The white church isn't super special inside, although as our tour guide said, "Ah, you only spend 15 minutes in here anyway!" It does have a bell (which he let us ring!) and supposedly has really nice acoustics.
The stone church is where we would have the reception. It holds about 80 people comfortably, or 90 people uncomfortably. It was recently remodeled to make it more reception-friendly and historically accurate. This unfortunately meant putting plaster over the stone interior, but fortunately meant removing the false ceiling to open up the balcony that had been hidden for years. After they took the false ceiling off, they discovered that the original ceiling had been blue, and they restored the original color. Unlike the horrors that St. Olaf unleashed on Boe Chapel by trying to paint the ceiling "traditional Scandinavian colors", the blue in the stone church is really lovely.
One of the most unique features of Valley Grove (and definitely something that we'd never find at a venue in the Twin Cities) is the acres of prairie surrounding the churches, with Big Woods State Park lying just beyond them.
And, while we agreed that this shouldn't be a major factor we look for in choosing a site, it's important to note that Valley Grove is definitely Winnie-approved!
So, that was our visit! What do you all think of it?
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