Weddings at the Hall of Laureates.
The old Des Moines Public Library, brought back in a $29.8 million restoration and renamed for Norman Borlaug, the Iowan whose work is credited with saving a billion people from famine. It is the most expensive room in this guide and the only one that comes with a police officer.
100 Locust Street, on the Principal Riverwalk
The Venue
Why World Food Prize Hall of Laureates photographs the way it does.
Understand the money before anything else, because the shape of it is unusual. The rental is $6,950, paid in two instalments of $3,475. On top sits a $3,475 damage deposit and $255 of insurance. So the cheque you write totals $10,680 and the true cost is $7,205, with the difference coming back if nothing is damaged. That distinction matters: you need ten thousand six hundred available, not seven.
What that buys is the whole building. All three floors, exclusively, because only one event is booked at a time. The Rotunda, the Borlaug Ballroom, the Ruan Laureates Room, the Iowa Gallery, the Founders Boardroom, the Des Moines Mural Room with its restored WPA murals, the garden, and the Principal Riverwalk outside. Two hundred and fifty chairs and seventy five tables come with it, along with cleaning before and after, garden access, and a police officer on site.
The building is the argument. This was the city's public library, and the World Food Prize Foundation restored it as the Hall of Laureates for Norman Borlaug, the Iowa-born agronomist who won the Nobel Peace Prize. Getting married in a Beaux-Arts rotunda named for him is a specific thing to want, and if you want it there is no substitute anywhere in the state.
Guides that cover this venue
If this one is not quite right
What you actually need to know
- Guest capacity
- Quoted at 400, with 250 chairs and 75 tables included in the rental. Those two numbers are doing different jobs: 400 is what the building holds across three floors, and 250 is what you can seat without hiring more chairs. Ask which applies to a seated dinner in your chosen room.
- Ceremony sites
- The Rotunda, one of the ballrooms, or outside in the garden. The Rotunda is the reason most couples look here, and it is a vertical, symmetrical space rather than a long one, which changes how a processional works.
- Reception spaces
- All the public spaces across three floors, including the Borlaug Ballroom, the Ruan Laureates Room, the Iowa Gallery and the Des Moines Mural Room. A wedding here moves between floors rather than sitting in one room, which is a genuinely different evening and needs a plan for how guests are guided.
- Getting ready
- Not on site in the morning, because access begins at 1:00pm. Get ready at a downtown hotel and arrive; there is no version of this where you are in the building at ten.
- If it rains
- Complete. Three floors of interior space mean weather costs you the garden and the riverwalk rather than any part of the wedding.
- What it costs
- $6,950 rental in two payments of $3,475, plus a $3,475 refundable damage deposit and $255 insurance through the venue's provider, for a total outlay of $10,680. That is the highest room-only figure in this guide, and catering is on top of it. The insurance can rise if you add events around the wedding.
- What's included
- Access to all public spaces on three floors from 1:00pm to midnight, 250 chairs, 75 tables, cleaning before and after the event, garden access, a police officer, and engagement photograph opportunities in the building. The officer is not something any other venue in this guide lists, and it tells you something about how the building is treated.
- Parking
- Downtown Des Moines at 100 Locust Street. Sort out where guests park and tell them in advance rather than leaving a hundred and fifty people to find their own answer on a Saturday evening.
- Where guests stay
- None on site, but this is central Des Moines and the hotel choice is good. Hotel Fort Des Moines is close.
- End of night
- Access runs 1:00pm to midnight, eleven hours, and all guests and the wedding party must depart by midnight. That is a generous window and a firm end, so build the evening to use the front of it rather than assuming you can run late.
- Vendor rules
- Not published, and this is the gap to close first. A restored landmark full of artwork and historic fabric will have rules about catering, alcohol, open flame and what may be attached to anything. Ask for them in writing before you plan decor, and ask specifically what is permitted in the rooms containing the murals.
Worth knowing early: The one o'clock start. Eleven hours sounds generous until you notice it begins at one in the afternoon, which means every hour of morning preparation happens somewhere else and everything the wedding needs arrives in the same window as the guests. For a building this size, with a florist working across three floors, that is tighter than it reads. Ask whether any earlier access is possible and what it costs.
The four places worth your time
The Rotunda
Ceremony, and again once it is lit
A Beaux-Arts rotunda is a vertical room, so shoot it as one: get height, get the symmetry, and include the dome. Photographed like an ordinary hall it looks like an ordinary hall, which is the one mistake this space punishes.
The Des Moines Mural Room
Any hour, it is interior
Restored WPA murals from the Depression, which is a painted backdrop nothing else in this guide can offer. Watch the colour they throw into the room, and confirm what you are permitted to do near them before planning anything against those walls.
The garden and the Principal Riverwalk
The hour before sunset
Open sky and water directly outside a landmark building in a downtown. It is the only daylight the day will give you after one o'clock, so protect it.
The staircases between floors
Whenever the party moves
A three floor building means people are constantly in transit, and stairs in a restored library are architecture rather than circulation. Some of the best candid frames of the night will happen on them.
Your day, hour by hour
At World Food Prize Hall of Laureates
Full Wedding GalleryPhotographing World Food Prize Hall of Laureates
Ten thousand six hundred, not seven
The rental is $6,950 and the true cost after the refund is $7,205, but the money that has to exist is $10,680. Couples budget the net figure and then find the deposit has to be funded too. Plan the cash flow, not just the price.
One o'clock is the real constraint
Eleven hours is generous; starting at one in the afternoon is not. Morning prep is elsewhere, and setup for three floors happens in the same window your guests arrive in. Ask about earlier access, and if the answer is no, build the schedule backwards from it in detail.
Shoot the building vertically
Rotunda, dome, staircases, three floors. This is a building that rewards looking up and punishes shooting it flat. If the architecture is why you booked, make sure the coverage plan actually includes it rather than treating it as background.
Settle the artwork rules early
Restored WPA murals and a landmark interior mean there will be rules about flame, attachment and proximity that nobody publishes. Get them in writing before the florist quotes, not after.
World Food Prize Hall of Laureates Questions
What couples ask about this venue.
How much does a wedding at the Hall of Laureates cost?
The rental is $6,950, paid as two instalments of $3,475, plus a $3,475 refundable damage deposit and $255 insurance, for a total outlay of $10,680. Catering is separate. It is the highest room-only cost in this guide.
What is included in the rental?
Access to all public spaces across three floors from 1:00pm to midnight, 250 chairs, 75 tables, cleaning before and after, garden access, engagement photograph opportunities and a police officer on site. Only one event is booked at a time, so the building is exclusively yours.
How many guests does the Hall of Laureates hold?
Quoted at 400 across the building, with 250 chairs included. Treat 250 as the seated figure unless you are hiring additional chairs, and confirm the number for the specific room you plan to dine in.
What time does the building open on the wedding day?
1:00pm, and everyone must be out by midnight. That is eleven hours, but it means no morning preparation on site and all setup for three floors happening in the afternoon. Ask whether earlier access can be arranged.
What building is the Hall of Laureates?
The former Des Moines Public Library, restored by the World Food Prize Foundation in a $29.8 million project and named for Norman Borlaug, the Iowa-born agronomist who won the Nobel Peace Prize. It holds restored WPA murals and a Beaux-Arts rotunda.
More Venues
Getting married at World Food Prize Hall of Laureates?
Let's talk about your day. I already know the light.
Inquire Now