Gale Mansion

I had the wedding of my dreams at The Gale Mansion on October 2, 2009. I can't even begin to thank Angela and her exceptional staff for making the planning process and the day of the wedding beautiful and stress free. My husband and I looked at several venues for both the wedding and reception: The Women's Club of Minneapolis, The Semple Mansion, The Weisman, The Mill City Museum, and The Minnesota Historical Center. All of these centers were beautiful, but they were not appropriate for hosting a wedding for under 100 people. To meet the food minimums we would have been spending over $60 a head, and that did NOT include liquor. When we arrived at the Gale to meet with Angela, we were exhausted! We toured the gorgeous historical mansion and feared that it too would be out of the budget. We explained our frustrations to Angela, over food minimums that did not include liquor (which we planned on hosting for our guests) and received an unexpected response, ""We can work with that"". I felt as though a 10, 000 ton weight had just lifted off of me. This was the place! Angela was accommodating and delightful every time my wedding planner, florist, or family member wanted to see the mansion. Dealing with neurotic planners, brides, and family is an art form that Angela and her staff posses. (Having all of the lovely loonies above, I speak from experience.) On the day of the food sampling, I brought the most critical of my bunch. My wedding planner/brides man made it a point to site everything that was not to his standards. The Gale staff maintained their poised, professional demeanor throughout his ""coffee cups are acceptable on a luncheon table NOT a dinner table"" speech. It was clear that the Gale staff was there to make my wedding my own, no matter what picky requests my wedding planner or I had. The day of October the second was cold and rainy, and there just didn't seem to be enough time to get everything done. When I stepped foot into the Gale hallway, Angela had EVERYTHING under control. All of my nerves were left on the doorstep, and they were not allowed in at any point...Angela and her staff made sure of that. As the wedding party prepared, Angela transformed the building into a wedding site since that rain had washed away the idea of an outdoor ceremony. After the ceremony, they waved their magic wand and poof there was a magnificent dining room. I don't know which was better. The appetizers of hummus, cheeses, and fruits, that preceded the Champagne toast. The dinner selection of baked sea bass Provencal with herbs and lentils served with fresh asparagus bundle, or the stuffed chicken breast with apple brandy sauce served with fresh asparagus bundle and roasted baby red potatoes with fresh herbs, or the butternut squash ravioli in browned caper sauce topped with oven roasted vegetables, cheese and basil. It could have been the New York cheese cake with raspberry sauce. They were all spectacular, I would dare anyone to pick a favorite. We sang, we ate, we drank, we danced, we wandered the Mansion, we didn't want the evening to end. That is the memory of my wedding at The Gale Mansion. Thank You Angela and Staff!! Pros: Professionalism on all levels Cons: Can't find any more

The Gale Mansion is a Minneapolis gem. If you are looking for a unique, beautiful and picturesque location for an event with possibly some of the best catering in the city and the most accommodating, professional and friendly staff...look no further. My husband and I were married at the Gale Mansion in September of 2009. We started our search in September of 2008 and looked at places such as The Depot, The Walker Art Center, The Mill City Museum, The Semple Mansion and The JJ Hill Library to just name a few. When we found the Gale Mansion we knew we had stumbled across a one-of-a-kind venue. First of all the staff at the Gale Mansion were nothing less than spectacular. Angela (as a former sommelier) was extremely knowledgeable on wine pairings and my husband, my parents and I spent many hours with Angela tasting wines and having great conversation. She even let us keep some bottles of the wines that were unfinished during our tastings so we could have a record of the wines we picked for the wedding day and the ones we cut. It was the little things like this that showed how the staff at the Gale care about their clients and this was just the beginning of the level of service we received during our planning process. At one point my husband and I were considering having a Brazilian steakhouse themed meal (where servers come around to each table and personally serve each guest various types of meats and veggies). We found out that Angela and the Chef at the Gale Mansion, Kevin, went to Fogo de Chao and ate a complete meal there as research to understand what we were considering. In the end we decided not to do this, but they were not at all upset that we changed our minds. They took it in stride and were so accommodating to each decision (and re-decision) my husband, my family and I made. It was such a joy to have this type of service when planning a wedding. The Wedding Day itself could not have been better. Angela wrote me an email the morning of the wedding telling me how excited she was for the big day and when I saw her and the staff later that afternoon it was like they were family. We had nearly 200 guests seated all over the entire house and it looked absolutely perfect. The flowers were in just the right spots, the photo booth we had planned for was set up and looking great, the cake was located exactly where we talked about and to top it off ? our signature drinks (blueberry vodka drink and Old Fashions were mixed so well by the bartending staff that our guests could not get enough!). The dinner was the best catered meal we have had. Clearly it was our wedding, so we are biased, but we were not the only ones who felt this way. Many friends (including professional chefs and picky connoisseurs of fine food) raved about the meal. One of most discerning guests who never has a good thing to say came up to us and said ?The true test of a meal is how well the vegetables are done...anyone can cook a lot of meat and serve it...but vegetables, that is a different story. The vegetables at this meal were the best I have ever had at a wedding.? (We had the asparagus bundles). To sum up. My experience at the Gale Mansion surpassed every expectation I had for my wedding. I had heard many horror stories of wedding planning before I was engaged and tried my best to stay positive and happy even during the most stressful moments, and the Gale Mansion made this easy. They were professional, caring, friendly, and extremely talented at what they do. They helped me through the tough decisions and the result was a perfect Wedding Day with everyone we love and a wonderful planning process with our friends at the Gale. Our fabulous Gale Mansion Wedding is going to be published in the August 2010 issue of MN Knot Magazine. We could not be happier. Pros: Professional Staff, Delicious Food, Beautiful Decor, Unique more

I would recommend the Gale Mansion as a wedding reception venue to anyone! The mansion itself is a masterpiece - exquisite woodwork, fireplaces; you get access to the entire 3 floors when you book. Pros: Great service, gorgeous mansion, wonderful staff. more

I would like to start out by saying it was a beautiful building and the food was really good. Pros: Beautiful decor, good food Cons: Bad Service more

I was recently married at the Gale Mansion and the staff at first were really friendly, until I met the catering manager, Angela. I didn't realize she was the catering manager because she never said that when we were introduced. During our first meeting I thought she was just a volunteer or regular staff because she didn't seem very knowledgeable about the mansion or my wedding plans. During my wedding, Angela was quite rude to my husband and I. We had brought in some alcohol before the ceremony to celebrate and she confronted us about it. I felt like a high school kid in trouble and about to be sent to the principle's office. I also heard back from other guests that she was rude to them in general. As a result of bringing in liquor, we lost our $500 deposit (even though the mansion made about $3,000 at their bar during the reception). The Gale mansion also charged us for about 10 dinners no one ate and lost our unity sand. The Gale mansion is beautiful and the other staff seemed to be very helpful and friendly, unfortunately Angela is the ""boss"" over there and has the last say in every thing, which is the biggest down fall for the beautiful event location. Pros: beautiful place Cons: rude catering manager more