Kemper Center — Attraction in Kenosha

My wife and I hired Kemper Center for our wedding reception venue, and we found them to be both very expensive, and inflexible. The woman who we had worked with, Mary, we found to be quite helpful. However, during the day before and day of, Kemper had someone else coordinating. This proved to really make our special day a lot harder than it needed to be.

Kemper charges an 18% gratuity on top of its rental fee, as well as for the other charges they make. We attempted to get clear communication from Kemper with our day-of coordinator, but Kemper made a couple of substantial mistakes. Our coordinator was attempting to get in the night before (when we had the rental reserved), and was told that she was not allowed to be there. This required us to recruit several people to prepare the reception hall between the wedding and reception.

Secondly, we had communicated to Kemper that our dinner would be plated. They set up the venue for Family-style instead, so the venue had to be fixed up at the last minute.

Thirdly, we told Kemper that we expected our guests to arrive at 5:15, but our family came about an hour early, not having anywhere to go. The venue was largely set up already. Kemper's staff told my wife to kick out her own family, one of whom had asthma, and was struggling with the heat and humidity outside.

Fourth, we hired Kemper's preferred photographers for our wedding photos, and the photographers had open access to Kemper's upper rooms. The photographers were under the impression that the rooms would be readily accessible to them, so that we could easily go upstairs and take photos. That was not the case. We had to get the photographer to try to get a hold of the Kemper contact, and open the rooms. Thankfully, there was someone there available with the key, so we were able to get some photos, but, with the other hiccups in the wedding, we were not able to get the number of shots that we wanted.

Finally, after the wedding, Kemper called me, asking me to pay the bill for the wedding, without having sent me an itemized invoice. I was told that, typically, the amount has to be paid immediately. My wife and I went on our honeymoon the morning after the wedding. I understand the concept of payment being due upon receipt, but I hadn't actually received a detailed, line-by-line invoice. To demand payment for a bill without presenting an invoice is an unprofessional business practice. Furthermore, the Center should be flexible enough to understand that a couple who goes on a honeymoon right away should not have to interrupt it in order to pay them a week or two earlier.

There are some positive aspects, though. Kemper really is a beautiful venue, and the Simmons Auditorium (which we rented) looks absolutely beautiful when set up. However, for the amount of money we will be paying, we expected much more from Kemper than what we received. If we had to do it over again, we would not have...

My best friend’s wedding ceremony was at the chapel and when we came to night before to rehearse we were met by Patty. She was not one of the employees that the bride had communicated with beforehand about arrangements. Patty had no desire whatsoever to be helpful during rehearsal. I overheard her talking to someone about no open flames when the officiant was talking about the unity candle lighting with the bride and groom. Instead of letting them know immediately that they were not able to have any open flames during the ceremony, she just watched them go over it so, I had to be the one to say hey this lady Patty is saying you guys cannot have an open flame (which was previously approved before rehearsal by an employee).

Patty then made comments about the music choices for walking down the aisle and walking out of the church. She was so rude, unapologetic, and completely lacked customer service. Then we were kicked out early! The bride had been told that we had the space for two hours to rehearse the night before, we had run through a three times and the last bridesmaid showed up so we wanted to run through one more time (we still had thirty minutes). The bride was told no, and that she was not going to let us run though one last time because someone else was going to come after us. Patty made my best friend (the bride) very upset because she was so mean, unfriendly, and rude asking everyone to get out.

Then when the bride asked Patty if she could leave her wedding dress there in the bridal suite that night (which again was promised by an employee ahead of time), she was told no, they had to clean and it would be in the way. The bride did not feel comfortable trusting this woman leaving her wedding dress there for the next day so we had to take it back home and she ended up wearing it to the venue. What’s the point of having a bridal suite available if the bride cannot actually use it to get ready?

I have never seen anyone treat a bride before her wedding day so poorly. Everyone in the wedding party was worried about the wedding day because Patty was so rude and unhelpful the night before. Ordering people around is not her job, she is there to oversee that all needs are met and that the venue space does not get damaged.No surprise Patty was rude to guests of the wedding!

I would absolutely NOT recommend using this venue space if Patty is still...

The chapel and location was absolutely beautiful! I have nothing but great things to rave as far as location. What made our wedding ceremony experience go down was dealing with Patty. Her demeanor was rude and disrespectful, no customer service skills and honestly shouldn’t be working in a place that involves dealing with people and their special events. I had dealt with 2 other people working there prior, Kim and Aaron and they were great. I booked my ceremony, I had the chapel reserved for us the day prior from 3pm-5pm. At 4:30, she stops us and tells us very bluntly and rude “you guys have to go, we only reserve rehearsals for an hour”. I explained to her that I had emails stating otherwise and that it would have been great if that was communicated to me prior. I understand things change as far as staff and all, but she should have honored that or at least have let us known days prior when confirming our events. She was not one bit apologetic or understanding. Months before I was also told I could leave my dress in the bridal suite at rehearsal and when I asked her if I could at least do that before leaving, she made a hissing noise and said that they had to clean still. Again, would have been fine but her way of communication was discourteous. To make matters worse, the actual day of my wedding, several of my guests came to me afterwards saying how rude she was. I had my own usher and wedding coordinator there with timelines and ready to keep our day a flow and she kept trying to insert herself and manage our wedding and telling the groomsmen what to do and not do and how they couldn’t see me and stuff. Ms. Patty if you’re reading this, it’s the groom who can’t see me, that’s it! I had called my brother to come out and help us with his twins and our bags and she wouldn’t let him come out bc he couldn’t see me and needed to stay in the room! Super controlling and ill-mannered. I know it’s a long review but I just would hate for another bride to deal with her impoliteness and unpleasant persona. So I hope the next person booking events there don’t have to deal...