Had my wedding here recently.
What I loved:
The venue itself. Gorgeous space, very versatile. The draping, lighting and sound were great and ran smoothly. The event staff on the night of were great, and the flipping of the room was executed in a speedy fashion. The staff were professional for the most part.
There was a lot of turnover with venue staff initially while we were planning our wedding, but in the end, for the most part, Stacey was very reachable by email and dealt with our concerns in a timely manner.
We used Zuchter Berk kosher catering who is also the owner of YMG. We liked the fact that all the tables, beautiful chiviari chairs, draping, and dishware were included in the price.
The food: We had the beef short rib as our main which was well worth the money. The dessert (chocolate torte and warm apple crisp) were also fantastic. Our guests ravved about the main course. We didn't get much of a chance to try the h'ors dourves but heard they were good. We weren't too impressed with the passed desserts which we opted to do instead of a full sweet table...we had requested specific passed dessert items which were specified on our contract, and they ended up serving something completely different which we were upset with. If you have a choice between soup and salad for first course, I would say definitely go with salad. The soup was served cold, and the portion was small (although salad apparently is $6 extra per person instead of soup, which we thought was a huge rip off, so make sure you negotiate this upfront).
What I didn't like:
They didn't have a locked card/cheque box which some other venues have. Two of our cards went missing and when we returned to the venue the next morning, we found an opened envelope with our names on it, with no card or cheque inside. After tracing who the card came from, we found out their was cash in there, so it was stolen by someone because that particular envelope was given to us later in the night and we left it on the head table rather than locking it in the bridal suite. This was partly our fault, but nonetheless it did not feel good the morning after the wedding knowing we had been stolen from.
Making any changes whatsoever to our contract was like pulling teeth with YMG/Zuchter Berk. It was a very frustrating process at times, and we felt like there was ZERO CUSTOMER SERVICE. Everything had a price tag attached to it. When we chose to have our wedding at the venue, we were promised a great deal and reasonable prices. We went on the word of one of the owners when he said "don't worry, you'll decide on the specifics later when you do your tasting". Along the way, when inquiring about different menu options (we were debating between chicken and beef, and were initially going to do a combo plate) we got differing information from different people we spoke with. One person said it would be $16 to upgrade to beef, another said $8. It seemed they were making prices up as they went along. We were even asked to provide written proof of a conversation we had with their old event planner who told us coat check was included, which we were definitely told, albeit verbally, that it would be.
So the bottom line is it is a great venue, and if you are having a kosher wedding in Toronto, it is price comparable to most synagogues and you get a much nicer space. It is one of the hottest venues in Toronto right now.
But, as a word of warning, if you have your event here, BE SURE TO HAVE EVERYTHING IN WRITING. Question everything on your contract at the get go, and make sure you have all of your questions answered in email or specifically stated on the contract in advance before you get in too deep. read more