The Library — Local services in Chicago

We are still buzzing from our wedding this past weekend that was hosted at the Library! We primarily worked with Gracie who was very responsive to the numerous questions we had leading up to our event. We first contacted them in 2023, and when we asked about having our wedding in October 2025, they agreed to let us book our date at their 2023 rates, saving us $1,000. We loved this location for so many reasons- it's right downtown in the heart of the Loop within walking distance of numerous hotels, and had spacious and comfortable areas for our ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception. Being an old law library gives it such a unique vibe, lending an air of solemnity and grace. Instead of boring hotel walls hidden by drapes, it features majestic columns, visually striking bookshelves, and intimate alcoves where guests can convalesce before heading back out onto the dance floor. We were able to save on decor because the space very much decorates itself, all it needed was a little lighting and candles for it to really pop! The only mild complaints we had were the policy changes that they made after we signed our contract with them- originally we were going to be allowed to have real candles but then were told we had to switch to fake (which is understandable TBH- it IS a library full of books), and we had originally planned to provide our own alcohol, but were then told we would have to have it provided by our caterer instead, which cost more than had we provided it ourselves. There was also a miscommunication about how late we could be at the venue- we had thought that with our contract being until 1 AM, we could keep the party going until that time, only to be told we had to have the party end and guests out by midnight so that the last hour would just be vendors cleaning up. Ultimately, none of these ended up being a problem at all, and we were still able to have a fantastic night, we just wish we'd had a more complete picture at the beginning of our planning process. Additionally, we wanted to have a karaoke afterparty that utilized the massive wall of TVs in The Stacks. Unfortunately it didn't quite end up matching our original vision- getting lyrics up on the TV screen would've been a huge technical endeavor, as they are controlled from a separate AV closet in The Library. We didn't love the exact location where the staff had our DJ set up karaoke in The Stacks, and unfortunately the wifi was causing the lyrics on the DJ's tablet to lag behind the actual music. We still had a pretty good time with the karaoke afterparty, and given that this was the first time the venue had hosted something like it, we understand there were bound to be some growing pains. The Library does have a list of approved vendors, and we went with Maison Cuisine & Sound Investment- we had excellent experiences with both and highly recommend! We also want to shoutout Jeremy, who was our day of event staff member from the Library- his calming presence really helped us relax and focus on the memories we were creating instead of stressing over various details. The Library is an excellent choice of venue that we would pretty enthusiastically recommend to couples! We had a total of 102 people for our event, and both rooms throughout the night had an excellent balance of not feeling too full nor too empty. We got several compliments from our guests and were able to enjoy an elevated experience that we'll be talking...

We booked The Library for our wedding on July 12th. The Library is literally stunning! There’s no denying how beautiful and unique the venue is. It truly created a magical backdrop for our wedding and wowed all of our guests.

However, our experience working with the management team, specifically Gracie and the JLL group, was disappointing and frustrating at times. Communication was inconsistent, aggravating and in some cases, misleading. We were given inaccurate information regarding pricing, which added unexpected stress and caused us to change our initial wedding date. We were also given conflicting information as to whether instrumentalists were allowed in the lobby, compounding our perception that “the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing”. The cherry on top being that after the wedding, we discovered on-site that our décor had been moved without any notice, making pickup confusing and stressful given our limited availability and schedule.

While the venue itself is absolutely gorgeous and offers so much potential, we would caution future couples to pack your patience when working with Gracie and the team. Even when we would make sure everything was clearly documented and confirmed in writing, she would somehow state that we didn’t mention things to her or become very flustered and scattered.

In short: a beautiful space, but a challenging...

As someone who works in the building and got married at the Library, I have nothing but great things to say about this beautiful space. For corporate tenants, it's a great place to take lunch or a unique venue for a meeting. For future couples looking to tie the knot, the Library offers a truly beautiful setting. The gorgeous library space offers a great place for a ceremony and reception, while the Stacks area is a perfect spot for cocktail hour. The lobby is stunning as well, and all our guests raved about how unique the venue was. Be aware you do need to use a caterer on their preferred list, but the rental fee...