The Ballroom at McKay Tower Reviews

My daughter got married from engagement to wedding day in 3 1/2 months. They chose to get married on a a Sunday, which made the venues half price. We received a discount by booking under six months.
You do need to have a million dollars in insurance for the day. We just went through our insurance company.
You are allowed real candles on the tables. We used flameless candles.
The staff was amazing! Madison met with us and took care of the timeline and answered all of my many questions. She was kind, patient and professional with every email.
On day of, the staff seemed to be hiding, yet every time I needed them, they appeared. They helped unload our car and did it with a smile. I can't say enough good things about them.
Thank you so much!

Our wedding was a unique experience, thank you. all the support of the Ballroom the McKay team.
Madison was incredible answering all of our questions and making our day special.

Beautiful wedding venue, I love how the inside looks! Made an elegant reception for sure!

From what I have read my experience has not been an outlier. The deceptive part about the Ballroom at McKay is that they appear to be on your side when it comes to any negative experiences but their loyalties lie with their ill mannered and aggressive staff. Nicole was wonderful leading up to the event. However, during the event my guests were met by bartenders with very negative attitudes and showed customer service that would be appalling even for fast food workers. The staff would take full glasses off of tables and refuse to give them another drink even when they were standing right next to their table responding with lines such as "I just gave you a drink." Even after explaining the situation the bartenders would get annoyed and short tempered. The Ballroom Representative and one of the larger bartenders used intimidation to try and find the source of a chewing tobacco bottle they had found by harassing my new mother-in-law and threatening to shut down the event throughout the night. The staff would walk around and sniff guests with the concern of people smoking cannabis when no such action took place. The icing on the cake was at the end of the night when the lights came on the taller bartender who was slender with brown hair started screaming at my DJ about a phone that had been lost (my phone that I had already retrieved hours prior and moments after the DJ took possession of it). The screaming turned into a loud verbal argument where the bartender started yelling curses at my DJ. We were informed that this sort of behavior has happened here before and this less than "gentle" man still holds his job. The only issue that the ballroom did address is they held the consumption bar open for an hour longer than originally discussed and agreed which reflected on my bill. This issue they did compensate for but I am not satisfied due to the way they kept inventory of the liqueur stock. We were told that the consumption bar had a stock count before the event and then the next day they counted the servings which in my eyes is very fishy. with no running tab there is no way of telling which bottles were drank during my consumption bar and the cash bar that followed. I would not recommend anyone host their wedding reception here. It turned into way more of a headache than it is worth and it would be easier to just look elsewhere.

I would not suggest taking your business to this company. They were extremely unprofessional in how they handled my wedding. They rushed right into speeches and dinner, even though the caterers were still setting up. The bartenders that they have were rude the entire night and started a fight with my Dj over a missing cell phone. They become so angry with the way the Dj handled the problem discretely, that the bartenders started swearing and wanted to physically fight him over it in front of the guests. Throughout the night the event coordinator and the bartenders started to accuse guests of smoking indoors, after they had come back inside from smoking. Then started to go around and smell people, extremely creepy and made many people uncomfortable. They then started to harass and follow guests around trying to see if they could find anyone that had done something wrong. Throughout the night threatened many times to shut down the reception over the issues that they had created. When they were confronted over the problems and their attitude, the staff again threatened to shut down the event. When I brought it to their attention on how the wedding reception was conducted and how unprofessional their staff was, we were told that "they fulfilled their contractual obligations for the night". I can't even begin to describe the rest of the events that transpired, but I would not suggest using this business for your future events.

The ballroom at McKay helped bring my dream wedding to life! The fact that they have the chairs and linens there as well as lighting, makes it all the more easy to work with them. Nicole was so helpful on accommodating all of my needs and requests. The room is gorgeous and easily fit my 150 guests. I would highly recommend this venue for your fairytale wedding.

The venue was amazing, the staff was helpful and great to work with, we could not say enough about this venue. They made our wedding day perfect!

Barry and Nicole are awesome! Such a beautiful venue and the customer service is top notch. It was a splurge for me (especially the bar prices) but it was worth it.

I was blown away by my experience with the Ballroom at Mckay. The manager, Nicole Weichelt, was incredibly responsive, accommodating, and kind. She made the entire experience fun and stress-free. Barry Clark, the beverage manager/bar tender, was also amazing and we kept receiving complements from guests after our reception on how friendly and sociable he was! The room is absolutely breathtaking. The chandeliers, marble pillars, and lighting features that are available create an atmosphere that is whimsical and fancy. There is no doubt that this reception location "made" my wedding day. 10/10 for McKay!

Where to start? The Ballroom at McKay is just incomparably beautiful. It's opulent and stunning, but remains intimate. It's such a find and we are so, so glad we had our reception there. The chandeliers are gorgeous, the light-potential in the room is so cool (they'll work with you on your preferences) and the bar is also super hip. It's just a magnificent space. Furthermore, the team is outstanding. Nicole was always in reach to help answer questions, and provided so much guidance. She's a gentle, knowledgeable and incredibly helpful person. We all adored her. Barry, who crafted the perfect bar experience for our guests, was also FABULOUS. He was so sweet, clever and quick to reply. A delight to work with in every regard. On the whole, we can't speak more highly of McKay Tower OR the event staff there...it was a perfect experience for us. We hope to return one day for more events! :)

I recently held my wedding reception at the McKay Tower Ballroom and it was BEAUTIFUL. Nicole was so kind and easy to work with that it made planning a breeze. The space is beautiful and many of my guests are still talking about how beautiful the reception was.

The Ballroom at McKay is gorgeous. In my opinion, it's the most glamorous venue in Grand Rapids, hands down. I fell in love the minute I walked into room. The chandeliers are stunning and the lighting options give the bride and groom the ability to add a "wow" factor and customize their reception.

Nicole and Sam were wonderful to work with. Nicole was always extremely responsive and helpful with anything we needed. She got a lot of emails from me the week leading up to the wedding and made me feel at ease.

The price for the room seems expensive upfront, but the fact that linens, tables, and chairs are included makes that part worth while. It was nice that I didn't have to deal with separate vendors for linens and whatnot. The one thing that I thought was a little much was the bar prices. I know that venues make a lot off their bars, but the prices were quite high in my opinion. Especially when I found out what some of my other friends had paid the bar for at their weddings with the same brands of alcohol.

With that being said, I wouldn't have changed anything that day. The room looked gorgeous and all of our guests kept complimenting us on how beautiful everything turned out. The Ballroom at McKay is top notch and made our wedding day extremely special. If you're willing to spend the money, you won't be disappointed having your reception here!

The Ballroom at McKay Tower is gorgeous. No need to decorate anything but centerpieces. Nicole is wonderful and extremely helpful, especially when we had to change some details a few times. It wasn't the most affordable venue, but definitely in line with other venues in the area. I should have also been comparing bar prices while I was comparing venue prices, however. I know it's normal in the wedding/event industry to have a big profit margin for bar services, but it was still a bit of a shock. Other than that, though, the Ballroom at McKay was a wonderful experience. I love the architecture and lighting and our guests really enjoyed the space as well.

McKay Ballroom did an excellent job with our wedding and all of our guest were raving about both the venue itself and the service. We were slightly concerned based on the couple of previous reviews, but it sounds like some of those may have been growing pains with a new venue. Working with Nicole and Maria, we were completely impressed from our first interaction to the event. Nicole was quick and responsive to all of our questions/requests. When we had our sit down meeting with Nicole and Maria (bar manager), everything was nicely organized. Nicole was also proactive in reaching out to one of our outside vendors and sorting out some minor issues ahead of time. We did have an onsite coordinator (friend) who was there during our ceremony based on the previous reviews, but her role was extremely minimal as McKay took care of all the things that needed to be done. Our bar service was excellent and prompt - our guests were never waiting for a drink. We would recommend this venue to anyone, although if your wedding is getting above 150, it may be small.

The most beautiful ballroom in downtown Grand Rapids, hands down. The pictures online do not do this place justice. Go see it in person. The built in lights changed throughout the night which really helped to adjust the mood of the evening. The staff was professional and courteous. My one frustration was that we spent the entire year proceeding the wedding working with one staff member, but the night of the wedding itself was coordinated by someone completely different. I had never met her before. She coordinated everything very well except for our grand exit.

Overall I had a WONDERFUL experience with out reception here. I would absolutely choose this venue again.

Wow! That is what I thought when I walked into the ballroom for the first time, it was breathtaking. The architecture and the columns was exactly what I was looking for in a venue. That is where the good things about the McKay Ballroom end. Nicole was good about getting back to me through email and sending me other samples of linens as their options are very limited. She never answered her phone during the planning process. I would recommend getting everything in writing as what we were told during our walk through's did not happen. We were told by Nicole that we just had to take pictures of the tables and they would set everything up and then Thursday before the wedding after sending pictures, Nicole informed me that they do not do that and we would have to do all the set up. After finding people to set up and changing plans we were able to go to the McKay Saturday morning to set up. When everyone got there nothing was set up, we were told we could set up the tables before hand and they would be hidden behind a curtain and then pulled out after the ceremony. There were no curtains and no tables to set up. Nicole was no where to be found on Saturday and did not answer her phone so no one could get a hold of her. Everything we were told would happen did not. Groomsmen were moving platforms, no speaker system during our ceremony so no one could hear us, nothing was set up as we were told it was. I went to pay final amount but called Nicole to confirm she didn't call back so after a week I sent in the money, as soon as she received the money i got an email stating I had the wrong amount. If she would have called me back this issue wouldn't have happened. These are just a few of the many issues I had. I started getting emails in which she needed documents in which I had sent months before. Overall, the space is beautiful but if I had the choice to pick another venue I would, the stress from the McKay was not worth it, I would NOT recommend this venue to other brides.

Overall, my husband and I were very happy with the ballroom. It's such a gorgeous space, we barely needed to decorate and I love how many choices you get when it comes to linen colors. Our guests were really blown away by the venue. We also really enjoyed working with Nicole, she was so helpful, accommodating, and patient with all of our questions. While the space was beautiful, I have two major criticisms. The first is that we had wanted to have our ceremony in the ballroom but were told by the staff that they weren't keen on hosting ceremonies and didn't feel that the space was designed for that purpose - however, when we went for our final meeting at the ballroom, they were set up for a ceremony. So they clearly said yes to someone else and told us no. My second issue is that our favors were homemade wine bottles and I specifically asked the staff, and was given the go ahead, to have these favors at each table. The day of the wedding, they wouldn't let us bring the wine bottles into the ballroom - they said their policy had changed and that our favors would need to be locked up. I was told the bottles would be put out in the hallway before guests left so they could grab a favor on the way out. I don't know what time the bottles were placed in the hallway but we had over half of our favors left at the end of the night - clearly it wasn't early enough for most of our guests. The ballroom was a fantastic space but there were definite inconsistencies in their policies and it's very frustrating to have rules changed the day of your wedding.

The venue is beautiful but we did run into a few issues with them. They had so many different people assisting us that no one knew everything that we wanted so things were very unorganized. Things we not done the way we wanted them and the security guard tried to kick the groom out because he had no idea who he was. The security guard also tried to fight the father of the bride. Also they say they serve coke products WRONG. IT was really unclassy when they pulled out 2 liters of faygo. Our guest thought we pulled together a beautiful wedding and most had no idea the issues we had. I would recommend this venue but management needs a little work.

From walk-throughs to many back and forth discussions about lighting settings, we were so impressed with McKay's service. The venue is what makes or breaks a good wedding reception (and food too). This was the perfect venue for our style (Art Deco elegance) and the mood we wanted. We had an early reception, so it was daylight, but with the huge windows covered by the gorgeous curtains we felt like we were dancing the night away. There's not a huge dance floor, but we had a lot of people that were uninterested in dancing, so it was fine for our needs. It's a breathtaking reception space, and I was so sad that I couldn't spend 8 hours at my reception just to enjoy everything fully. I know the guests loved it though. It's a perfect space for about 125 guests. They can make more work, but we had 100 with the head table and everyone could see everything perfectly, no one was in a corner somewhere.