My niece just got married here this past weekend!! Lakewatch Inn handled the officiated ceremony…read moreas well as the meal, and all related events! It is a beautiful facility with well decorated and maintained space, both indoors and outdoors. I found Nicole to be very easy, friendly and fun to work with, and both her and her staff did an excellent job!!! We all had a blast and everyone was very happy with the way it went!!! I do not understand some of the other reviews I read here. Noone asked me to write this review. None of the staff was rude to anyone that I know of. I had great friendly conversation with all of them. There was no inappropriately searching of anyone. It wasnt perfect at Lakewatch but it was one of the best weddings I have been to, and i have been to a lot.

I went here for an event, and staff were super unwelcoming and rude. Even though event attendees…read morewere reminded multiple times before to not bring outside alcohol, they still searched all of us(although no one had any). The method by which they searched us was completing disgusting- groping both the men and women without changing gloves and making every single attendee very very uncomfortable. None of us were informed of this inappropriate method before hand. Owner was consistently hostile and unwelcoming, especially to our unproblematic group. Bartenders were also unwelcoming and SUPER slow & drinks were super subpar. Venue is also not as nice as other Ithaca venues that are known to be much more welcoming. I am horrified that lakewatch inn thinks they can take advantage of young women like this, would absolutely not recommend regardless of your event- they do not deserve your business. edit- a few days after I posted this, they had a "random" influx in 5 star reviews from accounts created minutes before. See attached picture for one that was removed within seconds. Very disappointed to see the owners either posting reviews themselves or making previous patrons post reviews to make themselves look good instead of addressing how they blatantly harassed young women. The words used in the attached review are beyond disgusting.

We ordered Thanksgiving dinner from Serendipity catering this year and it DID NOT DISAPPOINT!! The…read moreturkey was perfectly prepared and delicious. I'm not much of a stuffing person but I ordered it for the rest of the family. Serendipity's stuffing has made a convert of me! Perfectly spiced, lots of mushrooms and veggies with terrific bread. The gravy was almost like Mom's. I loved their take on cranberry sauce. I ate it cold instead of warming it up. Can't say enough positives about the whole experience from ordering to pick up to warming everything for dinner. Easy instructions and flawless flavors. Thanks to the team!

Do not use this catering company! If I could give this establishment zero stars I would. After…read morecommunicating with them for the past six weeks to cater two small events for my daughter's graduation and having a verbal commitment they ghosted me last week. I called them today and they said that they had sent emails canceling the events due to "staffing shortages". (They did not.) When I expressed my dissatisfaction Sharon hung up on me. I now have to scramble because all of the restaurants are full and the other caterers are booked. After reading other reviews it looks as though this has happened with them before. See screenshots of emails between me and the caterer below.

We hired Tara 2 years ago when my daughter got engaged. My daughter was very specific about the…read morekind of wedding she wanted. She wanted a wedding with multiple day events (wine tour, welcome party, ceremony on the Cornell campus, two cocktail parties, reception and a brunch). We were also challenged with having 160+ guests from out of town. My daughter didn't want a traditional wedding banquet hall look, she wanted to have farm tables with lush greeneries and flowers, and lounge sofas for people to relax. It was hard to find a place around Ithaca to accommodate so many guests. Tara spent days with us in finding a perfect venue for the wedding. On the day of, we had photographers videographers, multiple banquet coordinators, bus drivers. Tara was amazing in coordinating everything and getting everyone to work together. She had 7 pages of the event schedule. She worked tirelessly to refine it with us, down to when food would be delivered for the bridal party to eat before the ceremony. At the end of the reception, when she saw I was going back to the hotel by myself, she personally drove me back. She then delivered flowers for the next morning's brunch to our B&B at 2am. On top of that, she showed up at the brunch to make sure everything was ok and helped us pack up everything. We had few crisis (or we thought) during the wedding, Tara was able to take care of them for us and more importantly calmed us down. All of our guests told us how much fun they had at the wedding and how beautiful the venue was. I think a lot of it was due to Tara's careful planning and diligence. I would highly recommend Tara as a planner for any special event.

Tara (Terra Rosa) was such a wonderful and integral part of our wedding team! She came highly…read morerecommended by a close family friend and owner of a local florist company - if other vendors say somebody is great to work with, believe them! Our venue, the Ithaca Farmers Market, requires an immense amount of planning and organization as you must bring in everything (rentals, food, alcohol, decor) yourself. In addition, set-up time is very limited so it pays off to have a team of vendors who have worked well at the market before and know what they're doing and how run of show should go! While we signed on for the month-of package, Tara was so helpful in providing recommendations for additional vendors throughout our planning process who not only have worked market wedding before, but who would be able to help us create our exact vision for the day. Tara was responsive and always made herself readily available, whether it was well-before the month of our wedding or in the days leading up to it. As a self-described Type-A planner, I was so grateful to have Tara on top of everything especially the day before and the day of the wedding so that I could kick back and relax to enjoy such a special day. She executed everything perfectly, - including when a guest stepped on the bottom of my dress and broke off a bustle hook! Not only did she have safety pins of all sizes on hand, she perfectly pinned the dress back into its proper bustle so nobody could even tell! I can't recommend her highly enough - every couple should be so lucky as to have her support, eye for style, and organization on their big day!

Washburn provided a Photo Booth for my mom's 87th birthday. They were great with organizing it…read moreahead of time. On the day of the party, Dray was wonderful. He showed up early and had everything ready to go at the beginning of the party. The Photo Booth was very successful with partygoers partially because of Dray's enthusiasm and encouragement. He adjusted the camera up for tall people and down for people in wheelchairs. And made sure that photos were printed for each person in each photo. It went so well that my mom wants a Photo Booth again at her party next year.

Chris and his team were absolutely incredible to work with throughout our entire wedding planning…read moreprocess in Ithaca! I'm a detail-oriented person myself so deeply appreciated Chris' professional, highly organized, and fun presence throughout our wedding process. Chris handled so many components of our wedding - from the amplification for our ceremony, to cocktail hour music, to being our MC for the night, to the lighting, to the reception with live musicians. Everything ran so well and the dance floor was packed the entire night with guests from all walks of life and ages - family, friends, aunts and uncles alike. Before planning a wedding, I didn't realize just how critical a DJ is to making a wedding run smoothly. That person ends up being the key coordinator for the night - handling introductions, announcing and facilitating key components like first dances and speeches, and making sure the flow of the music engages all guests. Thanks to Chris, my husband and I were confident that each aspect of our wedding would be covered seamlessly. Chris also went above and beyond to make our wedding special. When we asked if he could help us find live musicians to perform alongside him, he sourced a drummer and several saxophonists for us. It made our wedding so unique, and afterwards, many guests specifically said how amazing they thought Washburn Entertainments was. Thanks SO much Chris for everything you did to make our wedding possible, you're the best! (The photos included with this review are by Chris Szulwach at The Story Photography)

Laura catered a family reunion and 70th birthday event for close to 30 adults with calm and…read morecompetence. Her locally sourced food was excellently prepared and served family style, which allowed for guests to have different tastes of each beautifully made dish and to keep things casual and flexible. She also left our kitchen cleaner than how she found it! Her grocery (Good Neighbor in Groton) is also worth a visit. Very highly recommended!

Laura is amazing. Everything she made for our NYE grazing board + New Year's Day breakfast was…read moredelicious. She's really great to work with and comes up with really fun ideas to make sure your event is special. I enjoyed working with her and will definitely be in contact with her for future events. I highly recommend hiring her for any private events you have. She is truly the best in the area.