My husband and I recently got married at The Grand Ballroom at Joliet Union Station and it was the most perfect day! The venue is stunning with high ceilings, large windows, marble floors, and a great outdoor patio space. It was very important to my husband and I that we booked a space that wasn't your typical wedding banquet hall, and this venue definitely hit that mark. We originally booked with Brett who was the venue event coordinator at the time of our booking. Brett was AMAZING! Very responsive and easy to work with. We had 1 issue come up during our tasting (I was not happy with the food) and Brett invited us back for a 2nd tasting that completely blew us away. On the day of the wedding, we (and our guests) were very happy with the food. Brett ended up leaving a few weeks before our wedding which was when Taryn took over. I was in " I'm getting married in a few weeks" mode and had a bit of a breakdown when I learned Brett would be leaving. Luckily, Taryn jumped right in and took over with a confidence that made me feel comfortable with this last minute change. We booked the venue 2 years before our actual wedding date, so, change was to be expected anyway! Taryn was very flexible with us and responsive to our last minute changes and requests. There were no bookings the day before our wedding, so we were able to drop off some of our things and rehearse at the venue (which was mostly set up). We also used the space for our First Look and wedding pictures. There are so many great picture worthy spots @ the venue, you don't really need to go anywhere else. We got some great outdoor shots on the patio and indoor shots on the beautiful staircase.

We had around 160 guests, which I think is the perfect amount for this space. Most couples get married in the space downstairs or on the outside patio, but my husband and I chose to get married in the Ballroom and have them flip it for dinner. The Ballroom is the old train station and trains are still running on the tracks right behind the venue space (near the outdoor patio space). The train is loud if your outside, but we couldn't hear it at all in the ballroom (or maybe I just wasn't paying attention).

Overall, we had a magical day. Special thanks to Brett and Taryn who made this process as easy as it could get.

Choosing a venue during the pandemic was not easy at all, but as soon as we saw the Ballroom we instantly fell in love. Not only was the venue PERFECT, but the team behind it added to the whole package. Taylor was who helped us, and she was absolutely who you need to help make things run smoothly. Everything was 1000x better than we could’ve ever imagined!

We could not have picked a more perfect venue for our wedding. Everything was beautiful. If photography is important to you, then this is a perfect venue.