I’m no fortune teller, but I’ve been around the block. And I know for a fact that, at this very moment, you are about twenty-six tabs deep into researching luxury Minnesota wedding venues that are giving industrial-chic white walls, but still retain at least an inch of character. 

This just so happens to be one of those tabs.

And quite transparently, my mission with this luxury wedding venue round-up is to help you close the other twenty-five.

First of all, I think the phrase “blank canvas” has gotten a bit of a bad rap and justifiably so. Some wedding venues have, in fact, made that phrase synonymous with “big white room that has the personality of printer paper.”

A true blank canvas luxury wedding venue, though, didn’t forget to develop an aesthetic. It just didn’t make its own aesthetic priority over yours.

The white space wedding venues that I adore make every single one of yours and your vendors’ design choices look like it was MADE for that space.

If you’ve been saving pins that scream ‘curated to the nines’— gorgeous floral installations the size of studio apartments, ceremony meadows made entirely of baby’s breath, or reception tables that are going to need a good nine hundred taper candles to make you happy… 

Congratulations; you’ve found your people. 

Introducing: the white space wedding venues in Minnesota that I secretly get excited to see on an inquiry form because I already know they’re going to create the kind of wedding day my couples are endlessly living on loop in their minds.

The Hutton House

The Hutton House is living proof that it’s not white walls themselves that are boring. It’s bad white walls that are boring.

When you pair them with oak accents (warm wood deserves financial compensation for how much emotional labor it does), elegant architecture (get a load of those ceilings!), and natural light (floor-to-ceiling windows for DAYS!!): you end up with a luxury wedding venue where there isn’t a single design choice you could make that would look out of place. 

Color-drenched maximalism? You go, girl. Elegant luxury? It’s all you. Garden-inspired romance? Okay, BET. I’m telling you, the Hutton House kicks its main character syndrome to the curb and lets your vision for your wedding day LIVE.

Trust me, if you want a luxury venue that minds its own business while your wedding becomes the thing every guest talks about on their drive home… then can I introduce you to the Hutton House?

Urban Daisy

Most industrial wedding venues spend the entire day reminding you they’re industrial. Exposed brick. Steel beams. Concrete floors. 

Cool. We get it.

It’s almost like Urban Daisy looked at that formula and decided to make people actually feel something, instead.

So, they took their exposed brick, steel beams, and concrete floors and raised us a conservatory overflowing with greenery, warehouse windows that flood the space with soft light, warm textures everywhere you look, and juuuust enough white throughout the venue that colorful florals get their day in the literal sun.

It’s giving greenhouse wedding without making you gamble your entire wedding budget on Minnesota weather.

Another thing I love about Urban Daisy is how they can host literally any kind of wedding. 

I’ve seen editorial weddings that could’ve lived inside Vogue, minimalist black tie, and super colorful celebrations that look like the florist was handed an unlimited budget. 

Jack of all trades, master of none? Try again. 

Want the FULL lowdown on Urban Daisy? Cool, I wrote a whole blog post about it (…naturally).

The Lowlands

There are plenty of luxury wedding venues in Minnesota that know how to throw a beautiful wedding. The Lowlands knows how to host people, and those are VERY different skillsets.

Whereas a lot of wedding venues unintentionally make every guest have the exact same experience—everybody stands in the same room, everybody migrates to the same handful of cocktail tables, everybody politely makes conversation until dinner starts because, well, what else are you going to do— The Lowlands’ layout encourages every guest to live their own truth.

Somebody inevitably claims one of the lounge spaces and settles in with an old college roommate they haven’t seen in five years. 

Somebody else wanders over to the bar, notices the terrarium built into it (which, by the way, is exactly the kind of completely unnecessary design decision that makes me irrationally happy), and suddenly a quick cocktail turns into a forty-minute conversation. 

Another group slips out onto the terrace for some fresh air and comes back with approximately twenty options for a new profile picture.

Meanwhile, your grandparents have found a comfortable seat for their spectator sport of people-watching your college roommates, your aunt is making friends with someone she met six minutes ago, and your wedding planner isn’t trying to herd everyone back into the same room because the venue has already done that job for her. 

That right there? We call that good architecture and really really good hosting.

The Lowlands gets that people (wedding guests, specifically) like to have options AND people come to weddings to be with each other. 

That’s a win in my books. 

Equestria West

Okay, but whoever said you can’t have your cake and eat it too clearly has never had a wedding at Equestria West at Bavaria Downs. 

At this luxury Minnesota wedding venue, you don’t have to choose between contemporary architecture and being outside. At Equestria West, you get them both and you get them done well.

One minute you’re surrounded by bright, clean interiors that let you absolutely go bananas with your vision. The next, you’re tucked into a wooded, private, peaceful ceremony site that somehow feels like somebody discovered it instead of designed it. 

And once the light starts filtering through the trees? Forget about it. She is beauty. She is grace. She is doing half of my job for me.

I feel confident saying this venue is a unicorn in how it lets you have both modern and natural in one fell swoop.

You can get married in the woods without feeling like you’re getting married in the woods, if you know what I mean. Then you can walk back towards the building and be met with an entirely different world: white walls white-wall-ing, ceilings ceiling-ing, and windows with natural light making everybody look ten percent hotter than they did five minutes ago.

Equestria West doesn’t make you commit to one version of yourselves. It lets you contain multitudes and live the best day of your life at the same time.

P.S. If you want to catch a glimpse of Jenna and Drew’s first look out front of Equestria West, read ‘Why Your First Look Might End Up Being Your Favorite Part of Your Entire Wedding Day’.

The Whim

I think The Whim in the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District might be the eighth wonder of the world. It becomes a totally different wedding venue every weekend and still manages to never lose its  different wedding eveI have yet to see The Whim lose its identity of modern elegance.

One couple fills it with oversized baby’s breath clouds, black satin, and enough candlelight to make the electric bill sweat bullets. The next rolls in with citrus on the tables, colorful florals, disco balls, and a dress code that can only be described as “the cool cousins were invited.”

And both totally oppositely-styled weddings somehow look like they were designed specifically FOR the Whim. How do they do it?!

I think it’s because the architecture knows exactly what its job is. The giant windows handle the light. The airy white walls make sure your color palette gets all the attention. The skylights keep everything feeling open instead of echoey while the timber ceilings and vintage brick add warmth.

Every time I take photos at The Whim, it feels a little like running into someone who somehow looks incredible with every haircut they’ve ever had. At some point, you stop complimenting the haircut and just face the fact that this is a person with serious range.

La Pointe

Some luxury wedding venues have never met a decorative object they didn’t like. La Pointe is (refreshingly) not one of them. It’s giving Scandinavian design, modern elegance, and someone on the design team knowing exactly when to stop.

But my favorite thing about La Pointe actually doesn’t have a thing to do with architecture.

I’ve noticed that La Pointe had absolutely no interest in keeping you in one room all day. I feel like a lot of wedding venues try to convince you that everything you could possibly want exists inside four walls, but La Pointe gives you mobility.

Your ceremony starts with a seventy-step walk from the venue toward the river. By the time you reach the altar, the building has completely disappeared from your mind. All you see is water, trees, and the love of your life waiting for you.

Then everybody heads back inside, where those massive walls of glass make it feel like the outdoors never actually left. The reception space is bright without feeling stark, modern without feeling like somebody forgot to decorate, and when the retractable doors open to let the outdoors in, the entire venue suddenly doubles in size.

Your college roommates drift outside with old fashioneds while the dance floor bumps. Your co-workers teachers sneak onto the patio for ten minutes to actually finish a conversation. Somebody wanders down toward the river at sunset because, well… you’d be a little bit crazy not to.

Nobody feels like they’ve left the party; they’re just experiencing it at a slightly different angle. 

If your dream wedding feels less like one big event and more like an entire weekend your favorite people will still be talking about over brunch the next morning, I’d put La Pointe very high on your tour list.

In Praise of A Really Good White Canvas Wedding Venue

If there’s one thing I hope you take away from this little corner of the internet, it’s this:

A white wedding venue isn’t a lack of personality. It’s confidence.

Confidence that your flowers deserve to be The Moment. Confidence that your tablescape should make people feel like they never want to leave the best dinner party known to man. Confidence that your dress doesn’t need to compete with patterned carpet or a feature wall that’s trying a little too hard.

The best blank-canvas venues don’t ask you to become their version of a wedding. They become yours.

So if you’ve been crossing white-walled venues off your list because you’re worried they’ll feel cold or generic, I hope this changed your mind just a little.

Now, go close a few tabs. You’ve got some venue tours to schedule.