We got married at The Library at 190 S Lasalle, with our ceremony in the marble foyer and our reception up in the Stacks. The venue coordinator changed over 3 times during our engagement, but we were overall happy with communication and knowledge of the space from all the coordinators.
Here are the details of our wedding if you are considering the Library for yours! We had 130 guests and a seated reception. We had a Photo Booth in the Cocktail Lounge because it didn’t quite fit in the reception space with our 15 tables + sweetheart table. We had the largest size dance floor + dueling pianos (2 baby grands + a drum kit)
Here’s what we looooved about our wedding at the Library:
+ People could NOT STOP talking about how beautiful the space was. The ceremony was so elegant and beautiful in the foyer, and the Stacks transformed into an incredibly classy & stunning reception that still had some unique ties to us (the books!)
+ The space is big if you include the Cocktail Lounge, which you get to use all through the Reception. This meant that our guests who didn’t want loud music all the time could go out to the Lounge and chill (or have dessert/late night snack). The bar is also in the Lounge and is a true restaurant bar, not just a table set up
+ You have to use an approved caterer at the venue, and we used Maison Cuisine who were amazing!
+ The balcony in the reception space was an unexpected hit! We decided to stand up on the balcony instead of doing a grand entrance and wave to people as they entered the space. We got to see everyone’s reactions AND people were so excited to see us up there! We are also super excited to see the photos our photogs got from the balcony
+ The venue really does not need much by way of decor. We had NO florals outside of our bouquets, and for the centerpieces we thrifted vintage books, candlestick holders & bought electric tapered candles. They looked absolutely gorgeous in the space, and were wayyyy cheaper than typical centerpiece set ups. Same goes for the ceremony space. We only had chairs! No aisle decor at all! And it was absolutely perfect!
+ People LOVED the Library decor – there were lots of photos our guests took in the beautiful book alcoves and on the balcony.
+ There are a ton of hotels in the area of different budgets. We had our main block at the W Hotel next door, and also a block at Club Quarters, which was only two blocks away.
+ There’s a private back room which makes it easy to store all itinerary and help with set up for caterers/florists/day-of-coordinators. We also used the back room as a private space right after our ceremony to have some food & revel in our just-married-ness!
A couple misc notes:
+ The venue coordinator is helpful for asking questions and accessing the space, but you’ll need to hire a day-of or month-of coordinator to set up your decor, etc.
+ There is validated discounted parking at a garage 2-3 blocks away for vendors & guests. It’s $11 validated but $50+ unvalidated, so make sure you validate every time you visit!
+ We can’t speak to the bathrooms (width of entrance, etc), but the venue was generally very wheelchair friendly and accessible, with no stairs at all!
+ The ceremony space being downstairs means that you’ll have to rent 2 sets of chairs. We used slightly nicer chairs in the Reception, and plain old folding chairs in the ceremony, but it added about $600 of rental fees to have 130 extra chairs.
+ The Library has a ton of tables, especially in the cocktail lounge, but everything else will need to be via rental. Maison Cuisine, who we used for catering, handled all of the rentals and that all went super smoothly, but it is a cost to consider. Even with the rental cost, the Library ended up being less in catering/rental cost than other venues we compared it to.
+ Our wedding was the weekend of Open House Chicago, which the Library participates in. It didn’t affect our actual wedding, but a ton of people were walking through the lobby during our ceremony set up which was very stressful. If you’re able to avoid this specific weekend, it’s worth double checking the date!
All in all, the wedding felt perfect, and that was hugely in part to the venue. It was unique AND way more gorgeous than we ever could have imagined. Especially for book lovers, we could not recommend this venue any more highly.

One of the consistently positive parts of our wedding journey was working with The Library at 190. The space was stunning. Gorgeous. We were elated to have our guests finally get to see it because it was that awesome. The staff worked with us on all aspects and were present on the big day making sure even went smoothly - and it did! Can't recommend them enough.

Gorgeous. Fantastic lighting and sound. Flexible. Amazingly creative coordinator - Auieann. Simply the best in every way.