Metropolis Ballroom of Arlington Heights

Both my sister and I hosted our wedding receptions here. Both were outstanding and perfect.

Their service is completely unmatched. They don't have servers driving food around on rusty old carts, dressed sloppily and refilling your water wearing latex gloves. They are organized, professional individuals who truly care about what they're doing. Clean cut and there to serve. When a guest leaves their seat, a server is quickly refolding his/her napkin and placing it appropriately. These small details were important to us. There is only one event room, one cocktail room and one event going on. YOUR event is their only focus and it absolutely shows.

Michael Raymond-What can I say about Michael? He really has, after two weddings, become part of our family. When my fiance (now husband) and I met with Michael the first time (along with my parents) we had NO clue about colors, flowers, ambiance, etc. No vision whatsoever. Michael asked us a few questions and before we knew it, our dream wedding was developing before our eyes. Michael is a gem, not just in the event planning world, but in everything he does. He cares about his clients and he will literally go to any extent to make them happy. As my 2 year old ring bearer nephew is yelling for "more M&Ms please!" before his Grandfather can say "they're all gone, bud!" Michael is already sending someone to the store. For M&MS!! There are several examples like this from my wedding day, as well as my sisters. Michael, you're the greatest.

If you're considering The Metropolis for your wedding/reception venue, just do it. You will not be disappointed.

This 3.2 should not be perceived as negative, because overall I was very happy with the venue. My husband and I had our reception here on 11/3/12. We had about 165 guests, all of which fit comfortably - however we had to move tables after dinner to make the dancefloor bigger. The head coordinator at the Metropolis is Michael Raymond. He really loves weddings and definitely has a lot of experience, but sometimes I thought he was a little stubborn and forgetful. For instance, he had to ask my ~5 times whether or not I was having a head or banquet table (I was not). Also, don't expect to get quick responses from him until you are about 1-2 months pre-wedding. He is not an email person. However, I DO believe they just hired a coordinator to help him since they were booking more weddings than they could manage, and I'll admit the responsiveness did get much better once she had been hired.

The food and service that night were great. We received so many compliments from our guests and everyone had a blast!! The venue isn't cheap - with a 20K minimum spend on food/liquor alone PRE Tax (11%) and Gratuity (20%). That doesn't include chair rentals (if you want Chivari), lighting, etc. If anything I would've preferred more automatic upgrades for that price, but I guess Chicago is the 2nd most expensive area to get married so I shouldn't be too surprised.

All and all, you will have a beautiful wedding here -especially for UNDER 175 guests.

Michael, of the Metropolis Ballroom Wedding Coordinator, was the best thing that ever happened to our wedding planning team. My mother and I could not have survived without his 25 years of expert advice and ability to address even the smallest of details.

Furthermore, the facility accommodated our every need, desire, and request, no matter how much or little notice we provided. The food was excellent and the staff incredibly professional. We were able to have the ceremony, cocktail hour, and the reception all on site which made it extremely convenient for us and our guests.

Overall, we could not have chosen a better location to start our new life together!

The best suggestion we got during the entirety of our wedding planning came from a friend-of-a-friend on Facebook. We called out for reception hall ideas, and one of the responses was “Hey, check out Metropolis Ballroom.” We called Metropolis, and lucky for us, we were there viewing the space no more than 1 hour later. We immediately fell in love with it. For two people who wanted a modern, urban city venue, but wanted to save our guests the hassle & expense of an actual wedding in the city, it. was. perfect.

The ballroom itself is beautiful, and the balcony overlooking downtown Arlington heights is just one more thing that separates Metropolis from other reception halls. However, it’s not the only thing. Our contact at Metropolis, Michael Raymond, was an incredible resource on etiquette, and made us feel like we had a wedding planner, without having to actually hire a wedding planner. He was ready to help us with ANY problems we had. We made our own wedding invitations, and we needed someone to review them, he didn’t hesitate. He not only looked for errors, but also helped take a symbol from the invite, and turn it into a consistent “theme” throughout the wedding. They even drew the symbol on the wedding cake! Also, when the wedding dress didn’t come in, he was ready to help in any way he could. By the way, NEVER go to Bridal Mansion in Lisle. Excuse me for that…I still haven’t gotten over it.

Anyways, Michael has Metropolis running as a well oiled machine. The food was incredible. It is not your typical reception hall food. The service was immaculate. The cocktail hour servers were nonstop, for both the guests and for the personal server for the bridal party in the bridal suite. The bridal party champagne toast upon arrival was nice too. Michael kept the whole night running like clockwork. Lastly, the room itself is just so different than other reception halls. It’s just a fantastic backdrop for all your wedding photos!

We could not be happier with how great everything came together at Metropolis. We have several friends and family who are engaged to be married, and we’ve had several of them tell us that when they picture their “dream wedding,” they’re picturing Metropolis Ballroom.

My husband and I were married at Metropolis Ballroom in November 2011. My wedding planner found this gem after we looked at over 20 venues in Chicago. The first time I walked into the ballroom, I was in love and thought it was so beautiful. Hard wood floors, high ceilings, exposed brick, huge outdoor balcony - everything that I was looking for in a wedding venue. Some other perks of Metropolis is that they have tons of free parking next door, it is in a beautiful area in downtown Arlington Heights and very close to hotels. During our planning process, Metropolis made some updates to the venue. They painted and refinished the already gorgeous hardwood floors and in the area where the cocktail hour was held, it was originally two separate rooms. They knocked down the wall separating the two rooms which was a win win for us.
Michael Raymond is the manager and will be your primary point of contact. Some may have differing opinions about Michael but here is my honest opinion as the bride - I liked Michael Raymond a lot and believe that it always strived to make the bride happy even if that means stepping on some toes. I read in another review that "every bride needs a Michael" and I couldn't agree more.

Over the next 6 months, we emailed and met with Michael about different things such as our vendors, the timeline, linens, the menu, decor, etc. He was very good about getting our questions answered. The Metropolis Ballroom has on-site catering which was great because it is one less thing we had to worry about. We had a great tasting of the menu (we actually had two because we did not like the second part of the meat entree) and had the hors d'oeuvres for cocktail hour tailor made. It was just my husband and I, my in-laws and our wedding planner. The presentation was great and private. Michael was able to come with a new items that were off of the menu to our liking. They were also able to accommodate our vegetarian guests as well as our guests who keep Kosher. The food at the actual wedding was just as delicious as it was at the tasting which was a concern of ours since most weddings do not have good food.

We had a lot of issues with wanting mixed nuts and candies on the tables for cocktail hour and on the tables at the reception before dinner. Michael said that they would provide this for $6 per person. We had 220 guests at our wedding and this was just ridiculous. After much negotiating, we were allowed to bring in our own mixed nuts and candies for the tables which were bought from Costco and saved TONS of money - more than $1,200!!

For our rehearsal, Metropolis Ballroom booked a last minute event so we weren't not able to do it there. We had our rehearsal and dinner at the nearby restaurant, Las Tascas. Michael came and conducted the rehearsal and put me at ease about our wedding the next day. It is free to run a rehearsal and I believe it helps to do a quick walk through.

A few reasons why Metropolis did not get 5 stars:
For setup, Metropolis requests you drop off all decor that you can on the Wednesday before your event. It will be locked in a closet, which was great. More stuff that we didn't have to think about the day before or day of. We were supposed to have access to the bridal suite and setup to start at 3:00 p.m. However, Metropolis squeezed in another an event for the day and it was scheduled to end at 5:00 p.m. and then they would flip the rooms to get ready for our 6:30 p.m. ceremony. Sounds like a lot to do in 90 minutes, right?? They assured us it would not be a problem. In the end, this put us behind for the REST of the night. Not only were our guests left standing around, but Metropolis didn't even open the bar to keep people entertained while they were continuing to set up the room. The late start put us behind schedule for the rest of the evening. Before Michael left for the night, we confirmed with him that because of the late start, it wouldn't be a problem for the party to run longer - which he didn't communicate to the woman who took over for him. This caused unnecessary friction for us, as well as our families. None of us should have had to deal with that.
For some reason even though I was clear that I wanted our cake to be one layer is chocolate cake and one layer is yellow cake with strawberry filing, it was wrong. I only had one bite and didn't love it like the one at the tasting.

All in all, our wedding was gorgeous - the cocktail hour was great, the food was fantastic and the service was good. I would recommend Metropolis Ballroom to other brides and grooms.

I had a beautiful wedding at the Metropolis. They did everything to make sure the night was flawless.

The Metropolis and all their staff were absolutely amazing for our wedding. From the first time my husband and I saw the space, we were hooked. The location is perfect, and the venue is absolutely beautiful. There was MORE than enough space for everyone and everything. We loved that they only have one event per night so literally all the attention is given to your wedding rather than some hotels where they were going to have 6+ weddings the night of our wedding. Without saying anything negative about Michael (seriously, he's a great guy!), I will warn you that he wants to have input on everything to do with the wedding. It's a GREAT perk for any couple who feels overwhelmed by the whole wedding planning process. I think if I asked him, he would have literally gone dress shopping with me. :) Use him! Ask him any questions, ask for his input, he's there to help! Michael makes sure all the events run smoothly; it's his job to make everything perfect, and that's his intention. The night of our wedding was absolutely perfect. Everything went as planned and the staff was amazing. Helena was our event manager for the night, and she was beyond awesome. There was not one complaint we had about anything that night. Without hesitation I would recommend the Metropolis to any couple looking for a unique venue. It's not going to be the cheapest venue out there by any means, but you pay for what you get. Your money will be very well spent at the Metropolis. We literally had probably 90% of our guests tell us it was the best wedding with the best food they have ever been to. Thanks Metropolis; you pulled through for us!

I had my wedding at the Metropolis in August of this year. I can't say enough good things about the Metropolis. We had an afternoon reception on a Saturday, and the venue was beautiful with so much natural light. Our pictures all turned out incredible. We had 200 guests, and there was enough space to fit everyone comfortably without feeling like there was too much extra space. The food was delicious, and I received so many compliments about the courtesy of the waitstaff and the quality of food.

I didn't give the venue 5 stars across the board for two reasons. First, when I saw the venue for the first time, the chairs were dark blue, and I noticed holes in the fabric of the chairs from overuse. This caused a debate between my mother and I as to whether we should rent chair covers or the fancier chivari chairs for an additional price. I decided that the money could be spent on something more important and decided not to rent special chairs. On the day of the wedding, however, half of the chairs were new and black and the other half were the old dark blue. In truth, I'm sure I was the only person who noticed the black versus blue chairs, but I would have been much happier to have had all of the chairs be new and black.

My second reason was that email communication was a bit slow. With planning my wedding from St. Louis, I had to rely on email for my communication with all my vendors. Emails from the Metropolis were always a bit slower than from my other vendors. However, phone calls were always promptly returned and always made me feel like the wedding was going to be a huge success. My suggestion--correspond by phone or in person.

When it comes to Michael Raymond, the wedding coordinator, I believe every bride needs a Michael. At the beginning, he just listened to me and showed me how to make all my wishes a reality. I never felt pushed, and he worked really hard to put together a menu that fit my budget. He also has a great deal of knowledge about etiquette. His tips and pointers helped us be socially graceful at our reception. He organized who would be speaking at the wedding in what order so that no one would be offended, and he even gave my fiancee and I a dance lesson. The wedding reception was like clockwork; I just got to sit back and enjoy the ride. The Metropolis was beautiful, but I think that Michael really made the reception everything we had imagined.

Overall, I would highly recommend this venue to other brides; I would choose this venue again without hesitation.

Quality of Service->Waitstaff very nice and attentive during the wedding reception.
Responsiveness->Not very good, don't answer emails or phone calls the way someone handing over $20,000 should be answered.
Professionalism->Once again, waitstaff and bartenders right on top here.
Value-->$20,000 minimum...you do the math
Flexibility-> Not much room to move. It is what it is. Make sure you get everything in writing.

The Metropolis Ballroom was the perfect venue for our wedding. Everything ran smoothly and elegantly. I never worried about a thing. The staff was courteous & professional in both attire & attitude. I felt like they were apart of the wedding instead of working at it. I would not change a thing about this venue & we highly recommend it to others.

I just had my wedding at the Metropolis Ballroom on 10/23/10 and could not be more THRILLED with how it turned out!! The space is just beautiful - we were so sick of looking at the standard ballrooms with the ugly carpet and outdated everything, the ballroom at the Metropolis is breathtaking with it's high ceilings and wood floor (you can some of our pictures at vraiblog.com)

Michael guided us through the process from start to finish. We didn't have it in our budget for a wedding planner but we clearly didn't need one. I was surprised at how involved he was, he was constantly giving us ideas for decorating and was very good at returning our many emails. He even accompanied us to the florist on several occasions! Everything went off without a hitch - the appetizers were plentiful and delicious (loved the scallops!), food was awesome (I recommend the London Broil), cake turned out perfect, and Michael along with Halina made sure to keep us on schedule without being the least bit bothersome. All of our guests told us they had a great time. One of my bridesmaids just got engaged and now she's seriously considering having the reception at the Metropolis as well!

For future brides, I would highly recommend the Metropolis for your wedding. Go see the space for yourself and meet Michael - you won't be disappointed by either of them.

The Metropolis Ballroom is a BEAUTIFUL venue for a wedding - and a rare, unique find in the suburbs of Chicago! Coordinator, Michael Raymond is very professional and very flexible - he has been working in the field for over 30 years and knows what he is doing! The outdoor veranda off of the ballroom is a great touch and guests appreciated it. the food is fantastic as well! I highly recommend this space, even though it was a bit costly.

Choosing a function to host your wedding reception should be a carefully planned decision. The Metropolis Ballroom in Arlington Hts, IL is one of the most beautiful places to have your event! We recently had our wedding reception there, it was the first and only place we looked at :) The Metropolis is elegant and private, equipped with a full staff ready to help you at anytime. The ballroom is what "sold" us on our choice, sky high ceilings, newly finished hardwood floors, a balcony over looking downtown, and of course a 5 star menu for your guests. If you're looking for something different than the ordinary hotel, reception hall, or country club....look no further! Michael Raymond at the Metropolis Ballroom with help you with everything you need, he was wonderful and so patient with us! I will never forget our day, the beauty, and excellent management skills that made our day wonderful!

Michelle & Rick Piek
Wedding Date: 10/3/09

The Metropolis Ballroom is an absolutely gorgeous and sophisticated venue. The hardwood floors, tall ceilings, modern chandeliers, and huge balcony make for a simple yet elegant feel. We had our ceremony and reception at the Metropolis. The cocktail hour was held in a separate room with a large dark bar and exposed brick. The space here is to die for. The service on the other hand....average at best. I must elaborate because not all of the employees are terrible, just one in particular. Unfortunately their wedding coordinator/event planner is an extremely difficult person to work with. He said from the start that he doesn't like emails, yet wholeheartedly took on a wedding from a long distance couple. Communication was beyond frustrating with him. In the weeks leading up to the wedding I was leaving several messages that took a long time to return causing an unreasonable amount of stress. He needed to be reminded of several details anywhere from 5-10 times. We were able to upgrade several things for our wedding to meet the minimal food/drink cost. We decided on a specialty drink (mojitos) which took nearly 1/2 hour into the cocktail hour to be served. We had a small-medium sized wedding and the line at the cocktail hour was ridiculous, plus no mojitos being passed. We had to ask THREE times for them to be served before they were. The groom and I were served vegetarian meals at dinner when we weren't vegetarians (why would 2 vegetarians serve steak at a wedding?!?!?) They served 3 EXTRA snacks which we did not order for our "late night snack", but I'm definitely not complaining about that :) There was also some confusion with the contract and when the event was supposed to end which resulted in the party being over and an unhappy bartender that still wanted to serve drinks. I must say that their Banquet Manager who I worked with closely the night of our wedding was WONDERFUL, so the actual day did go relatively smoothly. However the year+ of planning and communicating (or lack of communicating) with their planner/coordinator leaves a slightly bitter taste in my mouth. We booked the Metropolis back in 2008 and since that time we have heard the price rose 40%. Not worth it at that price if you ask me. Happy wedding planning. Hope your day is as wonderful as ours was.

It pains me to write this because the day of, things were great. However, the months leading up to it were, to say the least, the MOST stressful and frustration months of my life. I was a pretty laid back bride...I didn't really care about certain aspects (like the cake, party favors, candy buffets, wedding programs and extra embellishments for the reception), but it got to a point with this vendor that I had to literally fight about the littlest things.

1) we signed our contract in 2008 with guarantees that our prices would stay the same. However, after MONTHS of asking for the updated menu, we were finally presented with a menu and a 25% increase in our prices (not including the 20% gratuity and 11% tax).

2) our contract said nothing about not allowing outside vendors for such things as chairs, chair covers or linens. when we tried to have someone who could provide those services for us at a much lower cost - the response of Metropolis was "you can't do that because no one has ever done that before." maybe you should put that in your contract?!?! they wanted to charge us $9.50 per chivari chair, plus 11% tax, plus 20% gratuity, PLUS $100 set up fee.

3) the cake. i cared the least about the cake; however, this was the straw that nearly broke my back. we were told numerous times that we could choose our cake from 2 vendors (the cake was included in our package). i set up a tasting and decided on the cake one month before the wedding, only to be told by the bakery: you can't order with us because Metropolis hasn't finished setting up their account. it took Metropolis 2 weeks to get back to us about the cake situation. their response was: you can get your cake there, but it'll cost you $500 extra. FOR A CAKE I CARE NOTHING ABOUT?!?! i finally said, "just give me a cake with these flavors that looks like this. i don't care where you get it from."

4) did i mention that they charge you for alcohol consumption for every single person -- even those who weren't drinking (for various reasons, including being 10 years old)!

5) communication was very, very poor. we had to contact Tom, the owner, several times because the "wedding coordinator" failed to get back to us.

6) there were many more problems, but these were the major ones.

This is a beautiful venue that adapts to many events. The staff is highly professional and works seamlessly with other vendors.

All of the staff at the Metropolis Ballroom was exceptional at everything they did!!! Tehy went above and beyond to make sure that each and every guest was happy, even the little kids that attended. There is not one thing that I would change from the venue. The food was amazing and not one erson disliked anything that was served!!!!

The Metropolis Ballroom is a great location if you are looking for a downtown feel in the suburbs. The service is outstanding and the overall feel is elegance and romantic. It IS expensive, but the night was well worth the cost. Michael, the event planner, is the best and had a great eye. He made everything perfect for our night.

The reception venue is beautiful with the high ceilings, hardwood floors, and floor to ceiling windows....but that is where the good things with this venue end. Our wedding coordinator changed during the course of our time with the vendor. Our second wedding coordinator was unresponsive to email requests, and it took more of my time to follow up with him. We had worked with the owner several times to complain about the service we were receiving during the planning process, but nothing changed. Our tasting was canceled twice due to turnover with the chef, and the banquet manager also turned over during the time we were with this vendor. If you are looking for an smooth planning process and someone who is on your side, this is definitely not the vendor for you. This vendor will be a headache from the moment you sign your contract until the very end. For the most part things were pulled off on our wedding day(except for the venue completely screwing up our seating chart), but I think that is mostly because of the day of wedding planner we hired. The space looks amazing...but definitely think twice before you take the plunge on this one.

I give Metropolis 5 stars for the wedding day itself and minus one star for some of the planning aspects. We had our ceremony and reception here. I really liked that we were the only event that day (one of my requirements for a reception location). This is a beautiful space with the wood floors and high ceilings in the ballroom. They have remodeled and updated the smaller room that we used for cocktails. The Harmony room was used for touch ups between pictures and the ceremony. The food was some of the best I have had at a wedding and the service during the reception was excellent.

I had some frustration with the planning aspects. Most importantly, in a matter of 13 months, we had 3 different co-coordinators and 2 different chefs. The communication among these people was poor. I spent a lot of time repeating decisions that were already made. Michael (who finally inherited us) is a wedding planner in every sense of the term. He is very set on the “right way” to do things. I occasionally felt looked down upon as a “bad bride” because I didn’t care about linens or how the napkins were folded. But I know a lot of brides care about those things and here no detail is too small.

I would like you to know that the Metropolis is a beauitful place have a wedding but....have something not go the right way and you are out of luck, customer service is for the birds. So beware!
Don't drop off anything prior like most places want you to do, they will not take responsiblity, especially when they break something and blame the bride for being it in broken. Beware is all I have to say.

My overall experience was pretty good.

Our coordinator did all the work and told me all I had to do was "show up and be beautiful".

It took a lot of stress out of the planning aspect of the wedding,
ALTHOUGH....

When the wedding was underway, he was no where to be found!

I was to have music playing during the cocktail hour, that was loud enough to be heard so people could dance. You couldn't hear anything.

I was to have music playing before the ceremony while the guest were being ushered to their seats. NO MUSIC and NO USHERS!!!!!!

I was to have a throw away bouquet. I didn't have one, he whipped up one at the last minuted.

Basically in my eyes, it was a free for all.

Our guests said it was beautiful and well put together but, then again, they don't know what was SUPPOSED to happen.

I would recommend not coming here. Unfortunatley, even though the coordinator is sweet as pie.

I had the best time with the staff and the venue at the Metropolis. First of all, you have your floor length windows, modern lighting, classic wood ballroom floors, and even a beautiful grand piano. In addition, the bridal party has its own stocked-up room called the harmony suite, which is an incredibly magical room where you would want to take some of your family portraits. The staff was wonderful. My coordinator and I actually became pretty good friends, although business was still very professional. My coordinator made the time to call me during her personal hours to make sure things were all ok and even ordered extra linens when she thought I might like them, just so that I could "check them out." My husband likes the modern look, and I like the traditional. Metropolis satiated both of our tastes. One other thing that I really liked about this venue was that we were able to rent out the entire place to ourselves, and it also had designated parking spaces in the parking garage next door. We were able to fit about 350 guests (by also using some of the extra rooms for guests who just "showed up").

We LOVED the ambiance at Metropolis Ballroom with its upscale "city loft" feel. The veranda (balcony) was one of the best and most loved features by our guests during cocktail hour and throughout the reception for those who wanted to escape for a smoking break or just to get some fresh air. It was particularly nice because while guests were on the veranda they could still see what was happening in the entire reception room through the tall glass windows/wall that connected them....unlike many venues where guests have to completely leave the reception in order to smoke outside. Overall, it was a great site in my opinion because it's not a typical reception hall with ugly outdated carpeting and old school chandeliers. It was much more modern and a lot of the guests commented on how unique of a place it was. The only difficulty we encountered was about 5 months before our wedding when they suddenly changed management. A few things got lost in translation while switching from the old management to the new, but in the end, we made it work. The food was very good, but not "out of this world". The cake that they provided, on the other hand, was not very good at all. Thus, we ended up using an outside vendor for our cake, which was excellent! Overall though, everything went off without a hitch on the actual day, and I couldn't have thought of a better place to have had our reception.