I want to start by saying that the venue itself is absolutely beautiful, and the food was…read moreincredible! We received so many compliments from our guests, and there are definitely a lot of positives worth mentioning.
Throughout most of the wedding planning process, the staff was extremely helpful, accommodating, and kind. We genuinely appreciated how willing they were to work with us, and for the majority of our experience, we had nothing but positive things to say. Unfortunately, something seemed to change in the last week or two leading up to our wedding, and our experience the day after was especially disappointing.
We had a wedding of approximately 400 guests, so naturally, there was a lot of setup involved. Our florist needed access to the hall at noon to ensure everything could be completed on time. We were told we could pay an additional $2,000 to "reserve" the hall for the entire day in case they happened to book a funeral luncheon.
We felt that was a little unreasonable, especially considering the size of our wedding and the fact that we were simply asking for our florist to begin setting up on one side of the hall if another event was taking place.
They did end up having a funeral luncheon, but it only required one room. When we asked again if our florist could come in at noon, we were told they weren't sure if staff would be available at that time. Which left us wondering, had we paid the additional $2,000, would staff suddenly have been available? Ultimately, our florist wasn't allowed in until 2 PM, leaving significantly less time to prepare for a 400-person wedding.
What was even more frustrating was what happened the following day.
Someone helping us went back to pick up our seating chart and an easel. While there, staff made him wait approximately 30 minutes and then insisted he take two floral arrangements that he specifically questioned because he didn't believe they belonged to us. Despite expressing that concern, he was still told to take them.
Later, we received a call asking us to return those same arrangements because they actually belonged to someone else and were needed for an event that day at 5 PM.
Mistakes happen, and we completely understand that! We weren't trying to make a big deal out of it, so we took time out of our day the day after our wedding to bring the arrangements back, even though the mistake wasn't ours.
When we arrived, no one from the staff came outside to help carry them in, so my husband had to bring them inside himself. To make matters worse, the owner of the arrangements happened to be there and began yelling at us for touching her flowers, despite the fact that we were only returning items the venue's own staff had incorrectly given us.
It was an incredibly uncomfortable and unnecessary situation that could have been avoided entirely.
I want to emphasize that I'm not sharing these experiences to take away from how beautiful our wedding was or the many things this venue did right. Our guests had a wonderful time, the food was fantastic, and the space itself was everything we could have hoped for.
I'm sharing the negative parts of our experience primarily in hopes that management sees this feedback and takes it as an opportunity to reevaluate some of their processes. I genuinely believe that with better communication, coordination, and accountability, situations like these could be avoided for future couples.
I understand that venues host multiple events, things get hectic, and mistakes are bound to happen. But when they do, I think it's important to take ownership of them rather than putting the inconvenience and responsibility on the couple and their families.
It's unfortunate because the experience leading up to those final weeks was genuinely so positive. I just wish the level of care and accommodation we received throughout most of the planning process had carried through to the very end.
Overall, it's a beautiful venue with wonderful food and a lot of potential. My hope is that this feedback is received in the constructive spirit it's intended, because I really would love to see future couples have a seamless experience from beginning to end.