Sanger House Gardens at Historic Brewer’s Hill — Hotel in Milwaukee

Sanger House Gardens is the perfect spot for an intimate wedding celebration!

After a couple attempts at planning a larger wedding fell through due to COVID-19, my husband and I pivoted, cut our guest list to 27 people and moved our wedding celebration to Sanger House Gardens. We are so incredibly glad that we did! Owner Steve is so incredibly kind, and offers the perfect sanctuary in the heart of downtown Milwaukee to host your small event. The gardens have many little pockets of beauty, making it perfect for a ceremony, cocktail hour and reception venue all in one, without having to worry about the hassle of a "room flip." Our nieces and nephews loved exploring the hidden paths and, there are so many lovely spots for photos as well. Additionally, Steve has so many amenities that make hosting your event a breeze - from banquet tables and cafe lights, to tents in case of inclement weather and an easy to use SONOS sound system and mic setup for speeches, Steve has taken out so much of the stress with all the amenities at the ready.

Steve was flexible and accommodating with us, making vendor drop-offs easy to manage, meeting us for a rehearsal walk through, and worked with our planner to put together our vision for the day. On our wedding day, Steve was there the whole time making sure everything ran smoothly, and the gardens were so beautifully maintained, you can tell that he puts so much love into making this a beautiful and special spot.

If you're looking for a sweet spot to host your intimate event, this is truly Milwaukee's hidden gem. One thing to note - your event needs to wrap at 9pm because this is an all outdoor venue in a residential neighborhood. This was no problem for us, but it is worth noting so you can plan an "after-party" location for...

The gardens are pretty. Parking is bad you're expected to park on the street and there is not a lot of room, you should plan to rent a bus or a few vans to transport people there. The contract is also very complex you're expected to know times of when you plan to setup, what kind of music you're playing, how long the music will play, when the music will play, and essentially every little detail of what you plan before booking. Also when we went to see it in person, about two or three weeks ago, we spoke a bit about maybe having a baby and a 8 yr kid there and he said that shouldn't be a problem.when we finally got the contract after about a week and a half later it says no kids at all unless they're two or under. This is fine, we just texted to make sure that was the case. He decided to call and yell about it instead of simply giving us a no or yes, sorry. This is where the unprofessional attitude of owner comes up, he goes on a 15 min tangent about how he hates kids in his gardens and how he doesn't understand why anyone would want kids in their wedding and how people need to hire baby sitters. Then he proceeds to ask how many kids we expected and we told him 4 and a baby then he proceeds to yell again and put us down for wanting kids at our wedding. The venue is affordable but at the cost it comes with an extremely controlling owner who may explode from something he doesn't like, it's just...

I had my wedding here, and the owner, Steve added a lot of stress to a day that was supposed to be peaceful, and serene. From unprofessional language, to controlling behavior, to lurking every minute we utilized the space, to being completely unorganized, unaware and forgetful of previous conversations and terms we discussed. He controlled everything, including the music, which he did not play correctly. As I walked down the aisle, he kept stopping my song, playing it, stopping it. It was the most important moment, and he didn't even apologize. The owner talks to guests rudely, and uses unprofessional language. He's a nice guy, when you're walking through the garden, but BEWARE for private events. He will also charge you for costs that are not disclosed before renting his property, for example, setting up your decor before the wedding starts. He is also not a fan of guests arriving early, although he keeps the garden open for public use up until your ceremony starts - so there shouldn't be a difference whether people arrive early or not. I wasn't going to leave a review, but then I thought, if I was prepared for this kind of behavior and attitude, maybe I wouldn't have been in total shock. It's unfortunate that the owners personality doesn't match the beauty...