St. Louis Science Center Reviews

EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS! WOW! DESTINATION WEDDING RIGHT HERE IN OUR TOWN! St. Louis Science Center along w/ Starlite Events did an AMAZING job on our reception. As an extremely detailed oriented person, I was very demanding on what had to happen at our event. To say the least, Starlite Events brought their A game and did not miss one single thing!
Comments from our guests included “Food was amazing!” TRUE! Five star chef quality! Trust me when I say BEST WEDDING FOOD EVER! After attending an event at the Planetarium, that is what brought us back to the Science Center for our event. “Food on my plate was steaming hot” (Always a problem for most buffets but not the Science Center!) “There was never a wait at the bar” (They staffed 3 bars with 2 bartenders plus a bar back!) Staff was courteous and kind throughout the evening and handled our 250 plus guests like it was 50. It is the small details that your guests will remember.
The cocktail hour in the new Game XP exhibit was truly mind blowing and every guest from age 13-87 participated. How many times can you say that EACH AND EVERY ONE of your guests participated in every part of your reception? The Science Center even put on a scientific edible experiment that had our guests enamored and delighted with an adult version of Dip-n-Dots made with liquid nitrogen. “Tipsy Dots” were a HUGE HIT! Guests still raving about it!
The Boeing Hall space is large enough so that you can accommodate any group size and not feel cramped. Should you need a small event space, it can be walled. I wish Starlite Events at the St. Louis Science Center could hear every compliment that our guests shared with me. Thanks to Jeff & Brittany for making my daughter’s every dream, every detail become a reality.

We had our reception at the Planetarium in May 2022. Here are my thoughts:

Pros:
- The venue is amazing and super fun for guests with VR and exhibits available.
- The food was excellent! We created a custom menu and the chef exceeded our expectations and even accommodated a few guests with dietary restrictions - which they said tasted amazing.
- Staff was friendly, professional, and courteous
- The star show - probably my favorite part of the entire evening. I don't know what they're paying Will, but it is not enough. We came to him with some special requests and he did an absolutely PHENOMENAL job! Our guests, (and ourselves!), were absolutely mesmerized.
- The event coordinator - Sarah, is friendly, flexible, and generally a very prompt communicator.

Cons:
- Expensive. Venue rental starts at $3K, they require a $7K minimum for food and drink, their wedding package starts at $96/plate, and tax and staffing will be a MINIMUM of another $3K.
- Don’t expect good photos or video inside the starbay itself - it’s just too dark.
- Though Sarah was a likable person and generally very responsive, there were a few issues with how things were handled:
- Getting what we wanted in contract form required a lot of revision and careful reading as things expressed to her were sometimes not what we received back. For example, when we suggested ways we hoped to save money on the menu, the options she sent back were even more expensive. We had to stab around in the dark quite a bit, running ideas past her to find something that would work, instead of her suggesting things to us.
- They had very few vegetarian options on the menu despite advertising meal inclusivity on the catering website. It took us finding a menu on a competitor's website and giving it to them before they finally offered something suitable for a vegetarian option. It did end up delicious!
- Pricing was frustrating. Sarah would warn us in advance about relatively small costs we would incur - (a couple hundred for the VR ride, for example). But say nothing about the nearly $2,000 additional bill for staffing. Our bar tab also ended up nearly double that which we anticipated... not quite sure what to say about that. You also had to be careful that any adjustments made in correspondence with Sarah ended up in the final contract.
- Lastly, I would advise having a good wedding coordinator if you choose to go here. Though Sarah was very fast to email most of the time, the two days leading up to the wedding she was hard to reach. I understand it was the weekend, but as an event coordinator, you should be available for last minute things. She also did not keep the event running on schedule. In the contract she gave us a schedule of events that we approved - but it was not followed - requiring my husband and I to jump in and move things along. This resulted in us running out of time at the end so only a few people received dessert. There were also a few things in the contract that were not carried out - no extra seats were put in the lobby for our elderly guests as requested, and the escort card table was placed in a different spot than in the schematic resulting in a bad traffic jam and confusion as people entered the dining area.

To summarize - the star show and the food are absolutely what sells this place. If you have a large budget and a good wedding planner, then this is a great venue that will help you achieve a truly special event!