Saint Kate - The Arts Hotel has event spaces for any occasion

Welcome back everybody. So the holidays are prime time for engagements and couples may want to get a jump on their wedding planning. Come on now. Brian Cram joins us from the St. Kate, the Arts Hotel, getting a look at the venues. Brian, not for you, but for some people who want to be in your shoes. I don't know what to do. You know what, that's funny you say that, Donovan, because I said the exact same thing to Holly. Now, when we're talking about this, I was like, Holly, it's not for me. I already did this. But what I say, we can plan for other occasions, and you guys do that really well, don't you? We do, we do. We're here for anything you need. I love it. Anything you need. So if it's a retirement party, which is still a ways away, corporate events as well, larger life celebrations, I guess you can do that. We're outside the studio right now. It's holiday parties. Thank you, Nicola. I love the studio and cocktail lounge. I mean, this is a place place to go to eat to drink to be seen as well and as we walk over here one of the things you guys might not even realize that Holly just kind of like showed me and reminded me of today is that there's a bookcase but how I look behind a bookcase I see an open door sometimes and I go right through it It was different, though, than it is now. So this is... Yeah, it's a totally cool room. What do you guys use this for? We use this for really anything. We could do small ceremonies in here, rehearsal dinners, corporate holiday parties, really a versatile space for anything you need. I love this. I mean, this is an area that has so many options when it comes to booking a party or some part of the party. Let's get down to it. You've been with Marcus for like eight years or so. It's got to be fun. Like helping couples book their parties. For you, I guess, where do you start when you do this? Is it the dining, is it the rooms you're staying in, is it the ballroom, where do you start? Right, well I mean here at St. Kate we make it pretty easy for you. We are pretty much a one-stop shop for everything you need for your wedding weekend. So we try to encourage guests, you're not just booking a venue, you're booking the experience. So here it starts with the guest rooms. Now you're checking into the guest floors, you're having your rehearsal dinner here the night before, Yeah. Moving right into the ceremony, moving into the dinner, even the post-wedding brunch the day after. Oh my gosh. I mean, we really keep it all. Is that where the post-wedding brunch is, too? Is it in the studio? Or no? We have so many different spaces. Yeah. We actually have the flexibility. You can have each of those events in a different space than at the hotel. Yeah. Well. So it's really exciting. And the good thing is there's the same culinary team that's behind all the great food that you're already eating. Correct. And the drinks and all the mixologists, too. So this is one space. I don't even know how I would use it. What do you recommend for a couple that's having their wedding here? How would they use this? Yeah, I mean, the darkroom in specifics, it's really great for rehearsal dinners. It's a really nice, intimate, moody space that kind of sets the feel for the wedding weekend ahead. You can always do a post-wedding brunch in this space. If, you know, guests are checking into the hotel, they can walk right upstairs to be kind of greeted as a farewell brunch. Even a smaller wedding ceremony itself can be held in here. When you said post-wedding brunch, I thought you were going to say poker game. Poker game. I mean, hey, we can do that. You never know. It could be a poker game for the grooms, right? Yeah, absolutely. And then, or maybe... Some other things for the ladies in here as well. So when we're booking, though, how far out in advance do we need to book? Because I know a lot of people are concerned about that, especially now. Yeah, I mean, it never hurts to get a head start and really try to book far out. We do have openings that pop in even in the year sometimes. So really there's no limitations on when we can start bookings. And we can do this on a Thursday, Friday, too, because some weddings are actually happening that day. Yeah, it's more common now. Those days because they're open and different schedules and everything. We're actually seeing a pretty big trend in Friday. Friday wedding is going on right now. Is there? Okay, so you heard that, guys. Friday wedding is big in 2027, so if you're booking, let's do this. I love this space, but also I kind of get the vibe of what's happening here. Let's go out and remind people about the studio and the fact that there is something else over here. Wait, Graham, I have a question. It's a great place to dine. Oh, hold on a second. Yeah, yeah. Nicola, what do you got? What do you got? This is going to sound like it's for me. It's not by any means. I just like when couples are coming in, like they probably should be engaged first, right? To be like, I just feel like, well, or not necessarily. I know. Okay. That's. I'm just thinking, if you want to be taken seriously, Have you ever encountered a couple coming in to plan that has not been engaged first? Because I've heard that that's a thing now. Personally, I have not. I know some people book their wedding venue before they even know they're getting engaged. Props to them. But I have not personally. Well, you know what we can do, too? We could close the door. We could create a space for the couple, right? And somebody's going to surprise with the ring here. There you go. Maybe deck it out for something special. Yeah. Oh, can we have more questions? I love it, Erica. What do you got? No, because I love that it's like one place that you could have the guests stay, you could do the rehearsal dinner the next day for brunch. What about like the team? Do they have a team that also helps with maybe like florals and things like that? Because obviously, you know, the chef there could do all the meals, but you know, what's the team like? Yeah, so Holly, we were talking about the all-inclusive idea of the wedding, and you guys have that team here, you know, from culinary to the planning side, so it's not just you doing all the planning. Can we do floral? Can we get, you know, everything ready to go just with the help of you guys? So we do work with a lot of outside vendors for things like florals, but we design our wedding packages to be pretty all-inclusive to what you need. Perfect. So we like to include things like personalized his-and-hers cocktails, butler-passed hors d'oeuvres for the couple. We have a cocktail hour, you know, course of dinner menus. Photographer? We do not supply the photographer. Okay. Artist? Because he had a lot of art. You never know. Can there be a live artist? Honestly, we've seen it all. Right. We've seen magicians. We've seen everything. You know, I'm sorry to cut you off. No, you're fine. She said something, guys, that my wife and I, we had a drink as well. And I don't know, Derica, if you had a drink with your husband, but we had the bristie. So we put Brian and Christy together. The bristie. We had the bristie. Bless you. Don't remember what was in the bristie. But it was a tasty beverage. When we come back, guys, we're going to see some more of the space here. As you can tell, this is the dark room, so we've got to close the door in the dark room. Holly, come on. I'll close the door. It's back to a bookshelf, but we're going down the hall to the ballroom to see more of what they offer here at St. Kate the Arts Hotel for your wedding and or celebrations. Thanks, Holly. Who loves the space? Such a beautiful venue. They could do so much there. I love that it's all-inclusive, too, that you can curate your own wedding experience, you know? As a guest, I like going to weddings. weddings where I can stay at the venue because it's like you don't have to worry about your transportation. If you need to like go freshen up you can go upstairs. It makes it easier. Agreed. All right well from wedding season to holidays Thanksgiving is right around the corner. We have fun and inexpensive ways to get the whole family in the celebration coming up next. Welcome back to Real Milwaukee. We're at St. Kate, the Arts Hotel, looking at some delicious hors d'oeuvres that you could have and enjoy, your guests could enjoy them, if you so choose to have your wedding or your big party here. Holly's joining us again. Holly, as the events manager, I know that you've probably sampled some of the food. How good are those, though? These are my favorite ones. They are delicious. There you go, Chef. Whip me up my favorite. Absolutely. He knows. He already knows. Yeah, he already knows. Whip me up my favorite so we can show everybody what some of the hors d'oeuvres are I love that you have such a great We have a great team, a culinary team here in-house. You don't have to outsource for the food, you don't have to arrange for it. You know that it's going to be fresh, it's going to be warm, and we can come here and try it any day basically. Correct. All right, let's go to the event space as we're walking around here. Talk about the experience that you guys offer here at St. Kate the Arts Hotel for like a wedding. Absolutely. So we try to make the planning process as seamless as possible. Our wedding packages are designed to include everything you need for your wedding in terms of Cocktail hour hors d'oeuvres, his and hers personalized cocktails, course dinner menus, even including things like a dance floor, staging for the DJ. I mean, we really try to make it as seamless as possible. I'm so glad that you brought up a dance floor as well as staging for the DJ because in the space that we're going into, which is the Simone Ballroom, you can see there's a partition set up there. But last time I actually stepped foot in here, I saw a band perform in here, and it was quite the occasion. So you guys can have live music in here, and you can bring... Basically, the party as well. During the party. Yeah, you can bring the party. When it comes to the lighting in here, what's the vibe that you guys can create? Do you do, like, up lighting? Do you offer any colored lighting? Because that's a big deal for a lot of wedding parties. It is, absolutely. I mean, we have adjustable dim lighting in here with our beautiful chandeliers. We do offer different up lighting and things like that, too, to really just set the scene. The best thing about St. Kate is, if you notice, there's art all over the walls. I mean, there's really not a whole lot you need to do to make the space come to life. Yeah, and I like the fact that, too... You have an artist in residence downstairs in the main lobby, which is a beautiful lobby. I mean, one of my favorite lobbies in all of downtown when it comes to, I guess, The approachability, you feel like you're kind of special walking in, you have the valet parking, you have parking on site, all of those accommodations I think a lot of people think about when people are coming in from out of town as well. Plus the overnight stay, it's not just one night, it can be two nights. And we talk about that too because it's a wedding party usually, but then, you know, guests, parents. So, it's really, really nice for us, especially if you have guests coming from out of town. We do offer discounted room blocks, so you can reserve a block of rooms just for your wedding party here at the hotel. What's the max capacity for rent for a little bit of, I mean, can you do... A sizable amount, but enough to make sure. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we pretty much ask the couples out front, hey, you know, is there how many guests are coming from out of town? How many guests do you think will stay over? And we customize each booking for the specific guest. I would imagine you have a line of questions, too, that you ask. What are some of the big ones, the big questions that you ask them to make sure that they have and need, excuse me, get everything they need? Right. I mean, I think the biggest question that I ask my couples is, what is most important to you? Yeah. You know, what's your priority? Is it, you know, a great dining experience? Is it, you know, your guest comfortability? Is it a swanky cocktail hour? Everyone has different priorities. You just said three things that I would check. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Good booze at the bar, you know? No, the space, there's that partition there. It doesn't go, is it the same size room behind that wall? It's about the same size. It's probably another panel, so maybe another third of that space there. Yeah. But also then this room can be split in half too because I can see that this, so you can do large, small. Absolutely. Yeah, I mean as large as what number would you say for a wedding? Yeah, I would say roughly 300 guests or so we can fit in here. Just depending on what you need, you know, the size of your dance floor, the size of your stage. It's a little customizable on what your needs are. What would you say this size would be? You're 125 at ours, is that about that? Yeah, I would say about 150 or so for this size here. Now in this space too, would you set up tables? Would it be, you know, the dining happens here and then the party also happens here? Yeah, so the best thing about this is no weddings really have to look the same. Whether you have your cocktail hour in the art gallery downstairs or up in the foyer here, We provide all the staging, all the tables, whether that's round tables, square tables. We can really be customizable. What do you think is most important about the experience? I would say just having fun, honestly. If you're setting it up, I think you're going to make sure that the couples have fun. Am I missing anything? I haven't planned a wedding in, like, you know, how many years? This is the problem that I get kicked in the shins. Brian, you don't know when you were married? In like 15 to 16 years, we haven't planned a wedding. I mean, there's so many new elements to weddings nowadays, too. We try to make it as easy as possible. I think it's just about, you know, finding a venue and team you trust to really help you see your vision and bring it to life. Well, it's cool that you're able to do that. And I know working with the company for eight years, you definitely have that capability, too, as events manager. Who should we, how should we contact? Absolutely. I mean, there's many ways to contact us. You can call the front desk directly. Quickly, you can email us at our website really anyway we'll get it to the right hands. There you go well these are these are yours these are your favorite those are in your hands now they're my lunch for today. Fox local for more information guys I'll tell you what if you're celebrating maybe you can do it here right or if you're planning for something bigger in life like a wedding get engaged first though before you plan