Corrigan Station — Local services in Kansas City

Wedding Venue: It is very hard for me to write a bad review, but I wish I'd known all this things before signing my contract with Corrigan Station. The venue is gorgeous, but be aware you are paying for the view. The main issue with this venue is that is new and have NO EXPERIENCE WITH WEDDINGS. Therefore, will NOT be able to help you when things go south, like in our case, with weather. During the planing time, they kept changing their contract terms, and sending us emails with the new terms,. We had to constantly remind them of the terms we signed under, like for example trying to add a $1200 fee to use the new bar, which was not even under construction when we booked the place.

Things you NEED to know. There is NO place for the bride to get ready, or your spouse, you might use the "backup" space in the basement for one of you, but not comfortable, just a few couches and a dark place. There are NO service elevators, that means your vendors, the food, and all your guest will share elevators. There is no kitchen for catering, just a small sink, consider this when booking, we had a hard time after the fact finding a venue that will do a platted service due to this. They only allow you ONE HOUR for set up, when most places allow you to get there the morning of. Knowing this will not be enough, they charge you for "extra set up time" by the hour. They will charge you to "set up" meaning putting the tables out for you. We wanted to do the ceremony there as well, so we paid 3 flips. From nothing to ceremony, from ceremony to reception, and from reception back to nothing. If you want to do the ceremony, be aware that you will need to "walk through" a floor of offices, literally between the desks, in order to make it to the other side, without people seeing you. Those are just some of the things in general pertaining to the venue. Our experience, on top of all that goes beyond.

The day of, we ended up having the reception in the backup space (basement) because of weather. Something we knew could happen.

Once we starting the set up process, there was a strong sewer smell. The person from Corrigan (who is supposed to be there in case of this things) said there was nothing she could do and to go "buy candles". My bridesmaids had to run to buy candles, odor eliminator sprays, and plugs for scents. Bathrooms were dirty, and although we asked them to clean them, nobody showed up. Chairs had dust on them, and my own friends have to rush and dust them off before other guest arrived. Although we had up-lighting and the DJ had his own lights, you could not tell, because the lights of the actual venue (plain white) would not turn off. The placed looked pretty bad with those lights, even with all the efforts and decorations we had. And foremost, I was disappointing to see a complete light up dance floor. Again, the coordinator words were "there's nothing I can do". Overall, my experience with Corrigan station was nothing but stressful. They do not know what they are doing, and have no experience with weddings. Do yourself a favor and DO NOT get this venue, you will feel more comfortable knowing that you have a place that has done wedding many times and know how to work...

The rooftop space itself, 5/5! Everything else you have to deal with regarding the third party team (Skyline&Co.) that keeps it booked, 2/5. I think they're great fir first weddings and people that may want to use them and pay $4K for a coordinator, but not for smaller things or people who are trying to keep things simple.

I will say it was very noticeable that the team does not work with people of color often in terms of people booking their spaces. Not one review on their site was from a person of color. None of their preferred vendors are black owned or operated. These days I would expect at least one. Hopefully they add the one I used for my event.

Prices were not always set in stone, and would change depending on when and who you ask. Capitalization is definitely the name of their game! But they would honor original quotes. Apparently there was contract changing...a lot. I highly recommend a paper trail. Fees for everything - Parking they changed from no fees to free because some things changed, which was nice. Buyout fees for caterers/vendors also.

Need some extra tables due to the informal sitting area, also an extra fee because someone has to ride the elevator with the tables up to the roof.

The drink package HAS to go through them. No you can not use other qualified insured drink companies. Major downfall for the venue/ company in my opinion. They need to revamp their open bar package in our opinion especially for the price they ask for! I paid over $2K for their cash bar buying drink tickets for my guests, and everybody said their drinks were absolute trash!! Super disappointing! But also glad I didn't pay for the open bar cause it would really felt like a major lost!! Didn't offer many of your common drinks that make good drinks, no OJ lol. As frequent entertainers, even with a cash bar package, they didn't offer

Day of the event issues: there was not manager on site! The people who were there to be "on site coordinators" looked to be super young, and were people I'd never seen or met before. Shocking because the manager assured me she would be there to attend to our day of needs. They were young enough to start the fire pit with lighter fluid and clearly copious amounts of it! Had embers flying everywhere! When we requested the guy put it out, he doused it with water sending smoke EVERYWHERE!! Dang near killed us with the smoke! It took a while to clear out and some of us literally smelled like the smoke after that, it was in our clothes and my bridal dress. They were able to get the tables for the caterer that was suppose to be set up when we got there. And they made accommodations for me to enter through a remote area which was nice.

They use planning pod and want you to update update update! Super annoying unless you're using them for a day of...

Beautiful place lovely atmosphere but it's not meant for anyone who has a large client base. This is for individuals with very small companies or who need very limited work space. Office spaces so very tiny, if you are an insurance agent, realtor and do very little paperwork not requiring a file cabinet or your own office furniture, this would be the place for you. Wish they could have...