Weddings at the Iowa State Memorial Union.
Three ballrooms on central campus, seating up to 550, with catering, setup, audio visual and guest rooms all in the building. If you met at Iowa State, the argument for this venue is not the ballroom. It is what is across the street.
Central campus, across from the Campanile and Lake LaVerne
The Venue
Why Iowa State Memorial Union photographs the way it does.
The Campanile is the reason. Iowa State's bell tower stands on central campus a short walk from the Memorial Union doors, and campaniling, being kissed beneath it as the bells sound at midnight, is the tradition every Iowa Stater knows. One of the ballrooms is named the Campanile Room. If that means something to the two of you, no other venue in this guide can offer it, and the whole day should be built around getting out there at the right hour rather than treating it as an afterthought.
The practical case is strong on its own. Up to 550 seated makes it one of the largest continuous ballroom spaces in central Iowa, and the ballrooms divide, so a wedding of fifty to a hundred and fifty gets a room that fits rather than a hall that echoes. Weddings start at $2,346 for fifty guests, and that figure includes ISU Catering, complimentary setup and teardown and audio visual, which makes it an all-in number rather than a rental you then have to build on.
Read that pricing structure carefully against the rest of this guide. Roughly forty seven dollars a head as a starting point, with food already inside it, sits very differently from a venue quoting a thousand dollar rental and then a caterer. Ask for the quote at your real guest count, and ask what moves between a Saturday in June and a Friday in February.
Guides that cover this venue
If this one is not quite right
What you actually need to know
- Guest capacity
- Up to 550 seated banquet style. Three ballrooms that can be separated or combined, which the union states explicitly serves weddings of 50 to 150 as well as the large end. Get the seated figure for your own layout with a dance floor in place.
- Ceremony sites
- Indoors in the Great Hall, the South Ballroom or the Campanile Room, or outdoors on the campus lawn spaces, which rent at $520 each for a full day. If the ceremony and reception share a ballroom that is a flip, so establish where guests go while it happens.
- Reception spaces
- The Great Hall, South Ballroom and Campanile Room, used singly or together. The names matter here more than usual, because the Campanile Room is the one that carries the tie to the tower for an Iowa State couple.
- Getting ready
- There are guest rooms in the building, which is unusual for a campus venue and genuinely useful. Ask for a room with a window facing campus and get in early, because a union interior is lit for students rather than for photographs.
- If it rains
- Effectively solved. Everything except the lawns is indoors and the ballrooms hold your whole guest list, so weather costs you an outdoor ceremony and the walk to the Campanile rather than the wedding. Have a wet-weather answer for the Campanile portraits specifically, since that is the part you will actually mind losing.
- What it costs
- Weddings start at $2,346 for 50 guests, with ISU Catering, setup, teardown and audio visual included. Outdoor lawn spaces are $520 each for the full day. Because catering sits inside the headline figure, this is not comparable to a rental-only venue without adding a caterer to the other one first.
- What's included
- Complimentary setup and teardown, audio visual service, in-house catering and guest room accommodation in the building. That is a substantial list and it removes several of the line items couples forget to budget.
- Parking
- Campus parking, which is straightforward on a quiet weekend and considerably less so otherwise. Send guests specific directions to a specific ramp rather than an address.
- Where guests stay
- Rooms in the Memorial Union itself, plus Ames hotels nearby. Guests sleeping in the building they are celebrating in is a real convenience, particularly for older relatives.
- End of night
- Ask, and get it in writing. This is a working student union with its own operating hours and programming, so your window is set by the building rather than negotiated on the night.
- Vendor rules
- ISU Catering is used exclusively for food and beverage, so catering is a fixed structure rather than a lever. Negotiate on menu, not on supplier, and confirm the bar arrangement in the same conversation.
Worth knowing early: Home football Saturdays. Ames on a game weekend means hotel rooms gone, campus parking full and a town with a hundred thousand other people in it. Check the Cyclone schedule against your date before you fall for a room, and if the date is fixed, book accommodation the moment you have it. The same warning applies to graduation weekends and move-in, which are a campus venue's other two immovable objects.
The four places worth your time
The Campanile on central campus
Golden hour, and again after dark
The single most meaningful frame available to an Iowa State couple, and it is a short walk from the door. Shoot it wide enough to get the whole tower, then close for the two of them beneath it. If the bells are part of your story, find out when they ring.
Lake LaVerne
The hour before sunset
Water immediately beside the Memorial Union, with the campus behind it and the resident swans if they are out. Light coming off water at low sun is the most flattering thing on this campus and it is thirty seconds from the ballroom.
Central campus lawns and the older buildings
Late afternoon into open shade
Mature trees and stone. This is the part of Ames that looks like the memory people have of it, and it is why couples come back here to get married.
A campus-facing guest room in the morning
Getting ready
The best natural light you will find inside the building. Ask for the aspect when you book the room rather than taking what you are given.
Your day, hour by hour
At Iowa State Memorial Union
Full Wedding GalleryPhotographing Iowa State Memorial Union
Build the day around the tower
Everything else here exists in other buildings. The Campanile does not. Put it in the timeline as a fixed appointment with a start time, the same way the ceremony is, or it becomes a rushed ten minutes in the dark after the toasts.
The price already contains dinner
Two thousand three hundred and forty six dollars for fifty is roughly forty seven a head with ISU Catering inside it. Comparing that against a venue's bare rental will mislead you badly in both directions. Add catering to the other quote before you decide anything.
Check the football schedule first
A home game weekend takes the hotel rooms, the parking and the calm out of Ames simultaneously. This is the first thing to check, before the tour and before the quote.
Ballroom light is what you bring
A union ballroom is an interior room with no meaningful daylight. Do portraits outside on campus before you go in, and treat the reception as a lit set rather than a room that will help you.
Iowa State Memorial Union Questions
What couples ask about this venue.
How much does a wedding at the Iowa State Memorial Union cost?
Weddings start at $2,346 for 50 guests, and that figure includes ISU Catering, complimentary setup and teardown and audio visual. Outdoor lawn spaces are $520 each for a full day. Because food is inside the headline number, it is not directly comparable to a rental-only venue.
How many guests does the Memorial Union hold?
Up to 550 seated banquet style, across three ballrooms that can be divided or combined. The union states the spaces also serve weddings of 50 to 150, so a smaller guest list gets a room that fits rather than a hall that echoes.
Can you get married at the Campanile?
The Campanile stands on central campus a short walk from the Memorial Union, and the Campanile Room is named for it. Ask the union what is permitted at the tower itself and treat the portraits there as a fixed appointment in the timeline, because that is the frame an Iowa State couple actually came for.
Can you bring your own caterer?
No. ISU Catering is used exclusively for food and beverage. Negotiate on the menu rather than the supplier, and settle the bar arrangement at the same time.
Are there hotel rooms at the Memorial Union?
Yes, the building has guest room accommodation, which is unusual for a campus venue. Book early and check your date against the Iowa State home football schedule, because a game weekend removes rooms across the whole of Ames.
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