Emeline

We got married at Emeline in December and everything about our wedding day was absolutely perfect! We got married in the courtyard with the fireplace as the backdrop and were able to have the fireplace on which really added a perfect cozy feel for our December wedding. We had cocktail hour in the greenhouse space while the team from Emeline flipped the courtyard space for dinner. The greenhouse space is stunning without having to add any decoration at all. The hanging plants and chandeliers, as well as the abundance of plants on the sides give it such an elegant feel all on its own. I was also so impressed with how quickly the team was able to flip the courtyard space for dinner. The attention to detail was great even in such a short amount of time and the tablescapes looked exactly, if not better, than I'd planned. The dinner itself, as well as all the other food throughout the evening, was incredible!! All of our guests raved about the food and we were so impressed! It tasted great and the portions were generous, definitely no one went hungry that night. The service was wonderful throughout the night and everything ran so smoothly. I thought it was really nice that, even though we didn't utilize the ballroom spaces for the event, we still had access to them. Our vendors were able to use it as a staging area and we were able to easily store things there. As some other reviews have mentioned, the response time was sometimes a little slow, but as the event got closer and it was actually necessary to get a timely response, the response time was great. I thought Kaitlyn was wonderful to work with and absolutely made sure I had the information I needed by when I needed it. Overall, we were very impressed with the service and value for money at Emeline. In a city like Charleston, all wedding venues are going to be expensive. I think the amount of things that are included at Emeline and the level of service on event day absolutely makes it worth it. The courtyard and greenhouse spaces are so gorgeous on their own that it really makes it easy to save money on flowers and decor as well. We are so happy that we chose to get married at Emeline and are so happy that we can go back to celebrate for years to come.

Recently had an event at Hotel Emeline and my gosh!! The property is gorgeous, the staff was incredible from planning process to the end of our event. Katherine, Cornelious + Whitney all made sure we had the most perfect event! We can’t wait to come back.

Pros 1. Space: Hotel Emeline is a beautiful venue. It was the perfect space to host our small wedding (~55 people) in the fall. The fireplace (that they turned on for the ceremony!), garden/greenery backdrop, the warm string lights and chandeliers made our event so cozy and intimate. Our ceremony was in the Courtyard and the reception was in the Greenhouse. Our cocktail hour was moved to the foyer because it started raining, but it worked out well. 2. Catering: We loved our wedding menu and received many compliments from our guests. Sarah guided us through our wedding tasting, and she was receptive and detail oriented. They listened to and incorporated our feedback on the dishes. The service staff were friendly, professional, and easy to work with. They even packed us leftovers as they saw my husband and I didn’t have a lot of time to enjoy our hors d'oeuvres and dinner. 3. Convenience: We loved that we could have the whole wedding event— ceremony, cocktail hour, reception— in one location so that our guests wouldn’t have to travel. Having the catering on-site was one less thing to worry about. We also didn’t need a lot of extra décor because of the natural beauty of the space. The location is at the heart of downtown Charleston, making it easy for guests to walk if they were staying downtown, use a rideshare, or drive (there are several parking garages nearby as well as metered street parking). Cons 1. Communication/Events: Kaitlyn, the catering manager, was helpful, flexible, and personable. But, communicating with her was a challenge. We understand she’s probably busy with many other events and may be understaffed, but her average email response time was 2–3 weeks, which was frustrating. She also never picked up her phone. Eventually, our planner got involved which made it a little easier for us, but overall, it remained a challenge. Communication is the main reason why our rating is a 3 and not higher. 2. Communication/Venue: In general, it is difficult to reach the people you need to talk to at Emeline. There was an accounting issue we needed to clear up, and I called the accounting department several times, but no one ever answered. We escalated this to Kaitlyn who was able to connect us to the right person, but it was a hassle. 3. Attention to detail: Most of our wedding details on our BEO were correct, but there were small mistakes that we had to correct. I checked in on our hotel reservation for the wedding weekend a few days before and there was a mistake that we had to fix as well. I would recommend taking notes and keeping track of/closely reviewing all decisions, details, etc. Pay close attention to your itemized invoices so you don’t have the wrong things or get overcharged/charged incorrectly. Though Hotel Emeline was challenging to work with at times, we loved our wedding. If we had to do it again, I think we would still choose Emeline. The beauty of the space, the food, and friendliness and professionalism of the staff were highlights!

Hotel Emeline is a beautiful wedding venue. We had our wedding in Feb. 2022. The natural beauty of the outdoor courtyard and greenhouse made the perfect backdrop for our big day. Kaitlin, the events planner, was always willing to answer my questions and work with me and my wedding planner. However, the communication during the planning process wasn't as prompt as I would have typically expected (within 3 business days), and instead often took more than a week to get a response to my emails. Our food and drink tasting was such a great experience. The food was delicious and the table service was wonderful, a true sneak peak of well our wedding day would go. We also got our cake from the Emeline which everyone loved! The staff working on our wedding day were great! Everyone was so nice and very attentive making sure everything went seamlessly. It ended up raining and the bar staff quickly moved inside and resumed serving without issue. Everything related to the ceremony and reception itself went perfectly! We also had a post-wedding from the next morning at the Emeline that went seamlessly. The continental breakfast was delicious and the casual drop in style was well set up. Although the ceremony and reception at the Emeline went extremely well, the overnight says for those attending the wedding over the weekend were disappointing! My parents and some of the other guests had to wait hours past the time they were told their room would be ready. My mother was misinformed by the front desk that we could order breakfast for the girls while we got ready the morning of the wedding. Communication between departments seemed to the the common problem with all the issues that arose during the wedding weekend stay. Overall, the Emeline is a gorgeous venue with amazing food and drinks. The wedding events themselves were amazing but the stay at the hotel for the weekend was not! Therefore, I recommend this of this hotel for the wedding events only (5 Star) and not the overnight accommodations (2 star).

We hosted a fantastic rehearsal dinner and welcome party on May 27th at the Emeline. Kaitlyn and her team were great to work with and everything ran so smoothly even with some unexpected rain. It is such a beautiful venue! The food for the rehearsal dinner was excellent and the welcome party was great. I highly recommend the Emeline.

We had our wedding at Emeline in April of 2022. We could not have been happier with the space and the food and drinks! We held our ceremony in the greenhouse, and cocktail hour and seated dinner in the courtyard. During cocktail hour, the ceremony space in the greenhouse was converted into a dance floor and lounge area. All of the spaces we utilized came with a ton of furniture and greenery, which was all gorgeous and matched our color scheme well. We were so happy to be able to hold our wedding outside because the weather was perfect. Our reception felt magical in the courtyard, especially once the overhead string lights were turned on once it got dark. The attention to detail and communication throughout the entire planning process is what makes this a 3-star review. Every document we were ever provided with by Kaitlyn (from our initial contract when we booked the venue, to our BEO days before the event) contained multiple errors and had to be corrected and sent back to us multiple times. The errors were always subtle, but would have led to missing items or incorrect items added to our event. Kaitlyn was also very slow to respond to emails and we often had to reach out several times in order to get a response. Our planner (not from Emeline) was critical in this process because she would follow-up with more emails and phone calls in order to make sure we got a response to all of our questions. We probably would have moved our wedding to a different venue if not for the help of our planner because of the difficulty in communicating and the multiple errors on all documents. We also had a ton of difficulty when our guests tried booking rooms within our room block. Guests had to call Emeline in order to book in the room block if they were planning to stay for longer than just our wedding weekend. We got a lot of feedback that these guests spoke with multiple people from Emeline who could not help them. Our guests who booked through the online booking link provided by Emeline had no issues if they were booking only for the nights covered by the block. Our wedding overall went very smoothly and we were so happy with how the space looked and how delicious all of the food and drinks were. Emeline let us provide our own recipes for our custom cocktails and they executed them perfectly. The only hiccups on the day of the wedding were that we had to remind the staff to pour champagne for all of our guests during the toasts and the food was a bit slow to come out of the kitchen. This led to us shifting our timeline slightly, but in the end everything was fine. I would recommend Emeline to couples who want to have a beautiful outdoor space for their wedding and incredible food and drinks, but only if they or their planner are very attentive to detail and follow-up to help facilitate all communication leading up to the event.

We were married at the Emeline in February and recommend the venue for weddings big & small. The décor was amazing, the food spectacular. We did not need to bring extensive florals into the space because of the gorgeous greenery, which matched our color scheme perfectly. The location could not be better; everything is walkable so out of-town guests will naturally be entertained. The hotel is pricey, but the vast array of lodging within walking or uber distance means there are options for every budget. The Emeline knew how to be creative with the space and had the infrastructure to support our wedding. The ceremony was held in the courtyard, then we moved everyone to the greenhouse for cocktail hour, during which the entire courtyard was converted into a seated dinner setup. The staff moved with speed and discretion; two curtains between greenhouse/courtyard and in the ballroom hallway meant we did not see any of the conversion process. Seating for 110 people was flawlessly arranged with 7-piece settings, décor, florals and menus within a half hour. Our advice for future couples; stay vigilant during the administrative processes leading up to the wedding. We had the impression the event management is understaffed. Kaitlyn was lovely, accommodating & professional, but was prone to delayed responses & documentation errors that created confusion. After an enchanting, full service tasting, they lost their notes of our food & wine selections – forcing us to speculate on what we did. Overall, our wedding planners helped to mitigate this, but the extra effort must be mentally budgeted for. The Emeline is still a relatively young venue & thus is naturally prone to these types of errors. I would expect them to be ironed out so please do not let that dissuade you from hosting an event there. The Emeline was generous at every opportunity, providing napkins to match our scheme & upgrading our immediate families to suites for no extra charge. It was the best night of our lives (so far), and we can’t thank the Emeline enough.

We had our wedding at Hotel Emeline this Fall. We loved it and had a wonderful time! The venue is beautiful. We got married in the courtyard, had the cocktail hour in the greenhouse and the reception in the Haynes Street Gallery Ballroom. On the day of our wedding everything went smoothly! The service staff and bartenders were very friendly and professional. Kaitlyn, who is in charge of the service staff is professional and kind. The food was delicious. The hotel has almost everything you need, chairs, tables, cutlery, etc. The only reason I am giving 3 stars is because the communication leading up to the wedding was horrible. From the very beginning the event planners were not responsive to our emails or calls. Finally we went down to the venue and ask to talk to them in person. They claimed they never received are emails.. We gave them a pass and decided to sign the contract. We signed about 6 months before our wedding date. The next few months the communication was poor. Kaitlyn H, the lead event planner would take 2 weeks to respond to emails. Finally, about 3 months out our wedding planner started and she really helped to keep the Hotel in line and respond to our emails. Kaitlyn H had to send us the BEO multiple times because she continue to add incorrect items. They hardly gave a discount for a room block, so many of our guests were unable to stay there due to the expensive of the rooms. I thought this was very unfair as they only gave us 10 rooms at a discounted rate which hardly covered our families. Our wedding guest count was around 150. Overall, the food, location/venue and the service staff were the best parts!

We held our Photography Workshop at Frannie & The Fox, and it was an incredible experience for not only us (hosts), but our attendees as well! This restaurant is well appointed and beautiful...and had incredible service staff and chefs creating an amazing meal for us! We even special ordered a dessert not on the menu, and the chefs knocked it out of the park! This experience was truly amazing and we are so thankful to have had our opening welcome dinner at Frannie & The Fox. We will be back again!

I was very happy with our choice of Frannie and the Fox for our Bridesmaids Brunch. Kaitlyn was great to work with, the room, set-up and food were wonderful, and the staff was fabulous at being sure all our guests were happy. Highly recommended

We had our rehearsal dinner at their restaurant Frannie & The Fox. Kaitlyn from their events team was so great to work with and the food was amazing. Their cocktails are fabulous too. The timing between courses wasn’t perfect but they were happy to help us when we let them know, and we would definitely recommend them! The decor is impeccable both indoors and out, plus we absolutely love the hotel for guest accommodations as well. We’ve stayed twice now and it’s probably our favorite hotel in Charleston.