect choice for our wedding reception. It's quite pricey but beautiful. We had my favorite (next to the glassed in room) room in the building. Food was perfect, our wedding was in Sept. 2012 and we are still getting compliments on our food. The service was wonderful, and very desecrate when replenishing the cake table. All staff was very friendly. Would highly recommend Grand River for anyone looking to get married in Dubuque. If you have lots of out of town guests its especially great to have such a beautiful, elegant venue with a river view.

I was expecting more polished service and a generally more knowledgable and accommodating staff. We were not particularly pleased with the service, and were disappointed that items that had been dropped off to use at the reception were neglected to be set out by their staff. It was a lovely view, but not worth putting up with incompetent staff.

My husband and I chose the Grand River Center in Dubuque for our wedding even though we both live near Chicago. I am originally from the area so we chose it for the convenience for my large family in the area. However it was perfect for guests and myself for many more reasons. The wedding coordinators are very detailed and helpful. Our cocktail and reception room looked out onto the river so it was beautiful for our June wedding. The food was delicious. The location was perfect because it showed off Dubuque to my guests from Chicago from the bluffs to the river to the casino, museum, and waterpark.

We used this hotel for accomodations for our guests. We heard a lot of good things the day after our wedding from our guests about the rooms. Everyone said they were clean and luxurious. And, for the quality of the rooms, you couldn't beat the group price. My husband and I stayed in the Whirlpool Suite on the top floor, and it was amazing! The views were awesome and the room was beyond excpetional!

Great facility, absolutely beautiful. They offer good food options at a variety of prices. It is sometimes hard to connect with the wedding planner (sometimes taking up to 2 weeks for a response) but overall very good!

Great place to have a reception. Recommend Meeting roms 4-6!

We used the River Room for the ceremony then had our reception in rooms 4/5/6. The venue location is gorgeous overlooking the Mississippi. JoAnn and Brandon are wonderful to work with! The food was delicious especially the salmon. They totally worked with us and our customized menu options. Very pleased.

The staff at the Grand River Center have done it all a million times. They know what to do and how to do it well. They have heard every strange request and will make it happen. The wedding coordinator, JoAnn is so easy to work with and goes over every detail with you. She makes sure nothing is forgotten.

A lot of pictures can be taken with a beautiful overlook of the river!

best experice and was really pretty