I had my wedding at the Harold Washington Library. We used the Winter Garden Room, which was gorgeous, and the Grand Lobby.

First, the good:
The ceremony and reception were both stunning. Cocktail hour in the grand lobby was also beautiful - you don't really notice the big posters or whatever that they hang from the ceiling. It was a great space for our 210-220 guests.

Kimberly, our event manager, actually helped me pin my dresses to me as I was changing (I'm an Indian bride, so was changing into different saris / lenghas which required pinning). Talk about service that went above and beyond!

Next, the bad:
The acoustics in the WGR are pretty terrible for speeches. The music for the DJ was fine, as it was loud, but for the individual speeches... many of our guests couldn't understand what was being said.

Also, be mindful about insurance here. You can't buy insurance from an outside source and all your vendors will be required to follow instructions to the T. They are pretty inflexible about the insurance... and if your vendors don't get it right, you'll be expected to write that check for the incremental insurance. It's not the biggest deal, but it was a little annoying at the time.

When my fiancé and I first walked in to the Winter Garden of the Harold Washington Library, our jaws just dropped and we knew this is where we wanted to get married. It was such a unique and a beautiful location and the entire day/night of our wedding, i felt like I was in a magical place! Our guests were also excited and amazed by the beauty! If you are looking to get married in a unique hidden gem in Chicago, I would highly recommend this place! I would warn that since this is a public location, you will have to do some extra planning regarding logistics, vendors, and cost. The rental of the space was pretty reasonable, so we went ahead and booked our date. But, it was later on that we realized that we have to worry and book all the other external items separately (catering- China/silverware/glasses/waiters, chairs, tables, food heating equipment...etc). The library does have a lot of preferred catering vendors who will help you make your day go smoothly, but it was extra cost that we didn’t anticipate. So, at the end of the day, we ended up spending 2-3x more than we anticipated and invested more time in the planning. Overall, I don’t regret my decision in picking the winter garden, but just be aware that it is expensive and will require more time in planning!

We absolutely loved the room and in many ways was a great place for the wedding because you can choose your own caterer and bring your own alcohol. We did run into an issue because the library hangs decorations around the holidays and they were not very flexible about removing them.