Stillwell House has been part of downtown Tucson since 1901, when an Irish innkeeper named James Twiggs and his wife Lucy Stillwell-Twiggs opened it as a boarding house for railroad workers. It is a historic home with garden and indoor spaces that scale from an intimate micro wedding up to a full evening reception, and it is one of the more flexible historic venues in the city.
A moment from this venue
A couple getting married at Stillwell House had family in another country who couldn’t make the trip, including grandparents the bride was especially close to. Ahead of the wedding, I arranged to get a video of well wishes from them and played it on a projector for the whole room during the reception. People were in tears. It wasn’t on any package list. It came out of paying attention during planning and noticing what was missing before anyone had to ask for it.
The spaces
The Courtyard Garden is the outdoor heart of the property, mature shade trees, fountains and lighting strung through the branches, and it is where most ceremonies happen. The Main House, the original Twiggs house, has the white banister staircase that photographers always find. The 1901 Bar Room was the carriage house and still holds its antique bar from around the turn of the century. Each space sounds different from the next, and moving a wedding through all three across an evening is something I map out well ahead of the day.
Working with the family here
Stillwell House is family owned, the Flores family have had it since 2000, the owner is a certified wedding planner herself and the kitchen is run by Chef Carlotta Flores. That is an unusual amount of experience under one roof, and I take advantage of it. I plan the night with them, with your planner and with your photographer, so the ceremony, dinner service and the first dance all sit where everyone wants them. I build the soundtrack around that.
Right sized for intimate celebrations
Stillwell House runs the range from garden brunches to candlelit evenings, with dedicated micro wedding and ceremony only options. I scale the same way, full production for a larger reception or a tighter setup for a micro wedding, and the smaller version still gets the same attention from me.
Getting married at Stillwell House? Check your date.
