LUX Catering & Events | Featured Utah Wedding Venue: Thomas S. Monson Center

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from our cute couple planning their wedding with the brand new LUX Catering & Events! What with the holidays, wedding planning can sometimes fall to the background. But we are happy to say that a lot has happened for our young couple so be prepared to follow along with all the new updates!

Today we are excited to share one of the newer (kind of…) event and Utah wedding venues – the Thomas S Monson Center. The Thomas S. Monson Center was dedicated last fall as the new location of the University of Utah’s Political Science headquarters as well as place for diplomats and visiting dignitaries to visit on their trips to Utah!

LUX Catering & Events closely followed the recent renovation of the center after the original Wall Mansion was donated to the University of Utah and commenced a thorough renovation updating the old mansion on South Temple. Today we’d like to feature all the amazing details of the Thomas S. Monson center as well as hear from the bride & groom as to why it was the perfect setting for their upcoming nuptials.

Featured Utah Wedding Venue: Thomas S Monson Center

The newly refurbished Thomas S. Monson Center, formerly known as the Wall Mansion, is located in the elegant Salt Lake Avenues close to downtown. This beautiful historic building offers a variety of large and small rooms perfect for Weddings, Corporate Events or any other gathering. Both indoor and outdoor spaces are available including a unique semi-circle carriage with beautiful sliding doors that makes it friendly for both cold and warm weather entertaining. Formal seating for 80; reception style for 300.

The Thomas S Monson Center provides 7 unique spaces for a large variety of events including elegant conference rooms, their impeccably manicured lawn and especially their stunning gold gilted ballroom – perfect for the most elegant of wedding dinners and dancing! In fact, LUX Catering & Events was very excited to coordinate and cater a stunning Christmas dinner this past holiday season in the fabulous ballroom!

Now let’s hear from our bride and groom as to why the Thomas S Monson Center was the perfect wedding venue for their Salt Lake City, Utah wedding:

A Wedding Journey: The Perfect Wedding Venue

“If you remember from our inspiration, we were going for a wedding themed around the turn of the century Edwardian period. The original Wall mansion was built between 1909-1914 – the exact time period we were going for! The University of Utah had done an AMAZING job restoring the mansion to it’s former glory with very particular attention paid to all the little details, which we absolutely fell in love with: all the restored hardwood, the beehive tiles, the gilding, and the stained glass doors and windows! If you would like to learn about the mansion’s interesting history, check this page out!
We also needed a venue space that could be versatile as well as large enough to handle our guest list. We needed a venue that had spaces for our ceremony, our formal dinner as well as a space for our reception and especially – dancing! The Thomas S Monson Center was perfect in accomplishing all of these requirements. The lawns are absolutely beautiful and the outside of the mansion the perfect backdrop for our ceremony while the ballroom will be the perfect location for our intimate dinner followed by our reception and my favorite – dancing and the after party!
Plus, we loved all the options for getting ready the day of – one of my favorite rooms in the whole mansion is the Bride’s Room while Bryan is looking forward to getting ready with all his guys in the unique and awesome carriage house!

Picking your Wedding Venue: Things to Consider:

So what is some quick, usual advice and tips when it comes to picking your wedding venue?

Price – obviously! Remember your budget!
Capacity limits – what’s your final guest count? Many places have a capacity limit due to safety reasons. If you have more quests than your preferred venue can legally and safely accommodate you either have to pick a new venue or slim down your guest list.
Contract – make sure and carefully read the contract before you agree to, sign or make a deposit for anything. Many places, especially historical places, have limitations of what you can bring into the venue and what you can do as far as décor and send offs. The Thomas S Monson center doesn’t allow any open flames such as candles or sparklers or attaching any decorations to the walls that could potentially damage all their hard restoration work.
Still having a hard time find a venue that fits your vision and budget? Think outside the box! You don’t have to go with the standard reception centers. Look into local universities who might have historical building they rent out, don’t forget to consider museums, art galleries, aquariums, and city and county buildings! Take a look at our venues list to get an idea of all the broad variety of venue locations.
BONUS! Make your own venue! If you work with a wedding coordinator (which Bryan and I highly encourage – so much less stress and work!) they can work with you to actually create the perfect wedding venue space for you! 2 years ago we had a bride and groom just couldn’t find the right space that fit the vision of their wedding. They wanted something outdoor with a touch of nature but also something modern and trendy. By working with their wedding coordinator at LUX Catering and Events, they were inspired to create their own unique wedding space by combining a plaza in Park City with a modern and trendy text decorated with color block florals, silver linens, white lounge furniture, a dance floor, chandeliers and lots of incredible food stations! (See pictures below)