Wayzata and Excelsior Wedding Venues

Wayzata and Excelsior sit on opposite shores of Lake Minnetonka, a mile apart across the water and about twenty minutes apart by car. Wayzata gives you a hotel and a restaurant with published wedding capacities; Excelsior gives you a public park on the shoreline and a charter fleet. Neither has a large private ballroom.

This is a venue-by-venue guide, not a guide to the lake. For sunset direction, boat portraits and the wider ring of towns, read my Lake Minnetonka photography guide. Everything below comes from the venue's, park district's or city's own page, checked in September 2026, because this is the corner of the metro where third-party listings are least reliable.

Which Wayzata venues can I confirm host weddings?

Two on Lake Street and Grove Lane, plus one formal garden that publishes a Wayzata address but is a real drive from downtown.

The Hotel Landing

At 925 Lake Street, the hotel's own wedding spaces page lists the Wayzata Ballroom at 2,700 square feet for 168 guests, the 925 Upper Level at 2,219 square feet for 190, Salons A and B for 65, the Mezzanine Porches for 40, the Fireside Room for 42 and the Presidential Suite for 20. Outdoors, the Great Lawn is listed at 12,000 square feet for up to 200. Being in the middle of downtown Wayzata is the real feature: the boardwalk, the lake and a block of shops are all walking distance, which means portraits do not require a shuttle.

6Smith

A restaurant at 294 Grove Lane East with lake frontage and a rooftop. Its private dining page lists the Knotty Room for 14, the Tavern for 32, the Revel Room for 50, Revel and Knotty combined for 80, the Patio Lounge for 18 and the Rooftop for 130 from April through October. The page also states a $1,500 ceremony service fee and that professional day-of coordination is required at the host's expense, which is exactly the kind of line worth reading before you fall in love with the rooftop.

Noerenberg Gardens

Three Rivers Park District publishes the address as 2865 Northshore Drive, Wayzata, and its events page lists six ceremony sites including the Colonnade and the historic Boathouse Gazebo, a May to mid-October season and reservation hours of 8am to sunset. Three-hour events are $650 and one-hour weekday events are $350, each with a $100 facility reservation deposit, and a photography permit is included. Two things to plan around: you get exclusive use of one ceremony site but the grounds stay open, and the park page says food, beverages, swimming and boat docking are all prohibited under the terms of the donation. It is a ceremony and portrait site, not a reception venue. It is also on Crystal Bay, several miles west of downtown Wayzata, so do not assume guests can walk between the two.

Which Excelsior venues can I confirm host weddings?

Excelsior's two best options are the water and the park, which is not a consolation prize.

Wayzata Bay Charters, Port of Excelsior

Operating from 2 Water Street in Excelsior, the company's own site lists wedding packages among its private cruises and three vessels: Voyager and Elixir at up to 60 passengers each and Her Excellency at up to 110, with private cruises typically running two to three hours. A boat is the one Minnetonka venue where the background changes all evening, and the one where wind is a genuine planning variable rather than a detail.

The Commons

The city's 13-acre lakefront park at 135 Lake Street includes open lawn, picnic sites, two swimming beaches, a band shell, a bathhouse, public restrooms and docks, as the city's Commons page describes it. It is a five-minute walk from the brick storefronts of Water Street, which makes it the best portrait loop on the south shore. It is also a public park on a summer Saturday, so exclusivity is limited and you should plan your ceremony spot around foot traffic rather than pretending it will not exist.

What do the two cities require for a wedding on public property?

Both publish their rules, and both are stricter than couples expect.

In Excelsior, the city's special event permit page says applications must be submitted no less than 30 days before the event, or 60 days for larger events, and that any event with amplified sound or alcohol requires a permit regardless of guest count. For weddings using city property, the pavilion or Lake Minnetonka, it states capacity limits of 150 for a seated ceremony and 100 for a seated dinner. Those two numbers should shape your guest list before you shape anything else.

In Wayzata, the city's special event permit page requires a permit for gatherings of more than 20 people on city streets, sidewalks, parks or rights-of-way, and for outdoor amplified sound or alcohol served on public property. Temporary liquor licences must be submitted at least 60 days ahead, food licences 30 days and tent permits 10 days, and at least one police officer is required for any event involving alcohol on public property, at the organiser's cost. You also submit a site plan showing activity areas, emergency access and parking.

What should you check about light, parking and timing?

These two towns ask a different set of questions from a suburban ballroom.

• Which direction does your ceremony site face at your ceremony hour? Excelsior Bay and Wayzata Bay open in different directions, so "on the lake" tells you nothing on its own.
• Where does the sun sit at dinner? Reserving 15 minutes at sunset is the single highest-value line in a lake timeline, and the date decides whether that falls before or during dinner. My month-by-month Minnesota sunset times will give you the number for your date.
• Where do 120 guests park? Both downtowns fill on July and August weekends. Ask the venue where vendor parking is, in writing.
• What is the wind plan? On a boat or an open lawn, wind changes hair, veils, audio and shutter speed. Have a sheltered alternative for the same time slot.
• What happens if it rains? Noerenberg has no indoor option, the Commons has no indoor option, and a rooftop closes. Decide who makes the call and by when; my Minnesota rain plan guide is the version of that conversation I use.

If an outdoor ceremony is the whole point, it is worth comparing these sites against the rest of the state in my roundup of outdoor ceremony locations in Minnesota, and against the quieter bays covered in my lakeside wedding page.

What gets mislabelled around this lake?

More than anywhere else in the metro. Postal addresses here do not match city boundaries: plenty of venues carry a Wayzata or Excelsior mailing address while physically sitting in Orono, Greenwood, Deephaven, Tonka Bay or Minnetonka Beach. Before you book, check the address on the operator's own page and then check which city that address is actually in, because it determines your permit, your noise ordinance and your guests' drive.

Two specific corrections worth knowing. The Old Log Theatre in Greenwood, long listed as an Excelsior wedding venue, closed in 2024. The Steamboat Minnehaha has been out of passenger service since 2019. If a listing still offers either, the listing has not been updated, which tells you how much to trust the rest of it. The same goes for capacity numbers on marketplace pages: check them against the venue's own site every time. If you are also looking at the city of Minnetonka rather than the lake towns, my Minnetonka venue guide covers that separately, and the quieter south-shore bays sit near Deephaven.

How do you get a marriage licence in Hennepin County?

Both cities are in Hennepin County, and a Minnesota licence is valid statewide whichever county issues it. Hennepin County's marriage licence page lists a $125 fee, or $50 if you complete 12 hours of premarital education and submit an educator's statement, and says the licence is valid for six months. You can start online, and the county allows both parties in person, one party with the other's notarised signature, or a fully remote application. Bring a driver's licence, state ID or birth certificate, and book an appointment.

The fee and the discount come from Minnesota Statutes section 517.08, which also sets out that qualifying premarital education must include 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 real floor plan. Ask what the permit actually buys: exclusive use of a site, or a reservation inside a park that stays open. Ask what time amplified sound has to stop. Ask who calls the weather and by when. On a charter, ask what happens if wind cancels the sailing and whether the deposit moves. On a rooftop, ask the same question about rain.

Then be honest about the guest list. Excelsior caps a seated public-property dinner at 100 and the largest published indoor room in Wayzata seats 190, so if you are planning for 250 the answer is a different town, not a bigger tent. When you have a shortlist, send me the venue and I will tell you what it asks of a timeline. You can also read how I work as a Wayzata wedding photographer, an Excelsior wedding photographer, or across the whole Lake Minnetonka area.

Frequently asked questions

Can you get married on Excelsior Commons?

Yes, with a city permit. Excelsior requires applications at least 30 days ahead, or 60 days for larger events, and requires a permit for any event with amplified sound or alcohol. For weddings on city property, the pavilion or the lake, the city publishes limits of 150 for a seated ceremony and 100 for a seated dinner, and the park itself stays open to the public.

How much does a Noerenberg Gardens wedding cost?

The park district's events page lists three-hour events at $650 and one-hour weekday events at $350, each with a $100 facility reservation deposit, and includes a photography permit with the reservation. The season runs May through mid-October. Remember that food and beverages are prohibited on the grounds, so it is a ceremony site rather than a reception venue.

Is the Old Log Theatre still a wedding venue?

No. The theatre in Greenwood, which carried an Excelsior mailing address and appeared on many venue lists, closed in 2024. Several directories have not caught up. Treat any listing that still offers it as unreliable and verify every other detail on that page against the venue's own website.

Which is better for photos, Wayzata or Excelsior?

They are good at different things. Excelsior gives you a walkable loop of historic storefronts, a park, a beach and a dock within five minutes. Wayzata gives you a polished downtown and open water along the boardwalk. The deciding factor is usually which bay your ceremony site faces at your ceremony hour, not which town has the better reputation.

Can you hold a wedding reception on a Lake Minnetonka charter boat?

Yes. Wayzata Bay Charters, operating from the Port of Excelsior, lists wedding packages among its private cruises, with vessels holding up to 60, 60 and 110 passengers. Private cruises typically run two to three hours, so build the timeline around the departure rather than the other way round, and keep a shore-based backup for the same slot.

Sources

• The Hotel Landing: Wedding and Event Spaces
• 6Smith: Private Dining
• Three Rivers Park District: Events at Noerenberg Gardens
• Three Rivers Park District: Noerenberg Gardens
• Wayzata Bay Charters: Cruises and Wedding Packages
• City of Excelsior: The Commons and Port of Excelsior
• City of Excelsior: Apply for a Special Event Permit
• City of Wayzata: Special Event Permit
• Hennepin County: Marriage License
• Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes: Section 517.08