Weddings & Receptions At Claudia Sanders Dinner House

A wedding at Claudia Sanders Dinner House pairs a historic Southern setting with the family-style hospitality the restaurant was founded on in 1968. Celebrate your ceremony in the Main Dining Room or the Sun-Dappled Courtyard Garden, then move to a reception for up to 450 guests in the Colonel's Quarters, with a full bar, room for dancing, and space for a live band.

When we cater your wedding reception, use of the facility for your ceremony — indoors or in the garden — is free of charge. The venue's heritage, beside the historic Blackwood Hall home in Kentucky horse country, gives the day a sense of place that a generic banquet hall cannot, and the warm, unhurried service lets the celebration unfold at its own pace.

Wedding celebrations can accommodate a large gathering or a more intimate scale, and they are always built around the same scratch-made Southern food served in the dining room. Menus are customized to your group, and our wedding planner works with you to arrange the rooms, the timeline, and the menu so the day feels like yours.

Weddings here suit couples who want a character-filled, historic Southern setting rather than a hotel ballroom. It works for both a large reception that fills the Colonel's Quarters and an intimate ceremony and dinner in one of the smaller rooms. The courtyard garden offers an outdoor ceremony option, and the indoor rooms give a weather-proof backup for the reception.

Couples and families from Louisville, Southern Indiana, and across Kentucky often choose Shelbyville for a central gathering point. The venue's heritage — founded by Colonel Harland Sanders and his wife Claudia in 1968 — gives the wedding a meaningful backdrop, and the warm setting offers the kind of hospitality that matters on a day centered on family and friends.

Choose a room based on your guest count and whether you want a seated dinner or a standing reception.

For a wedding, the Main Dining Room and Courtyard Garden are the ceremony settings, and the Colonel's Quarters — with up to 450 seated or 1,000 standing — is the largest reception room. The Kentucky Room (up to 150) with its fireplace suits a mid-size reception, and the Thoroughbred and Saddlebred Rooms (up to 55 each) work for a smaller dinner or a bridal-party gathering. The largest room can be divided to fit your guest count.

We offer several service formats so the reception matches your style and guest count.

A plated dinner is the most formal choice for a wedding reception, while a buffet scales easily for a larger guest list. Family-style platters bring the warmth the Dinner House was founded on and encourage guests to share the meal together. An appetizer-and-drinks reception suits a cocktail-style celebration with passed and stationed bites.

Menus draw from the same scratch-made Southern food served in the dining room — fried chicken, sugar-cured Kentucky country ham, the Kentucky Hot Brown, chicken livers, steaks and chops, eight family-style vegetables, and homemade pies. See the full menu and the carry-out menu for the dishes that can anchor your event.

The full bar serves beer, wine, and cocktails, with beverage service priced by the drink or by the bottle. Homemade pies, cobblers, and Claudia's Kentucky Pie are available for dessert, and the bar stays open through the dancing and the toasts.

When we cater your wedding reception, use of the facility for your ceremony — indoors in the Main Dining Room or outdoors in the Sun-Dappled Courtyard Garden — is free of charge. The courtyard garden offers an outdoor ceremony option with natural light and a garden setting, and the indoor rooms give a weather-proof backup so the day is covered either way.

The ceremony and the reception can flow naturally from one to the other within the same venue, so your guests do not travel between sites. Tell us your ceremony plans and we will arrange the rooms and the timeline so the transition is smooth and the day unfolds without stress.

Because the venue sits beside the historic Blackwood Hall home in Kentucky horse country, the ceremony setting carries a sense of heritage and place. It is the kind of backdrop that makes a wedding feel rooted rather than staged.

Planning starts with a call to (502) 633-5600 or a message through the contact form. Tell us your date, guest count, and the style of celebration you want, and we will help you choose a room and build a menu. Our wedding planner works with you to arrange the rooms, the timeline, and the menu.

Because every event is customized, we do not publish per-person pricing online. Tell us your date, guest count, and the style of service you want, and we will send menu options and pricing. There is no obligation, and we are happy to walk through the rooms and the menu before you decide.

Contact us to speak with our wedding planner and arrange a tour of the facilities. Seeing the rooms and the courtyard garden in person helps you picture the day, and our planner can walk you through the options for the ceremony, the reception, and the menu before you decide.

Before the wedding, confirm your guest count, menu selections, and the ceremony plan. Share dietary needs so we can build alternatives into the menu, and let us know if you are bringing a photographer, a florist, or a band.

• ✓Choose a ceremony setting — the Main Dining Room or the Courtyard Garden.
• ✓Build a reception menu from our scratch-made Southern kitchen.
• ✓Plan the bar service for toasts and dancing.
• ✓Homemade pies and cobblers are available for dessert.
• ✓The full bar and room for a live band are available.

On the day, our team handles service and cleanup so the couple and the families can focus on the celebration. The rooms are arranged for the ceremony and the reception, and the staff keeps the meal and the bar on the timeline you set.

Claudia Sanders Dinner House is at 3202 Shelbyville Rd (U.S. 60), Shelbyville, Kentucky 40065, east of Louisville. Guests from Louisville, Southern Indiana, and across Kentucky often gather here, and the Kentucky horse-country setting gives the occasion a sense of place. Parking is on site, and tour buses are welcome.

Claudia Sanders Dinner House is open Wednesday through Friday from 11 AM to 8 PM and Saturday and Sunday from 8 AM to 8 PM, with breakfast served on weekends. The venue is closed Monday and Tuesday. Holiday hours may differ — call (502) 633-5600 to confirm.

Weddings most often take place on a weekend, and the venue's Saturday and Sunday hours — from 8 AM to 8 PM — give flexibility for an afternoon ceremony and an evening reception. Because the venue is closed Monday and Tuesday, plan the wedding for a Wednesday through Sunday within our posted hours.

Receptions are based on a per-person price for food, beverage by the drink or bottle, and any other special services requested, with a minimum of 50 guests. A Basic Reception includes skirted service tables with serving equipment, china or glass plates, forks, napkins, and tables and chairs for your guests. All other services are at an additional charge.

For weddings below the 50-guest reception minimum, ask about a private-room ceremony and dinner — we can often host a smaller wedding with a reserved room and a customized menu, with the same free ceremony space when we cater the meal.