Illinois venue guide
Updated
Wedding venue costs in Illinois
A comprehensive guide to see how wedding venue costs change with your guest count, the region, the date, and what venues include. The sections below go deeper into how wedding pricing works and what could matter to you.
We've gathered details on 72 Illinois venues. Pick a starting point and Sage will rank them for your day, with cost estimates wherever the venue publishes its prices.
What should you budget?
Venues with catering for guests
Use − and + to reprice every figure below.
$18k
Typical estimate
The median cost for venues that include their own catering.
$9,800–$34k
Typical range
80% of venues fall in this range, before your date, package, and region narrow it down further.
How we compare. To compare like with like, these figures count only the venues that can host 100 guests and publish a price for both the venue and its own catering. Venues where you bring your own caterer, or that quote catering on request, are left out here and shown in the next section.
Some of these prices also include the bar and the service charges and taxes the venue lists; others don’t, so actual totals may be higher. These are our estimates, not quotes, and not a full wedding budget. Confirm with the venue before making any decisions.
Every filled dot is one venue that can host 100 guests, shaded by its own estimate. Each ring marks a region, in the colour of its typical cost — grey where fewer than five of its venues have a venue-with-catering price. Hover a region to pick out the venues in it, or select one to open its guide. All three Illinois regions are in the Chicago area, so this map shows Chicagoland; venues elsewhere in the state aren't on it.
Know where you want your event to be?
See venues in your region that work for your budget
Guests
Pick a region
How venues price weddings
Two venues can quote the same number and mean very different things
Pick one to see what its price contains, what it leaves for you to buy, and what it typically comes to.
You pay for the space and their kitchen
Venues with catering
Venues publish their price in two ways: as a site fee plus a per-guest menu price, or as a bundled package (venue + food).
$18k
typical for venues with catering
$9.8k–$34k
where 80% of these 32 venues land
And then you still buy
- Bar, where it isn’t included
- Rentals and décor beyond the basics
- Every other vendor
Good if you
don’t want to worry about sourcing a caterer or any outside catering fees.
What you’d still need to find out
Whether drinks are inside the menu price or billed separately, and what the service charge and tax add at the end.
You buy the space, then the food
Venues where you bring your own caterer
You hire and pay a caterer yourself. Any fee the venue charges for letting an outside kitchen in is already in this figure.
$12k
typical for the venue rental
$6.5k–$14k
where 80% of these 12 venues land
And then you still buy
- Your caterer, plus their service charge
- Often rentals, staff and the bar
Good if you
want a specific cuisine, a caterer you already love, or real control of the food budget.
What you’d still need to find out
What your caterer will quote, and whether rentals, staff and the bar come through them or the venue.
You buy the space and the drinks
Venue and bar, you bring the food
Mostly wineries and event spaces that serve no food of their own. The price covers the space and drinks from their bar, and you hire a caterer for the meal.
$14k
typical for the venue and bar
$10k–$19k
where 80% of these 7 venues land
And then you still buy
- Your caterer, plus their service charge
- Rentals and staff, in most cases
Good if you
want your own caterer but would rather not run a bar yourself.
What you’d still need to find out
Whether they have a minimum beverage spend and what your caterer will quote for the food.
What kind of place
What different types of venues cost in Illinois
The same wedding costs different amounts at a barn and at a hotel — and so does the shape of the bill. Four ways to look at it, for 100 guests.
What just the space costs
The venue rental across every venue that charges one as its own line — whether or not they also sell you the food. Just the room, nothing else.
- Banquet Hall$1k (2)
- Hotel$1k (4)
- Country Club / Golf Club$1.5k (14)
- Resort$4.8k (2)
- Event Center$8k (13)
- Estate / Mansion$8k (5)
- Brewery$10k (2)
- Loft$12k (7)
- Art Gallery$14k (2)
- Museum$22k (2)
Every venue that itemises a rental, including the ones that cater. Venues quoting a single package over the room and the meal never name a room price, so they aren’t here — and this is a part of a bill, not a whole one, so it can’t be subtracted from the next chart.
What a wedding costs when the venue handles catering too
The whole bill — the room, the meal, and the fees on top.
- Banquet Hall$12k (4)
- Resort$13k (3)
- Restaurant$16k (10)
- Country Club / Golf Club$16k (20)
- Hotel$17k (7)
- Event Center$20k (5)
- Estate / Mansion$34k (4)
- Winery / Vineyard$54k (2)
Venues behind each figure in brackets. A venue can be more than one kind of place, so it may appear in more than one row.
How much of the cost is for the space vs the catering
Every bar is one whole bill, so what changes across the list is the split. A country club / golf club earns it back on the menu; a estate / mansion charges you for the space.
- Country Club / Golf Club12% (10)
- Banquet Hall12% (2)
- Event Center53% (3)
- Estate / Mansion53% (4)
Only the venues that price the room and the meal separately, with how many in brackets. Another 17 quote one package covering both, so there is no split to show for them.
What venues make you spend on food and beverage, at a minimum
The floor, not the bill — what you owe before anyone has chosen a menu. A food and beverage minimum, a bar minimum and a fee for bringing your own caterer are the same move in three costumes, so they are added up per venue and shown together.
- Loft$7k (2)
- Event Center$9k (4)
- Country Club / Golf Club$15k (7)
- Estate / Mansion$18k (2)
Only the venues that state a floor, with how many in brackets; silence is not a zero. A venue that says it has no minimum is counted at zero rather than left out. None charge an explicit outside-catering fee — in this corpus the minimum does that job instead.
What affects the cost of your wedding
Your date can change the price a lot
Wedding venue pricing is seasonal. 36 of the 72 Illinois venues we track charge differently depending on the day, and 20 charge differently depending on the month. Every figure below compares a venue with itself, so it says what moving your date does — whatever kind of venue you pick, and whatever the size of your wedding.
Day of the week
Months you’d consider
Peak months are selected to start. Tap any month to compare.
Saturday, peak season
The most expensive date most venues sell, and the date almost every published price assumes. Choose a different day or month to see what typically comes off.
What part of the bill your date actually changes
Not every line on a quote moves. These are the ones that do, measured at the venues that move them.
The venue rental
What they charge for the space itself.
Their food & beverage minimum
The floor you have to spend with their kitchen. Off-peak the floor itself comes down.
Off-peak, the f&b minimum moves too
Venues with a food and beverage minimum, the floor itself is lower off a peak Saturday. Ask what it is on your date before you compare it with anywhere else.
Inviting fewer people saves you less than you’d think
23 of the 67 Illinois venues that can host 100 guests put a floor under what you spend — a minimum on food and drink, or a headcount they bill for. It is the one charge that feels worse the smaller your wedding is, and it is rarely made clear on other platforms that show venue pricing.
13 of 23
would bill you above what your own 100 guests come to, by about $6k typically.
Most of them stop topping up from around 150 guests. Below that, inviting fewer people doesn’t lower the bill at these venues.
Cutting 20 guests takes $0 off the bill, even though they actually cost $1.9k — because of the minimum spend
What kind of floor, and how high
A venue can set more than one.
- A minimum spend on food and drinkThe money you commit to their kitchen. Service charge and tax then stack on top of it.
- $15ktypical
- A minimum spend on drinks aloneMostly wineries. Ask how many guests it takes to reach before you count it as spent.
- $9ktypical
- A minimum headcount they bill you forYou pay for this many plates whether or not that many people come. At 2 of them the floor is above 100.
- 100 gueststypical
- A wedding they won’t book at allNot a charge — a size they turn down. 1 of them asks for more than 100 guests before they’ll take the booking.
- 4 venues
What gets added at the end
Taxes and fees mark up an Illinois quote typically by 25%
Every pricing model carries them. At the 39 Illinois venues that publish their fees, the middle result is 25%, with most landing between 14% and 36%.
Service charge28 venues
22%
The venue’s charge for its staff. Not a tip.
Administrative fee4 venues
4%
Charged instead of, or alongside, a service charge — and usually taxed as well.
Gratuity4 venues
20%
The tip that does reach the staff. Ask whether it replaces the service charge.
Sales tax30 venues
9.8%
Set by the state, and charged on the service charge too at most venues.
Named surcharges4 venues
4%
Operations, production, sustainability or a city fee.
Dots are sized by how many venues charge that rate. The gold line is the median rate, and every fee has its own scale: read the spread within a row, not across them.
Choose your next guide
Find the guide that fits your plans
Start with a region, a budget, something you can't compromise on, or a big decision like when to get married.
Guides by region
The kinds of venues in each area, what a wedding typically costs there, and what makes planning there different.
Chicago
More venues here let you bring your own caterer
Typical $27k for venue and food at 100 guests
Read the guide
Chicago's North & Northwest Suburbs
Venues here cost less than average
Typical $14k for venue and food at 100 guests
Read the guide
Chicago's Western Suburbs
Ask what actually happens if it rains
Typical $17k for venue and food at 100 guests
Read the guide
Guides by what you need
Venues that have one thing you need, and what that really means once you ask the venue about it.
Illinois Venues with On-Site Lodging
How many Illinois wedding venues have rooms for guests, what booking the whole property really involves, and how to plan a wedding weekend that works.
19% of wedding venues in Illinois have rooms on the property
Read the guide
Illinois Venues with Outside Catering
How many Illinois wedding venues let you bring your own caterer, what the fine print usually says, and what to ask before food decides your venue.
22% of Illinois venues with a stated catering policy allow an outside caterer
Read the guide
Illinois Outdoor Venues with Rain Plans
How many Illinois wedding venues say what happens to an outdoor ceremony if it rains, what each kind of backup is like, and what to ask before you book.
50% of Illinois venues say what happens to an outdoor ceremony if it rains
Read the guide
Illinois BYOB Wedding Venues
How many Illinois wedding venues let you bring your own alcohol, what corkage usually costs, and what to ask before you buy the drinks.
20% of Illinois venues with a stated alcohol policy let you bring your own
Read the guide
Illinois Wedding Venue Curfews
When the music has to stop and when the wedding has to end at Illinois venues, how that differs by region, and what to ask about overtime.
Read the guide
Find venues that match your vision and budget
Describe your guest count, your budget, and anything you can’t compromise on. Sage checks venues we track and gives you a ranked list, with why each one fits, trade-offs, and what to double-check.
Sage the Date reads each venue's own published details, including pricing, catering and alcohol rules, music curfews, rain plans, whether you get the whole property, and how many guests each space holds. Every estimate uses your guest count. When a venue doesn't say, we tell you instead of guessing.
Elsewhere in Illinois: 8 more venues we track
How these estimates are built
Sage starts with each venue's own published pricing and policies, then puts different kinds of quotes on the same footing for 100guests. The figures are our estimates, not quotes, and they don't mean a date is available.
Prices for the space alone are kept separate from venue-with-catering prices and all-inclusive packages. If a venue doesn't say something, we treat it as unknown, not a no, and statewide percentages only count venues that say either way.