For any bride who is considering Lakeside Venue for your upcoming wedding, I would caution you before choosing Lakeside for your event.
I had my wedding on July 10, 2021 at Lakeside Venues. We were required by the venue to use Jerry's catering. We were told after our wedding by a Lakeside employee that they have had issues with this caterer in the past and will not switch to a different catering service. We were unaware of this before choosing Lakeside as our venue.
There was a large delay in guests being served dinner because they did not provide enough food for our guests. It was not a buffet. We paid for a sit-down, plated dish with chicken and beef, and we did not receive what we paid for. At least 90 people did not receive plates of chicken. We gave the venue the exact number of people in advance, and we did not change that number. We were not compensated by Jerry's catering or the venue. They kept our money regardless of not providing the chicken that we paid for prior to the wedding. We have brought this up to both the venue and Jerry's catering multiple times and neither would return our calls.
In addition to this, we also paid extra for "upgraded" meats offered by the venue and caterer for our hors d'oeuvres. We were told that paying for the upgrade would include meats such as capicola and prosciutto rather than just pepperoni. We later learned that none of the upgraded meats were on the hors d'oeuvre table, and only pepperoni was provided to our guests. Again, we did not receive items that we paid extra for.
The food that was served was much different than the food provided during the taste testing. During the taste testing, we chose chicken marsala. Of the tables that actually did receive chicken, only a few plates were served with mushrooms. There were many plates, including plates at the head table, that were served with what appeared as a boiled piece of chicken that lacked mushrooms or any kind of toppings that were given during the taste testing. This resulted in the chicken tasting bland. At the taste testing, we received full slices of roast beef. At our wedding, they served a quartered piece of beef. The tables that didn't receive chicken, were still served the same singular small piece of beef as the plates that did receive chicken. The plates lacking chicken were not even compensated by adding another piece of roast beef.
Furthermore, the food was served cold. The servers Jerry's Catering provided seemed confused and did not appear to know what they were doing. A Lakeside employee told us after our wedding that Jerry's hires "random people off of the street without giving them any instruction" and that the caterer does not even attend the events she caters to oversee her food or servers.
Lastly, there was a guest at the head table with a severe gluten allergy. Prior to the wedding, it was confirmed that this guest would receive 2 slices of beef since he could not eat the chicken marsala. The next day, he told me that he only received one small piece of beef.
I am embarrassed and upset with the situation. During a celebration such as a wedding, food is a large part of it. I paid for items that my guests did not even receive, and I am embarrassed there was not even enough food for my guests. This is especially frustrating because the exact number of guests was given to them much in advance to the wedding date. We have worked very hard for the past 2 years and spent much of time, money, and effort to make my dream wedding come true. As beautiful as the venue is, we are extremely disappointed that we did not receive goods and services that we paid for. read more