Grand Rapids Public Museum Reviews

The museum helped me propose to my now fiancee in a great way. My fiancee was blown away when it all happened, can not thank Monica enough. Give them a try, you won't be sorry I promise!!

We had our reception at the museum and it went so smoothly and stress free! Everyone loved being able to go into the first floor and use the carousel . The staff there was willing to keep the entire bridal party on schedule, and take care of any foreseeable problems so we did not have to. 10/10 would recommend using this venue and would do it again and again!

Liz and her team were WONDERFUL throughout the entire experience. They were organized, on top of things, and always one step ahead. They're the vendor you don't have to worry about. The museum sells itself as far as a wedding venue goes. It's beautiful, unique, and access to the carousel certainly doesn't hurt things -- but what puts it above and beyond is the staff. They were part of the process from booking the museum, to final details and work tirelessly on the day of to ensure the bride and groom get to actually relax on the day of.

To start, this was the only venue that made us both cry for joy! We worked with Emmie (the event coordinator for the museum) from start to finish and were blown away by how friendly and enthusiastic she was - it was obvious she loved what she was doing. We booked the venue a little over a year before our wedding. Throughout the whole process, all members of staff were responsive and helpful. The day of the wedding was phenomenal! Emmie did everything from steam our backdrop curtains to getting us drinks at dinner to cleaning up at the end. Without the support of the staff, our day wouldn't have been perfect.

Absolutely wonderful experience with this venue. We had already chosen our ceremony and reception location, but when we saw the museum, we knew we had to do something here as well. So we planned our rehearsal dinner/welcome party here the night before our wedding. People are still talking about how amazing it was! The carousel was something I had dreamed about having at my wedding, so I was beyond thrilled the had one! The kids loved it and rode it for hours, leaving the adults free to drink and have fun- though the grownups had fun on the carousel too! I could go on and on, but especially for the money, this place was an over the top experience for our guests and we are so happy we included it in our weekend.
Emmie is amazing, very responsive, and coordinated and took care of everything, from the floor plan to the decorating, handing out drink tickets, clean up, etc etc etc. Just amazing from beginning to end.

BEAUTIFUL venue. Guests were wowed by the location, Carousel, and the entire staff. It is an unique and stunning venue. Plenty of room for 250 guests. Entire first floor was open to guests.

Emmie & Jim were absolutely wonderful to work with! Everyone at the reception loved this venue!

The Grand Rapids Public Museum was such a cool and beautiful venue for my wedding. Everyone there was so amazing, organized, professional, and wonderful to work with, especially Emmy! My guests thought that it was absolutely beautiful! I would highly recommend this venue!!

The GRPM was such a beautiful and unique venue for our wedding! The carousel made for such a fun activity for all of our guests. We had plenty of space for our appetizers, 2 bars, cupcake table and 2 buffet tables for our 200+ guests. The event coordinator there is fantastic. She was very responsive with communication and had a sample floor plan for us to edit appropriately. Overall, a wonderful venue and I would recommend anyone to host an event there!

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED MY WEDDING RECEPTION. THE GRPM WAS MAGICAL AND HAD AN AIR OF ROMANCE. I LOVED THAT WE WERE ABLE TO USE THE CAROUSEL ALL NIGHT. EMMIE WAS GREAT TO WORK WITH!

They were absolutely wonderful! Our coordinator ended up having to be out of town prior to the wedding but she made sure I met and was in contact with her fill-ins prior and during the wedding.

They listened to all of my requests and did a fantastic job!

This venue is amazing! There is a carousel, dance floor, exhbits, giant board. There's an old print shop that runs! So much for everyone. They allow outside catering now. The drinks service in house and it wonderful. (Jeff did a great job!)

Emmie, the coordinator at the museum was amazing. She worked with my mom, me and my maid of honor so well. Being in Seattle, WA it was hard for me to do everything and she understood that and helped out soooo much. She is so organzied and friendly! She even ran our rehersal when our officiant fell through, she helped us organzie and made she we knew what we were doing on the wedding day.
She was there on the wedding day directing us and helping us! (We didn't even need a wedding planner because she was so good!)
Thank you!!!

The public museum was amazing!! They are very responsive and they are very accommodating to requests. Emmy was fantastic. She was pretty much the quarterback through the whole experience. When our officiant pretty much ditched us, Emmy guided our friend who was taking the officiants place through the ceremony and showed the wedding party what they should do. The ceremony was beautiful and so did the reception.

I wanted something different for my wedding reception, and the museum was the perfect place! Jim, Donna, Wendy, and Patsy were wonderful! My guests have not stopped talking about what a great reception it was. Highly Recommend.

It was absolutely beautiful! They worked so hard to make sure everything was perfect. I couldn't have been more happy with any other venue. The staff was so nice and accommodating to everyone! I am getting compliments about them now everyday!

This is honestly the most unique and beautiful wedding venue in Grand Rapids. Our wedding will be held there on March 18th and it has been a dream come true to work with Liz and her team. They have been willing to help with our every request and have made this process as painless as possible. The location is perfect for large weddings, especially if you have out of town guests as it is easy to find and on nearly every single must visit list! Liz is honestly a saint, she will respond to your 11 pm email with the most professional manner, and she will help you figure out every single detail weeks in advance so you don't have to worry about a thing! They have a huge list of associated vendors whom are all top notch. I cannot wait for our wedding in this beautiful location and I honestly would say go here over any other venue in the area, the atmosphere is so electric and inviting!

I loved planning my wedding with Liz and her team, they have made everything amazing! Every single thing we have come up with they make happen, and when we wanted to bring in outside chairs they helped us plan everything out and were so accommodating!

Liz and her team will go above and beyond to make your day perfect!

I am still in the planning stages of my wedding but this vendor has been right along with me every step of the way!

We had our wedding and reception here and it was PERFECT, FABULOUS, BEAUTIFUL. My husband and I could not have been happier. Emmie was amazing! The museum was the perfect atmosphere and totally unique. The photos are amazing.

If you want a venue completely unique and unforgettable choose this one. The entire staff was professional and right on time with everything. They made our day flow with such ease. We had very little for decorations at our reception (the entire first floor of the museum, lovely setting) was all the decoration we needed. and of course, the grand staircase for our entrance and the carousel!
Our guests are still talking about the wonderful reception.

It was a perfect wedding day.

The museum is THE best place to host a reception. We strayed from a traditional sit down reception and decided to go with a strolling dinner, providing more time for our guests to dance and mingle. Emmie and her team were phenomenal. As a little girl I always dreamed of having my reception here, the museum means so much to me. The venue is a bit pricey but only because alcohol is included in the pricing. The perks of having a reception here are endless. There is a team of amazing professionals that help you along each part of the way and the staff is more than kind. The carousel is open and the exhibits on the first floor are illuminated and can even be open for the evening. The museum was a dream come true. I only regret not making the reception last for 5 more hours.

I looked at various locations in downtown Grand Rapids. All were good, but sold themselves as just the venue (understandably). It was different with GRPM - not only do they have a fantastic venue (includes the carousel, and the museum's "streets of Grand Rapids"), but their staff did so much of the set up and tear down. Emmie, the event coordinator, is very professional, quick to help, and so accommodating. She alone sold this venue for me. They put the linens on the tables, set up my center pieces, and set up everything on all other tables! They even packed up our gifts onto a cart at the end of the night to be transferred to a car or across the street to the Holiday Inn. No other venue will offer you that much help in downtown Grand Rapids.

They have a list of preferred caters to chose from, and bar services are catered through the museum itself. Jim Ackerman was awesome about supplying any special requests they didn't include the beverage package I selected. You only pay for what you drink, so you either get money back after your big night, or you have a bill waiting for you. I found this very fair.

Definitely recommend this for any couples wanting a different atmosphere!

This site is one of a kind. Everyone had such a wonderful time riding the carousel and taking a stroll through the museum. The food was exceptional! They conducted everything in a very professional manner and were very helpful throughout the planning process.

We had a winter wedding and we knew that the Museum was a great place to have our wedding for reasons like- we could have the ceremony and reception all in one venue, the museum would have their holiday and winter seasonal decorations up that surely were beyound beautiful, and it was surely some different and something our guest still compliment us on today! We had 250 guests and there surely was enough space for everyone... we also had kids as our daughter was a big part of our wedding and the kids loved the museum, especially the carousel... well honestly, many of the adults liked it too. Almost 2 years after our wedding we are told by friends and family that our wedding was the best they've been too and they won't forget how awesome the night was! I wouldn't have had it at any other place!!!

The museum was a great place to have a unique wedding reception and I was glad that I chose it. That being said, the venue is very inflexible in a few areas and I was disappointed that they were unable to work with me on some things. Overall, we had a fabulous reception and I was very happy with the venue.

The great:
I was married here in 2012 and had an almost perfect experience. I was from out of state and it was awesome and very worth the money to simply show up and have everything handled. The catering was unique and awesome. I still hear about our dinner from people who were there.

The less than great:
While going down the aisle in an oil stained wedding dress was funny to me (Im the girl who spills anything and everything on myself so it oddly kinda perfect), Id warn anyone who wants to get their photos done before the ceremony on the carousel to be careful. They do state there is a risk to stained clothes right in the contract so its not as if I wasnt aware of the risk. The one thing that did surprise me was the reaction of the staff. They were very responsive to my family members requests for seltzer water and the like, however they were visably trying to avoiding me and were instead trying to discuss the matter with the bridal party. Which was odd because I was not at all upset and was making jokes as we tried (in total vain) to get the stain out. Maybe they were scared of a bridezilla reaction? Either way, the bride employed you and its her dress so it seems like the professional thing to do would be to address the situation with her. Definately didnt ruin my day but I know a lot of ladies would have been upset by it.

The food was great. Everybody loved it.

There were a lot of rules at the muesum that we were told about but they didn't follow them on our day. My biggest complaint was that they told us that no one was allowed in the muesum before 6 pm, so we could take pics and set up, but as I was walking around taking pics, I kept running into my guests. This ruined the effect i was trying to have. When do you ever get to see the reception BEFORE it is set up?! I was really disappointed that they didn't follow the biggest rule that they told me over and over. i ended up taking time out of my pictures to track down staff and ask what was going on.