Graduate Athens

to the event. At the last minute, we found out the weather was going to be unseasonably chilly, and our contact Macy made every effort to make sure the whole thing went perfectly. The event space is unique and amazing, and the rooms are PERFECT. We cannot imagine getting married anywhere else and highly recommend this venue to everyone who asks!

into the space early on friday for set up and clean up was so easy. They also had most things we need, such as table and chairs, so that made coordination extremely easy. The Athena suite was also a very cool spot for getting ready and hanging out after the wedding. I would definitely recommend this event space to all my Athens friends!

n one place. The rooms are great. Very clean and the decorations are personal to Athens which we love. The wedding party stayed at the Hoyt House which was very spacious. The upstairs has a great room that is very masculine for the groomsmen to get ready and hang out in, with a poker table and two large TVs. It was great for pictures. The downstairs has a great room for the bride to get ready. The ballroom and Foundry were great to accommodate a large wedding (250 people). The food was delicious and displayed beautifully. We also had the rehearsal dinner at the Pavilion, and it was fabulous. Everything was great from the food to the set up. The wait staff was very attentive and accommodating. Overall, I think the Foundry/Graduate is a great venue. It is a beautiful setting to get married and a great venue for a rocking reception. It is convenient to have everything in one place and so close to downtown Athens.

ery accommodating. I do wish there was a go-to person on the day of our event. We had a few issues pop-up (i.e. wrong table linens, food came out too early) & I didn't get to speak with someone. Overall, I'm so glad we celebrated our day at The Graduate. It was a wonderful event & I'm so thankful. * photo credit June Bird Photography

ent space coordinator. Lauren made our lives very easy through the process. She also has a wonderful list of vendors to share which truly made my life so much easier because they were already familiar with the space.

ate, but loved the location, so decided to book anyway. Bad idea!!! I felt like I had more of a "hold" on things than our main point of contact at the Graduate, Ashley and John, did. We would go weeks without hearing from them. Come a week before the wedding, I was still trying to pin down details of the reception with John - things that should have been decided months before. We would make decisions during meetings and then 2 weeks later at our next meeting, he would ask me the same questions, so clearly he wasn't writing things down and filing them away. The worst part of it all was the weekend of the event: (1) John was out of town that weekend, so I had an "on-site point of contact". However, I was never introduced to the contact, never given a phone number or email address of this contact. So, when 50 things went wrong during the reception, I had no way of getting in touch with my "on-site point of contact". (2) While my aunts were setting up for the reception 4 hours prior to the event, it was 80 degrees in the room (in June!). They asked several staff about lowering the a/c, but none of the staff knew who to get in touch with about turning down the air. Come time of the reception at 6:30, it was 78 degrees and remained 78 degrees for the entire reception. (3) We were promised that a bus would take the entire bridal party (17 people) from the graduate to the church for ceremony and back. When the bus came to pick us up, it only fit 10. Therefore, bus had to make two trips both times which cut into our picture taking time, etc. (4) The bartender was SO rude!!! I had several people ask me where I had found him. My husband's father asked him if he had any water and the bartender replied "Do I look like I have any water?" Unbelievable. It pissed me off to have to PAY someone to be rude to me and my guests. (5) The Graduate had like 5 other weddings going on at the same time as ours, which would have been fine, except nobody was there directing guests, there were no signs, nothing. We had several people come in and out of my reception asking if they were in the right place...they weren't. (6) There were several mistakes with the food and the beer and wine were hot. Not room temp - HOT. (7) After my experience, I emailed the general manager at the Graduate, just to make him aware of the situation in case he wasn't already; I never got a response from him...which doesn't surprise me. That probably has a lot to do with why their service is as poor as it is.

he food was also wonderful. Ashley has a great eye for weddings and it was great working with her, and I really appreciated all she did to make my dream venue affordable. As it's a popular venue, sometimes there was a bit of a delay in messaging but it all came together! One last thing for those interested--I got married in Galleria I and II and the Ballroom, so had full access to all of those rooms. That being said, The Foundry is very much a music venue so there might be a concert next door! We did hear a bit of that at my ceremony. Once I booked the venue, I was free to the many other great things The Graduate offers, from the lovely hotel rooms and suites (we got ready in Hoyt House Deluxe, bride and groom, and the pictures were AMAZING), to the discounted spa, to the life-saving hotel shuttle the day-of. They even drove us in the golf cart for our sendoff!

we experienced trying to do both these things was horrible. It took over two weeks to book a room block since the wedding coordinator never returned phone calls or emails after the initial inquiry. I called several days in a row and left messages as well as follow up emails. One of the operators finally took pity on me and connected me with the head of sales and I finally got a room block contract. However, even dealing with the head of sales was difficult since when asking about venue availability and pricing for our rehearsal dinner, he didn't respond for over a month despite repeated attempts to contact him. We ended up going somewhere else just so I wouldn't have to deal with management at the Graduate. That being said, their "on the ground" staff is wonderful and it is a great hotel to stay at, if you're just there as a guest.

ting ignored. By the time I called and got an answer, I had lost the contract (my fault, I know). So I emailed to ask for a new contract, more weeks passed as I emailed again, called, stopped by...never heard back. The bye week of football season is a popular date, so I'm sure she was just happy that I lost the contract and she could book someone else who would spend more money and she could get a bigger commission. Meanwhile I wasted almost two months total waiting on her. In that time other places got booked up. I'm very disappointed with how unprofessionally we were treated. Just tacky. In the end, if the response was that bad trying to book, I'm probably better off not having to deal with her for the event details anyway.

even after multiple calls and emails. In the month leading up the wedding, were not able to get in touch with the event staff at all. The only way we were able to get eventually speak with her was to actually show up at the venue on the Thursday prior to the wedding (wedding was on Saturday) and demand a meeting to go over the details. They also switched our rehearsal space the day of the rehearsal because they double booked the space. Beautiful venue, but not worth the hassle of dealing with the staff and poor management.

and not worry about driving. Many of our guests took the party downtown afterwards since it is a short walk. The staff is great.

thing else went smoothly and if I could have cancelled with them and gone to another location I would have with a smile on my face. First, management decided to renovate the hotel after we signed a contract and not inform us. This means that the suites were not available to stay in (these were one of the major reasons we booked with them), my guests did not have access to rooms with anything other than double beds and there was construction equipment EVERYWHERE on my wedding day. That means huge dumpsters, random crap, and TOILETS on the sidewalks outside our rooms. We had to ask for barriers to be put up around the pavillion, they were not automatically provided... I guess they thought I wouln't have a problem with the toilets and dumpsters? Second, they scheduled my rehearsal and rehearsal dinner for the wrong times (about an hour and a half later than we had planned) even though we called to confirm in advance so something like that wouldn't happen. Third, my husband and I have food allergies. I'm allergic to bell pepper and he's allergic to onions. These allergies were noted on our contracts. At the rehearsal dinner there were bell peppers on the green beans and at the wedding there were onions on the steak. I don't know if the contract was ignored, not passed out, or if they just didn't care. The whole process with the Foundry was full of misinformation and lead ons. We were told the construction equipment "should" be gone and that it wouldn't interfere, wrong. We were not compensated enough for these issues and if I hadn't had a wedding planner to fix continual problems with them my wedding day would not have been fun. I gave them 5 stars for quality because when they did something right it was well done and their location really is beautiful. My guests also thought the wedding was flawless and in the best location, but they were not planning this and dealing with the crap the Foundry kept throwing at us. Now, the staff at the Foundry (not management, the people who had no control over all the bull we delt with) are WONDERFUL. Very helpful, nice, and go out of their way to make you comfortable. So, the experience wasn't all bad but booker BEWARE the Foundry and the silver tongues of thier management.

accommodating and made sure we were all comfortable. Everything about the reception was perfect! The space is absolutely beautiful, and all the food was delicious! The staff were kind and welcoming and willing to help with anything we needed. I would recommend this venue to anyone!!

t different. The Melting Point is a music venue which transforms beautifully for weddings. The food (on site catering) was amazing, and the staff were all so kind, welcoming, and accommodating (especially Casey Gray). On-site hotel accommodations were great too at the Foundry. Very convenient but also luxurious!

d she organized everything and gave us great referrals for vendors. Also a majority of the family and guests stayed at the hotel and they were very accommodating!

s to be taken. But the staff was great and the pavilion was perfect for what we wanted.

was fantastic, and the staff was so helpful. Casey Gray was my contact, and she was so responsive to all my questions in the months leading up to the wedding. We had so many guests comment that this was the best food they've had at a wedding. The cost included venue rental, food and bar services, so I felt it was definitely worth the price. I couldn't have asked for more. It was perfect.

omp tickets to go see the band that was playing next door at The Melting Point after the rehearsal dinner. Everyone had a great time!

DIY bride! They have everything down to a T and provided expert opinions and advice. On the wedding day, everything went off without a hitch because we had a "captain" to take care of all our needs/concerns/mishaps. I could not have asked for a better, more beautiful and professional venue!

ommodating and helpful. She assisted us with every aspect of the reception and more. From our block of hotel rooms to the catering to set-up and service staff, everything was taken care of. We simply told them what we wanted, and they took care of it! They even handled our many last-minute changes without complaint or any complications. Plus, not only did they have my reception on Sunday, but they had 3 other weddings/events earlier that weekend! As I said before, they are absolutely the BEST hospitality team in the area. Plus, the rooms are very comfortable and beautiful. Everything was clean and orderly in the room we stayed in, and I didn't receive any complaints from any of the other guests. Overall, I would recommend the Foundry Park Inn and Spa to anyone for anything they needed: hotel rooms, banquets, nightlife (they have a great bar/restaurant on site!), catering, weddings/receptions, etc.

great. The only issue I had was the total price of the event - however, our event organizer worked the menu to fit within our budget better. I would definitely recommend hosting an event here!

fusing for guests. Had a few wedding crashers come and swipe drinks

out-of-town guests here. Having everything in a single location really helped create the intimate feel we wanted and gave our family and friends plenty of opportunities to get to know each other. The basic rooms were attractive and clean, and the beds were very comfortable. Our suite was spectacular -- attractive and spacious. The ceremony/reception and rehearsal dinner venues were beautiful inside and out. The food was fabulous. Having breakfast at the Hoyt House every morning was a real treat and enough to get several Yankees hooked on cheese grits. At the rehearsal dinner, the salad was fresh, the pasta bar was hot and tasty (especially the gorgonzola alfredo), and the grilled chicken was juicy and flavorful. The dessert buffet was even better. I highly recommend the Viennese dessert trio with the scrumptious strawberry petit fours. For the wedding, we opted for a heavy hors d'ouevres reception, and again, we got lots of compliments on the food. The petit filet mignonettes and coconut chicken tenders were the overall winners, but personally, I was blown away by the spanikopita, which were hot, crisp, and not at all greasy. However, it was the staff that truly made the experience such a pleasurable one. From the front desk to the waiters and waitresses to the cleaning service -- everyone was friendly and helpful and worked hard to make us feel at home. Casey Clark, the wedding sales manager/coordinator is the Foundry's true gem, though. Warm, responsive, and extremely detail-oriented, I truly felt Casey was as invested in my wedding as I was. Not only did she ensure everything was perfect down to the tiniest detail on the Foundry's end, she was full of great advice about other vendors. We wound up using the florist and photographer she recommended, both of whom also greatly exceeded our expectations. Everything (important) was flawless -- due in a large part to Casey's hard work. I also need to mention how economical the Foundry Park Inn is. I did a ton of research before we booked them, and I can say with total certainty that there is no better value in northeast Georgia. You don't get what you pay for there -- you get a lot more. And you definitely won't be sorry if you choose to book the Foundry Park Inn for your reception, ceremony, rehearsal, or any other special event.

ted off the weekend with a bridesmaids luncheon in the Hoyt House on Friday, then we had our reception in the pavilion on Saturday and used Galleria I all day as a dressing room, then we used Galleria I again on Sunday morning for a brunch. Our coordinator there, Casey, was so wonderful and flexible and really took care of everything! Our guests loved the atmosphere and the fact that they could stay in the hotel. It was really reasonably priced, and the cakes are provided by Cecelia's cakes in Athens, which are the best cakes ever! They do the catering and the food was fantastic, and they took care of all the linens and tables, chairs, etc. It was great!

ents on the idea and on the food itself! I loved my reception- but here's a hint: To save money and ensure a date PLUS get some freebies, have your wedding on a friday. We got the dance floor, the decor, etc. for free because of the wedding coming on that saturday! :)

was very easy to work with, the set up was great, and the food was amazing. The wedding party and most guests stayed at the hotel for the weekend, and the rooms were very comfortable. It is a great place to hold a wedding if you are a UGA fan and want to take pictures on campus. It was very easy for us to travel to and from campus and our pictures were gorgeous. It was also perfect for out of town guests who had never been to Athens. Most of our guests fell in that category, and downtown was an easy walk for all of our guests, young and old. Those that were not involved in our rehearsal dinner had plenty of things to do the night before our wedding because of all of the close restaurants and entertainment. I was so happy with our wedding and it was all because of the Foundry! If she's still there, Crystal is an excellent person to work with! The Foundry is experienced and professional!

wonderful and the facility was perfect.