Lauren and her team are hands down the most wonderful group of people I have ever met throughout my entire wedding planning process.
First Impressions: My (now) husband and I fi...rst met Lauren after a terrible experience at a hotel venue. We were SET but the staff at that venue were horribly rude and inflexible with any simple request. We were heart broken and back to square one. I decided to scan the Knot for non-hotel options... you know, just to see. Gainey Ranch Golf Club was the third venue we visited and we instantly knew it was for us. We walked up through a gorgeous fountain and pond; and Will & I were greeted with a smile. Lauren was cheerful, upbeat, welcoming and did not seem to mind the probably way too long Q&A. We were in love!
Fast forward a few months & over a year before the wedding: Lauren was more than eager to meet and discuss our linens - even though it was probably way too early to look at anything by typical industry standard timeline... Lauren then sent me the information for her linen girl at BBJ Linens and helped me finalize all the beautiful linen details by surprising me with napkins that matched the bridesmaids' dresses perfectly.
Next, she invited us to a preferred vendor event where we met with and chose our amazing wedding planner, Stylish Events by Lisa Foster. (Spoiler alert: Lauren & Lisa are rockstars together and created my Pinterest vision perfectly!)
Shortly after, we brought our family in for a showing. Lauren & her staff were just as friendly to our parents. She welcomed everyone with the same enthusiasm as she initially greeted Will & I with and was always her bubbly-self.
The middle months were less consumed with in person meetings and involved probably hundreds of emails. We would email Lauren about everything -- switching our wine choices, changing our chicken option, changing our room set up, inquiring about Serbian traditions, where to take our photographs, our photographer issues, who to use for transportation to/from the venue and preferred hotel... dozens of things! Lauren always was quick to respond, efficient in her answers and friendly as can be! Even though you rationally know that she has hundreds of emails pouring in per day by dozens of brides and other event staff, she always made you feel like she spent hours on your response, was perfectly thorough and eager to help.
Working with Lauren was a complete 180 from our original hotel venue -- and for the better!! She was beyond accommodating!
Food & Drinks: I will be honest, I've never had better salmon. The food was phenomenal! Our guests RAVED over the dishes and the drinks. Everything was delicious and everyone was pleased with our event & signature drinks. We were also very happy with the wine selection in the top bar package.
Extras: When you book at Gainey Ranch Golf Club, you are provided a cake with their NEW preferred vendor, Pixy Cakes. Tina at Pixy Cakes was amazing to work with. She went above and beyond for our tasting and allowed us to sample more than usual. Her cake was delicious and everyone raved about it afterwards! She was also a detail master and our modern-themed all white cake looked perfect!
All in all, Lauren and her team made our day perfection. I could not have found a more easy-going woman to work with. She was a detail queen and tolerated my overly type-A excel spreadsheets. If there is ever a need for an event, I will highly consider GRGC again in the future!
Thank you!