$1,500 starting price
300+ guest capacity
This venue can host 300+ guests
About this vendor
Listed on the Top Ten Wedding Venues in the US by Martha Stewart in 2010, The Henry Clay offers two beautiful and unique 1920’s style ballrooms that exude timeless elegance, creating the perfect romantic backdrop for your wedding day! If availability allows, you can pick your favorite ballroom or use one ballroom for the ceremony and the other for the reception. Become a part of our history!
Grand Ballroom: 2nd Floor Package
The Grand Ballroom is the largest ballroom in Louisville with a stationary stage. The room features time period box seating and 27-foot-tall ceilings lined with the original 1924 chandeliers. The Grand Ballroom is located on the second floor of the Henry Clay and includes the South Room which features mirrored columns, gorgeous hand carved crown molding, decorative wood features and luscious red carpeted floors. Another elegant feature of the 2nd floor is the Atrium overlooking the baby grand piano in the Grand Lobby.
The Atrium showcases original 1924 stained-glass ceiling tiles, wrought iron handrails, original granite floors and is outlined in beautifully ornamented columns. The 2nd floor offers two sets of restrooms and can host intimate weddings and receptions while hosting large parties of 500 plus guests. The Grand Ballroom has featured artists such as Aretha Franklin, Hall & Oats, Allison Kraus, Heuy Lewis and the News, and even notable people like Muhammad Ali and President Obama!
Beaux Arts Ballroom: 4th Floor Package
The Beaux Arts Ballroom is our second Ballroom located on the 4th Floor. Slightly smaller than the Grand Ballroom, The Beaux Arts (“Bow Arts”) evokes timeless elegance in its grand size and architectural character. Brocade style panels, decorative trim, original stained-glass windows and ceiling tiles, two colossal white columns and sweeping corners all embody romance and intimate stately elegance. 4th floor rentals include the Billiards Room, the Tavern Room and the outdoor Courtyard exclusive to your party. These rooms can serve as areas for a cocktail hour, a small ceremony, or space for bars, food stations and even photo booths.
Exclusive to the Beaux Arts and 4th Floor Rentals is access to our Bridal Suite. Available 10am morning of the wedding, our Bridal Suite includes: a full kitchen, laundry machines, a bathroom with Hollywood beauty lighting, lounging and preparation areas! These amenities are housed in a private area across the hall from the Ballroom for all bride and bridal party preparations. The room is lined in large windows overlooking downtown Louisville, filling the space with ample natural light.
All Rentals include:
*Gold Chiavari chairs with ivory cushions
*60" round tables
*Onsite facilities representative
*5 1/2 hour rental time (ceremony start time to reception end time)
Amenities + details
Ceremony Area
Dressing Room
Handicap Accessible
Indoor Event Space
Liability Insurance
On-Site Accommodations
Outdoor Event Space
Reception Area
Wireless Internet
Covered Outdoors Space
Ceremony Types
- Civil Union
- Commitment Ceremony
- Elopement
- Interfaith Ceremony
- Non-Religious Ceremony
- Religious Ceremony
Guest Capacity
- 300+
Settings
- Ballroom
- Estate
- Historic Venue
- Hotel
Venue Service Offerings
- Rentals & Equipment
Awards and Affiliations
Reviews
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4.5
out of 5.039 reviews
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I hope to save at least one person from having their wedding here. This was a NIGHTMARE. I first booked with someone named Johnny who left their job a few months later. I had made the deposit with him, done walkthroughs, and talked about how things would be arranged on the day of. When I went to pay the remaining balance with the new person, Christine, it took over 2 months. 2 MONTHS TO PAY THEM! She was horrible at responding to my emails about this and when she finally did let me pay she was very snarky about it. Fast forward to 2 weeks before the wedding she changes the floor plan from what I initially set up years prior with the first guy. She was then appalled that I wouldn't like that and insisted I drive there (2 hours from where I live) to go look at her floor plan. She also said that she couldn't do my original agreement and recommended I spend THOUSANDS of dollars extra to hide tables with drape. Even though this is something she was going back on and not me I needed to shell out thousands to hide it? Her rationale was short staffing preventing them from moving tables. She then tried to say that Johnny never could have made it happen but he had walked me through all of it already. This is 2 WEEKS before the wedding day. She refused to do the room the way I requested even after I came up there, looked at hers, and told her I would prefer it another way. She said that would look terrible and my guests would hate it. I had paid for that design from a wedding planner. Now on the actual wedding day she didn't come and sent someone else instead. There was an ARMED ROBBERY during my wedding because the doors were not locked and the cameras they put in their insurance that they have did not work. We were on the fourth floor of the building. So after getting married and finding out I was robbed I went to talk to the person from the venue and she said "oooo ouch I'm sorry" then LEFT FOR THE WHOLE NIGHT. She was gone completely. Even my day of coordinator couldn't find her. She didn't even stay for the police report I had to do during my cocktail hour. There was nobody else from the venue there until after the event ended. I didn't see anyone else until cleaning up when this other person from the venue yelled at my dad for asking where the trash can was. I should have seen the red flag from her not taking my payment for 2 months and went elsewhere. My heart was broken for weeks after. I cried and cried. I got married on 9/30/2023 there and I mourn my wedding every day. In all the pics right after the wedding you can tell that nobody was happy. We all got robbed. Once I started feeling better I got my wedding video back and was just reminded of how she wouldn't let me lay the room out how I had been planning for years. My heart is broken. I will never get my wedding back. Christine was difficult to get a hold of, rude through emails, took days if not weeks to reply to emails, and was condescending the whole time. I have no idea how this woman keeps a job. I wish they hadn't lied in the contract/insurance. That would have been nice. It sucks to know that I never get my day back but she will continue ripping off other brides until she retires.
We loved having our wedding and reception at the Henry Clay! We were on the 4th floor and used the Billiard Room for the ceremony, the Tavern for our cocktail hour, and the Ballroom for the reception. We got so many compliments on the venue. The staff in the event office were very helpful - very responsive and helpful with everything! We highly recommend having your event here!
I’ve never been to a more beautiful venue before. With all of its rich history and endless layout options/opportunities, there is no doubt that this space will make for a memorable night.
Absolutely breath taking and timeless.
Soo beautiful. So many options to make your event exactly what you want. Allows you to have ceremony and reception in the same place. Honestly barely need to decorate as the building itself is so lovely
This venue was everything we could have hoped for. Ally was wonderful to work with and she made sure to make everything so easy for us to plan, tour when we needed, make set up a breeze the night before, and make sure everything ran smoothly! I would 100% recommend this venue to anyone. It is also connected to the hotel next door and they correlate everything so well to make sure you have access to both the day of for guest access and amenities!! Everything was so perfect.
The Henry Clay is an absolutely beautiful venue and fits myself and my husbands styles perfectly. As soon as I walked into the ballrooms there I knew it was where I wanted to get married. While this venue was absolutely beautiful and everything I wanted, I’m not sure if I would have chosen this venue again, knowing some of the issues I would have in the future. My biggest issue with this venue was the communication. All other vendors I have worked with wedding planning were pretty prompt (2-3 days for a response) with emails/phone calls, while this venue would sometimes never get back to me after several attempts of contact. Luckily, they were more responsive to my wedding coordinator, that I eventually learned to stop asking questions myself and just go through my wedding coordinator. My other main concern was the cleanliness of the venue for my event. Tables/chairs were set up a a few days prior to the event, at which point there was still trash in the room from the last event and spilt drinks dried on the tables. I was reassured this would be taken care of before my wedding. I arrived Saturday the day of my wedding and the trash had been picked up but the tables never wiped down. I understand tableclothes will be placed over these but my concern was cleanliness and safety during a pandemic. Finally, I had rented the fourth floor ballroom for my ceremony. The cushions that accompany those chairs were so dirty and stained we had to go back and remove all cushions and just use the chairs without cushions (picture attached). Again, this venue is absolutely beautiful, and with all the hiccups my wedding was still perfect. But a fair testament to my experience to all future brides who may not want to deal with the extra stress.
We had our wedding in the Beaux Arts Ballroom. It's an absolutely beautiful venue! We also enjoyed getting to use the getting-ready room, which was so convenient! And also we took so many great photos with the brick background on the patio on this floor. Overall it was great!
However, we had some issues with the event coordinating staff. There was a lot of turnover in the staff in the year between booking the venue and actually having our wedding. I had to take the initiative to reach out to them as the wedding approached to make sure we were aligned and prepared for the big day. I also did all the coordinating with my vendors on when to deliver and in directing them upstairs once they arrived on my wedding day. There was supposed to be someone from the Henry Clay there to help, but I didn't see her all day. I even tried to call her at one point - I had made sure to get her cell phone - but she didn't answer and didn't call me back.
Also, not necessarily anyone's fault, but a pipe burst in the bathroom on our wedding day - causing the bathrooms to be closed down. People had to go down to the 1st floor to use the restroom. No one from the Henry Clay said anything to us about it during the event, and did not call to explain afterward either.
I knew going into wedding planning I wanted a space with a vintage vibe. I got so much more the just that when I held my wedding at The Henry Clay. Not only is the Beaux Arts Ballroom absolutely gorgeous and well-maintained, we got access to the entire fourth floor for the wedding. This included 2 other large rooms (one of which we used for cocktail hour and one we used to store items for the room flip) and a getting ready suite for the bridal party. The suite includes a mini kitchen, full bathroom (which I used all night) tons of seating, and great natural light for hair and makeup. The bones of the ballroom are historical and beautiful and you can do so much to transform it into your dream!
Lovely venue with a variety of spaces- we had our ceremony and reception in the Beaux Arts Ballroom, the cocktail hour in the Billiards Room, and took beautifully-lit photos in the courtyard. Leigh was helpful throughout the planning process.
The Henry Clay was the perfect venue for us! We absolutely loved the charm of the building and the location, and the fact it was a one-stop shop! We had our ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception there. It was a bonus that the venue was connected to the Hilton Garden Inn, so we didn't even have to walk outside.
I would love to give 5 stars, but we did run into an issue. The HC was supposed to coordinate all deliveries, cleanups, etc. with our vendors. The day before our wedding a vendor called me saying they still had not been contacted and weren't sure when to make their delivery. The day of our wedding, vendors were approaching our wedding coordinators for help because they had not been informed what / where they needed to be. Luckily my wedding coordinators were able to step in and resolve any problem, but they definitely should not have had to.
This was a perfect and beautiful setting. Having the whole floor to ourselves and its connection to the Hilton Garden Inn made it SO easy to grab anything we had forgotten in the hotel. It's a beautiful ballroom and had plenty of space for all our guests. The Atrium was an amazing part of the space and was well utilized by our guests. The building is so wonderful and was the perfect space!!!
The Henry Clay checked all the boxes for us. we booked the second floor ballroom and had all the space we needed for a dance floor, cocktail hour, bar, dessert station and buffet. We knew our guest list was going to be big and Leigh never flinched or made us feel crazy for inviting so many people! We're so happy we picked the Henry Clay, everything looked beautiful and they were super accommodating for our large bridal party.
The Henry Clay was a beautiful venue for a wedding! It allowed us to have everything in one place without having to flip a room. We used the fourth floor ballroom for our ceremony and the second floor for our cocktail hour and reception. It was perfect!
We recently had our wedding reception in the 4th floor Beaux Arts ballroom and wow. It was truly spectacular. The venue is simply stunning. The beautiful Art Deco decor makes you feel like you've stepped back into the 1920s. Gatsby would've been right at home among our guests. We had about 130 guests at our wedding, seated 10 to a table with a generous dance floor. There was space at the back for more tables if we had needed them, but we all fit comfortably in the space without issue. My husband and I sat at a little sweetheart table on the stage at the front, which was nice because that meant we actually got to eat! The 8Up staff were very attentive and came to check on us several times to see if we needed anything (which was nice because once we left our table it was time to socialize with our guests!). I worked with Leigh leading up to the wedding and she was very helpful throughout the planning process. Very responsive to all my emails and questions (which was really important since I was planning the wedding from across the country). She was even willing to set up a brief tour when we were in town for a few days around Christmas so we could see the venue in person before the wedding day. Honestly, we couldn't have been happier with our wedding. Price-wise, this venue is on par with a lot of the other venues we looked at, but it is by far the classiest and prettiest venue we found. I would highly recommend the Henry Clay!
The Henry Clay offèred and delivered anything a bride and groom could ask for. The absolute beauty and historical feel of the room far surpassed our imaginations. From the staff, bridal suite, ceremony room and ballroom it was all perfect. The partnership between The Hilton Garden Inn and The Henry Clay was more than convenient. You literally walk through one set of doors to the hallway into the guest rooms. All of our guests were on the same floor with such easy access to the venue. I highly recommend the use of this venue.
I loved the Henry Clay for my reception. We had our reception on the fourth floor in the ballroom. It was the perfect size for a party of 200. Leigh was great to work with; she was efficient and made everything a breeze. Highly Recommend!
We had a lovely wedding at the Henry Clay! The venue was gorgeous and we received so many complements on it. We got married and had our reception on the 4th Floor. There were so many great places for photos. The Beaux Arts room was the perfect backdrop for the cake cutting, our first dance and a great party! Everyone at The Henry Clay was extremely helpful and willing to work with us. They were patient as we set up multiple visits to view the venue with different family members. I cannot imagine having gotten married anywhere else. You should definitely add this to your list of places to check out. The charm and character of The Henry Clay are sure to win you over!!
The Henry Clay is such a beautiful place to have a wedding reception. We Love this historical building and all the character that it has. Leigh was amazing to work with and made everything so easy and flawless! We had the whole 4th floor and loved being there every minute of it! I highly recommend The Henry Clay for any wedding or even in Louisville, KY.
We did our ceremony and reception here and had a great experience! The staff were easy to work with and everything went as we had discussed.
The Henry Clay provided a beautiful setting for our wedding ceremony and reception. Leigh was very easy to work with throughout the planning process, and always responded to my emails right away. The bridal suite was an awesome place for my bridesmaids and me to get ready, and the Hilton Garden Inn was connected to the venue and very convenient for our guests.
They do not offer sanitary places to change small children. Their caterer the Silver Spoon Staff is rude and unprofessional. I do not recommend them at all. They said they would take care of an issue and the Silver Spoon took no responsibility for their employees action.
Our wedding planning and wedding day was so much fun! My absolute favorite thing about the Henry Clay was how easy parking and stay was for my guests. I mean the 4th floor of the Henry Clay shoots you straight into the Hilton where you're staying. It doesn't get more convenient than that! The rooftop bar in the Hilton (8Up) is amazing for an "after-after" party! Another one of my favorites is the bridal suite in the Henry Clay were you get to stay all day. Hair and makeup can be completed here. It has a full kitchen, living room, bathroom (with shower, sink, toilet). So easy to lay back and relax there the day of. free. Leigh at the Henry Clay made planning our wedding a breeze. From the day she gave us the tour of the Henry Clay, I knew she was as detailed oriented as me. She was so flexible and available. If I had a question or needed to stop in to measure for a decoration, etc- her response was immediate and always a "yes". Leigh made me feel organized and worked with my vendors the day of our wedding so we didn't have to. If you get to choose who you work with, Leigh is our vote; hands down.
The Henry Clay building itself is one of a kind. Any decor/color will work, but not much is needed. The rooms are beautiful all on their own! I set up the night before and the cleaning crew was already there; shining the floors, etc.
Overall, if there were 10 stars, we would give that to the Henry Clay!
I had my reception on the 4th floor of the Henry Clay and it was absolutely PERFECT! The ballroom was closed off for the rest of the floor, so the cocktail hour was separate from the ballroom which I wanted.
There is also a door that is connected to the 6th floor of the Hilton Garden Inn next store which was perfect for our guests. Some of our guests even changed their clothes or shoes mid-reception by simply walking to their hotel room!
The location of the Henry Clay itself is great! While my husband and I went to our hotel, the rest of our guests either went to 8Up (the restaurant on top of the Hilton next door) or to 4th street live.
The service there is great and very accommodating.
The only things that I didn't like were:
The bridal suite opened at 10am and we would have had to pay for it to be opened earlier and the earliest they would open it was 8:30 am.
The ballroom itself got warm during the reception which is to be expected because so many people are in one room dancing, but dinner was even very warm. I asked one of the waiters to turn up the air and he said they were previously having issues with the air but it was working now. So definitely ask about that when you visit! Overall it was wonderful though!
The Henry Clay is an absolutely beautiful venue that made our reception feel particularly fancy. The staff was fairly organized but we did have some issue with their record keeping. My only complaint was that it was entirely too hot inside from the get go. They did try to turn down the thermostat when we asked but once you have 200+ people dancing in a room that is already hot, a little AC isn't going to make much of a difference. My husband and all of the guests' tuxes were completely soaked with sweat almost instantly.
Overall excellent experience but they should have made the room an icebox so that by the time we got everyone in there it was a comfortable temperature.
My husband and I just had both or wedding and reception on the 4th floor of the Henry Clay and we are so glad we chose this place for our venue! We looked into several different venues but we were blown away when we saw this space. The Beaux Arts Ballroom is absolutely beautiful and was exactly what we were looking for. On our wedding day, the room looked stunning! Leigh, the coordinator was always readily available for any questions we had. You are required to use The Silver Spoon catering company when booking this venue, which I was nervous about due to the fact that they are expensive, but the food was very good. I would definitely recommend this beautiful historic building for your wedding!
My fiancé and I decided to have our wedding at the Henry Clay because of the history and beautiful architecture. I never imagined that a venue with so much experience in hosting weddings would turn out to be a NIGHTMARE. Prior to signing our contract with the Henry Clay, we were told that there were tenants living in the building. My dad immediately questioned whether these tenants or anyone off the street could gain access to our event. We were assured that tenants did not have access to our floor and that by providing a guest list to the staff, we would not have any uninvited guests entering our wedding. With that assurance, we signed the contract and put a down payment to hold the venue.
Well, we had two adult men, who are tenants of the Henry Clay, join our wedding celebration. Not only did they help themselves to drinks at our open bar and who knows what else, but they are in about 50 of our wedding photos. I would not accuse a person of doing something without proof and these men are holding drinks from our bar as they posed for a picture, that they requested with such arrogance. We had gifts stolen from our gift table which we can’t pin on anyone, as we don’t have the proof but it is a bit unsettling to know that we signed a contract with the understanding that no outsiders could gain entry to our event and all it took was an elevator ride down to the second floor for these men. What is even more disturbing is the way the Henry Clay has chosen to handle the situation.
After discovering that we had two men attend our wedding, who were not on the guest list, we did a bit of investigating. Once we were able to track down the names of these two men, we were sickened to find out that they lived right there, in the Henry Clay. I posted the picture that they so conceitedly posed for, on Facebook and blasted them for what they did. After doing so, both men de-activated their Facebook accounts. I am not sure if this was their first instance with “crashing” a wedding but they got caught and my hope in all of this is that they never do it again.
We reached out to the Henry Clay to confront the issue of their tenants helping themselves to our entertainment and drinks. Along with my email, I attached the photo of the two men, holding drinks from the venue. I was expecting to receive an email apologizing profusely for the lack of holding up their end of the contract. What I got instead, was an email protecting the tenants. We were told that the men were dressed nicely and look like they belonged there. We were also told that one of the men knew one of our guests and that is why they were there. Then as they started to realize how upset we were they offered up more excuses, protecting their guests and the liquor bill. They said that the men brought their own alcohol, which if that were the case they just broke their end of the contract. We were told that if any outside liquor was brought into the venue, the party would be shut down immediately. I am appalled by the responses from the Henry Clay, the Silver Spoon and the City Properties Group, that manages the tenants of The Henry Clay. They lied to us, they protected two men that poorly represented themselves and not once were we offered a sincere apology that acknowledged the mistakes on their end.
So, from one bride to another, DO NOT BOOK YOUR WEDDING WITH THE HENRY CLAY. You may have a solid headcount of 200 people for your wedding but that’s not including the tenants.
We used the 4th floor ballroom for our ceremony and the 2nd floor ballroom for our reception and both were absolutely perfect! The rooms were large and spacious and we had more than enough room for everything.
The Henry Clay is one of the only non-hotel, uniquely Louisville venues that not only provides elegance and beauty but that historical feel that Louisville prides itself on. While we went through three different contacts at the Henry Clay due to turnover and we had a few miscommunications, they were very amenable to our requests and fixed any problems as soon as I discussed it with them. The staff at the Henry Clay was phenomenal -- seriously 10/10 on service and amenities. One thing to know is that The Henry Clay does NOT turn rooms over, so if you want to have your entire ceremony and reception there, you must book multiple rooms or have them both in the same room with the same setup. We chose to book both ballrooms, one for ceremony and one for reception, as well as the South Room for a cocktail lounge. This can get a little pricey for most budgets but I will say that it was really worth it to essentially have the place to ourselves for the night. I don't think there is a better place in Louisville for an elegant indoor wedding.
The Henry Clay was so wonderful to work with! Our wedding was on the second floor Grand Ballroom, with our cocktail hour in the South Room on the same floor. It was so nice to have everything on one floor, and it was easily accessible. On a Saturday, street parking was easy to come by for our guests.
You have to use the Silver Spoon (Henry Clay’s exclusive caterer) and WOW they do not disappoint. See my review on them to learn more!
Overall spectacular, beautiful space and a great time!
The Henry Clay was amazing! The sole caterer - The Silver Spoon is great to work with and the food was delicious with so many options!
The Henry Clay Ballroom was a beautiful place for my evening wedding reception. The room speaks for itself and would be amazing even without décor/flowers. The only downside is you have to use Silver Spoon Caterers with this venue. The food was good, but did not blow me away. However, the wait staff was superior and attended to every guests' needs.
The Henry Clay staff was so helpful and easy to work with. They really helped make our day go very smoothly!
The Henry Clay is a stunning building. If you are looking for a dramatic venue with an old world flair -- look no further! I received so many compliments from guests about the building. We rented the Beaux Arts Ballroom for the reception and its foyer for the cocktail hour. There is a very charming terrace off the foyer, which has Italian lights and a lot of seating. Sarah B. was very responsive to emails, easy to work with, and extremely accommodating given the fact that I live 500 miles away. The cost of rental was comparable to other event spaces in Louisville, but the Henry Clay's location can't be beat.
I loved this venue because it has historic character. I love the grand ballroom with its high ceilings and gold finishes. It is a beautiful venue and I think it really added to the feeling of the wedding. I also used the red room for cocktail hour, and although I didn't attend it, it was great because afterwards, they turned it into an area where the children could run around and play.
I loved working with both the Silver Spoon and the coordinators of the Henry Clay. The location is breath taking and everyone was amazed at just how beautiful all of the ballrooms are.
An amazing building and backdrop. The Henry Clay was incredible. City Properties staff was sometimes hard to work with. But everything else was wonderful.
Second floor grand ballroom is absolutely beautiful!! The staff was amazing and so helpful and made my reception exactly what I wanted it to be.
The Henry Clay Beaux Arts Ballroom was so beautiful. I couldn't have picked a better place to have my wedding and reception.
EVERYTHING!!!!
Contact
604 s third st, louisville, KY | Kentucky
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