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    Covington Inn

    3.6 (13 reviews)
    Open Open 24 hours

    Services - Covington Inn

    Venue rental

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    View of the boat.
    Tim D.

    Amazing little tow boat turned bed and breakfast. My bride and I enjoyed staying in the Pilot's House Suite, which included the bedroom, a separate living room in the Pilot's House, and a private deck on top of the boat. We sat on the deck enjoying views of the Mississippi, falcons, scully teams, barges and so much more. It's right next to Harriet Island and walking trails. You're in the city of St. Paul yet feel like you're miles away. The quarters are cramped, but quaint, cute and enjoyable. I highly recommend if you like unique experiences.

    Pilot Suite sitting room
    Stacie C.

    It's a bed and breakfast. On a boat. That's pretty much all I needed to know. My friend and I stayed at the Covington Inn (an old tugboat now permanently docked on the Mississippi across the river from downtown St. Paul) as a treat to ourselves at the end of a long and eventful week in the Twin Cities. And we enjoyed every minute we could. We checked in to the Pilot Suite (the top two levels). Our suite included a private bath, a bedroom (with both a fireplace and a/c depending on what you need), a sitting room (the former wheel house) and outside deck. We enjoyed dinner (takeout we had picked up before arrival) on the outside deck as we watched the sunset. Alarms were set for sunrise and we took that in as well. The setting could not have been more relaxing on our private deck. It was the calm we needed after a busy week. As we watched the setting and rising sun reflecting off the river, it felt like we were worlds away. As we descended into the common area, we were greeted by Liz who served us breakfast (French toast with berries and whipped cream) and gave us a history of the boat. She has also put together several photo albums showing how it came to be the Covington Inn. This place was a wonderful find but seems to be a bit of a hidden gem. I'd recommend it for out-of-towners and locals as a great getaway.

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    The Trailhead - The main hall area.

    The Trailhead

    (7 reviews)

    What a fantastic community space and outdoor recreation center! Totally makes winter in Minnesota…read moreeven better. I'm new to discovering The Trailhead at Theodore Wirth Regional Park, but believe me when I say I'll be back many more time. In the winter, they offer cross-country skiing and lessons. (You can rent a full set of gear for about $30- no need to have your own to experience skiing! They also have à la carte options for cheaper if you only need poles or boots, etc.) Besides skiing, outdoor winter activities also include snow tubing, snowboarding, snowshoeing.... You name it. (I haven't been in fall or summer yet, but I also hear great things about their mountain biking and trail running options.) Inside The Trailhead, there's food and drink concessions, ample seating, lockers, bathrooms, and even rooms for rent. The last time I was there, a family was hosting a young child's birthday party in the multi-purpose room. Altogether, there is an amazing assortment of services here to come and check out. Can't wait for next ski season!

    We have made a tradition of coming here the day after Thanksgiving. I am from out of town, visiting…read morefamily and friends. The building is a perfect space for bringing a large group together for games, chatting, eating, and sledding on the snowy hills just outside the doors. They used to serve hot food, but they no longer have that option. The food was not consistent or anything all that special, but it was a nice option. This time we brought Thanksgiving leftovers and some breakfast bagel sandwiches. The space is well maintained and clean. It is spacious and has lots of room for young kids to run around and not be a disturbance. Always look forward to coming here.

    James J Hill Center - Photo courtesy of Laura Ivanova Photography

    James J Hill Center

    (16 reviews)

    Downtown St. Paul

    The Reading Room is an excellent space for an intimate wedding. There were about 150 guests and the…read moreceremony took place in the front of the room, with elegant tables behind for the plated dinner reception. Waitstaff circulated with hors d'oeuvres as we waited in the receiving line, keeping everyone engaged. I loved the library theme, from the Save The Date library book cards to the tables identified by famous authors. We were seated at Dickens, our dinner preferences printed out on beautiful bookmarks. The three-story ceilings are reached by massive bookshelves with upstairs hallways for reaching those high books. The flowers were gorgeous and organic and the catered food was delicious from salad to dessert. It's not an inexpensive venue, but it is warm and intimate once you get here. We ran into detours, slow trains, and closed roads so we had our Uber let us out about a 1/4 mile away because we were about to be late. We literally made it in as the ceremony started. Road construction, closed roads, detours, and slow freight trains don't show up on your travel map!

    A stunning interior historic space and building. If I were doing research here, I think I'd find it…read morevery enjoyable. Using it as a meeting space wasn't the greatest, since the speakers had power point presentations with lots of writing, and because the seating had to be deep and narrow, it was hard for those in the back. Sound also was splotchy, and the bathrooms are small and at the front, so you have to walk in front of everyone to reach them. As a stop to see something beautiful--it's a must if you're in this city.

    Abulae - Beautiful wedding venue!

    Abulae

    (19 reviews)

    Lowertown, Downtown St. Paul

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

    Our experience with A'BULAE was deeply disappointing and marked by a pattern of unprofessionalism,…read morepoor 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.

    Nord Room - The tastefully-decorated private event space called the Nord Room is great for small weddings and receptions!

    Nord Room

    (7 reviews)

    Uptown

    We hosted our cocktail style Wedding Reception here in June and felt it was woefully mismanaged…read morefrom start to finish. We booked all three rooms back in Fall of '23 and paid our deposit and were excited to get planning come May this year. We got to a month before the event and hadn't heard anything from the Event Coordinator regarding current menu, bar, timing, anything. Three weeks prior to the event we reached out and heard nothing for a week. Two weeks out we followed up and found out the Event Coordinator had changed from the one we booked with and the new one was out for an indeterminate period of time with a family emergency. We worked as best we could with the Event Captain but ended up with incorrect menus and pricing and were finally told the Event Coordinator would be back the Monday of our event week and it would be handled then. We got finalized menus and pricing 36 hours before our event. This was extremely stressful, however, we empathized with the Event Coordinator and were assured the event itself would be great. On the day, we arrived and the staff setting up was unsure how many chairs we wanted. They didn't know which equipment we had paid for to use that needed to be set up. They didn't know what the event was for. They were all very nice and let us know they had extremely limited information about our event which was very concerning for us. The Event Coordinator was present for about 5 mins to ask us about a backup wine if ours ran out and that was it (it did run out because there was only one bottle). There was no Event Captain, and the Coordinator was not on hand and (according to staff) unreachable during the event. We had agreed upon several things including a finite amount to pay for "open bar" and then switching to card after that point and we found out only AFTER we met our minimum that they were never told/weren't prepared to take cards. At that point, our options were no drinks (N/A or otherwise) for the last 3 hours or so of our event or we could just keep paying. So we ended up paying much more than was quoted/agreed upon due to lack of communication/oversight. We were told that guests could visit the attached Blue Stem bar, but it closed two hours before our event ended. We also had guests with dietary preferences/restrictions and had ordered vegan options and gluten free cake. We had asked if these could be explicitly labeled to avoid confusion and were told "yes" and on the day it did not happen so many of our guests were unaware there was anything they could eat at our reception. We were also told we could take our leftovers home and we only got cake when there was a lot of food left when they took it away. The sternos were out for some period of time and we couldn't find someone to help with that. The bar was left unattended. The bartenders were serving and refilling alcohol table to table (which we did not want or ask for), and did not pass appetizers as agreed upon. We reached out to the owner, twice, following our event to discuss our concerns to no avail. We LOVE French Meadow and are just heartbroken to have had this experience with them. Posting this (very lengthy) review in hopes no one else goes through this expensive disappointment.

    We were married and hosted a reception for twenty two guests in the Nord Room/French Meadow Bakery…read more& Cafe. It was so fabulous and we cannot say enough positive things about our experience! All of French Meadow's staff were so lovely to work with. Briana and the entire catering group were so helpful from Day 1. As most wedding couples do, we had a lot of questions about logistics and planning. They answered every one of our questions in a timely manner and were thorough in coordinating all of the details of our special day. The day of our wedding, everyone there was immensely helpful and went out of their way to make us feel comfortable. We truly owe them the world for making our wedding day so special! The room is perfect. We added floral centerpieces, but the room itself was setup exactly how we wanted, the chairs outside were moved once for our ceremony and then again for our first dance. The lighting both inside and out was more than we could have imagined. We were able to play our own music (a friend just had to manage the playlist), which was super easy! The FOOD, OH MY GOSH THE FOOD! So superb, we got so many compliments from our friends and family about how wonderful the food was. We got to choose 4 food options for our guests and only heard wonderful things about each entree. The cake was also super wonderful and delicious. We would recommend the Nord Room to anyone looking for an intimate wedding location. It was such an easy day (seriously, nothing went wrong!) and we couldn't have asked for a better staff or location. We had a beautiful day and we owe much of that to the wonderful folks at French Meadow!

    Covington Inn - bedbreakfast - Updated May 2026

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