School of the Art Institute Ballroom

This is the most stunning venue that I have ever been to for a wedding. We could not have ask for a more perfect place to be married and celebrate. We had our ceremony and reception, including cocktail hour, dinner and dancing here. We did end up working with several coordinators at the School which led to some miscommunication but nothing that wasn’t manageable. I would suggest having someone go over each part of the contract with you as there were some parts that we interpreted differently and ended up having to pay more for security then expected. However, all of the people we worked with were very patient with our questions. We had someone from the School run sound during our ceremony, and even though we hadn’t talked with them prior to the wedding, timing was perfect. The acoustics of the venue were fantastic! Everyone was able to hear during the ceremony and the space was excellent for our live band. So many of our guests said this was the most beautiful venue they have attended a wedding at.

This venue is gorgeous! It was the perfect setting for our ceremony and reception. The cocktail hour is held in the balcony while they flip the room. They have a deal with Kenmare Catering, so you don’t have a choice in caterers (interesting to note that the event person at SAIC is married to the person who owns the catering company).
Pros
— The event person Celia is the best! She was so helpful and answered my MANY emails/​questions. She was amazing.
— The space is breathtaking. There is a beautiful staircase in the middle of the room that was just perfect for a wedding. We got a lot of compliments from our guests on how pretty the room was.
— You handle liquor through the venue (not the caterer). They were extremely flexible with our choices and threw in a free champagne toast.
Cons
— The air conditioning is just not powerful enough. When you have 200 people in a space dancing and sweating, it is bound to get hot, but it was ridiculous. I understand that it is an old space, but they need to seriously upgrade the air.
— They ran out of a lot of the alcohol by 11pm. If it’s an open bar and I am paying you a ton of money, I would expect it to be well stocked the entire duration of the event.
I am so glad we chose this venue for our big day!

I went to a wedding reception here over the weekend and it was gorgeous! I loved the airy, yet decadent surroundings. The banquet servers were all polite and happy to re-​fill your wine glass before the main course. It was lovely how cocktail hour on the balcony overlooked the main floor so I could enjoy sipping my drink while soaking in the grandeur of the site. If I lived in Chicago, I would love to hold my wedding reception at this location.

I had the honor of attending a good friends wedding here recently and WOW this place is PIMP!
Usually I am not really a fan of weddings because I am not a chick or a homosexual but this wedding was actually a really great one and this Ballroom will go down in history as one of the most magical venues of all time!
This ballroom is definitely James Bond worthy I could see him in his tuxedo sweet talking the bad guys baby’s mama and drinking shaken not stirred martinis as he danced the tango with some mysterious hot chick who ends up double crossing him by the middle of the movie only to fall in love with him and rescue him at the end.

This is a beautiful space in which to hold an event. Restored to its 1930’s glory, the room is breathtaking. We had a dinner-​dance there for about 150 people. We were told the room could hold 250 for dinner and dancing, but it seems to me like you would be really packed in there with 250, so don’t believe that if they say it. Decoration is a bit challenging, since you are relying on one elevator from the street level to the reception level, and then you need to cart your stuff across the foyer to another elevator to get to the ballroom – and that’s if you come in on Michigan Avenue, where cops are circulating, waiting to give you a ticket or chase you away. The other entrance is in the alley, just about at the midpoint between streets, so, in the event that some other vehicle is blocking the alley, you have to be adept at backing out a long narrow alley once your stuff is unloaded. Our weekend event manager from the SAIC was kind of an ass, not very helpful. If you are doing an event yourself, and not hiring someone else to deal with flower arrangements, tricking out the room etc., then you won’t have to deal with him, so maybe that doesn’t matter.
Another reviewer commented on the less-​than-​adequate air conditioning. She’s right. It does not get the job done. they need to work on that. But, for the price, this is a gorgeous room. Just have a smaller event, and do it when it’s cool outside.

My wife and I held our wedding reception here in July 08. It’s a beautiful venue and a better deal price-​wise than other downtown reception halls. The staff was also very flexible in creating our liquor package.
One problem I wish I knew before I booked this place: The Air Conditioning doesn’t get the job done. Our wedding happened on a humid day w/​temps in the upper 80s. The SAIC ballroom was almost the same temperature as outdoors — everyone was sweating during dinner, long before we got on the dance floor! Our contact at the venue claimed they had the AC turned all the way up. Obviously the AC was inadequate and/​or broken. One of our vendors had worked a different event at this venue and noticed similar problems the AC — this was not just a one-​time problem.
Regardless of the heat, we still had a great wedding, and the hall was beautiful. If you’d like to have a wedding or event here, I’d just suggest avoiding July and August dates.

I don’t know how in nearly 10 years of living in the city I have NEVER been in this space. I stumbled upon this space as I was stealing themes from various event planners that I cannot afford and read a testimonial from a couple who were married here. I crinkled my to be Botoxed in the future brow and thought, I have no idea what, where, why and how this space looks.
Off I went and I was enamored, in my own particular «I want to it and this is how to make it better» way. You see, the more I like something, the more I try to perfect it. So where most woman may squeal in delight and be sunshine and puppy dog tails, I get all poker face and start to envision details and possibilities. Trust me, I am squesling on the inside.