Wedding Reception Venues in Melbourne CBD

Choosing the Right Wedding Reception Venue

Some city couples want chandeliers and a seated dinner for hundreds; others want canapés, a rooftop and dancing until late. Between a Collins Street ballroom, the top floor of the GPO building and heritage pubs on Swanston Street, Flinders Lane and Bourke Street, the CBD covers both ends. Reception styles and where to find them:

Formal and large: Plaza Ballroom seats 150 to 450 beneath original chandeliers, with all-inclusive packages from $240 per person.
Vows and party in one place: Alto Event Space's open-air terrace hosts the ceremony, then 150 sit down inside by the brass bar.
Upstairs at a heritage pub: Young & Jackson's whole first floor, above the 1861 corner pub, takes 90 seated or 180 standing, and a parquetry dance floor is free for cocktail receptions.
A pub room with its own entrance: the Royal Melbourne Hotel's Heritage Room holds 50 to 250, with a sunken lounge and a dance floor.
Cocktail-style: the Garden State Hotel's Rose Garden for 200, Good Heavens' rooftop for 400, The Rooftop @ Imperial Hotel for 270, or Little Riverland at Riverland Bar for 250.

Pub and rooftop packages start well below the ballroom – canapés from $25 per person at Young & Jackson, $37 per person at Good Heavens and Riverland Bar, $40 per person at the Garden State Hotel, and the Royal Melbourne Hotel from $35 per person.

Plaza Ballroom guests enter through a small gated doorway beside the Regent Theatre, and the Marriner Group kitchen and staff serve the dinner.
At Young & Jackson, Chloe's Restaurant seats 70, with set menus at two courses or three, in rooms named after the portrait that has hung in the building since 1909, and a functions manager runs the night.
The Garden State Hotel's Observatory seats 50 with its own balcony, bar and dance floor, overlooking the indoor beer garden.
The Royal Melbourne Hotel offers set menus for 20 or more, and its heated Courtyard seats 40 or more under retractable awnings.

Cocktail receptions and late finishes

Events at Alto Event Space can run to 1am, seven nights a week, its ceiling is rigged for draping and florals, and private celebrations start from $121 per person.
At Riverland Bar, the Private Deck beside Princes Bridge takes 80 with its own mobile bar, looking over the river to Southbank.
The Rooftop @ Imperial Hotel charges no cakeage, and a lift reaches the roof.
Good Heavens is a 70s-styled rooftop with an alfresco fireplace at its centre and walls that retract, though the way up is by stairs.

Common Questions About Wedding Reception Venues

Where can we seat 400 for the wedding dinner?

Plaza Ballroom, which takes receptions of 150 to 450. Alto Event Space seats 150, and Young & Jackson's first floor seats 90.

Where can the ceremony and reception happen in one venue?

Alto Event Space. Couples can marry out on the open-air terrace, 150 square metres of it, then move inside for dinner.

Which reception venues have a dance floor?

Plaza Ballroom has room for a large one, the Royal Melbourne Hotel's Heritage Room has its own, the Observatory and the Rose Garden at the Garden State Hotel each have one, and Young & Jackson includes a parquetry floor for cocktail parties.

Which venues are step-free for older guests?

Plaza Ballroom can arrange a lift at its Collins Street entrance, with ramps down to the floor; the Garden State Hotel is wheelchair accessible with a lift to the Rose Garden; a lift comes down from Federation Square to Riverland Bar; and at The Rooftop @ Imperial Hotel a lift runs to all three levels. Good Heavens can be reached by stairs alone.

Wedding Reception Venues in Melbourne CBD