Prior Lake and Savage Wedding Venues

Prior Lake and Savage sit side by side in Scott County, about half an hour south-west of Minneapolis, and they solve opposite problems. Prior Lake holds the largest published ballroom in the county along with a golf club and a regional park. Savage has one city-run venue with a published wedding package and a firm 100-guest ceiling.

Everything below comes from the venue's own website or the city's own fee schedule, checked in September 2026. I have left out places I could not confirm are currently booking weddings, and said why at the end rather than padding the list. If you are also looking a few miles west, my Shakopee venue guide covers the next town along the Minnesota River.

Which Prior Lake venues can I confirm host weddings?

Three, at very different scales, and each publishes enough detail to plan a floor plan against.

Mystic Lake Center

Owned and operated by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community at 2400 Mystic Lake Boulevard, this is the biggest room in the county by a wide margin. The venue's own weddings page describes three ballrooms, including a 13,000-square-foot junior ballroom that seats up to 800, and says the wider property carries 30 meeting rooms. Catering comes from the in-house culinary team, and the site describes complimentary valet, an on-site spa, an indoor atrium pool and hotel rooms in the same complex. For a wedding with travelling guests, having the ceremony, dinner, bar and beds under one roof removes a transport problem from your timeline.

The Wilds Golf Club

At 3151 Wilds Ridge, the club's wedding page describes a remodelled ballroom holding up to 250 with soaring windows and a private built-in bar, an outdoor terrace ceremony site on the highest point of Prior Lake with padded white resin chairs, and an indoor ceremony setting as the weather backup. Room rental includes linens, tables, chairs, glassware, flatware and private bars, and the club lists early ballroom access and private suites for the wedding party. Confirm that indoor backup in writing: it decides what your afternoon looks like when a storm cell arrives at four.

Cleary Lake Regional Park

Three Rivers Park District runs Cleary Lake at 18106 Texas Avenue in Prior Lake, and its park page lists indoor and outdoor rentals for meetings, retreats, weddings and other events, including reservable picnic sites and a pavilion, booked through the district's reservation system. Fees and capacities are handled in the booking system rather than published on the page, so treat the park as a shortlist candidate and get the numbers in writing before you build a budget around it.

What does Savage offer?

One venue, run by the city, and it is a genuinely good one for a small wedding.

The McColl Pond Environmental Learning and Event Center sits at 13550 Dakota Avenue among ten acres of native prairie, rain gardens and mature trees inside the 53-acre Savage Community Park. The city's wedding package page prices a full day from 7am to 11pm at $2,000, and that package includes the Aspen Room, both adjacent classrooms, the outdoor covered patio and an extra two hours either the night before for a groom's dinner or the morning after for clean-up. The Aspen Room holds roughly 100 for a wedding with another 60 to 75 seated on the patio.

The practical details matter here. The rental includes a large prep kitchen, fifteen 60-inch round tables, four buffet tables, more than 100 chairs, a full video and audio system, a podium and wireless microphone, as the city's facility page sets out. A signed contract and a 50 per cent non-refundable down payment hold the date, wedding final payments are due 90 days out, reservations cannot be made more than 365 days ahead, events should conclude by 10pm and everyone must be out by 11pm. That last line is not a suggestion: build your last dance around it.

What do the cities rent, and what do the rules say?

Prior Lake rents park facilities directly. The city's park facility reservations page lists the Lakefront Park Enclosed Pavilion and open-air park shelters, with rentals running from 8am to 11:59pm. The pavilion comes with ten 60-inch round tables, four eight-foot banquet tables, 60 chairs and twelve square picnic tables on the outdoor patio. The alcohol rule is stated plainly: beer, cider and wine are permitted in city parks and park shelters, and no hard liquor is allowed. Residency, based on where you pay property taxes, affects availability, fees and booking priority, so ask where you stand before you plan around a specific date.

Savage's reservation page lists four things the city rents: a meeting room, the McColl Pond ELC, a park shelter and the Savage Sports Center. For a wedding, the ELC is the one that matters; the others are better suited to a shower or a rehearsal gathering.

How do these two cities differ for a wedding day?

Prior Lake scales up and Savage scales down, and that is the whole decision.

If your guest list is over 150, Prior Lake is the answer: Mystic Lake Center and The Wilds both publish capacities well above that, and both bundle catering and bar into one contract. If your guest list is under 110, Savage gives you a full day in a building you control, with your own caterer, for a published flat rate. If you are somewhere in between, get seated capacities for your real floor plan, not the theatre-style maximum, because a dance floor and a head table can cost you 30 seats.

Distance matters too. Both cities sit far enough out that a hotel block near the venue is worth arranging early, and a Friday afternoon ceremony puts your guests on Highway 13 or County Road 42 at the worst hour of the week. If a smaller guest list is where you are heading anyway, the options in my guide to small Minnesota wedding venues are worth comparing side by side, and my roundup of affordable Twin Cities venues covers the budget end.

What should you check about light and portraits?

You do not need to be a photographer to ask these, and asking them on the tour beats scrolling galleries.

• Which direction does the ceremony site face at your ceremony hour? A terrace on a hilltop at 3pm in July is a completely different exposure problem from the same terrace at 6pm.
• Where is the indoor backup, and is it the reception room? If it is, ask how long the flip takes and where you are during it.
• Is there a covered portrait option that is not a hallway? At a golf club that is usually a clubhouse feature; at a nature centre it is usually the patio.
• What are the vendor rules: where can lighting stands go, what is prohibited on the grass, and what time can we load in?
• Who makes the rain call, and by when? Agree the deadline in the contract, not on the morning.

For an outdoor ceremony in particular, settle the contingency early. My Minnesota wedding day rain plan is the version of that conversation I walk couples through, and the same logic applies to a covered patio in Savage and a terrace at The Wilds. Then build the day backwards from sunset using my Minnesota wedding day timeline template.

How do you get a marriage licence in Scott County?

Prior Lake and Savage are both in Scott County, and a Minnesota licence is valid statewide no matter which county issues it. Scott County's marriage licence page lists a fee of $125, or $50 if an educator's statement is submitted at the time of application, and says a licence issued in Scott County is valid for six months and can be used anywhere in Minnesota. You can start the application online at any time, and both applicants appear in person at the Scott County Government Center, 200 Fourth Avenue West in Shakopee, with no appointment necessary. Bring valid government-issued photo identification.

If one of you cannot appear, the county requires a supplemental application form, completed and notarised, brought in by the party who does appear. The fee and the reduced rate are set by Minnesota Statutes section 517.08, which specifies at least 12 hours of premarital education including a premarital inventory and the teaching of communication and conflict management skills.

What should you ask before you sign?

Ask for the seated capacity for your actual layout. Ask whether the venue runs a second event that day and what that does to your access. Ask whether catering and bar are exclusive and what that does to the total. At a city venue, ask for the decoration and alcohol rules in writing and hand them straight to your florist and your DJ.

And ask about the deposit structure early, because the two published examples here work differently: a city venue may take a non-refundable share up front with the balance due months out, while a club or hotel may work from a food and beverage minimum instead. Neither is worse; they just fail differently if your plans change. When you have a shortlist, tell me the venue and I will tell you honestly what it asks of a timeline. You can read how I work as a Prior Lake wedding photographer or a Savage wedding photographer, and I cover neighbouring Burnsville and Shakopee too. For a wider sweep of the metro, start at my Twin Cities wedding venue guide.

Frequently asked questions

Which venue in Prior Lake or Savage holds the most guests?

Mystic Lake Center, by a long way. Its own weddings page describes three ballrooms including a 13,000-square-foot junior ballroom seating up to 800. The Wilds Golf Club publishes a ballroom capacity of 250. In Savage, the McColl Pond ELC's Aspen Room holds roughly 100 indoors with another 60 to 75 on the covered patio.

How much is a wedding at the McColl Pond ELC?

The City of Savage prices the wedding package at $2,000 for a full day from 7am to 11pm, plus two additional hours either the evening before or the morning after, as the city's wedding package page sets out. A signed contract and a 50 per cent non-refundable down payment secure the date, and the wedding balance is due 90 days before the event.

Can you serve hard liquor in a Prior Lake park?

No. The city states that beer, cider and wine may be consumed and displayed in city parks and park shelters, and that no hard liquor is permitted. Rentals run from 8am to 11:59pm. If a full bar is important to your reception, that points you toward a private venue rather than a park shelter.

How far ahead should I book?

For a Saturday in June, September or October, a year to eighteen months is normal for the larger rooms. Savage is the exception with a hard rule: the city does not accept McColl Pond reservations more than 365 days in advance, so a specific summer Saturday there means putting a reminder in your calendar rather than booking early.

Do I need a Scott County licence to marry in Prior Lake or Savage?

No. A Minnesota marriage licence is valid anywhere in the state regardless of which county issues it, so apply wherever is convenient. Many couples marrying in Scott County simply use the Government Center in Shakopee because no appointment is needed, and the statutory fee is the same statewide.

Sources

• Mystic Lake Center: Twin Cities Wedding Venues
• The Wilds Golf Club: Weddings
• Three Rivers Park District: Cleary Lake Regional Park
• City of Savage: McColl Pond ELC Wedding Package
• City of Savage: McColl Pond Environmental Learning and Event Center
• City of Savage: Reserve a Facility
• City of Prior Lake: Park Facility Reservations
• Scott County: Marriage Licenses and Certificates
• Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes: Section 517.08