Was a guest at a wedding here recently. The manager of the venue was disrespectful and lacked any sort of class. Men's restroom had no paper towels for the full duration of the event. Addressed it with the manager early on and she said it would be fixed. Was never fixed! The food was terrible and I almost damaged my teeth on a giant bone in the steak served. Addressed it with the manager again and all she could say was, "there do be bones in meat". Told her that if they had a more thorough process that all of this could have been avoided. On top of that another guest found a giant piece of plastic in their mashed potatoes. The managers response was that the potatoes come in a plastic bag and that's why it was found in the food. She took zero responsibility and also had no customer service skills. She could have apologized for the bone in my steak or the plastic bag cutting in the mashed potatoes but she made a choice to be combative rather than show any sort of remorse. @the Olana - the manager on duty during this event was the Latina with short bleach blonde fried hair w split ends. Do yourself a favor and find her replacement asap. I can guarantee you that no guests will ever be satisfied with her read more

Went here for a new years wedding and it was amazing. The grounds are immaculate with an incredible layout. I have to admit driving up here I was underwhelmed and then you turn the corner and see the place ( especially at night ) and are overwhelmed. Food and service was fantastic. Great wedding venue. read more

I fell down uneven steps at a wedding in March 2023. The venue did not even pay my medical bills after countless months in physical therapy and then ultimately surgery for a torn bicep and injured shoulder from that fall . They sent me a cheap box of chocolates! They know they were at fault ! read more

The Olana - That's what I got! - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Hickory Creek, Texas

This venue is absolutely beautiful! We attended a wedding here with the cocktail hour, dinner, and dance all held here. The bride and groom flew off in a helicopter that left from the front lawn of the venue. If we lived in the area we would've definitely picked a place like this for our own special occasion. read more

The Olana - Helicopter the bride and groom used to leave the venue. - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Hickory Creek, Texas

Beautiful venue with attention to every detail! Bowling, basketball, swimming it has everything.

Went for a friend's wedding - my first impression is that this is a "hidden gem" venue. Lots of space and rooms to walk around and mingle in. Every room is something different while still being totally picturesque. I have to call out the greenhouse room specifically - this is a great place to get pictures as a wedding guest! read more

Fabulous wedding venue!! Beautiful and elegant facilities!! It was truly a fantastic experience as a guest. 5 read more

Gorgeous mansion perfect for a wedding venue We really had a great time celebrating my niece's wedding at this dreamy mansion! Lots of space for guests and for taking photos, etc. read more

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Was here as a bridesmaid in support of one of my closest friends from high school's wedding. From high school together in Seoul, South Korea to this Absolutely STUNNING venue!! I'm extremely happy for my friend! Reminds me of the Netflix series Bridgeton! Lol Simply Beautiful! read more

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While the location and the building are beautiful the staff and the logistics are terrible. Be aware that the location of the outside wedding is in the direct path of airport. Anytime during the day your ceremony will be disrupted. The staff is very snotty and self important. The food was a C at best and the venue was incredibly hot and not cool in October! Sound system is the absolute worst. Brides beware! This is honestly the worst venue I have been to this decade! read more

WALTERS COMPLETELY LACKS INTEGRITY AS AN ORGANIZATION. The moment anything doesn't align with maximizing their profits, their façade of "we care about you" disappears. If you're like us, you fell in love with their beautiful venues. We loved it, and decided to do our wedding there. But after signing, my fiancé and I's experience with Walters Wedding Estates, particularly the Olana venue, has been nothing short of them taking advantage of us. In the sales process said if anything came up, insurance would take care of us, and assured there was flexibility. But right after we signed the contract, we found out that half of our family couldn't attend on the scheduled date (and that would be been solved simply by asking our family if they could make the date, but since there was flexibility, we didn't ask). Moreover, the bride's brother was expecting a baby that same weekend, and the groom's grandfather had passed away. When we brought it to them, they did not care. We filed an insurance claim, which was denied--contrary to what the salesperson had promised during the sales process. Later, the wedding coordinator (a different person from the salesperson) told us they've never seen the insurance cover anything, including someone dying of cancer. Instead they said we were locked in on the date. Instead of helping us, they offered to move our date up to August, right in the middle of Texas's 100-degree heat, but refused to postpone it as initially promised. Their reason? Postponing would mean losing potential revenue from future bookings. Walters' upper management hid behind the contract, saying, "Sorry, you signed it, and we can't help you." Their upper management is literally trained to do this, which our wedding coordinator (!) told us. They claimed that changing the date amounted to a cancellation, requiring us to pay over 75% of the contract price (about $30K!), plus repaying the ENTIRE purchase price to rebook ($40K to start for absolute bare bones wedding, turns out it's more like $60K if you don't want a DIY wedding). Had they been upfront about their inflexibility, we could have coordinated with our family before signing anything. Instead, they misled us with false promises and left us trapped. Communication was terrible. They're severely understaffed, and it's nearly impossible to get a response. They only reply on Mondays and Tuesdays; from Wednesday through Sunday, you're out of luck because they're busy with other weddings. By the time they do get back to you, it's often too late to take any meaningful action. It's absolutely shocking the complete lack of care the organization has for their clients after they sign. What's worse, we've learned that many other couples have had similar experiences. One of our cousins also dealt with Walters and ended up having to DIY most of their wedding, despite paying $40K for a supposed "all-inclusive" package. They were also blindsided by hidden costs that inflated their budget far beyond the initial agreement. Walters has also been sued during COVID for withholding deposits after canceling people's weddings (check it out, it's public record). Their "all-inclusive" package is a joke. We thought their $40K package with all we needed, but it was actually going to cost us $60K to not have a bare bones wedding! For example, we received a $750 credit for stationery. We assumed this would cover all our needs--signage, invitations, save-the-dates. In reality, it only covered 150 invitations and nothing else, with each invitations costing $5-$7 each, which was absurd. Had we known the true costs upfront, we would have walked away. After this nightmare, we visited other venues and were shocked by the difference. Other places were transparent, responsive, and genuinely cared about their clients and staff. Walters Wedding Estates and the Olana couldn't be more different. We're now in arbitration, trying to get out of the contract due to the blatant misrepresentations made during the sales process. From the beginning, they assured us of flexibility and coverage through the insurance we purchased. But when it came between integrity and profit, they chose the latter. If you're considering booking with Walters or any of their venues, don't. They've been predatory, unresponsive, and impossible to work with. Save yourself the stress, legal battles, and lack of communication. Choose a venue that actually values its clients. read more

I went to the Olana for a wedding, and it is a beautiful, picture-perfect location for a wedding. There are so many extravagant rooms and locations for photos, and their bridal and groom suites were over the top: a pool in hers and an entire half court basketball court in his?? (Also two lane bowling and billiards, clearly the groom suite was more fun.) We went during covid (the bride promised covid rules), and I found that the staff was mostly respectful of the rules. Some of the staff didn't seem to know how to wear masks (under the nose), but other than that they had plenty of masks and hand sanitizer available in the area. The food was delicious and served in a timely manner, and their cake delivery was expedient which was of most importance I'm not totally sure about having more gigantic events here during covid, but in a normal year this is certainly one of the most gorgeous venues. read more

We filmed a wedding here and it was really easy to navigate around, despite being so large. All of the guests seemed to have an enjoyable time and the married couple seemed to be taken care of quite well. Would love to film here more if anyone is looking! -Oudthone Productions read more

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My dream wedding venue! We were planning to have a destination wedding in Italy and when that did not go as planned due to COVID etc, we chose the Olana. The Olana looks like you are somewhere in Europe not in Texas. It is incredible. All of our guests were amazing just pulling up to the venue. I cannot say as many great things about this venue. I felt like a princess marrying my prince in a castle. Our day was smooth and if things went wrong I did not know a single thing! We were able to use their suggestions with vendors and they were always there to help take off some of the planning stress. Thank you so much to Kayla and the rest of the team for our best day ever! The most beautiful memories we have will be here. Highly recommend it if you are hesitant about booking here the bad reviews are from another management team! read more

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Do Not book this place! I know i get it. Its looks gorgeous from the outside but please dont let it fool you.. its a facade. - after you pay your deposit all communication is completely via email - no one will answer your phone calls. There is a lack of communication everywhere - with vendors with staff with everyone - lack of staff and plates and cutlery; to the point where our guests had to do dishes as there was no more plates or spoons. We were told there was going to be extra plates and utensils however this was not the case - bridal suite bathroom was still under construction! There were razor blades all around!! Unacceptable - trash all around the venue, we even told them a week before however nothing was done - staff was eating the food before it was served. - secruity deposit was not returned. Message me for more details, please do not book this place. Nightmare read more

The Olana is a gorgeous venue, but unfortunately the level of service is less than idea. They are not equipped to handle (nor do they understand) Indian wedding. There were so many things that went wrong during the wedding and reception from there not being enough chairs for lunch (so we had guests move chairs from the ceremony to lunch during the ceremony; dinner plates were brought in wet; lack of spoons (we had to have a guest make a Walmart run during the reception). Additionally, we had two other key issues. Firstly, the bridal suite was under construction and had an open blade on the floor (and exposed ceiling), and we were not told ahead of time. My mom actually hit her eye while showering due to the poor state of the shower, and all the venue said was that the bathroom had not been completed on time. Secondly, they threw away the top tier of the cake, which was supposed to have been saved for the bride and groom to take home. They blamed this on the wedding planner, and the wedding planner blamed it on the venue. Not sure who is at fault, but I also don't know why a venue would throw away an entire tier (after the family had asked them to save the cake) and not even bother calling the family before they throw it away. Finally, The Olana is supposed to be a luxury venue. They charge a rental fee plus a per person catering fee. Unfortunately, only 25% of the per person charge actually went to the caterer, so given how much of the rental fee + catering fee the venue pockets, I would have expected much better service. We are so grateful we had friends running around to make sure the two events went smoothly, but otherwise, we would have had several holes. I hope that management reads this email and makes changes for future weddings, and especially for Indian weddings. read more

I called the venue twice to request pricing for a bridal session (left a message once). My voice message was returned with a text message by two different people one after another. The session fee is $1500 with a $1500 refundable deposit and tax. This venue (Walters venues) can charge $3463.74 for a portrait session but they cannot pay someone to answer the phone. A joke. read more

A five star review is not enough for the people that work here and this amazing venue. This is going to be an essay, but it's worth it for the amazing people at Olana. To Katherine, who made all of our dreams come true and made us feel so comfortable, you are the best wedding planner we could have had. You took care of every single detail and kept us sane during this process. My husband and I felt were so taken care of and we could not be more grateful that we got to work with you. You are amazing and I know you will continue to make all the dreams come true for everyone else. To our photography team, y'all are so talented, we were cheesing ear to ear at the sneak peaks! We loved every minute of the process and y'all delivered our amazing day so perfectly! We could not be happier that we chose y'all as our photography team To our amazing food and bar servers, y'all were such troopers and so much fun! Thank you for taking care of every one of our guests. Our guests were raving about how attentive, kind, and fun y'all were. To our amazing DJ, James, you absolutely delivered the phenomenal vibes. You did more than what was asked of you and took care of us the whole day. Thank you for checking in on us and making the entire bridal party and our families feel like superstars. To our floral team, we are still in disbelief of how magical you made our event look. You met with us with so much understanding and made our dream on a budget come alive. We are so grateful! We will never forget this amazing environment that we got at the Olana. There are not enough words to explain how magical the night felt. We felt like royalty and were treated as such. Thank you times a million for y'all's kindness and graciousness. If anyone wants a wedding reception with the best people helping you, we will be sure to refer them to our friends at Olana. read more

The building is magical. The service, food, management, and everything else I' give one start, poor, unprofessional, unacceptable for the money the charge. We had a table for supposedly eight and there were six chairs, the food was not good, they lost our wedding gifts and when I asked the groom he said that he inquired via email, but he is not getting any response. That really leaves a bad taste. It's not the price of gift, it's the principle of it. read more

Calla was incredibly helpful with the tour and working with us on details and pricing. The venue itself is one of the most amazing properties we have ever seen. We are so excited to get married at the Olana and have had nothing but a positive experience . read more

Had my wedding here end of October and the venue itself is beautiful, but the staff in it is A NIGHTMARE! beware before you book! Especially if dealing with the newly hired GM Jordan. This place is a revolving door - we have dealt with 3 GM in the time of planning - had to re explain everything and now we are dealing with an accounting nightmare. Things were promised, deposits to be returned etc and because the people who promised these things no longer work there they refuse to honor them. They take zero accountability for their disorganization, and unprofessionalism. During the wedding the chef admitted to "forgetting" about the special dietary foods for some of our guests, so all they ate was sides. They did not even tell us about this, the guests told us about it a week after the wedding that they did not get fed! They couldn't even take accountability in the moment and just didn't tell us. Don't be fooled with the beauty of this place as it is not worth the nightmare. I am attaching the email from the GM where they have approved to refund us our deposit and now the accountant, Jesse H, is refusing to provide it to us and takes weeks to even respond to emails and they do not have phone numbers to call! Jordan let's all calls roll to her voicemail and is extremely hard to get a hold of. I also left voicemail for GM boss, Daniel, and I also never got a return call to Discuss all the misleading information we received. BEWARE read more

The Olana - Email from the current GM to us approving the full deposit being returned. Apparently it doesn't hold ANY WEIGHT - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Hickory Creek, Texas

I went here for a wedding, it is quite the venue in the middle of nowhere, very reminiscent of a celebrity mansion but converted into an event venue. Lots of great rooms for different events and then a nice courtyard in rear. It also seems really great for wedding parties to hang out, as there is a fully functional bowling alley and basketball court read more

STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE! I would not book this place for your wedding. They have horrible communication. A total nightmare for a bride to plan anything with this venue with lack of communication. It may look beautiful and elegant on the outside, but management of this venue is horrible. We also wanted to do a private tasting, but they don't really do that. Their explanation was because of their reputation. Their reputation is so good, they don't need to do tastings. Well turns out their food is actually very bland and dry. NOT WORTH IT! read more

The venue itself is a spectacular venue! Definitely breathtaking! The manager Kayla was awful. I hired a full time wedding planner. So please explain to me why she is emailing numerous times about details of the wedding that she must know weeks before the wedding. Clearly I am not going to be using her as my day of planner. Meanwhile she has met and has known of my full time wedding planner that she can ask all those questions versus stressing myself the groom out. She was not accommodating whatsoever, and we felt as if we were just a number. She truly is awful!,,Also I do not know how you would be able to throw a party here if you didn't have a wedding planner that is separate with his own team. We had rented different plate settings from an outside vendor, so when it came to set these out the staff that the Olana provided stated " they don't place outside vendor items." So if I didn't have a wedding team I myself would have had to set these out. Also the tasting fee, if not on the group once of month, is not provided in the 19k fee. To hold a separate private tasting it would cost 900.00 for. 4 entrees, 2 appetizers, and 2 passing food items. This does not get credited back to you. My wedding planner is does celebrity weddings has never seen this in his career. We weren't able to make the monthly tasting since we lived in Washington State. Also to even get ready at the venue it's an extra cost. The staff that they provided were absolutely awful. They were slow and it was not enough staff to do a sit down dinner and open bar for 140 people. We saw one of the bar staff scooping ice with a glass cup, and they were not nice. The venue itself states they can seat 300, let me tell you with 140 it was cramped!! read more

The Olana - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Hickory Creek, Texas

I wish to thank everyone who is employed at The Olana for their thoughtful consideration, efforts & hard work in making my daughter's special day magical. I own a bridal boutique in Central Texas & am in the bridal industry so it takes a LOT to impress us as we are surrounded by gorgeous venues, gifted & talented wedding vendors, professional caterers & organized planners. I am also a interior designer & have a passion for European architecture & design. My daughter, Kimberlyn, dreamt of getting married in the Colorado mountains but decided to stay in state. She researched & found The Olana & fell in love. She requested that I take a tour of the venue since I live only 35 minutes away. I toured the grand mansion on December 5, 2019. From the moment the property came into sight, my breath was taken away. The closer I neared the venue, the more I knew this was the one...the venue for my princess to marry her prince charming. As I said before, I am critcal & am extremely observant. The formal lawns & grounds were & are well kept and immaculate. The Walters Wedding Estates were very thoughtful in their planning espcially in placing the guests parking away from the property to not impede or take away from one capturing breathtaking photos of the property or a wedding. The birds were singing & my heart raced from excitement as I neared the grand front door. I was quickly greeted at the door by Andrew who was extremely polite, courteous & professional. He answered all my questions with confidence & eager enthusiasm & was very thorough with the contract terms & expectations. He was splendid. It is evident that he is passionate about his career & in his loves his job. He displayed much care & consideration when I communicated my daughter's desires for her wedding day. During my tour, I felt as if I was experiencing Deja Vu. It almost felt as if I had walked this grand mansion before. It was only until I arrived at the grand theater that I realized why I was experiencing it. I am a collector of antiquities & also have a wall of books from several of my favorite interior designers. I realized the rooms I had walked were several of the rooms I had tagged the pages on one of my favorite designers, Betty Lou Phillips. I had dreamt of recreating parts of this grand mansion in my own home. This made this venue extra special. I immediately called my daughter and told her she & her fiance had to visit the venue & secure their date asap! My daughter & fiance wished to was so hard to keep the venue a secret till the invites were sent out! It was the hardest thing to do! A week later, they both toured it & were enraptured at the grandness of The Olana & said "Yes" to the venue. Kimberlyn & Jason picked their special day to be June 4, 2020. We of course, like so many others, did not plan for a world pandemic to arise. Covid & the mandated closures wreaked havoc in our daily lives as well as our business. Though the venue was closed throughout the mandated closure time, the staff maintained timely correspondence with us. They were efficient and were calming during the whole process. They returned our calls, emails and texts in a timely manner. They assured us that we had options if we weren't able to have the wedding on June 4th due to Covid. The staff is amazing. Melissa, Carlos, Andrew & Alex made everything so easy from the planning stages, the contract entailments, the details of the wedding and the execution in creating a seamless fairytale wedding day. They displayed care & attention to us throughout the entire process from the first tour to the wedding day. EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT, because the staff work together as a team & pride themselves in executing the smallest detail. The staff from groundskeepers, to maintenance, to housekeeping, to catering staff, to administration are all mutual in their desire to make The Olana perfect for fairytales to happen. The wedding was a success because these individuals care about their brides, grooms & guests & are passionate about maintaining this gorgeous property & reputation. Thank you all! read more

The Olana - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Hickory Creek, Texas

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WOW, talk about Crazy Rich Asians status! Came here for a wedding and we were blown away as we entered the gate. This place is beyond gorgeous!! A tad gaudy, but still breath-taking. We got the opportunity to go downstairs where the bridal party got ready and they had their own bowling alley (2 lanes), pool table, basketball court, and bar!! Lucky for the weather Gods, we had bright sunshine so the ceremony was held outdoors in the back. The only meh thing about this place was the reception dining room. The back half of the room couldn't see anything happening on the dancefloor half due to the large pillars separating the room. Oh! Going back to the mansion, it also had 2 bars inside, one of them being in this amazing library I wouldn't mind spending a day in! I don't even want to know the price it cost to book this venue, but let's just say the place made their special day that much more memorable. read more

I've heard a lot about The Olana and I finally got to attend a wedding here on August 9th. This place is amazing!!!! The grounds are well maintained, and the estate itself is so beautiful; historic but with modern amenities. The staircase with the rotunda is breathtaking, and the lighting in the dining area was excellent. The food was delicious, served warm, and the drinks were top shelf. The entire staff was attentive and friendly. Melissa Morante was especially helpful and went above and beyond. Bonus: the wedding party can bowl or shoot pool! This place really does have it all, definitely lives up its reputation :) read more

Had my wedding here a couple days ago. Honestly the only good thing I have to say about the Olana is that it is a beautiful place. (Before all the construction began at least). If I was to start from the beginning of the day, we had to ask multiple times for the staff to bring in all the drinks we wanted in our bridal suite. No towels provided in any of the suites, groomsmen were getting absolutely scorched downstairs because the AC wasn't working the whole day. The area by the pool was very dirty, food in the corners of the room, hair, dust etc. basically just swept to the edges. Moving on, our wedding coordinator wasn't even there for the day, and got replaced with someone who didn't even know what we wanted and we had to tell them how many tables we needed etc. If we didn't hire a wedding coordinator outside of the Walters wedding, we wouldn't know what to do. When I was taking pictures and guests were supposed to be seated upstairs for the ceremony, there was only my personal coordinator who was directing everyone upstairs and no one else. There was no one for our rehearsal to tell us what to do, we had to do it all ourselves. Moving onto the reception... all food was thrown on one small plate, sides and veggies were saggy from the meats. Everyone had empty plates in front of them for longer than they should have after we were done eating. Some people didn't have all their silverware and had to go and ask for some. Most people didn't even get a piece of cake because they just put it on a small table that no one could see, so I myself started bringing it out to people. Desert bar was empty most of the time because there wasn't enough staff to refill it when it got empty. A glass broke in the middle of the dance floor and after asking multiple times for someone to come clean it, people started picking it up and wiping with their napkins. Very embarrassing. read more

The place is gorgeous and the staff were amazing. So tentative to all my guest needs. I was blown away with their hospitality! Melissa was everything to my wedding! Thanks to your entire team! Without you I would have been lost! read more

I was a guest at a recent wedding and OMG!! This place is beyond gorgeous! But more than just the obvious beauty the Olana has, I was actually super impressed by food, staff and experience! I got a chance to chat with Melissa, the manager, as I'm already dreaming of having my own wedding here one day, and she was the nicest and most helpful. I saw how attentive and on it she was to help make it the best day for the bride and groom. Absolutely looking forward to working with her and the Olana staff at this beautiful mansion one day! read more

The Olana is absolutely stunning! It is a one of a kind venue that can't compete aesthetically with any other the venue.