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Weddings at the Sylvan Lake Lodge Auditorium

Featuring the new adjoining Lakeview Deck, the Auditorium's all-wood interior with floor-to-ceiling windows shines like never before.

Your Black Hills Lakeside Wedding Destination

With Sylvan Lake down below and new show-stopping Lakeview Deck, the destination can't be beat.

Our largest indoor banquet space, this beautiful venue features 3,000 square feet of an all-wood interior, tall windows with views of the forest, and a stone & wooden deck overlooking Sylvan Lake. A short walk takes you to picturesque Sylvan Lake Trail, complete with easily-accessible photo opps at every turn, especially behind the spires where you will find cascade waterfalls, beautiful granite formations, and incredibly diverse topography for which Sylvan is known.

Wedding Packages

Our wedding packages make planning your special day at Custer State Park a breeze, because so much is included at one per-person package price. All of our packages include:

  • Ceremony site setup & teardown
  • Reception site setup & teardown
  • In-house Catering with 60-minute social hour and 90-minute buffet meal period
  • Basic Audio/Visual
  • House linens, china, flatware, glassware
  • Courtesy resort room block with seasonal discounts
  • Assigned event manager & banquet staff

& so much more! Contact our sales & catering office by submitting a form or calling our office at 605-255-4672 to learn more, inquire about available dates, and to request a wedding guide & menu.


Request a Guide

Ceremony Site

Sylvan Lakeview Deck

Sylvan's new Lakeview Deck offers the best of both worlds: Sylvan Lake views, and the privacy of being tucked up next to the Auditorium and surrounded by pine trees. This ceremony site rental includes:

  • Garden benches
  • Electrical access
  • Guest book & Gift table


Catering Options

Catering is provided through Sylvan Lake Lodge. Choose from several catering packages featuring options for the main course, salads & sides, bar service, and enhancements like late-night snacks, platters for the wedding party, sweets, and more. Contact our sales & catering office by submitting a form to learn more, inquire about available dates, and to request a wedding guide & menu.


Request a Guide

Ready to start planning?

Our team of event planners would love to chat with you regarding any questions you have about weddings at Custer State Park. Drop your info below and our team will in touch.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. As a full-service resort, your Wedding Package includes an assigned Event Manger, who will work with you to order all of the Catering and staffing needs for your meal(s) that are provided in-house from the Sylvan Lake Lodge. The Auditorium will be set with tables, house linens and skirting, linen napkins, water glasses, silverware, banquet china, and gold fanfare chameleon chairs as you have requested and arranged in advance with your Event Manager. From there, our banquet staff continues to execute the cocktail hour, buffet, in-house desserts, and late-night snacks as ordered from us in your selected package.

Depending on your head table and many other event aspects, we generally recommend no more than 250. Overflow seating to the patio is an option when needed.

A non-refundable $1,500 deposit (unless otherwise specified in your agreement) is due with the signed contract to confirm your date. This deposit will show as a credit on your account.

In a resort lodge room or cabin! Reach out to us at 888-875-0001 to snatch up your room and mention that you want to use it as a ready-room so that our team can find you the best option with the most space!

Yes! Our Cathedral Spires Cabin makes a show-stopping designer hospitality suite. It offers 4BR/5BA, a full designer kitchen, and a fantastic open floor-plan for socializing. Additionally, we offer other cabins with kitchens and/or living areas with that extra square footage you seek for hospitality suites and/or ready rooms. Insider Tip: Rent it for the night before, too, so you can get in, get settled, and start getting ready first thing the next morning! Check-in time is not until after 4pm.

The State Park quiet hour is 11pm, which is also your designated function end time.

We strongly encourage that you designate a family member to gather up anything that is important to you during the dance so that your items don't get misplaced during clean-up. Last call will be at 10:40pm, and at 11pm, the entertainment must conclude for the evening and staff will begin breaking down tables. All décor must be removed no later than midnight to avoid an additional fee. Custer State Park Resort is not liable for lost or stolen items.

Insider's Tip: Explore renting our group Cathedral Spires Cabin for a show-stopping hospitality suite and post-wedding campfire.

A professional decorator is required if you wish to have anything hung from the rafters. As you will have an assigned Event Manager planning the banquet services and timelines in advance with you, oftentimes Brides and Grooms find that the rest of their vendors can be hired independently; but the choice is yours!

Your rental of the Auditorium starts anytime after 10:00am on the day of your wedding. (Note: If you have hired a professional decorator, they must coordinate set-up details in advance directly with your Event Manager). If you are renting table runners or specialty linens from an outside source that you would like used, please inform your Event Manager. Specialty linens must be hand-delivered to the Lodge no later than 48-hours in advance if we are placing them for you, along with the rest of our resort-provided table settings.

Outside decorations are welcome. For anything hung from the raftors, a licensed decorating professional must be hired. Custer State Park Resorts takes its role as caretaker of our historic State Park lodges very seriously.

We are fortunate enough to have a facility that is floor-to-ceiling hardwood! Help us preserve its story as you would your own piece of antique furniture: Nails, screws, staples, tape, command strips, push pins, confetti, glitter, rice, hay or straw, smoke machines, open flame candles are all prohibited.

Floral arrangements are welcome; when in doubt, please inquire! Easels may be rented through your Event Manager, and we provide beautiful whiskey barrel tables to help you display your memories and decorations. SD Game Fish & Parks welcomes birdseed, bubbles and dried lavender at your ceremony; shepherds hooks for floral arrangements are also permitted, where applicable. Thank you for taking good care of our 71,000 acre wildlife preserve!

The primary reason for having a cocktail hour (alcoholic or not) is to give your guests some mingling time before the buffet is open for dinner. For a wedding, this purpose is two-fold. Often times, you will have a few final photos with your photographer immediately following your ceremony, and having a cocktail hour (60 minutes) with hors d'oeuvres will help to keep your guests happy while they mingle. Because we are in the business of happy guests, all of our packages all offer a basic cocktail hour platter. Ordering additional hors d 'Oeuvres is strongly encouraged, but not required. Your designated Event Manager is here to help along the way!

Our banquet staff will clear plates throughout the event, and start full facility cleanup at 11pm. Please remember that you are responsible for the décor items that you bring in. Your personal items are valuable. To ensure that nothing gets lost as our staff cleans up at night, we encourage all valuables to be removed prior to the reception end time. All décor must be removed no later than midnight to avoid an additional fee. Custer State Park Resort is not liable for lost or stolen items.