Silverwood Park — Attraction in St. Anthony

My wife and I love this park. The views of nature you can get here are stunning. The colors are just beautiful this time of year and the last time we went, we saw a large number of deer by the hidden pond near the entrance (not the big one with the island in the middle). It's just about as perfect as can be...with one exception.

The modern art displays that have recently become more common in the park are strange and an eyesore. There are a few pictured in this review, and unfortunately many others that are often made of materials that stand in stark contrast to the natural beauty (a recently installed one is a concrete cask with a mowed field of artificial metal or plastic flowers around it, and others are structures made of rusty metal - the rusty "5", concrete, plastic, artificial colors, etc). A few years ago there was even a DVD player set up on a tree stump inside the nature center that looped a video of teenage girls silently throwing cheese puffs at one another in various nature scenes (I'm not joking). The empty container of cheese puffs was displayed next to the stump. These modern art displays have taken over a very nice space inside the nature center, where there was a comfy couch in front of a lovely fireplace. The couch has been removed to make room to display these modern art pieces and the fireplace is never turned on anymore. It's unfortunate - we really miss the ability to cozy up in front of that fireplace. But the park is otherwise very lovely, and we'll be coming back for...

We held a wedding there in 2014 and had some very mixed feelings about the venue. The park and facility was perfect for our spring wedding but there were so many things that happened which made our experience less than enjoyable. The staff was not at all helpful as we were promised. They were responsible to help us do a room flip, yet all they did was inspect our supplies and complained about every little thing even though we stayed within regulation. They did not remove garbage or replace toilet paper, which they was their responsibility. The constant disapproving frown from the staff was extremely annoying to deal with on top of the hectic organizing of the wedding details. The only thing we did not do right was bring compostable napkins... we brought biodegradable instead and $100 was deducted from our deposit.

Overall, the wedding looked beautiful and the guests were happy but Silverwood staff was very unhelpful and overcomplicated an already very stressful day. I felt that they made a lot of promises to get people in the door but neglected our basic needs. I probably wouldn't use this venue again unless they have better management...

Had our wedding ceremony on the amphitheater and our reception in the great hall. The staff was very helpful the whole time, from when we first reserved our spaces, to the event meetings, to the day of our wedding. They were very responsive to our questions and requests and friendly too. The park itself is very beautiful—our ceremony faced out and a little toward the lake. It was a little later in the evening and very hot the day of our wedding, but if we weren't crunched for time, the island would be an awesome place for guests to check out during a "cocktail hour" or something. The park and guest center is very well set-up for weddings with many amenities and helpful equipment on site. In retrospect, I may consider more seriously having our wedding on the patio, since it is free with the Great Hall rental (we ended up with about 180 chairs, which would have fit up on the patio), but the amphitheater is definitely the more aesthetic option and I do not regret having it there. I'm glad my wife and I decided to get married here, and we've already visited the...