The Woman's Club of Evanston

My husband and I had the most WONDERFUL experience with the Woman's Club of Evanston. We had spent a LOT of time researching unique and yet affordable venues for our reception in the Chicagoland area. After many site visits to various venues, the Woman's Club of Evanston was the clear winner. It was a beautiful, romantic, yet open space. Additionally, we were able to select from several catering companies, which allowed us to negotiate the costs.

Carol Short, the facilities manager, was an absolute dream to work with. Before deciding on the Woman's Club of Evanston, I had read reviews about the venue and their positive experience with Carol. Our experience was consistent with those reviews. Carol encourages questions throughout the wedding planning process and is extremely prompt in responding to questions. The day before the wedding, Carol walked us through the floor plan and was there the day of to oversee all aspects of our reception. Carol is a true professional and we loved working with her!

We could not have been any happier with our venue selection - we HIGHLY recommend the Woman's Club of Evanston!

My experience with The Woman's Club of Evanston was wonderful! The venue is absolutely beautiful. I was doing a Victorian themed wedding and this suited so well. Carol, the coordinator of events, is the loveliest person to work with. So professional, so timely in her responses, as well as gracious and accomodating. She is very prompt to follow up on questions/requests. On the day of my wedding, Carol gave me a big hug and told me everything was beautiful. I felt that she genuinely meant it. Her graciousness (as well as 'low key-ness') helped things flow so nicely.

We booked the Woman's Club of Evanston for both our ceremony and reception. Carol Short, the facilities manager, was wonderful to work with. She was always happy to answer any questions we had and was also able to give us some recommendations for vendors who had worked at the club before. Our ceremony was upstairs in the ballroom, followed by a cocktail hour downstairs in the tea room. The ballroom was then flipped for our dinner reception. It is a truly beautiful venue and we are so happy we booked it.

My husband and I had our wedding reception here on July 24, 2010, and it was PERFECT. Let me start from the beginning.

In June of 2009, we were scouting out reception locations. We saw several of the same, boring banquet halls and hotels, and we weren't "wowed" by anything. After looking around online, I found the Woman's Club of Evanston, so we made an appointment to meet with Carol and see the Club. When we walked into the upstairs ballroom, my husband and I just looked at each other and smiled. This was definitely the venue for us. We booked right away.

I was a pretty easy-going bride, and didn't have many questions or requests. Whenever I did have a question, Carol was quick to respond. I waited until the last minute (two weeks before) to book a security guard for the night, but Carol came through with a fantastic recommendation.

My mom and I dropped off some candles that I wanted on the tables the Thursday before our wedding, and they had already started to set up our tables in the ballroom. Carol walked us through and seemed genuinely excited for my wedding. I know that she holds weddings there almost every weekend, but she still made me feel like my wedding was important to her. She took all of our vendor information and confirmed with them and provided all of the details necessary for them to schedule out the day. I thought that this went above and beyond the call of duty for Carol.

We also did our "first look" pictures here, before our ceremony. Even though we were probably going to be getting in the way, Carol was happy to let us in early so that my husband and I could have this moment to ourselves, without our bridal party.

Our guests loved this venue, and told us so countless times during the night. I could not have been any happier with our decision - I HIGHLY recommend the Woman's Club of Evanston!

LOVED this venue. Besides the fact that it's beautiful and charming, Carol (the venue coordinator) is wonderful. I had a lot of DIY projects (including flowers, chuppah, and other decorations) and Carol let me bring in everything in advance. She even watered the flowers for me and turned up the AC to make sure they lasted!

One of the reasons we picked the Woman's Club is because they will allow us to contract through Binny's for the alcohol. Binny's will deliver and pick up any unused alcohol and credit our account. This was a great option for us because we had many family members who did not drink.

While the fee may seem pricey, it does include chairs, tables, and dinner plates and water goblets, so make sure you take this into account when comparing venues.

Every time I went to the Woman's Club for vendor meetings, I loved it more and more. With its columns and high ballroom ceiling, the space is elegant but not pretentious. Best of all, Carol Short, the manager there, is wonderful to work with. She tries her best to accommodate all brides, offers helpful suggestions (she's obviously got a lot of experience!), and goes the extra mile to make your day special including "baby sitting" the card/gift table! Wonderful space for a cocktail reception in the music room and a grand reception in the ballroom.

During our engagement, the place we originally chose lost their lease...thank goodness because then we found the Woman's Club of Evanston. The place is elegant yet comfortable. We had 200 people at the wedding reception. This place was perfect because we had the cocktails downstairs in the parlor. Dinner and dancing was upstairs in their ballroom.

Carol at the WCOE was so organized that it helped me relax during the planning process.

When we were searching for a venue for my daughter's wedding, one thing that was important to us was that she'd be the only bride at the location. When my daughter visited the Woman's Club, she loved it. We used the first floor for cocktails and the ballroom for dinner and dancing. We received many compliments on the venue. Carol Short, the facility manager, was delightful to work with. You can tell she really enjoys her job (or else she's a good actor). While at first the rental cost seemed high, overall our reception costs were fairly reasonable. The flexibility they offer to pick our own caterer and obtain our own liquor helped keeped the costs down. The money the Woman's Club raises through rental maintains the facility so the money they raise through other means goes to help the community. Seemed better than lining Paris Hilton's pockets to me!

Carol at the Women,s Club of Evanston was great! Not only did she work hard to meet all,our special needs, she made sure everything ran smoothly, and to top it off, she was so excited for our family. You can tell that she loves her job and wants every wedding to go off without a hitch.

I did not want the typical hotel ballroom or country club, but had trouble finding something I really liked that fit our budget. I was about to settle on something I wasn’t thrilled about when I came across the Women’s Club of Evanston. It is a beautiful old historic building with 2 floors, high ceilings in the ballroom and lots of windows. The facilities manager, Carol Short, was incredibly sweet and helpful in the planning process and coordination of the day itself (even calling me to check up and offering to make phone calls for me when our first caterer went out of business). We liked that there were no minimums to meet with this venue or the caterers they work with. It took a little extra coordination because everything is separate (food separate from alcohol etc.) but our reception turned out to be absolutely beautiful and was everything we wanted. We received lots of compliments on this venue and they we’re very easy to work with.

Though a little pricey (but not compared to those in Chicago!), this venue provided everything we were looking for. We rented the top floor only to save money, which is a nice option if you have fewer than 150 guests. The ballroom is beautiful, the exterior of the club is good looking, and parking in the area plus proximity to hotels is not bad. The ballroom was very nicely arranged with a bar in the sunroom off to the side, tables surrounding the dance floor in the middle (several options are available and you pick whatever lay out you want), a large head table that served as the focal point, and the dj on stage. The bridal party walked in during the cocktail hour to find everyone mingling and excited in the sunroom and back of the ballroom. Later we were introduced before dinner and dancing for a grander entrance, and further energy and excitement filled the room! This was the perfect place to chat with guests at their tables, dance with our parents and one another so that everyone could see, watch a slideshow together, and then dance the night away with all of our guests! Everything ran so seemlessly, it was as if the caterer and dj had worked together regularly at this venue. The event coordinator, Carol Short, is unbelievably helpful, kind, gentle, and understanding. She answered all of our questions quickly, encouraged us to keep calling or e-mailing until we felt comfortable that everything was taken care of, and was there early to help set up the room and make sure the guest arrival and cocktail hour before dinner flowed nicely. We are so grateful for all her help and couldn't imagine planning an event this big with anyone else!

The Women's Club of Evanston is a beautiful venue. The staff are incredibly helpful and attentive and made us feel confident that our wedding would run smoothly, which it did. The location is convenient to hotels and downtown Evanston so guests were able to walk everywhere.
We highly recommend the Women's Club!

We only used the Woman's Club for our reception venue, not the ceremony. It was absolutely beautiful, the only thing I would have wished is for the rental rate to be a bit lower! It is a historical building and a nice alternative to a banquet hall or hotel. I got lots of compliments on the space!

The director of special events, Carol, was very professional and fairly friendly. She returned phone calls in a timely manner and was helpful with recommendations for caterers. I would say that the value was good for the amount of space and functionality of the space. They provided tables chairs and the use of the grand piano. If you rent both floors, you can use the sun rooms, cocktail room, reception room and ball room with stage. The sun rooms are wonderful for taking pictures and for guests to socialize later in the evening. I rated them lower on flexibility because we were there slightly past midnight, and were charged an extra $200. I felt that it was inflexible of them since we were gone by 12:15 and we were basically waiting for rides and taking out packages.