James J. Hill center

I recently got married and had my reception at the James J. Hill Reference Library. After seeing a multitude of other event venues, the moment my fiancé and I walked into the library we knew this was the place for us.

We are from Chicago, so when we decided to have a Minnesota wedding, we wanted a space that felt like it was a reflection of us - and wouldn't require a lot of extra planning/thinking on our part. Not only is the library beautiful on its own, Beth O’Connor – the event coordinator - made things so smooth for us by being incredibly responsive, hugely positive, extremely focused and very easy-going about everything.

One of the best things about the library in comparison to other venues is that there aren't extra-itemized things to think about - like chairs, tables, decorations, security, etc. All of this is included in their price, which we also found was quite reasonable since we were planning and paying for the wedding on our own. There were no hidden costs and no 'surprises' as we planned it.

The only difficult part about choosing the library is it fills up FAST on Saturday nights, so if you're open to having a Sunday night wedding (like we did), you'll have a lot more flexibility in planning the best weekend for your wedding. All this being said, early on in our planning, Beth kept us posted on certain Saturdays that would open up in case we wanted to switch to a Saturday.

Their beverage service is through Mintahoe, but you have the flexibility to choose your caterer. We stuck with Mintahoe and are so happy we did - it kept things easy having one contact for both our beverages and food - plus the food was awesome - and the drinks were pretty great too. ;)

The Library is also right by the St. Paul Hotel (1 block) which is a beautiful hotel for guests to stay at - it was nice to have everything so close together for our guests - and for us.

I highly recommend the Library for your wedding ceremony and reception - I know a lot of people say they'll never forget their wedding day, and I feel the same way - but I will also never forget the level of professionalism and ease of our planning thanks to Beth, the Library staff and our vendors.

Cheers!

PERFECT for BOTH wedding & reception!!!!

Another beautiful spot. The library was extremely accommodating and Beth, the wedding coordinator, was very helpful, prompt, and easy to work with. Our guests were blown away when they walked in and we had TONS of compliments on the location. We had about 215 guests and the layout was perfect. The staff who works the weddings is also wonderful and even helped tear down and load packages at the end of the night. You can’t find a classier place in St. Paul that has places for your guest to be both inside and out and you can even bring in your own caterer!