Weddings at The Hotel at Kirkwood.
A AAA Four Diamond hotel with a 7,454 square foot ballroom, a glass pre-function hall, an atrium with a baby grand, and a formal garden outside. It is the largest indoor capacity in Cedar Rapids and it publishes its ceremony prices, which almost nobody does.
A four diamond hotel on the Kirkwood campus, south Cedar Rapids
The Venue
Why The Hotel at Kirkwood Center photographs the way it does.
Cedar Rapids couples usually start by asking about Brucemore, and the answer is that Brucemore does not host weddings; the bequest to the National Trust prohibits private events. Once that is settled, the question becomes where in town holds a large guest list well, and this is the honest answer.
The ballroom seats up to 450, which is the largest indoor number in the city. But the reason to look closely is the flexibility around it: an atrium for the ceremony with a baby grand piano and a microphone included, a 4,100 square foot pre-function hall with floor to ceiling windows for cocktails, and a formal garden that handles 20 to 300 outdoors. Ceremony, cocktails and dinner each get a different room, which means no flip and no rushed hour.
This is ten minutes from my studio and it is the venue I recommend to couples who want a large, weather proof, everyone-sleeps-here wedding in Cedar Rapids. It is a hotel, so it will never give you a barn's character, but it gives you things a barn cannot: air conditioning in July, a real bridal preparation room, and guests who walk upstairs at midnight.
What you actually need to know
- Guest capacity
- Up to 450 banquet style in the 7,454 square foot ballroom. The pre function area holds 300, and the formal garden handles 20 to 300 for an outdoor ceremony.
- Ceremony sites
- The Atrium indoors, which includes a microphone for your officiant and access to the hotel's baby grand piano, or the Formal Garden outdoors for 20 to 300 guests.
- Reception spaces
- The ballroom for dinner and dancing, with the 4,100 square foot pre function hall and its floor to ceiling windows as the cocktail space. Because these are separate rooms, there is no flip between ceremony and dinner.
- Getting ready
- A dedicated wedding preparation room, available when you reserve a room the night before. Book that night; a real preparation room with hotel service beats every barn suite in this guide.
- If it rains
- Excellent. The garden ceremony moves to the atrium, which is a genuine room rather than a fallback, and the rest of the day was always indoors. Rain costs you the garden and nothing else.
- What it costs
- Published, which is refreshing: $1,000 to rent the Atrium for a ceremony (including chair setup, riser, microphone, piano access and rehearsal space) and $400 for the outdoor garden. Catering is quoted separately by the on site culinary team. Ask for the full food and beverage minimum at your guest count.
- What's included
- A professional event planner assigned to your wedding, setup and teardown, decoration and catering handled by staff, and a guaranteed ceremony rehearsal the evening before. The ceremony rental includes chairs, riser, microphone and piano access.
- Parking
- Ample on the Kirkwood campus, and free. For a 300 guest wedding in a city venue that is genuinely unusual and worth counting as a benefit.
- Where guests stay
- Hotel rooms on site for guests plus a suite for the couple. A block here doubles as your transportation plan and removes the drive home entirely.
- End of night
- Hotel event end times apply and there are sleeping guests overhead. Get your end time and last call in writing before you sign.
- Vendor rules
- Catering and bar are in house through the hotel's culinary team. Outside catering is generally not available, which simplifies planning and removes a cost lever.
Worth knowing early: Sunday weddings take 50 percent off the event space fees and carry no food and beverage minimum. On a large guest list that is a saving in the thousands, and Sunday of a holiday weekend behaves exactly like a Saturday for out-of-town guests. If your date has any flexibility at all, price a Sunday before you book.
The four places worth your time
The pre function hall, floor to ceiling windows
Late afternoon
Four thousand square feet of glass is the best light source in any Cedar Rapids venue. Portraits a few feet inside those windows look like they were made outdoors.
The Formal Garden
The hour before sunset
Structured planting gives clean, uncluttered backgrounds. It is the outdoor look here, so build the timeline to be in it when the light turns.
The Atrium and the baby grand
Any hour
Height, architecture and a piano. An unusual and genuinely elegant frame that costs nothing extra because the piano comes with the ceremony rental.
The Kirkwood campus grounds
Golden hour, a short walk out
Open campus ground beyond the hotel gives sky and space when the garden feels too tidy. Worth ten minutes for a different register.
Your day, hour by hour
At The Hotel at Kirkwood Center
Full Wedding GalleryPhotographing The Hotel at Kirkwood Center
Price a Sunday first
Half off the space fees and no food and beverage minimum is the single biggest lever at this venue. On 250 guests it is a five figure difference in the wrong direction if you do not ask.
Three rooms means no flip
Ceremony in the atrium, cocktails in the glass hall, dinner in the ballroom. Nobody stands in a hallway while chairs are moved, and your cocktail hour is actually an hour.
Book the night before
The preparation room requires an overnight reservation. It is the difference between getting ready in a proper room with service and getting ready in somebody's hotel bathroom.
The Hotel at Kirkwood Center Questions
What couples ask about this venue.
Can you get married at Brucemore in Cedar Rapids?
No. Brucemore does not host weddings or wedding receptions. When Margaret Douglas Hall left the estate to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the bequest prohibited private events, and only corporate donors and non profits may rent it for mission related use. It is the most common Cedar Rapids venue question and the answer surprises people.
How many guests does The Hotel at Kirkwood hold?
Up to 450 banquet style in the 7,454 square foot ballroom, which is the largest indoor wedding capacity in Cedar Rapids. The pre function hall holds 300 and the formal garden handles 20 to 300 for an outdoor ceremony.
What does a wedding at The Hotel at Kirkwood cost?
Ceremony rental is published: $1,000 for the Atrium including chairs, riser, microphone, piano access and rehearsal space, or $400 for the outdoor garden. Catering is quoted by the in house culinary team. Sunday weddings take 50 percent off event space fees with no food and beverage minimum.
Is a Sunday wedding really worth considering?
At this venue, yes. Half off the space fees plus no food and beverage minimum is a saving in the thousands on a large guest list. On a holiday weekend a Sunday behaves like a Saturday for guests who have travelled, and almost nobody asks about it.
Do you photograph here?
Yes. Studio Y is based in Cedar Rapids about ten minutes away, and this is the venue I point couples toward when they want a large, weather proof wedding in town with everyone lodged on site. Collections begin at $5,500 with no travel fee in Cedar Rapids.
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