I had a chance to speak with Cerena, co-owner and director of operations of Warehouse 109 in Plainfield IL. By far, Warehouse 109 is one of my favorite wedding venues in the Chicagoland area. They have such a unique style that no other wedding venue can come close to matching.
Cerena and I go over everything from how Warehouse 109 started to where the rustic/vintage style came from. It’s really awesome to find out that this venue is run by a super talented family team who all brings their expertise to create one incredible experience for any couple that comes through their doors.
Vince – Tell me about Warehouse 109.
Cerena – So I guess first and foremost, we’re a family-owned business. We’ve been in business since 2015. We are located in Plainfield, Illinois, and similar to the name we offer a warehousy feel for an event space. But it features a lot of collections that my family has been collecting for years. And I guess in short, the warehouse brings together the four owner’s skills and, you know, collection of stuff. My parents, my sister, and I are all owners. My parents have been the collectors of such things which are displayed throughout space. My sister’s an architect and then my background is in business. So, we’ve kind of come together to create this family business that honestly came out of nowhere and we’re having fun, loving it.
Vince– Where did the idea come from about opening a wedding venue?
Cerena – So we had no plans whatsoever to open a wedding venue. My sister back in 2014, she wanted a destination wedding. So, she got married in Portugal and had 40 people, 40 of her closest friends and family over there. But she also wanted to have a reception back home for a bigger group of about 200. And she was looking for places in the city and in the suburbs, and she just couldn’t really find anything, definitely nothing within what her budget was, because we’d already gone on this huge trip. And my parents have always had commercial real estate and they had bought the building, that warehouse 109 is in, like the entire complex probably ten years ago in the space that Warehouse 109 is in right now was supposed to just be storage for my dad’s RV overflow stuff, and my sister was like, “Well, can we just fix up your warehouse a little bit and just have a party?” And of course, we do nothing halfway, we added the bike wall and we added bathrooms, you know, made the courtyard nice. And then by the time we had a party, someone said, “You need to start this as a business like this is an amazing space.” So, we made a website the next month and I think we had our first wedding, it was kind of a smaller wedding, but we had our first wedding just a few months later. So, it just came out of nowhere. But it really made me feel lucky that it just fell in our laps and have been loving it.
Vince – So whenever I go to warehouse 109, and I’ve been there quite a bit over the past I think probably three years, one thing I noticed compared to every other wedding venue is the fact that every wedding there is completely different. How are couples able to customize the space?
Cerena – Honestly, I think just because we’re flexible, I mean, obviously, besides the normal, no nails in the walls. You know, we’re open and they bring in their own decorations. And I feel like the space is kind of a blank slate enough where you could either make it a very fancy wedding or just really simple and let the building speak for itself. In addition to that, we don’t have a setlist of vendors either. So, caterers, we’ve seen everything from food trucks to ice cream trucks to full-on caterers. So, I think just our flexibility allows everybody to be different. And we’re happy about it because it’s fun to see what different couples come up with.
Vince – It’s funny that you mention that. So that’s one of the more unique things that I noticed about Warehouse 109 is what people do for food options. One time I was there a couple had a pizza truck that pulled into the main courtyard and then another couple had a grilled cheese truck, which is cool that you guys give couples the freedom to do that. Tell me about the decorations around the space. I know you said your parents have a lot of collection. What kind of questions are we talking about?
Cerena – Well, I’d say that the biggest collection that’s on display is obviously our motorcycle wall or rack, and it has 12 motorcycles up there at any time. That’s been a hobby that my dad has had forever. He is interested in vintage and antique motorcycles and has been rebuilding and restoring them for as long as I can remember. It’s why I was riding a minibike since I was five. So, I definitely grew up around that. And then I just feel like my parents just have such a good eye and such good luck. They are always like, “Oh, we found this random Airstream for really cheap.” So, they just have a collection of stuff that they’ve been buying and antiquing and going to auctions and getting random leads and just have really cool items.
Vince – I know the Airstream is always a really good photo spot or some of the old trucks up in front and then the motorcycles, of course. That’s one thing, as a photographer, it just gives me so much to work with. Usually, at most locations we have to travel a lot, you know, jump in the car, get the whole bridal party together, just go all over the place. But it seems like, within two hundred feet of Warehouse 109, you guys have everything. And now you have a new outdoor space that’s somewhat new to the 2019 season. Right?
Cerena -Right. Yeah, exactly. Just adjacent to the parking lot, the main parking lot, we built a garden and, I am obsessed with how it turned out. We had a landscape architect from Chicago design it and she just did an amazing job. And then my sister, who’s an architect, she designed these modern metal walls in there, and my dad and his friend welded them. So, it was definitely a team effort and was a lot of work, but it’s so worth it. Every time I go in there, I think, “This is amazing.” It offers a different kind of green, very lush space versus the warehouse and I think couples enjoy having a different space for their ceremony and then for the reception.
Vince – Did you guys do that in the 2019 season first or is it new for twenty 2020?
Cerena – No, definitely last year we had it, I feel like maybe at the end of 2018 it opened and then 2019 I think was the first full year.
Vince – I really like the addition of that space, exactly what you said, just to kind of contrast the rustic vibe. But I really dig the rustic vibe, especially the Airstream and like the rustic wood and the really cool bar that you guys have.
Cerena – Oh yeah, that’s another random find of my parents. They were like, “Hey, we found this vintage bar.” Of course, you did hahaha.
Vince – So where do they find all of the cool items that you incorporated into the space?
Cerena – They actually bought it from the same people where they got the Airstream. They bought the Airstream and then like the guy called them up and was like, “Hey, I have this bar in my barn from an old bar in Crescent City, Illinois. I would like to get rid of it.” And my parents went and looked at it and said, OK. You know, I think when they bought it, they had no idea, like maybe it was at the beginning of when they were fixing up the warehouse. But yeah, we had no idea where we could lose it. But of course, they said that they can’t let this go. You don’t find something like this all the time.
Vince – I never knew that. But that’s really cool that those pieces go so well together. It just seems like you had a vision and you picked each piece to go there. But it’s interesting to hear that it’s kind of just random finds that really just worked with the space.
Cerena – I mean, we definitely have an awesome team. My parents have been contractors forever. We have an awesome carpenter/handyman on staff, and he is just a master. He just makes things look amazing. So, he built it in the shape that we needed, and you would never know that he had changed them.
Vince – That’s the one thing I’m not too good at. I like building things, but it’s never perfect hahaha. What size weddings and events does Warehouse 109 generally host?
Cerena – I would say most common, it’s around 150 to 170. We have done up to 200 quite a few times and it can be possible. But I always just say it’s a little bit of a squeeze, especially if the weather’s not good and everybody’s kind of stuck inside. But we’ve definitely done 200. But what we also like about our space is it’s so flexible. You can also host a group of around 50 people which people have been doing with everything going on nowadays. I feel if it’s a really small group, we’ll do things like bring the Airstream into the space or bring in a random vehicle just to put it in the corner, so it doesn’t feel so large. But I would say usually like 150 to 170 seated.
Vince – That’s another thing that I notice when I am at Warehouse 109, it’s usually a wide range of size of the group. Sometimes it’ll be like fifty, sometimes it’ll be two hundred, but it never feels awkward. Some places it just seems like everyone’s packed in or it’s a completely barren space. It seems like no matter what size group that’s in the warehouse, you guys make it work and then make it seem cozy and comfortable where it’s not too packed or it’s not too wide open. What do your packages usually look like? Do you have any certain packages that you usually offer?
Cerena – So for weddings, usually the package includes the space for the entire day, so you get it from 10:00 a.m. until midnight. It includes all of the tables and chairs and that type of thing. There’s always a bunch of random tables that people can use. And then there are various addons like the ceremony fee, and then we have our marquee letters. So that’s kind of the rent of the space and then the bar packages through us as well.
We have liquor packages just starting with beer and wine all the way up to premium liquor and it’s pretty flexible. So a lot of people will get maybe just a more basic package and add on a keg of something. So it’s all pretty flexible. Basically the name of the game is we’re flexible for better, for worse for us. And maybe it makes our lives more complicated sometimes. Then people bring in their own catering. And the caterer obviously has everything to do with the food side and then other vendors as well. So you would bring in your own photographer, florist, all that stuff.
Vince – We’ve been talking about how Warehouse 109 is evolving. Where do you guys see yourself a couple of years down the road?
Cerena – Free of COVID hahaha. But honestly, I feel like we are in such a good groove now. I mean, we have it down to a science and it’s really good. And I think just continuing to make things more efficient. We have a few projects that we want to do. But honestly, it just kind of chugging along. This year we definitely missed a lot of weddings and we’re looking forward to getting back into them. But yeah, it’s just chugging along.
Vince – I’m looking forward to seeing what you guys do in the future! How should someone who’s looking to plan a wedding or an event reach out to you or Warehouse 109?
Cerena – Definitely our email address, info@warehouse109.com, and on our website. We have an event inquiry, on the top right corner. And that email goes directly to me because I’m the main point of contact.
Vince – Thank you so much for jumping on the call with me. It’s super interesting to hear about the behind the scenes of Warehouse 109, it was great talking to you.
Cerena – Yeah. Thanks for having me!
I had a great time getting to speak to Cerena and it was clear right from the start, how passionate her and her family are. Whenever I get to photograph a wedding there, everyone from the servers to the coordinator treats you with so much respect and makes you feel right at home which is pretty amazing. Want to see a full wedding at Warehouse 109? Check out this one! Marc and Sams Warehouse 109 Wedding!