Great spot ,Food was delicious and the view was amazing ! Staff tended to every need . Could not have been a better spot for a gala !

Our experience with A'BULAE was deeply disappointing and marked by a pattern of unprofessionalism, poor communication, and last-minute chaos that no couple should have to endure on their wedding day. When we initially booked A'BULAE, we were impressed by the concept of an all-inclusive venue with dedicated vendors and day-of support. Unfortunately, what followed was a series of issues that culminated in a wedding day that felt disorganized and unsupported, despite all our planning efforts. 1. Cocktail hour bar service was severely understaffed, with only two bartenders for nearly 200 guests. Long lines led many guests to skip drinks entirely, despite this being a prominently featured and premium service. 2. Event coordination was lacking across the board. Our final updates were never reflected in the event documents. Tables and centerpieces weren't set when we arrived. Our monogram was never displayed. The rehearsal was completely unstructured, and our multiple attempts to hire a day-of coordinator were ignored. 3. Dinner was delayed by over an hour, with numerous guests receiving cold entrées. This disrupted the timeline and detracted from the guest experience. 4. The early access suite was not ready when we arrived, and no staff were present (at least not any that had any idea what was going on) during the hours we paid premium price for. Beverages ordered in advance for the morning were delivered far too late to be enjoyed. 5. Three uninvited individuals gained access to our wedding, ate and drank, and were caught smoking marijuana on the patio. No staff intervened; a family member had to address it. When we raised this afterward, management acknowledged that their security staff had no way to identify or remove uninvited individuals -- raising serious concerns about the purpose and effectiveness of security. In response to our feedback, the General Manager stated that they would use our wedding as a "learning experience" for future events. While perhaps well-intended, this reaction felt dismissive and insufficient given the seriousness of the issues. Even after the wedding, itemized receipts have not been provided, despite repeated requests. After discussing what steps were needed to rectify these grievances, there was yet another administrative error and significant delay, that has put us in a position today - nearly two months later, where we are still waiting on A'BULAE to follow through on promises made in writing. For a venue that promises high-end, all-inclusive coordination, A'BULAE failed to deliver on the most basic expectations. Communication was unreliable throughout the planning process, and the burden of managing key details ultimately fell on us and our families. We would not recommend A'BULAE to other couples. read more

I went to a wedding last night and the venue was beautiful, however, the bartender at the wedding was very rude. Later, the bride was in tears because the bartender chose to close the bar almost 3 hours early, after getting frustrated that the guests were enjoying the rooftop bar. It felt like an extremely unnecessary headache on someone's wedding day. Especially because drinks were not leaving the wedding floor or the rooftop bar. Part of the reason someone chooses a venue with a rooftop is to be able to enjoy it. read more

Really disappointed that they closed the bar unexpectedly early and ruined someone's wedding. Of all the occasions to grift people on..

So grateful for the beautiful work everyone here did on my daughters wedding! Absolutely beautiful accommodations and professional people make this an outstanding venue in every way. read more

I completely agree with the below reviewer Sai D!!! Sorry I did not write this review sooner, when it happened a year ago! Although the venue is gorgeous, at the end, the food was TERRIBLE for how much it cost and you can't use any other caterer. The worst part was that the bar tenders were rude and the venue staff did nothing about it regardless of complaints. Instead they turned around and SHUT DOWN THE WEDDING AT 9:30PM!! When they already received payment through midnight. The venue refused to issue a refund for the hours not used. If you are going to spend the kind of money you would at this place, go with a venue that has a long standing reputation of excellence and committment to making sure the bride and groom have the night of their life; they certainly are paying for it!! If I could i give NO STARS to a venue that forced ended the night of a lifetime that can never be repeated again. ------- of course if you are a wedding photographer - this venue is great for taking photos! (which is the only reason the below reviewer gave it a 5 star) read more

I LOVE this venue! I'm a wedding photographer and whenever a bride and groom tell me their wedding is at A'Bulae, I get super excited! They have a beautiful bridal suite for getting ready, a great reception room that can also be used as an indoor ceremony room, or the rooftop can be used as an outdoor ceremony site! Absolutely stunning, and I love the variety of locations in the building and nearby to take the bride and groom, along with the bridal party for some photos! Highly recommend! read more

Abulae - Beautiful wedding reception at A'Bulae http://www.jeanninemarie.com/ - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Saint Paul, Minnesota

Great venue! There are tons of great things to say about it! Gorgeous views, friendly staff, and an overall fantastic ambiance. I am a wedding event coordinator in St. Cloud and two minor things stuck out in my mind like thorns to a rose. Our salads sat out on serving trays next to their corresponding tables for up to an hour before they were finally given to us. Maybe its just me but I don't prefer my salads to be room temperature and for the croutons to be stale. I really hope they improve that. Also, the order in which everything was served was a little backwards. The family tables up front are priority after the head table but we didn't get offered coffee till all the other tables were served. These are all minor things. Please don't pass up this venue due to my review. Great place! read more

Abulae - Great table layout!! So beautiful - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Saint Paul, Minnesota

1) You will get nickel and dime'd to no end and it's NOT worth it. The place just looks classy, but none of the service quality is remotely so. 2) Mintahoe is hands down terrible, and even more disgusting when you consider the prices they charge. Everything tastes too surgary, like it was recently taken out of a can, freezer, or microwave. They clearly have no incentive to improve by how tightly they lock you in with the contract, and how expensive an outside caterer would be. It's really a shame that a venue so beautiful would create such a harrowing experience for a bridal party. If you want to be sweating bullets until the last second about whether the food quality will match up to the glamor of the venue, then go for it. The best result will be mediocre. 3) As our struggles started, our other vendors began admitting to us their reservations regarding Abulae, and shared stories of other clients they had who really struggled with their experience as well. This came up OVER and OVER again....but it was too late for us. And oh yea, you might encounter an incredibly rude bar tender or two. In closing, don't buy the sweet talk and please don't sign the contract. The "details" meeting they host for you is nothing for a 90 minute waste of your time as they try to sell you more bottom of the barrel quality products from Bellagala. It's actually nothing related to planning and organizing your affair. Any place that makes you pay full price up front strips you of any bargaining power, and that is exactly what I wish we were not so naive about. read more

I attended a larger event here and I was literally blown. Everywhere you turn there is something to see and they definitely didn't spare any expense. From the way it was setup up the night we attend this space wouldn't be for a small gather, however, if you had a wedding or larger corporate function this would more than accommodate. There's nothing like this venue anywhere I've been locally. I would imagine you'd have to do an event in L.A. or NYC to get this kind of quality and high-end feel. It's really hard to describe the experience, because I can't compare it to anything here in the cities. Definitely a place if you want to impress your friends, family or co-workers. On top of the sites, the food was really good and just like the space they offered a lot of different styles of food that you wouldn't normally find at a wedding or large event. To sum it up it's the kind of place you can tell they didn't just throw together, like some dingy nightclub. There so much detail in the overall layout and design that you can just tell this isn't any old event space. I hope I get a chance to go back soon... I need to recommend it to more of my friends that are getting engaged. read more

Nice location... decent views. Nice wood paneling on beams and pillars (not sure if it is faux or real wood, looked like real wood). Bad acoustics. REALLY, REALLY, REALLY BAD FOOD ! read more

We have had our company holiday parties at some of the top venues in the Twin Cites. We have done parties at Green Acres, Aria, The Profile and McNamara Alumni to name a few. This by far was the most expensive place and it was the first time ever in 25+ years that we ran out of food before all the guests had made it through the buffet line. The worst part is that the owners, the people who paid for the party did not get any of the beef tenderloin because they ran out. We paid to have a carving station and but the beef came out on a plate. They were very slow at replenishing food-leaving people standing around waiting and finally giving up and going to sit down. The bartenders kept trying to shut the bar down well before the party was over and we insisted it stayed open. When we were handing out gifts to our employees they finally shut it down. The catering prices were outrageous (we had the same exact menu items at other venues) and paid 2x more for average food that they ran out of(keep in mind-we were below the final number I gave because some invited guests couldn't make it) A'bulae was a beautiful venue and its to bad they partnered up with an awful caterer. read more

Our main contact, Nancy was so helpful! She took the time to show us the venue and went through the pricing for different weekends out of the year. We knew right away that A'BULAE would be the perfect venue for us because of the attention to detail. Able to accommodate a large number of people and the venue itself was gorgeous! I really liked that everything was included into one price since it would have been a headache to try to figure that all out at other venues. We went with the DJ through Bellegala (Mike V) and I'm glad we did. So many compliments on the DJ and he kept the party running smoothly once the A'BULAE EC left. Everyone was very attentive and quick to answer emails and questions. I had no concerns for the wedding leading up to it because they had everything under control. Everything was perfect the day of the wedding and a big part of that was because of Nancy, Jenna, and Denise. They made sure that I didn't have to think about too much the day of and it all ran like a well oiled machine. My guests were shocked at how amazing the venue itself was and how friendly the staff was. Even got a ton of compliments on the friendliness and professionalism of the security guards! Something I struggled with: For many people, planning a wedding or major event is a once in a lifetime thing. I felt a little overwhelmed with the food/beverage choices and felt it could have been explained a little bit better. Not that I would have changed anything, but additional information would have been helpful. Also, a written down timeline of when the next meeting would occur would have been helpful for planning for that month. I wouldn't have changed a thing about having A'BULAE as our venue and I was fairly stress free the day of mainly because of A'BULAE. So many of my guests are also going to mention what a wonderful venue it is. read more

Unfortunately I was really not impressed with this as my wedding venue as a whole. The venue is pretty, I agree. That's about where the good things end. Truthfully we were sold on the look of the place and on the get-ready rooms. Part of that is we were told there was a ping pong table in the men's room for while they get ready -- that was absent the day of the wedding. We worked with Denise who was never even remotely helpful. If anything she made the whole process harder. You are stuck with Mintahoe as your food vendor which has a few items that taste good but in general is less-than-mediocre as far as food goes. And man do they get you with prices! It felt like there was constantly new bills being sent about charges neither I nor my significant other remember ever discussing. We worked with a professional wedding planner who also wasn't impressed with Denise or A'bulae. The acoustics weren't great. Save your money (because they'll take a LOT of it) and go elsewhere! read more

Had my wedding here the 15th of July. The venue itself is beautiful. We booked it a year and a half ago with a different coordinator and staff. The original members we loved. New employees not so much. If I were to take a tour now I would pass and move to another venue. Photo booth worker was rude, un helpful. Bar had watered down drinks when we paid for top shelf. Staff members busting dishes when speeches were going on. Venue employees coming to me to figure out phone numbers of other vendors, asking the bride for numbers that were emailed way ahead of time. Became hot inside later on and took far to long to turn down. The list goes on! I feel the communication with employees, leaders, vendors, and us was sub par at best. I would not recommend this venue to another bride. All the things that were supposed to make the venue a big draw, them coordinating with vendors and all inclusive was not lived up to. Disappointed to say the least and wish it was the same runners staffed when I booked. You can clearly tell by the reviews that they used to be good and have significantly gone down hill from a couple years ago. Hard pass people!! read more

I recently had my wedding at A'bulae and myself, my now husband, bridal party and guests have nothing but good things to say about the event space and staff. From start to finish the staff there is hands on and will help you throughout the entire process. I felt comfortable from the first time I met with Jenna to go over initial details all the way up to the final catering meeting with Denise. The staffs insight and expertise really shined during the meetings we had. They were very knowledgeable and offered their personal opinions and advice from being a part of so many weddings that truly helped us make important decisions along the way. The event space here is incredible. The floor to ceiling windows in the dining hall allow you to see a great view of the new CHS field and make you feel totally surrounded by St. Paul. The rooftop is an excellent space for cocktail hour; our guests were blown away by the views from the rooftop. A'bulae offers so much more than your typical event space. You can't beat all of the interactive aspects that come along with this venue. From the Padzilla, digital screens that surround the dining hall, and the Photomingle photo booth, your guests will be stunned at the amount of amusement A'bulae has to offer. Our guests were blown away at the live feed that was streaming on the screens throughout the evening, whenever someone posted a picture of us or themselves at the wedding it went up instantly on the screen. It was awesome to see how much fun our guests were having! The digital coordinator Shane at A'bulae truly made our wedding come to life. Through our meeting with Shane, he helped us pick a color scheme and gave advice on what to have on the screens and when. It is important details that set A'bulae apart from other wedding venues that I toured. The food from Mintahoe was excellent. My guests continue to tell me how great the short ribs were! No matter what food options you choose, you won't be disappointed. The catering staff was professional and helpful. The bartenders that were on site the night of our wedding were fabulous. They ensured that our guests had a great time throughout the whole evening. This paragraph is just for the future brides out there. If you want a gorgeous getting ready space for the day of your wedding A'bulae is the place for you. They have individual stands with hair dressing chairs and mirrors for all of those getting ready needs. It is a hairstylist and make-up artists dream! It was so relaxing being able to get my hair done and my make-up applied right on-site at the venue. It was so much less of a hassle from some other venues who do not offer a space and you would have to arrive on site with all of this already done. It was also great to be able to have this space just for my bridesmaids, to be able to enjoy some time with just the girls before the big day! The staff at A'bulae was constantly coming in to suite to make sure everyone had anything and everything they needed. Talk about pampering! Overall, I am so glad that we choose A'bulae as our wedding venue. We would not have been able to pull off the wedding we had without Nancy, Jenna and Denise's insight on so many important aspects of the wedding. I could not have asked for a better experience. They truly made the wedding planning process easy and accommodating. Between the staff and the event space this truly is a one-of-a-kind venue. read more

I'm very disappointed with the service that I received from Abulae. Needless to say it is a beautiful overpriced Saint Paul venue. Beware, their salespeople are not straight forward at all. The wedding venue prices are based on an algorithm so one can end up paying anywhere from an all inclusive price of $2,000 -$10,000 depending on the day of ones evening event excluding the food and beverage minimum. They rarely quote a price over the phone, they ask you to come into their venue for a meeting so you can fall in love with their overpriced Cinderella themed venue. Mintahoe is giving a kickback to the venue based on your catering bill that exceeds 10%. You must work with Mintahoe Catering, if you need any modifications to the menu just select another venue, please save yourself a headache! read more

Over the past couple of years I've attended 3 events at A'Bulae. I was not involved in the planning of these events, though I have been told by those who have that it is quite expensive. Though the space and gorgeous and accommodates a large group comfortably, I have been extremely dissatisfied with all other aspects of the venue. The food is average at best. At the past two events I have received food that had clearly been sitting for some time. At one of the events, the entrée portion was so small that if it weren't for the dessert, everyone at our table would have went home hungry. The service is atrocious. At the most recent event there wasn't a carafe of water on the table, nor did any service staff come around and offer additional water. To make matters worse, while I was in the middle of eating my entrée I put my fork down to converse with the person next to me, and as I turned away a staff member took my plate away without even asking if I was done. I still had half of my chicken left! Coffee cups were set (though my cup was badly stained), but again, no coffee was placed on the table at the end of the meal and the service staff didn't come around and offer any. I've had mixed results when it comes to the bar. Most recently, I ordered a glass of wine that was quite sour. The bartender was kind enough to switch it out for me immediately. Though a beautiful space, I would NOT recommend this venue if food is important to you. read more

Recently was a guest at a wedding reception at A'bulae and was disappointed. The access to main space was maddeningly slow. One elevator that was very slow. To get 200 guests to the 6th floor took forever. The servers were few and not often seen. The roof top deck was pleasant, but not set-up for a large party. Two tables for all the guests on the deck. No seating and with older guests and warm weather it wasn't a great experience. The food was terrible. Twenty minute wait between the salads and the main entree. Meanwhile the staff didn't offer more wine or even water. Water glasses were never refilled. The food was marginal at best. Tasteless pasta. Beef ribs that were drowning in gravy. The staff was indifferent and did not offer the service that the venue should provide. The bartender poured Chardonnay when a Pinot Gritio was requested. No apology. Acted like it was my fault. All in all not a great experience. Overrated. read more