I started planning my wedding 2 years ago. The venue was the first area thing I nailed down. The wedding coordinator at the Cardinal Room was Gary Murray. He was very attentive and helped me set up monthly payments. Everything was fine until Oc...tober 2013. I went to make my online payment and the Quickbooks link no longer existed. I tried contacting Gary, but he did not respond. I finally was able to get in contact with someone at the Cardinal room whom informed me that Gary has left the company and took my money with him. I was then told that Gary was not part of their staff and rented the room out under his own company Cardinal Room,LLC. My husband and I went through months of legal torment of who's at fault and if we even still had our date. Boswell Hall would not honor our contract with Gary until we signed an agreement stating we do not hold them responsible for his actions, even if he was representing their company. It was around March of 2014 my wedding was in June 2014 so I had to sign. They honored Gary's contract and charged us for the balance. But would not give us our $500 deposit back that we paid to Gary. In May 2014 I met in person with the facility manager to hand in my final payment and discuss the layout and found out that the Kitchen was not included in the cost of our rental and would be an additional $500. I was furious. My entire menu was based on the fact we would be able to use the kitchen as a warming station and the refrigerator for the cake. I was told that we could use the kitchen to heat the food only.All food must be cooked prior to. It was a month before my wedding and I needed an additional $500! My husband and I paid for our wedding with help from family here and there and we did not have $500. That was already lost with the deposit. We were able to negotiate the price down. Needles to say the it all worked out in the end. The Cardinal Room is a large size room. great for parties 75 or larger. I would suggest putting a backdrop on splash of up-lighting on the stage or around the room. It really pulls everything together and masks the blank walls. The Day of person they had working was very helpful and accommodating. The Cardinal is expensive and I honestly would not have been able to afford the current rental cost if I went through them directly. The renter is responsible for clean up. Venue handles the clean up of the bathrooms, and will set up and breakdown of tables. They even have a cash bar vs open bar option.
My room was set up incorrectly, but not at the fault of the facility which I will review with the company that set the room up. I was happy my guests didn't have a clue of the mix up and enjoyed themselves. Hope this very detailed review helps one of you brides out there.