I am very happy with the way my wedding day went. The venue is absolutely gorgeous and the day ran smoothly thanks to Val. But the months up to the event were very frustrating. I m...et with one girl, fell in love with the site so I put down my deposit. We went to our tasting and the food was awful. I would never serve that food to guests at my home so I was very concerned to serve it to loved ones at my wedding. I has to set up another tasting because my concern was so great that I wasn't sure what I was going to do. The private tasting was very good,so I was happy, but still concerned that the chef wouldn't bring his A game. Cooking for 3 people is way different than cooking for 140 people.
After the tasting we set up an appointment with our coordinator to go over floor plan, menu, linens, etc. This was about 4 months out I believe. I am very organized, timelines, floor plans to scale, all contact info in spreadsheets, so I didn't need much assistance from Martinelli, I just needed them to approve that what I wanted was ok. My mother and I go to the meeting and our coordinator isn't there. Apparently, she had stopped working there. For about 2 months. Needless to say I was a little upset that no one had called or emailed to let me know. I don't live in Livermore so going out there isn't all that convenient. However, another coordinator met with us and took care of the appointment. From there on out it went pretty well, except for the fact that they did not tell us who our coordinator was going to be until about 3 days before the wedding. Val ended up being our coordinator and we met at the rehearsal the night before the wedding. She was very accommodating, and on the day of the wedding she made sure that everything went smoothly.
I heard that the food was great, but my bridesmaids were making me eat all day, so when dinner came I wasn't even hungry but my guests were happy.
My overall thoughts are that it matters what happens on that day, and Val was great. Martinelli is a great venue, but they don't really have the planning down. Execution is there, but only if you ride them. If you love the venue, I say book it! It is a good value, but you need to be organized, on top of your appointments, and ask lots of questions and don't let up until you have your answers or they may never get done, people may not show up, or your coordinator may no longer work there by the time your wedding comes around. But that is true for all wedding sites, not just Martinelli. It's a hard, tiring job, but it is your wedding day, and your site should respect this and let you know of any managerial changes along the way.
Overall, all my guest said it was great, I'm married, and that was the point of the whole thing anyway