DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Utica

were made to the building. However, from the very start, the management team and wedding coordination was definitely below average. There were many miscommunications with the food and beverage manager Rose due to the fact that she is not on site most of the time and she's located out of Rochester. For example, we were told when we toured the ballroom that 225 people were the max capacity. After we had decided to choose the venue, they told us the max capacity was 225 without a dance floor in the room. After choosing the venue, my husband, myself and our parents coordinated a time to do our tasting for our dinner menu and when we arrived at the restaurant the wedding coordinator never showed up and when I texted him he said that he made a mistake and had the wrong weekend! So one of the bartenders Rob was nice enough to work with the kitchen and let us try a few dishes. Once again, this was really poor communication on the management/coordination side of things! We had a decent sized wedding with approximately 180 guests. We decided to do a plated menu as the wedding coordinator had mentioned it would be faster with a wedding our size. When it came to the day of our wedding reception, we planned on having dinner served between 6:30 - 7 PM while toast were being wrapped up. However, dinner did not get served to my husband and I until 7:30-7:45. The final tables did not get served until 8:30 PM. So some of my guests were still finishing their dinner at 9 PM at night! Mind you my reception planned on running until 10 PM. I also don't want to forget to mention that the venue forgot to serve the bride and groom champagne for the toasts! The venue was definitely short staffed as they only had four people serving the food for 180 guests. This huge lag in time for dinner pushed back everything! We still had to do our father/daughter dance, mother/son dance, cake cutting and bouquet/garter. Also, this caused us to have very little time for dancing. The one accommodation they did make was they allowed us to extend the reception an extra hour and a half. Which we really had to fight for! Overall, the venue is a beautiful place to have your reception. However, I had to share my experience with the overall management team, wedding coordinator and service, as there is much room for improvement.

ft-spoken, hesitant & did not show confidence at all. During our tour, we explicitly ruled out the Saranac Room. It was outdated & we could not visualize a ceremony in that space. We told her we liked the grand ballroom, because the other two locations were public. T told us she would email us the availability. She gave us her business card. She wrote a different phone # on the back of the card, saying that she does not use the number on her business card. Several days go by & I have not heard from T as promised. I gave her a call on Sunday & explained how we have been waiting.. T said "well let me just see if your dates available. " It is! She pencils us in for our date/time in the grand ballroom, also giving us a different (cheaper) price than what was discussed during the tour? She lists our date that we told her during the tour. She told me to come in that Thursday or Friday (don't remember) and drop the check off. She asked me to text her my email address which I did. She now has my name, email & phone #. All the info she should need to make contact with me. On Tuesday, I realize I am missing the contact! I took out her business card & sent her an email requesting this. No response. Day of our meeting arrives & I go in Hotel Utica the same time as last weeks meeting was, 7pm. She wasn't there & had already headed home for the day. One of the bartenders calls T at home on her cellphone and gave me the phone so I could talk with her. I did not ask her to do this but hey I'll take it! . I told T I was here with the check waiting to commit to Hotel Utica for our ceremony as discussed several days ago. I informed her that I emailed her requesting a contact, to which she replied, and I quote: "Oh, I don't use that email. " WOW! So none of the information she provided me on her business card was correct. She told me "well, I talked with my manager who may not want to book you in the grand ballroom because we may want to have a full wedding in that room that day. " Also claimed November is "wedding season."I reminded T that she had penciled me in for this spot & said nothing of this the past 1-2 weeks about changing this. She apparently had this conversation with her boss that did NOT result in her calling me to inform me of their decision. Instead, I go down to Hotel Utica ready to commit to a wedding ceremony/blocking hotel rooms & this disaster is slowly unfolding. To put the cherry on top, she says "we were thinking of putting you in the Saranac Room. " I reminded her of our conversation during the tour which involved us explicitly stating we were not interested in the Saranac Room. The grand ballroom was more, we understood that, and were prepared to pay more for this. Hearing my frustrations and STILL requesting to see a contract, T says "okay, let me go talk to my boss and I'll get back to you. " (meaning about the contract and their decision about the rooms). I said okay and the call ended. IT HAS BEEN 53 DAYS NOW. No contract. No phone call. I have purposely been checking my spam email as well. Nothing. I have only spoken respectfully with T and have been nothing but professional with her. I was neither rude nor unreasonable. I would highly suggest that all newly engaged couples look elsewhere for their wedding ceremony, reception, and hotel rooms.

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wered understood how to work the computer system to book a room in the reserved block. It took a few calls back and forth to get things settled.

d this venue to anyone looking for a glamorous wedding venue without the wallet busting price

We heard time and time again what a great venue it was and how excellent the food was. Dave's staff was fast and efficient and very attentive. Everything was absolutely perfect! It was the middle of July and it did get warm, so be thoughtful of the time of year you're booking.

ave our ceremony in the lobby, and dinner and reception on the mezzanine and in the adjoining banquet room. We were not told until two days before the wedding that there was no air conditioning - there was no time to re-seat the entire guest list, and re-print all of the programs. The air conditioning was not simply "not working well", it has NEVER worked, and some of the registers don't even have units installed inside of them. We feel this fact was deliberately withheld from us, as we would not have selected the venue for the reception had we known it. It was over 90 on our wedding day, and the mezzanine was so hot that some of our guests left before dinner. Though the planning process generally went well, or seemed to, the staff did not listen to our directions pertaining to setup or seating and numerous errors were made. The Saranac Room, which we filled to 3/4 capacity, had inadequate air conditioning as well, and halfway through the night the heat was a problem. Staff members made inappropriate comments to our guests about our seating arrangements and our choice of rooms in the hotel. If your wedding is going to be in the summer, or any month where hot weather is a possibility, don't plan to use the lobby, mezzanine area or Saranac Room. There is a very large conference room on the second floor that we did not choose to use, that perhaps has proper climate control, but I don't know and unfortunately you can not trust the answer if you ask. Sadly, though the hotel is a true landmark and is breathtakingly lovely, we don't just not recommend it, we recommend against it.

is was perfect. The hotel reminded us of 1920's Hollywood. There was a lot of history to the hotel - Dizzy Gilespie had played there Judy Garland performed there... We got to make our 'entrance' in through the main doors of the hotel while our guests watched from the mezzanine level. It was a very beautiful venue.;We didn't have much confidence in the event coordinator/catering manager at the hotel. We kept every single email were sure to get everything in writing and hired a day-of coordinator to be our advocate. She was worth every penny.