Descanso Gardens

-term wedding coordination service and they'll absorb the day-of fee). Deanna, coordinator we hired, was terrible. We didn't even have ceremony musicians booked until 3 WEEKS BEFORE THE WEDDING! This was after MONTHS of us pleading with her to recommend/contact musicians. She didn't provide a payment schedule (the one thing we'd requested and ensured would be included in her services prior to signing an agreement), and she was totally out-of-the-loop in terms of what was going on with our vendors (we were unable to do a final in-person consultation w/our florist before the wedding, where we'd have been able to actually SEE samples of the centerpieces, etc, because Deanna didn't have it on her radar at all whatsoever. I had to do it by phone at the last minute, and of course, Deanna wasn't even available to participate. I was 100% on my own w/the vendor management). We also expressed concern over the bar getting too crowded, w/a long wait time during cocktail hour. We ordered 90 glasses of champagne and wine to be passed on trays to our guests immediately upon entering the rose garden after the ceremony. We asked for this additional service anticipating that 120 guests with 2 bartenders would immediately create a long line at the garden reception. Our worst fears were realized when a huge line formed at the bar and no servers were serving wine and champagne to our guests when they entered the fountain area. There was NO WINE, NO CHAMPAGNE, NO PASSED TRAYS. My mom went looking for Deanna, and found her chit-chatting with Leticia, the head of catering, and asked why the champagne we'd PAID FOR was not being served. Deanna and Leticia both gave her attitude and said "the servers are busy w/the food service-what do you expect?!" She had to argue with them and say, obviously, we expected passed trays of champagne, as we'd PAID AND ARRANGED FOR. Shortly after this confrontation, a few servers with trays of maybe 10 drinks began circulating among the crowd. Why was this even offered as an option in the catering package if it wasn't feasible? Leticia (head of catering) was also severely un-responsive throughout the planning process; we'd hoped to upgrade the wine (and spend more $$!), and she'd promised to set up a tasting so we could decide on our selection, but our multiple attempts to reach her via phone and email to schedule it went unasnwered. Then, to add insult to injury, after we'd contacted her numerous times in February about both setting up a tasting and inquiring about an updated quote once we'd finalized menu selection, the payment schedule, etc, never to recieve a response. Out of NOWHERE, on JUNE 21, we received an email from Leticia saying we needed to pay $15,000 "ASAP." Again, this without ever providing an updated quote or payment schedule as requested several times. We even recieved a "request for final payment" a week after our wedding, in spite of the fact that we had already paid in full-with both Leticia and Deanna copied on payment and receipts! And again, this occurred in spite of the fact that we'd hired the COORDINATOR WHO WORKS FOR DESCANSO, AND KNOWS/WORKS DIRECTLY WITH LETICIA ON A ROUTINE BASIS! How does stuff like this fall through the cracks?

view, great food along with professional service… look no further, the DG is the place. We highly recommend the venue and their staff. Eric Morales Extreme DJ Service

me person I had challenges with, Hailey. When I initially reached out to Descanso Gardens about packages, scheduling a tour, everything was great, everything as smooth. After we toured the venue, it went downhill. My fiance and I wanted to do our ceremony at their beautiful Oak Grove, but our reception elsewhere. We were ready to sign a contract. We had been in contact with Hailey and she informed us that she could not book anything without a catering component, and advised that we could host cocktail hour since there would be no reception. That was fine by us, so we asked for the Food and Beverage minimum and she advised us to reach out to Patina catering. I reached out to Patina and they responded that "We are working on new wedding packages, menus and food & beverage minimum. I certainly do not want to confuse you and would appreciate if we could hold until the end of September to give you the right information." It was August 30th and I'm being told I need to wait an entire month before I could get this information? I think we all know how precious 1 month of time is when it comes to trying to plan and book wedding stuff. Anyway, I reached out to Hailey and informed her of the response I received from Patina and she never responded. Also, I had asked for availability for August-October and she replied with July and August dates, which did not answer my question. After the non-response and runaround, I told my fiance to deal with it, so he called Hailey and left a message. Nothing. I remembered I had received an email from another coordinator there, Joan, before she connected me with Hailey, so we called her and she answered! Joan advised us there was no requirement to do cocktail hour, and was also able to give us availability for the months we were looking for. Although it's a beautiful and affordable venue, there are many other options. There were a few times, I had to initiate and follow up because I didn't get the answers to my questions. The confusion with the food and beverage requirements, the lack of response - these were enough to deter me from booking this venue.

Japanese Tea Garden, and the reception was in Van de Kamp Hall. Everything was so beautiful and the events ran very smoothly. The food was delicious (done by Patina Catering, which is fabulous, Leticia is AMAZING), and I keep getting compliments on how tasty everything was. I was supposed to have two day-of coordinators, but one called in sick, so I didn’t have to pay for the extra one. I heard from some guests that the coordinator who was there was a little abrupt and even yelled at some people, but she was really nice to me and made sure everything ran smoothly. I was my own wedding planner, so I was very glad to have someone to make sure the timeline went smoothly, because I couldn’t check on everything as it was happening. The negative event that happened during the wedding was that someone who worked for Descanso Gardens unlocked the gate by the bridal room and let in someone who stole my wallet as well as the wallet of two of my bridesmaids. I found out at the end of the night, around 9:45. So after a wonderful wedding day, I found out that my wallet was stolen, and I had to cancel my credit cards, and fill out a police report until 11:30. Descanso Gardens swears no theft has ever happened before during a wedding, which was pretty obvious because they had no protocol for dealing with the situation. The coordinator was hysterical, and just kept saying she was probably going to be fired. Thank goodness I didn’t have to fly away to my honeymoon, because I never would have been able to fly without my ID! My husband and I went back to Descanso the next day to check the lost and found and see if the wallets were found in trash cans or in bushes on the premises. No manager was on site to speak to me and I was told that they would call or email when they could. I don’t live in the area, so all my correspondence was via email or phone call, and I had been communicating with Hailey Horne, the Special Events Assistant Manager. Hailey never contacted me again after the wedding and handed the situation off to a different manager. My phone calls were dodged and I got very few emails, all stating that Descanso was extremely embarrassed but not at all remorseful or taking any responsibility. They refused to file an insurance claim, stating it “wouldn’t be worth it for them”. According to the contract I signed with Descanso, my husband and I are liable for all lost items “unless such accident or injury results from the negligence or willful misconduct of employees or agents of Descanso Gardens Guild, Inc.” According to both the police report and the day-of coordinator, all gates were locked and only employees had keys to open the gates to the property. Since the gate was unlocked and opened, this would imply either negligence (someone forgot to lock the gate again), or direct responsibility for the thefts. They refuse to take any responsibility and no longer respond to my emails. I am not concerned with getting the money back, I just want to make sure this never happens to anyone else! They didn’t seem to appreciate our service at all and just wanted to brush it under the rug. I just want to warn future couples so that this never happens again.

2PERCENT besides tax. They call it the "administration fee" and what I call misc. So, you will pay around 4K on just this fee alone. Other places DO NOT charge this fee. When you are looking for a venue ask what other misc fees are associated with the venue or catering restrictions and their misc fees =). 2. They are very strict with vendors. You will most likely find less expensive vendors than the ones they recommend. 3. Not too responsive with emails. 4. You have to hire their day of coordinator. $600 5. Overall, they can be a bit too strict but it is a nice place for an outdoor wedding. Or you can go to the Santa Barbara like we did.

a dream.

thing but compliments from our guests and I could not have been happier with the results. Added to all of this the team of vendors that work with Descanso is also top notch. If you want a hassel free event this is the place to choose.

them to travel too far. The one dislike I had with this venue was they did not tell us the wedding coordinator until the week of the wedding when I would have liked to have known at least a month prior. I think due to this there was a little confusion on the day of the wedding, but overall everything went fine.

ng at Descanso is that if you have an evening wedding, you are not allowed into the venue to set up until 3pm, however, they are very seasoned professionals and get everything ready in time for your ceremony1

so nice and gave us many suggestions that made our even even better. She worked closely with my wedding coordinator and the ceremony was perfect. Although we were running an hour behind schedule, our coordinators worked it out and made everything come out beautiful.