Weddings at Eagle Point Park.
A hundred and sixty four acres of National Register historic district on the bluff above the Mississippi, with limestone pavilions designed by Alfred Caldwell in 1934 and a view into three states. Three hundred and fifty guests for three hundred and thirty dollars. And a rule about picnic tables that decides more about your wedding than the price does.
A 164-acre historic district on the bluff above Lock and Dam No. 11
The Venue
Why Eagle Point Park photographs the way it does.
The architecture is the part nobody mentions when they call this a park shelter. In 1934 Dubuque took a $200,000 Works Progress Administration grant and hired Alfred Caldwell, a Prairie School landscape architect, as park superintendent. Over two years two hundred workers quarried local stone, cut trails, laid out naturalistic gardens and built pavilions in horizontal limestone that looks like it grew out of the bluff, in the manner of Wright's Taliesin. The result is a National Register historic district that rents by the afternoon.
The rates are what a city charges rather than what a venue charges. The Riverfront pavilion holds 350 and costs $330 for the whole thing, or $220 for the inside only. The Open Air pavilion holds 348 at $275. The Log Cabin is $127 for 110, the Promenade Bridge $84 for 50, and the Bridge East Room, the Annex Room and the Terrace Room are $42 apiece for thirty to forty eight people.
Now the rule that matters most, and it is not in the price list. Every pavilion is furnished with picnic tables, and moving them out of a reserved area without advance approval is prohibited by city ordinance. If you want them moved, that is a $225 deposit with a $25 non-refundable fee, requested in writing at least two weeks ahead. So your seating plan is picnic tables in rows, or it is a written request submitted a fortnight before your wedding. Decide which at the start rather than the week before.
Guides that cover this venue
If this one is not quite right
What you actually need to know
- Guest capacity
- Riverfront pavilion 350 for the entire space, Open Air pavilion 348, Log Cabin 110, Promenade Bridge 50, Bridge East Room and Annex Room 48 each, Terrace Room 30. All with picnic table seating already in place.
- Ceremony sites
- Anywhere in the park you have reserved, with the bluff edge and the gardens as the obvious settings. The pavilions themselves are covered, which makes them ceremony sites as well as reception spaces.
- Reception spaces
- Whichever pavilion you have rented, and note that renting a portion rather than the whole is not the same deal: amplified music is only permitted when the reservation is for the entire pavilion. A partial booking means no DJ.
- Getting ready
- Nothing. This is a public park. Get ready in Dubuque and arrive finished.
- If it rains
- The pavilions are covered, which handles rain in the ordinary sense. What it does not handle is your money: refunds are given up to five days before, and there are no refunds for weather related cancellations. On an exposed bluff in Iowa that is a risk to take with open eyes.
- What it costs
- $42 to $330 depending on the pavilion, payable at the time of reservation. Then add the park entrance fee, which is $1.00 per entrance and is explicitly not included in the pavilion rental. For two hundred guests that is another two hundred dollars and, more importantly, a queue at the toll booth unless you buy advance admission tickets.
- What's included
- Picnic tables, barbecue grills and electrical outlets. Fifteen amps in all pavilions, and at shared open-air pavilions the outlets are shared with whoever else has booked a section that day. Fifteen amps will not run a DJ rig, uplighting and catering equipment at once, so plan power properly or hire a generator.
- Parking
- In the park, through the toll booth. Buy advance admission tickets from the time of booking up to two weeks before; groups expecting twenty or more vehicles pay a 7.5 percent administrative fee on the passes, and unused tickets are refundable. One genuinely obscure detail worth checking: the Promenade Bridge overpass has a 12 foot 6 inch clearance, so a coach or a tall van may not get through.
- Where guests stay
- None on site. Downtown Dubuque is a short drive down the bluff, with Hotel Julien and others.
- End of night
- Park season runs from the first Saturday in May to the fourth Sunday in October, with staff at the toll booth from 8:00am to 9:00pm. Confirm your own end time when you book, and plan around the season rather than assuming a date in April will work.
- Vendor rules
- Bring your own caterer, and food trucks are permitted for catered events. Alcohol is allowed, including liquor, provided the proper licensing is obtained through the City Clerk, but everything must be in plastic containers with no glass anywhere, and keg beer is not allowed at all. That last rule quietly rewrites a lot of bar plans.
Worth knowing early: The decorating rules are unusually specific and they are enforced. Battery operated candles only, so no real flame. No nails, staples or tacks. No duct tape, masking tape only. No Chinese lanterns and no confetti balloons. Signs must be self-supporting, meaning attached to wood and stuck in the ground rather than fixed to anything. Any tent or inflatable structure needs a permit from the Fire Marshal's office. Send that list to your florist and your planner the day you book, because almost every one of those is something a wedding supplier would otherwise assume they could do.
The four places worth your time
The bluff edge over Lock and Dam No. 11
The hour before sunset
You can see into three states from up here, with the river and the lock working below. It is the widest view available in this guide and it is a short walk from every pavilion.
Caldwell's limestone pavilions
Late afternoon
Horizontal stone that appears to grow out of the ground, with deep shade under the roofs and hard light outside them. Stand people at the edge of the shade and let the structure frame them; the architecture does the work.
The gardens and the lily pond
Golden hour
Naturalistic planting laid out in the 1930s and matured for ninety years. Very few venues at any price have landscaping this old.
The Promenade Bridge
Any hour
A stone bridge in a park designed by a Prairie School architect is a ready-made frame. It also rents as its own small pavilion for fifty people at eighty four dollars.
Your day, hour by hour
At Eagle Point Park
Full Wedding GalleryPhotographing Eagle Point Park
The picnic tables decide the wedding
They are the seating, they are fixed by ordinance, and moving them costs $225 and needs two weeks written notice. Either embrace long tables under a stone roof, which photographs beautifully and honestly, or start the paperwork early. What does not work is discovering this in the final month.
Whole pavilion or no music
Amplified sound is only permitted when you have reserved the entire pavilion. The cheaper partial bookings are for a picnic, not a reception.
Fifteen amps is not a lot
One circuit will not carry a band, uplighting and a caterer's warming trays. Work out the load in advance and bring a generator if the numbers do not add up, because a tripped breaker during the first dance is not a story anyone wants.
No refund for weather, on a bluff
Refunds stop five days out and weather is explicitly excluded. The pavilions are covered so the day survives, but go in knowing that an exposed Mississippi bluff in October is a genuine gamble you have already paid for.
Eagle Point Park Questions
What couples ask about this venue.
How much does it cost to get married at Eagle Point Park?
Pavilions run $42 to $330. The Riverfront pavilion holds 350 for $330, the Open Air pavilion 348 for $275, the Log Cabin 110 for $127, and the smaller rooms are $42 each. Payment is due at booking, and the $1.00 per person park entrance fee is separate.
Can you move the picnic tables?
Not without approval. City ordinance prohibits moving picnic tables from a reserved area, and a move request requires a $225 deposit including a $25 non-refundable fee, submitted in writing at least two weeks before the event. Requests inside fourteen days may be refused.
Can you have a DJ or a band at Eagle Point Park?
Only if your reservation covers the entire pavilion. Amplified music is not permitted on partial bookings, so the cheaper part-pavilion rates are not viable for a reception with music.
Can you serve alcohol at Eagle Point Park?
Yes, including liquor, with the proper licensing arranged through the Dubuque City Clerk. Everything must be in plastic containers, glass is not permitted anywhere, and keg beer is not allowed at all.
What decorations are allowed?
Battery operated candles only, masking tape only with no duct tape, and no nails, staples or tacks. No Chinese lanterns and no confetti balloons. Signs must be free-standing. Tents and inflatable structures need a permit from the Fire Marshal's office.
When is Eagle Point Park open for weddings?
Park season runs from the first Saturday in May to the fourth Sunday in October. Reservations can be made 11 months in advance and payment is taken at the time of booking.