Goodman Community Center - Madison, Wisconsin

Brianna K. (. K. P.

I am a wedding photographer and photographed a wedding at Goodman Community Center in October 2024 and it was a lovely venue to work at! This historic and industrial wedding venue in downtown Madison has everything couples need to host their wedding all in one place. The venue has two different buildings, Brassworks and Ironworks, and both are charming spaces for indoor ceremonies and receptions. The venue has spaces for both sides of your wedding party to get ready. The staff were incredibly friendly to work with. I highly recommend having your wedding at Goodman Community Center!

Erin H.

My wife and I immediately fell in love with the values and aesthetic of the Goodman Community Center and held our reception here in August 2024. We booked the Brassworks Building package which includes both Bea & Lau Christensen Rooms, 2 bars and a couple side rooms for photos, getting ready, storage, etc. which came in handy.

4 of 5 stars Rating reasoning-

PROS-The Goodman offers a great location, tasty menu options, beautiful space and good value for the cost. Compared to venues surrounding it, it’s very much worth the price. They also contribute to the local community and offers opportunities for teens to learn life skills which we both really admired.

CONS-
Food-Though the meal items (Butternut Squash Ravioli & Pork Loin w/Door County Cherry sauce) were both raved about by guests, we did have complaints of the food being cold as well as the portions being too small for adults.
Service-We loved that the TeenWorks program was part of the event with prep and serving the meal but they weren’t in any sort of uniform which was tacky. One teen even wore a slasher movie t-shirt and without guests knowing about the teens serving them, it seemed a bit chaotic and guests were mostly confused about 12-15 teenagers walking around without coordination. Even if they all had a plain shirt on, it would have been more appealing.

Included wedding coordinator-
When we first booked, the venue and value itself piqued our interest but the previous coordinator Vivian was what sold us. Vivan assured us she was our support system and would provide us with the best experience being it was our big day and it was our money being spent.
Fast forward 11 months and we’re advised Viv is leaving so her boss/current Hospitality & Events Manager Liza would be our point of contact in the interim of them hiring a new coordinator.
We were candid in expressing our optimism with slight concern and Liza’s first impression/reply via email was ‘reassuring you losing my wedding coordinator in the peak of wedding season also wasn’t on my bingo card’ which set the tone for the remainder of our run-ins with her.
She continued with what I can only assume was her way of reassuring us that she “had 25 years over Vivian so everything will be fine”. If this was the only time we felt her responses were condescending, I wouldn’t include it in this review as everyone deserves grace however, it only continued.
She said providing our own linen would only put her behind schedule for set up the Friday prior to our event so we dropped off the linen Friday at 1030am (from our house 1 hour away) to work with her but when we came back for set-up at our 3pm time slot, all the linen was still boxed and our friends unboxed and set the linens themselves.
The following morning at 10am none of the napkins had been tied yet and I asked if I could tie them myself so we could see the layout before leaving, she again said she had “been doing this for 25 years so you can be sure everything will be ready in time. This is not my first rodeo.”
During the reception, she was no where to be found and though she gave me her cell number for the pizza delivery, they told us she didn’t answer her phone when they called so my mother had to accept delivery and have guests of the reception help her bring them in.
At one point she threatened guests who had a part in our reception and were awaiting their introduction by the DJ when Liza approached them and said “Why are you fraternizing with teenagers, they are underage, should I be calling the police” and even the teens reassured her they weren’t even talking to them.

The Goodman Center as a whole is recommended and I do hope this review doesn’t overshadow the positives this venue and community contributions has to offer.
As individuals who both work in Customer Service and strive to provide positive experiences to our customers, we look for and admire kindness when we seek services.
Truthfully, neither of us are sure we would have ended up booking The Goodman Center for our reception if Vivan wasn’t our first point of contact.

Helen M.

My partner and I were very fortunate to get married at the Goodman Center Ironworks Building in May. From the first time we reached out everyone has been genuinely kind, supportive, and excited for us. This set the undertones for the rest of our wedding. Overall, we are sincerely grateful we held our wedding here. The building is beautiful, the food was excellent, the staff is amazing!

We toured the Ironworks and Brassworks buildings in November 2021 and selected our date for 2023. After touring with Liza, we were so excited. Ultimately we selected the Ironworks wedding package for the reception. A few months later we decided we would like to have the ceremony at the Goodman Center as well and added in the Grace Schmid Room. These rooms are stunning, my partner and I decided to go rather minimal on the decorations to highlight the beautiful features. We feel like it looked elegant.

We elected to work with Good Works Community Catering for the reception dinner. About ten months prior to the wedding there was a tasting event. This was incredibly helpful and gave us a lot of direction! Besides finding what foods we did or didn't like, it helped us visualize details of the reception such as the size the of the tables, the way we could have the tables set, or different centerpiece options. We had several guests with soy, gluten, and dairy allergies and all of the food could be made with these modifications in mind. One of our guests usually brings in their own food to weddings because typically there aren't options that exclude all of their allergens. But for our wedding they were so excited they could eat anything on the dinner menu without worry; this made my partner and I really happy. Other guests told us this was the best wedding food they have had. Everything was cooked perfectly and tasted great.

One of the best parts of working with the Goodman Center was how flexible they were for us. We were on a tighter budget and they let us provide appetizers and desserts. My extended family brought these; my aunts were really excited to make a dish to bring! This made our reception feel really personal to us and also helped with the cost. We were also able to customize our bar requests; we bought a couple of half barrels of beer, a few cases of wine, and put down a specified amount for mixed drinks. They let us know when we hit our limit and we were able to choose to extend it or not.

In the months leading up to the wedding, we worked with Vivian a lot. She is such a sweet person and works so hard! She made everything leading up to (and the actual wedding) go smoothly. She was quick to respond to questions, checked in on us, made dates clear, and provided a ton of helpful advice (from shatterproof lights to beer barrels)! She also provided us with a list of preferred DJs in the area. While most of our interactions were with Vivian and Liza, on the day of our wedding Juliette also helped us coordinate. We were able to direct questions to them and they were so helpful! The TEENworks staff was excellent, they put in a lot of time and effort, their food and service was great! Finally, John was the bartender for our wedding and he was very good natured about getting a bunch of Harvey Wallbanger requests. Overall, we were impressed and happy with every interaction with Goodman Center staff.

We were able to stay within budget but provide a fun experience to our guests because of the Goodman Center. My partner and I wanted our wedding to celebrate all of the people who have supported and loved us through our relationship (and our marriage). Holding our wedding and reception here was a perfect fit for us.

jamaal S.

Went to the Vegan pop up. Such a great time with great vendors. There are really fantastic facilities at the Goodma n center. Fun times for kids and adults alike. It's really awesome to have such resources available for the community.

Jack K.

As far as community centers go, they have quite a lot. I just use their gym which has mostly everything you need: free weights, machines, squat racks, medicine balls, treadmills, etc. You won't find a cheaper gym in Madison. No access to the basketball courts unfortunately.

Felicia W.

This place is AWESOME! There is a splash pad for the summer heat and a playground with a wide variety play equipment. The ground has rubber chips so it doesn't hurt as much when the kids fall. There are bathrooms that are always clean whenever we visit. They have community activities as well as space for private parties.

Cynthia K.

Had a Madison Art Guild meeting here on a Tuesday night for a member discussion on Art Shows. Very nice room where the speakers were able to access the large screen for a power point presentation. Excellent acoustics. There was plenty of seating for a group discussion. Highly recommend as a community meeting space.

Randy P.

Great venue for meetings. Central east side location. Close to a lot of food and beverage places. Easily bikable location due to being off the bike path.