Blaine Wedding Venues and Ceremony Sites

Blaine has fewer wedding venues than its size suggests, and the two biggest names on every search result are not in Blaine at all. What the city does have is one private club, one long-running event centre and a set of municipal rooms and park shelters the city rents but does not price online.

Below is what each of those places publishes on its own website, what the City of Blaine says about its own facilities, the Anoka County licence steps, and the venues I checked and left out. Where a rate is not published, I have said so instead of repeating a figure from a directory, because directory prices for Blaine are frequently prices for venues in Coon Rapids or Fridley.

Which Blaine venues actually host weddings?

Two private venues and one city building carry the load, and they sit within about four miles of each other along Central Avenue and Highway 65.

Venue	What it is	Who runs it
TPC Twin Cities	Private golf club clubhouse	PGA TOUR
Brookhall Event Center	Ballroom event centre, three spaces	Family owned since 1979
Mary Ann Young Center	City activity and meeting rooms	City of Blaine
Aquatore, Lakeside Commons and Tom Ryan park shelters	Outdoor picnic shelters	City of Blaine

That is a short list for a city of Blaine's size. If it does not cover you, the ring of suburbs around it is worth a look, and our Twin Cities venue directory is the fastest way to widen the net without leaving the north metro.

What does TPC Twin Cities offer for a wedding?

TPC Twin Cities sits at 11444 Tournament Players Parkway in Blaine, and describes itself as Minnesota's only private PGA TOUR-owned property, with an Arnold Palmer-designed course and a clubhouse with casual and fine dining areas. It is the course the 3M Open plays.

On weddings the club is deliberately brief. Its wedding page says the club will set the stage for a wedding reception, points to the clubhouse, the course and an expansive practice facility for entertaining the wedding party and out-of-town guests, and offers custom menus, help with room set-up and recommendations for entertainment, vendors and nearby lodging. It does not publish room names, capacities, ceremony options, rates, or whether a member has to sponsor your booking. Those are the first four questions I would ask on the inquiry call, and I would get the answers in writing before a deposit.

What about Brookhall Event Center?

Brookhall Event Center at 11930 Central Avenue Northeast is family owned and operated and says it was established in 1979. Its own site describes three distinctive centres, an atmosphere of classic elegance, and a dedicated wedding ceremonies and receptions offering, with lavish buffets or hors d'oeuvres handled by professional staff and a caterer. Because ceremonies and receptions both happen on site, this is the one venue in Blaine where you can run the whole day without moving cars.

The site does not break out individual room names or per-room capacities, so confirm which of the three spaces you are actually being quoted for, and whether the ceremony room and the dinner room are the same room with a changeover in between. A changeover is usually the hardest 45 minutes of the day for photographs, because the room you want portraits in is full of staff flipping tables. Our Minnesota wedding day timeline template shows how to schedule around it.

Can you get married in a Blaine city park?

Yes, though the city treats these as picnic rentals rather than wedding venues. The City of Blaine's facilities page lists four large picnic shelters at Aquatore Park, Lakeside Commons Park and Tom Ryan Park, accommodating groups up to 150, bookable through the city's online request system, with all other park shelters first come, first served. The same page lists the Mary Ann Young Center's meeting and activity rooms for groups of 30 to 200.

Lakeside Commons is the one worth walking

Lakeside Commons Park and Beach at 3020 Lakes Parkway Northeast has a public beach, a splash pad, a beach house, a boathouse with concessions, a volleyball court, trails, dock access and a rentable picnic pavilion, and the park is open 5am to 9pm. Parking permits are required during beach season: Blaine residents park free with proof of residency and non-residents pay $10 a day or $30 for a season pass. Tell your guests that in advance, because nothing derails a ceremony start like forty cars queuing at a parking kiosk.

Aquatore and the Mary Ann Young Center

Aquatore Park at 9191 Lincoln Street Northeast has two shelters for groups up to 150 each, plus grills, electrical outlets, large shaded areas, open play space and a restroom building. The Mary Ann Young Center at 9150 Central Avenue lists six rentable rooms: a consult room, Maple A and B, the Oak Room and Tom Ryan A and B. Neither page publishes a rate. That is the recurring theme with Blaine's municipal spaces, and it is not a red flag so much as a phone call: the city directs renters to Parks and Recreation for current pricing.

If a park shelter ceremony is where this is heading, read our guide to outdoor wedding ceremony locations in Minnesota for the questions that decide whether a shelter works, and our rain plan guide before you commit to anything roofless in a Minnesota summer.

How do you get an Anoka County marriage licence?

Blaine sits in Anoka County, so that is where the licence comes from, whichever city you marry in. Anoka County publishes the process and it is more structured than most counties in the metro.

1. Complete the county's online application in one sitting. The county warns you cannot save it and return later.
2. Save the order number the application gives you, then use it to schedule an in-person appointment.
3. Both parties appear together within ten days of submitting online, sign the application and show identification, at 2100 3rd Avenue in Anoka, weekdays 8am to 4.30pm.
4. Pay the fee. Anoka County lists $125, or $50 if you have completed twelve hours of premarital education and submit an educator's statement at the time of application, which matches Minnesota Statutes section 517.08.
5. Marry within Minnesota, within six months of the issue date.

How I would plan the photographs here

Blaine is flat, open and young. There is very little mature tree cover near the venues and almost no historic architecture, so the backdrops that work are water, sky and manicured turf. That is a gift at sunset and a problem at 2pm.

At TPC Twin Cities the course itself is the picture, and course access for portraits is a question to settle early, because golf clubs sell tee times and a wedding party on the eighteenth fairway at 4pm on a Saturday in July is a negotiation, not an assumption. At Brookhall, the building is the interior, so I would plan to leave for portraits and come back, which makes the drive time between the venue and whichever green space you choose part of the timeline rather than an afterthought.

At Lakeside Commons, the beach gives you west-facing water, which is the best light in the city about an hour before sunset. Build fifteen minutes into the schedule to walk there and back. If you are still deciding how many hours of coverage you need to make a split like that work, our guide to wedding photography coverage hours in Minnesota walks through the arithmetic, and the Blaine wedding photographer page covers how I work in this part of the north metro.

Which venues did I leave out, and why?

Bunker Hills Event Center appears on nearly every Blaine wedding search. Its own site gives its address as 12800 Bunker Prairie Road Northwest in Coon Rapids, so it is not a Blaine venue, though it is close and still in Anoka County; the Coon Rapids page is the right starting point if that is where you land. Banquets of Minnesota, with the Grand Olympian and Vivian ballrooms, is listed under Blaine by several directories but is in Fridley, and the Fridley page covers that corner.

The National Sports Center and its Victory Links golf course are genuinely in Blaine, but the National Sports Center's own page for the course publishes no banquet space, wedding service or capacity, so I could not confirm it hosts weddings and have left it off. If the NSC publishes a wedding rental page, it belongs here. Majestic Oaks is in Ham Lake and The Links at Northfork is in Ramsey, both worth the short drive but not Blaine.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a wedding venue in Blaine that does ceremony and reception in one place?

Brookhall Event Center says on its own site that it hosts wedding ceremonies and receptions across three spaces, which makes it the clearest all-in-one option inside city limits. TPC Twin Cities markets a reception and points to the clubhouse and course, but does not publish ceremony details, so ask directly whether an outdoor ceremony site exists and what it costs.

Does the City of Blaine publish rental rates for its parks and rooms?

Not online. The city's facilities pages describe the shelters, the Mary Ann Young Center rooms and the reservation process, but they direct renters to Parks and Recreation for pricing rather than listing fees. Budget a phone call early, because you cannot compare a city shelter against a private venue on price until you have that number in hand.

Which county issues the marriage licence for a Blaine wedding?

Anoka County. You apply online first, then both of you appear together in person in Anoka within ten days of submitting, with identification. The county charges $125, or $50 with an educator's statement showing twelve hours of premarital education. The licence is good for six months and the ceremony must happen in Minnesota.

Can guests park free at Lakeside Commons Park?

Blaine residents park free with proof of residency during beach season. Non-residents pay $10 a day or $30 for a season pass, according to the city page for the park. If most of your guest list lives outside Blaine, either warn them or work out with the city whether a group arrangement is possible for a booked event.

How far is Blaine from downtown Minneapolis?

Roughly twenty to twenty-five minutes on Highway 65 or Interstate 35W outside rush hour, and longer on a Friday afternoon. That makes a downtown church and a Blaine reception workable, but I would build in more travel time than the map suggests. Free travel within 40 miles of the Twin Cities covers Blaine comfortably.

Do you photograph weddings in Blaine?

Yes. You can compare me against other Minneapolis wedding photographers before you decide, read when to book a photographer in Minnesota so you are not doing it late, look at the Andover page if your day straddles the north metro, and send me your date to check availability. Collections start at $3,100.

Sources

• TPC Twin Cities: Golf, Membership and Tee Times in Blaine, MN
• TPC Twin Cities: Weddings
• Brookhall Event Center: Home
• City of Blaine: Facilities and Rentals
• City of Blaine: Lakeside Commons Park and Beach
• City of Blaine: Aquatore Park Shelter
• City of Blaine: Mary Ann Young Center
• National Sports Center: Victory Links Golf Course
• Anoka County: Marriage License Applications
• Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes: Minnesota Statutes 517.08