The Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee: A review

Spend a romantic evening at The Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and enjoy their world class spa and dining.

46 hours.

That’s how many hours I’ll be in the car with my kids traveling throughout the midwest this month. We’ve done road trips, but this is the Epic Road Trip to end all road trips. I am enduring hour after hour of kid friendly music, kid friendly audiobooks, kid friendly videos, kid friendly food, kid friendly tourist attractions.

I love my kids but 3 full weeks with 46 hours of driving sprinkled throughout is a Whole Lot of Kid Friendly for just about anyone. So when my cousin announced that The Pfister in Milwaukee would be hosting his wedding I spotted a precious oasis of ADULT ONLY in a sea of kid friendly.

I grew up in Milwaukee and The Pfister was the place to go for special events. High school Father/Daughter Dance and Mother/Daughter Brunch, charity fashion show events, Christmas events, even my own baby shower were all held in one of the gorgeous old world ballrooms at The Pfister. But in all those years of attending fancy events I have never had the pleasure to spend an overnight evening in the hotel itself until now.

Stepping into The Pfister’s gilded lobby is stepping back in time. Scheduling 24 hours under it’s painted ceiling was exactly the adult getaway I needed to survive our kid friendly road trip. Tim and I left the kiddos with friends of the family for an evening and reserved the night after my cousin’s wedding to have a miniature romantic getaway in the middle of our family trip.

When you are so short on time for a getaway with your sweetie, you have exactly zero time to lose in getting into the right mindset. It can be hard to segue from my role of mom listening to Winnie the Pooh on the car stereo to my role of wife whispering sweet nothings into my husband’s ear. When you’re at The Pfister, it is so much easier to put all that kiddie stuff behind you and get right down to the business of having a romantic evening.

Every inch of the lobby is coated in ornate detail: gilded ceiling accents, elaborate patterns in the carpet, rich woodwork at the bellhop desk, chandeliers dripping with gold, sculptures in every corner, and paintings on every wall. As gorgeous as the lobby is, it only gets better the farther you go into the hotel.

The rooms feature intricately detailed doorknobs, elegant furniture, rich drapery, and historic feeling accents are sprinkled throughout the halls. We spotted old fashioned phones, displays of historic hotel keys, elegant paintings, and glass chandeliers everywhere we looked.

My cousin Parker married his gorgeous bride Stephanie in a small ballroom on the 7th floor. Their flexible ballroom space can accommodate various sizes of weddings and we were seated in a room that was just the perfect size for his 100-guest event. After the sweet ceremony, we took a break to freshen up before heading to the reception in a much larger ballroom that had space for the dance floor.

While we waited for the reception to start, we had our choice between hanging out in the private guest lounge or the Blu lounge on the 23rd floor that has breathtaking views of the Milwaukee skyline. We chose the lounge pre- reception and then headed up for a quiet cocktail at Blu post-reception to enjoy the views both during the afternoon and evening light. The candles on the tables at Blu and the twinkling Milwaukee skyline combined to make the perfect evening ambiance.

Every member of the staff at The Pfister that we encountered were experts at customer service. We felt spoiled and pampered and completely catered to throughout our short visit. The rich food at the wedding caused me a bit of indigestion in the middle of the night and the front desk did not hesitate for a second before opening up the gift shop after midnight to give us free access to some meds that perked me right up.

The morning after the wedding, we had time to enjoy breakfast in the Pfister Cafe on the main floor. Mouth watering dishes like the South of the Border eggs benedict or lighter fare like a fruit platter with chocolate croissants and Starbucks coffee are available in a quaint little restaurant space right off the lobby. Afterwards, we strolled up and down the halls to look at the details some more and stumbled on their Artist in Residence studio.

One part hotel, one part art museum?? I loved that you can peek in on the studio and see works in progress along with displays of the current artist’s work. You can read more about their artist in residence program here. The Pfister may be the only hotel I know of where the best part of the entertainment includes just strolling the hallways.

We ran out of time during our short visit but I would have loved to take advantage of their in hotel spa. The Pfister Well Spa offers everything you’d need for a wedding day party or for a couple’s weekend getaway. How fun would it be to take advantage of their “Spa Ahhhmazing” package!

Honestly, for as many photos as are included in this post, I have dozens more in my photo library. It was a photographer’s dream to play with capturing the spirit of this precious hotel. I can’t imagine a more lovely place for a romantic getaway or wedding event in Milwaukee. You can get more information on the hotel or book your stay at The Pfister right here.