Windows on Minnesota - Marquette Hotel

ast minute issues before the wedding. A member of the staff was promoted (Kyle), which lead to our wedding being handed off to a new point of contact (Sydney) a few months before our wedding. Scheduling a tasting took months - we started trying to schedule in July and ended up finally having a tasting the end of September (which lead to a delay in our invitations going out). After the tasting, the event staff email addresses and phone numbers changed without notice - we were unable to get in touch with anybody in the events management department for weeks. We scheduled a final walk thru two months before our wedding - at this walk thru we were told they would have to increase the price of our contract. Luckily, I kept proof of previous signed contracts with our original pricing and previous communications with event staff promising our pricing would not change. However - this is not a fight you want to have two months before the wedding. Every little detail needed to be confirmed and re-confirmed. For example, we had a waived cake cutting fee as part of our contract. However, the event staff said this probably did not include the ability to plate bundt cakes. After emails back and forth - they were able to conclude the staff could plate the bundt cakes. The night before the wedding we were supposed to meet with an event staff member to charge our card for the final amount due. The staff member never showed (after waiting at the front desk for 30 mins which caused us to be late to our rehearsal dinner). We gave the hotel front desk our card number and the event staff charged us a surprise $6,000.00 (was supposed to be $1,000.00). This was not fixed until the Tuesday after our Saturday wedding. The day of the wedding, the event staff did not put the correct number of chairs at the tables (we only had 10 tables) - which our wedding coordinator had to fix the day of (luckily there was a stack of chairs in the corner of the room). We also told our guests we paid for their parking, however the event staff forgot to provide us with validation stickers (again our coordinator fixed this - honey b. coordinating is amazing). If you book with this venue - keep your paperwork and emails organized. Be prepared to be very proactive and keep an eye on charges hitting your cards.

ppier with how everything turned out. Most of the time, the Windows/Marquette staff were wonderful to work with and very flexible. At every step of the planning process we felt as though most of the staff--in particular, Kathryn and Sarah--were willing to work with us to meet our specific needs. However, with that said, we did have some issues before our wedding events when it came to communicating with their on-site coordinator, Sydney. She would sometimes take a very long time to respond to our emails, which was especially problematic as the wedding date neared closer. Luckily, we had hired a separate event planner to ensure everything ran smoothly, so this helped us out a ton. At the end of the day, though, everything worked out well and there were no major hiccups even in spite of our communication issues/difficulties during the planning process. It's also worth mentioning that the Marquette Hotel is a beautiful place to stay. All of our guests loved being downtown and able to enjoy the views of the city lights through the snow/fog in the winter both from their hotel rooms and from the 50th floor at Windows!

month, we had to make the choice to move on to another venue location. The two times we got a response we were told that she would respond later that evening, then it became later that week and then we never heard anything at all. Extremely disappointing experience.

al wedding coordinator (ONLY UNTIL A FEW DAYS BEFORE THE WEDDING.) We were accused of smoking and dirtying up the IDS Lobby (a public common area) that could have been any person walking through the IDS lobby/common area. SO, THAT WAS ANOTHER COUPLE HUNDRED DOLLAR FINE (ON TOP OF OTHER FINES THAT WERE GIVEN NO EXPLANATION.) No proof. We asked for pictures and videos, nothing was provided. Communication issues were the biggest hurdle dealing with this place. They will only reach out when it's in the best interest for them. I've called multiple times, never to return my calls. AGAIN, YOU'D THINIK AFTER SPENDING THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS AND SIGNING CONTRACTS, YOUR CALLS WOULD BE RETURNED. Bartenders were rude all night. Giving our wedding guests trouble all night. Wedding bartenders along with the bartenders in the hotel lobby. They were rude to our guests all night. The bartending wedding crew, was charging our guests drinks. WE BOUGHT A WEDDING PACKAGE FOR ALCOHOL, YET NOT MAKING OUR GUESTS PAY??? The wedding bartending crew was hesitant to serve the bride and groom. What a joke. We've brought this to the venues attention, nothing was done. Shocker! Bartending staff had an attitude when our guests went to the lobby to drink. The bar closed an two hours early. AND HAD THE NERVE TO GET MAD AT OUR GUESTS FOR ASKING WHY THEY'RE CLOSING TWO HOURS EARLY. Common theme, terrible service and lack of communication for an explanation. Post wedding, on our honeymoon. We received a FRAUD ALERT from our bank. The venue tried taking out EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!! WITHOUT COMMUNICATING WITH US!! What business operates that way!!? Zach Hilderbrandt, the current accountant tried taking out 8k, then 5k, and then 2k WITHOUT EVER SPEAKING TO US, MEETING US, OR EVER TRYING TO MAKE CONTACT WITH US. Meanwhile, we were instructed we'd be made aware ANY TIME there's a payment being taken out of the account. AGAIN, NO COMMUNICATION. End result, my wife didn't have a credit card for two weeks after this unprofessional from Zach Hilderbrandt. WHEN WE ASKED TO SPEAK WITH OUR ORIGINAL WEDDING PLANNER (KYLE), THIS IS WHEN WE WERE OFFICIALLY TOLD HE'S NO LONGER WORKING AT WINDOWS. Weeks after the wedding. Also, bought the package to box up the food at the end of the night, by staff. Did we get the leftover food we paid thousands of dollars for? Haha you already know that food was in the spot it was left the night before. WE ASKED FOR A DISCOUNT ON THE FOOD!! "THERES NOTHING WE CAN DO." We were also told from Zach Hilderbrandt, we could pay off the 8k over three months. We said agreed. Couple days later, "we're going to need a much more aggressive payment plan." They gave us a week to come up with an extra EITGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS!

ng, but Kyle was very communicative and had an answer for all of our questions. We are so happy we chose Windows on Minnesota for our big day!

lling to help. Highly recommend!

r party here just because!!!

venue had a lot to do with that!!!

smooth, and seamless. The food was wonderful, the bar staff was fabulous, and the views (obviously) were amazing. All of our wedding guests said it was one of the coolest venues they had been to! Truly the best experience. Thank you Kyle, Sydney and all the other Windows on Minnesota staff!

ing sure all details were attended to and nothing was missed!! The dinner/bar service was amazing as well and everyone was very friendly. Our day was absolutely PERFECT and I would highly recommend Windows on Minnesota to every single bride and groom.

e of and the day running so smoothly. All the guests raved about how good the food was from apps to salads and meals. The views were so amazing and guests got to see sights of Minneapolis they have never seen before! It was so nice to have the hotel connected and so close to the event space and made everything less work. You wont regret going with this space!

ence was all around incredible. Kyle was so kind, professional, and went above and beyond to work with us and our families. He responded to all of our emails so quickly and was very accommodating with anything we needed. Having a very knowledgeable and experienced venue director, caterer, venue, and hotel all in one spot was perfect for us and made planning so much easier. We had the best wedding weekend as we did our rehearsal/dinner and sunday brunch at the Marquette as well! They treated us like VIP’s throughout the whole experience and we felt truly cared for. Lastly, they have extremely reasonable prices (compared to other crazy expensive downtown venues) and we would absolutely recommend booking this beautiful venue!

pdated on all the moving pieces that were constantly changing. The views at the venue are breath taking, and most of guests have never seen Minneapolis from that view. The food was also outstanding, I can’t wait to go back on our anniversary for the risotto! 10/10 would recommend this venue!

able experience and I am forever thankful for the crew there!

enthusiastic, and ready to answer any questions we had. In terms of logistics, we had our ceremony there, a cocktail hour, and then the reception. It was wonderful to be able to just move people one room over and not have to worry about traveling to different locations. We had a couple older guests, and not needing to maneuver them much between events allowed them to participate more in all the festivities. The food was phenomenal, and I didn't have time to eat the late night snacks we got, but people were raving about those, too. I got SO many compliments about the amazing view and know from a preview or two our photographer was able to share that our pictures are going to be absolutely breathtaking. I would pick this venue again in a heartbeat, and can't imagine having had a better experience anywhere else.

tic our Wedding Venue / Accommodations were!!! What a DREAM COME TRUE. The 50th floor of the IDS tower is breathtaking. That view alone eliminated our need for extra décor. Our guests were glued to the windows for most of the social hour!! We got to use lounge furniture around the floor since there were no other events close to or on our big day! We had our Rehearsal and Groom’s Dinner the night before at The Jolliet House. .The red walls are comforting and the floor to ceiling windows let a lot of natural light in the room and they took care of the centerpieces! OMG they set up the most adorable arrangement of large pillar candles and large lanterns with assorted candles! The buffet was stunning and neat. The service was unmatched. Let’s talk food – one of the main things that people remember from a wedding. We ate at the venue all weekend – 3 big meals total. ALL OF IT WAS INCREDIBLE. Every menu item, delicious and high quality! Additionally, my gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free bridesmaid was brought to near tears with her Groom’s Dinner meal that she loved and the catering staff approached her while everyone was enjoying their tiramisu, and quietly offered her a dessert of her own – some fresh fruit. SO amazing and thoughtful of them. Our hotel suite was perfect. It was spacious and open, clean, cozy and modern. The bathroom was large enough for myself, 5 bridesmaids running around and a flower girl! The bed and pillows were extra comfortable. Every detail, accommodation and staff member in the Marquette Hotel was friendly, genuine, detail oriented and helpful. Kyle Heidelberger Where do we start with reviewing and telling you about Kyle? He’s personable, positive and funny! Kyle has a phenomenal resume and background with loads of experience in the catering and service industry, It was so nice to feel that he had complete control of our wedding day. We met him over coffee and reviewed all of the details together. Kyle never made us feel hurried or bothersome. He took time out of his weekend to meet us and talk things over. Kyle was so fun to communicate with! He replies to emails quickly, and answered all of our questions – even if we sent him a list of questions in one email!!! He made sure we got everything we wanted and made sure we were happy and accommodated in any way possible. We were even lucky enough to have Kyle help us get into the 2 event rooms to set up our wedding on the Thursday before our Saturday wedding!! This guy is PURE GOLD. EVERYTHING about our ENTIRE wedding weekend (July 19th -21st, 2019) was what dreams are made of. They exceeded our expectations in every way imaginable and helped us relax and enjoy the best weekend of our lives!!! Everything is there and you never need to step outside if you don’t want to! One stop shop style – couldn’t have been more relaxing! We thank each and every staff member there for making us feel like celebrities and treated us with the highest level of kindness, customer service, catering service, planning and coordination possible. We WILL be back and hopefully we can find an excuse to host another event here in the future! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! The best weekend ever hands down!! You are doing it right!!

aved about the views of Minneapolis they experienced while socializing, dining, and dancing during our wedding. We experienced a flash storm, a double rainbow and a gorgeous sunset that no other venue in the Twin Cities could have given us. It was such a beautiful and unique wedding that we, and all our guests, will remember forever! The venue coordinator we worked with, Alyssa, was extremely professional, courteous, communicative, and resourceful. She was so knowledgeable and experienced at helping to plan weddings that we were able to have most of our questions and worries answered by her. In fact, we decided not to hire a wedding planner because we felt so much better after meeting her for the first time. She was able to help us save money in numerous ways that we did not even consider, and continuously assured us that we were doing well in our wedding planning process. Even on the day of, she helped take care of so many things that we were often not aware of, and ensured the wedding went just as planned. We couldn't have been happier with Windows on Minnesota or Alyssa.

we were provided with a new contact, Christopher Preston. Christopher was extremely detailed oriented, responsive, friendly, and flexible! Christopher walked us through every detail of the wedding a few months beforehand to ensure that everything would be just the way we liked. He happily met with us after work for a 2 hour meeting to go over things and we were amazed at his attentiveness to detail. On the day of the wedding all of the staff was super friendly and helpful in getting things set up and ready to go. Christopher was present on the day of the wedding to make sure that things were done correctly and to help us stay on track with our timeline. He coordinated wonderfully with the other vendors and answered emails, phonecalls, and frantic parent requests up to the very last minute. The venue itself provides gorgeous views of the city, is associated with the Marquette Hotel (they were fantastic in coordinating hotel rooms and treated guests excellently), and is located right in the middle of the action downtown. If you're looking for a venue to wow your guests and to provide them with a true Minneapolis experience this is your spot! The food was also delicious and presented beautifully! I can't say enough great things about WOM, it was truly a terrific experience! Choosing such a great venue took a ton of stress off of us on the big day!

ny, many questions. If you are looking for a place that takes care of all the details, this is the place to hold your reception!

o host our wedding. Melissa was amazing to work with cheerful, organized, professional and incredibly responsive. The hotel staff as well as the banquet staff working our wedding weekend were extremely attentive and accommodating. Our guests had an amazing time and we received many compliments about the space, the food and the overall experience. Windows made our Wedding Day truly magical and I would highly recommend.

g our wedding day perfect on many levels. The venue itself is beautiful, and very unique. Food was wonderful. Breathtaking views that your guests will love! Plus having The Marquette Hotel nearly connected makes it convenient for those out of town guests. The Windows on MN is a unique, classy, and all around wonderful venue.

countless questions and went out of his way to make sure everything was perfect throughout the planning process and on our wedding day. So many of our guests have proclaimed that Windows was "perfect" and I have to agree. The Marquette Hotel also offered fantastic (and on site!) accommodations for our guests, and the staff there was extremely welcoming and kind. Thanks Windows on Minnesota for making our wedding worry free and absolutely perfect!

n his office so he could hang my wedding dress! Everyone on staff made sure everything was perfect for our wedding. The food was FANTASTIC! They even made sure to order all of the ingredients necessary for our "signature" cocktails to be made, and sourced a special wine we wanted to be served with dinner. I HIGHLY recommend Windows on Minnesota. While it is at the top end, price-wise, for venue space, the extra touches they provide make it well worth the money!