Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center — Attraction in Madison

We used the Monona Terrace Rooftop West for our ceremony and the Monona Terrace Community Terrace for our reception. I am blown away by how smooth everything ran and how professional the Monona Terrace staff was until the very last detail of our wedding day! A few highlights: Marcia was an amazing catering coordinator, it was like having our own personal wedding planner. She walked us through every stage of our wedding day and curated a plan for the day that kept us organized and everything running smoothly the day-of. She really made us feel like it was "our day" and took care of so much in the background: timing the bridal party as they walked down the aisle, cueing our DJ, timing the grand entrance, saving us hors d'oeuvres, and having a cocktail ready to go for us when we sat for dinner! She probably did much more than I am even aware of. It was evident she is an experienced professional when it comes to events, she knew all the right places to get staged and had great timing. Monona Terrace did most of the set up so we were only responsible for the centerpieces and a few more decorative items. They moved all our decor from the loading dock to the reception space so it was ready to go early! We received a lot of compliments on the food. I thought my meal (Portobello Wellington) was absolutely amazing! Several people told me it was the best vegetarian option they've ever had at a wedding. Overall, there were great portion sizes and I didn't hear a single complaint. Monona Terrace did all the cleanup after the reception was over, we just needed to pick everything up in the loading dock the next day. The building is an architectural marvel. You can't ask for a better view, a better location, or a more beautiful space. I am being 100% honest when I say: the day was all I dreamed of and more. The Monona Terrace may seem like an expensive venue, but we compared the pricing to many venues in the area and it ended up being about the same price. We got everything we wanted by using the basic wedding package, moderately priced meals (pot roast & bone-in pork rather than steak & salmon for example), we had an open bar for cocktail hour and open beer & wine for the rest of the night, and it ended up being less expensive than we expected. With all the extra benefits we received from an event planning standpoint, not to mention how gorgeous the space is, the Monona Terrace is an amazing value. I would highly recommend The Monona Terrace to any couple getting...

I decided to book Monona Terrace for our wedding back in August of 2019 and I think it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

We decided to attend Dane Dances as a Rehearsal Celebration (in lieu of a rehearsal dinner) the night before. It was the first I've ever been to but so well organized, SO much fun, and the food and drinks were great too! Everyone who attended with us had such a blast and still speak highly of it!

Throughout our engagement, we worked with Micayla Zapata who was one of my favorite people I've had the pleasure of working with for the wedding. She kept us calm, reassured and most importantly, SANE! :) She really knows her stuff, and never once made us feel bad for asking questions, no matter how small. She was very quick to respond to my calls or emails, and always had a plan. She was super informative and kept us on track with everything.

On the day of the wedding, she was there with us right up until we no longer had to worry about a timeline! She made sure we were where we needed to be at all the right times and she would talk us through the next event. As a bride (and groom) it was pretty hard to remember the order of events because you're on cloud 9 the entire time and there's SO much going on around you, but she did a PHENOMENAL job making sure everything went smoothly and I could never find the best way to thank her for everything.

If you're thinking about booking Monona Terrace for your event, I couldn't recommend it more. It's a breath taking venue, the ENTIRE STAFF was absolutely amazing and kind (shout out to the bar manager, Mark!), and they work with you to find what works in your budget.

I'll admit, getting the packets with the information about food, drinks, packages, etc was incredibly overwhelming, but my best advice is literally you do not even need to worry about it until 3 months beforehand, when one of the event planners meets with you. Set yourself a budget, and go from there. IT...

Note: This review has to do with our wedding and how Monona Terrace & staff handled this event.

Very, very unimpressed.

First off, we paid a LOT of money for a 2-decker cake, and it was literally one of the worst cakes I've EVER had... I mean, I'm the world's worst baker and even I've made a better cake than that. Both cakes were so horribly overbaked to the point of you could barely cut them because they had like an inch-thick crust on them. It was bone dry as well. We also asked for raspberry buttercream which was nonexistent, and mango jam which was grainy and tasteless (also barely any in the cake). I wouldn't have paid $30 for that cake. It was so terrible. Monona Terrace wouldn't allow us to bring food from outside, and they didn't allow us to do a taste-test prior to our wedding.

Secondly, I ordered a wooden cake topper off Etsy that had me and my partner's names on it in calligraphy and our wedding date. I was planning on framing it afterwards because it was special. Somehow, Monona Terrace catering broke it into multiple pieces... I have NO idea how they did that. I mean, it was made of wood, and the fact that it was broken into many pieces makes me wonder if they threw it against the wall or something?!? (The floor is all carpeting, so there's no way it would break if it simply fell...) They didn't tell me or anyone about it either, which was a red flag - I had to specifically call a bunch of people to finally find out it was broken. I asked for it all back, and when they shipped it to me there were several major pieces completely missing...

Overall, highly disappointed. I would never ever recommend them for a wedding or important event (please stay away!), and I most definitely won't...