The Historic Magnolia Ballroom

I attended a wedding here last year and I have to say, it was a beautiful space. And as a history major back in college, I found the history here charming.

This venue is amazing! The inside of the ballroom is gorgeous and it worked out perfectly for our shoot. The staff at the ballroom is top notch as well. They have a fine tuned attention to detail, and try their best to make your time spent at the ballroom at great as it can be. Book at the Magnolia Ballroom, you will be glad you did!!!

Historical Southern charm! A great venue and we were extremely pleased with it. Beware, however, their preferred caterer. We opted for our own, and had to pay a substantial price to the venue to bring in our outside caterer. Sound system was an additional $ 350 and although cheap, it sucked if you wanted to do any announcements. The only other black eye was their preferred caterer was the only one allowed to work the bar. Rude, unprofessional (spent too much time texting behind the bar, eating our food behind the bar, etc.) and under stocked (ran out of vodka, whiskey and bourbon early.)
I give it four stars, despite the open bar and other issues, only on the buildings charm and history.
Oh, and also forgot… Dewayne with the ballroom was very hospitable and helpful, but the assistant Liz was far from «miss congeniality». I’d leave instructions for the master of ceremonies, then she’d come behind and dismiss everything I had just planned. Then, she accused us of stealing a chair cushion. Some communications were in tall order.

I would definitely stay here again. We had checked in on a Thursday and there were weddings on Friday and Saturday, clearly they were busy, but their service were still very good!
The front desk staff and valet parking were very attentive and pleasant, they made sure to have extra valet staff on Sunday’s for checkout, although we checked out on Monday, it was still great!
Beautiful rooms, nice décor, would definitely stay there again and I recommend as well.
The only negative, but later turned into a positive, we got our room service breakfast delivered late, but they ended up giving it to us for Free, which was great!
Conveniently close to Astros baseball and Toyota Arena, with great views from the pool deck.
Their complimentary breakfast and milk and cookies were good, too!

Beautiful, and reasonably priced! We had our wedding reception here in September. The venue is a restored Houston brewery with a lot of history. Something that can be hard to find in Houston! Lovely oak staircases and wood floors, original bar complete with taps and stained glass, a patio with a nice view of the bayou and the city, and a very impressive mural on the ceiling! If you’re on a budget, this venue is great because you don’t really need a lot of decoration. Simple candlelight was enough to really make the place look absolutely stunning! We have really lovely pictures of the sunset coming through the windows and candlelight lighting the room.
Merinda was great! She is very responsive and really worked with us. There were no hidden fees or surprises in the end. She was very up front with us and worked within our budget. The great thing about the venue is you get almost the entire building, including the patio in your rental. The place is large enough for a pretty big wedding, but yet it has an intimate, romantic fee. The food and drinks are also included in the rental, and the food doesn’t taste like typical catered wedding food. Seriously, try the étouffée and the beef tips!
We visited a lot of venues and did quite a bit of research, and this was by far the best deal. It was everything we were looking for!

Do not use this venue! The sole contact, Merinda, is rude and unprofessional. You do not want to deal with her! She is undependable and has a bad attitude. If this place used someone new, maybe … but you don’t want to deal with her!

I had my wedding here in November. My husband and I both like it because it was a historical venue and because of the location (we wanted a more central location). We first chose the venue during one of their open houses. This is a great time to go view the place because they have samples of their food (which is very good) and best of all, free alcohol.
Let me first say that this location may not be for everyone. It is a historical marker and used to be a brewery so there are some interesting details places (like naked cherubs holding beer on the ceiling). But it does have its charms. Also, the place is a bit small so if you wanted a larger event I would not recommend it (we had about 150 people at our wedding). One more note, again since it is a historical marker, it does not have handicap access. There are stairs that are narrow when you first walk in, and you may need to make arrangements to help elderly people up them.
Overall, our wedding went really well. We got married on the patio, which we later heard from some guests was a little crowded, but the ceremony was less than ten minutes, so that made it tolerable. We hired Merinda from the ballroom to coordinate the evening, and she did a great job. I had my concerns at first because she was kind of difficult to get a hold of during the planning process, but she pulled it together in the end. The food was good — the sweet and sour meatballs and truffled potatoes are my recommendation. Also, we really liked the location because there are many good not too expensive hotels downtown, and people (such as the bridal party) were able to find things to do after the wedding all in walking distance, which is rare for Houston.
So, if this is the sort of venue that appeals to you I would definitely recommend it.

The setting is very ‘Texas’. As in, flags everywhere. The entry is a bit musky but once you get upstairs the smell clears right up. Table settings, wood floors, and natural light inside the (small) event space make for a nice enough atmosphere.
Service: considering that I had gone to the trouble of setting up an appointment and they completely ignored me — even after I knocked on the office door, watched them look at me, and continue about their business — I’m gonna go with «unfriendly»
Location: in the heart of downtown, which could be sketchy later in the night.
Food: They do allow outside catering after all (hooray!) and beverages
Overall: meh. A definite no.