After our engagement, our first decision was choosing a venue. We made the decision early on that we would need a larger facility than our church (Milwaukee Metropolitan Community Church, which seats at best about 50 people) for our ceremony. We toured ten(!) different venues, and chose The Polish Center of Wisconsin, an absolute gem. It was the second wisest decision we made in our wedding planning. (The first was choosing Katie of Willow and Waylon Events to be our planner.)

This facility is fairly new (about 15 years old), and has spaces for not only the reception, but also the ceremony and the cocktail hour (including a wonderfully stocked bar and outdoor beer garden). They even have a beautiful separate meeting room (the Veteran’s room, where we got ready and did some of our first photos in the sitting area by the fireplace), a garden with a fountain, a small lake on the grounds, (which was wonderful for our photographer), and an additional balcony seating area on the second floor overlooking the main reception area.

One idiosyncrasy that might put some couples off is that they have their own exclusive in-house catering. DO NOT let this be a deal-breaker for you, as their catering is among the very best we’ve seen, as well as being very reasonably priced. For our entrees we had grilled salmon in a white wine dill sauce that was delicious, and a grilled beef tenderloin in a Maderia mushroom sauce that was better than any steak I’ve had in a high-priced downtown steakhouse. They have wide variety of dishes available to satisfy the pickiest eaters, all reasonably priced ($35 per plate or less). They even had pan fried pierogis as one of our sides, which was a huge hit with our guests, Polish and Vietnamese alike!.

The bar is also an especially good value. For $15 per guest, we got a beer, wine, and soda package. They had five beers on tap, including two craft brews from the Explorium brew pub. One of these is Crocus, a refreshing Polish style lager that is made exclusively for the Polish Center. They are also able to get nearly anything on tap you like. Included in our package was also eight different wines, and the usual sodas on tap and juices. For $25 per guest you can have an open bar.

The Polish center can also handle all of the linen rentals, tables, AV equipment, and even the just-tuned baby grand piano that we rented for our ceremony musicians. The total cost we’re posting includes rental on the whole facility, rental on linens, the piano, hors o’ deourves, food, beverage, etc.. They pretty much handled everything except the florals, cake, and the DJ”s lights and sound system.

Compare this to another venue we considered: a botanical garden owned by the Milwaukee county taxpayers, that also has an exclusive hospitality contract (with a shady company that starts with “Z” and rhymes with “silly”). They wanted $95 per guest for just food (rubber chicken and lasagna) and beer/wine/soda, excluding linens, facility rental, etc. They even wanted $5 rental per chair for the ceremony. That bill would easily have been double what we paid at the Polish Center, which is an equally beautiful venue with far superior catering and bar.

If all this weren’t enough, the service was absolutely superb. Martha Norman, the banquet manager (as pleasant a person as one could hope to meet), worked with us, our planner, florist, DJ, baker, etc. to make our “dream team” that put everything together seamlessly on our big day. No detail was overlooked and we wanted for nothing. The wait staff was pleasant and efficient. The bartenders kept everyone promptly served and could make just about anything our guests asked. They even provided a bottle of non-alcoholic sparking grape juice for our champagne toasts, for children and guests who couldn’t drink alcohol.

We enthusiastically recommend the Polish Center of Wisconsin. It really was the perfect venue for us, and we think it is the best value for any wedding venue in southeast Wisconsin.

Polish Center of Wisconsin was a beautiful place to have our winter wedding reception! Jeff Kuderski was very accommodating and Jack Norman Catering provided a delicious buffet for our reception! We fit approx. 190 guests on the 1st floor and it was not cramped. Polish Center offers a balcony for more seating but we chose not to utilize it. You are able to use the entire facility for your wedding with no other parties/weddings going on at the same time, which we LOVED!! The Polish Center property provides a great setting for photos. Surrounded by a lake and woods made for gorgeous wedding photos!

Choosing our location at seeing The Polish Center of WI was easy! We loved the place! The lighting, windows, wood floors, and roomy feel! We loved the outside patio with the butterfly garden! It was just breath taking! Tom was just wonderful to work with! The room was set up just how imagine it! The wait staff and bartenders was just wonderful! Everyone just loved Tom!! I was so pleased how we felt that they truly were there to take care of us! We are so glad we choose The Polish Center! Mr. & Mrs. Dustin Fink 8/13/2011