Greenwood Garden on Peaks Island

f the reason we chose this venue was because it is a local Lions Club, run by volunteers, and they donate the proceeds from their events to scholarship funds for students on the Island. This also means that it isn't a top-of-the-line, professionally run wedding venue, which has its complications. Here are our pros and cons: Pros: -It is a beautiful place, on a beautiful island, and it is incredibly convenient to the ferry. All our guests could just walk about 10 minutes from the ferry to the venue. The facilities are lovely. They playhouse is large and perfect for dinner, and the bathrooms are newly renovated and very nice. The outdoor space is gorgeous, and the views of Casco Bay are stunning, especially at sunset. It is not fancy (which we liked)! It functions as a multi-purpose community venue. -They were very accommodating with walkthroughs before the event, and volunteers met us there multiple times to show us around and help us plan. -We were lucky and had perfect weather, but if we didn't the rain contingencies were easy with the indoor playhouse and covered pavilion outside. -They provided some really helpful items, including nice tables and chairs and lawn games. Cons: -It is hard to coordinate a wedding on an island where you have to bring in most everything yourself. We booked the venue for Saturday, and the venue was booked for other events on Friday and Sunday, so we had to do all the delivery, set up, and clean up on Saturday, with less flexibility that we expected around dropping things off early and storing them. You have to do some serious planning! -The Lions Club volunteer that we worked with over the planning process changed, and we were given some inconsistent information about what would be possible that made planning difficult. -An oven was broken, and our caterers had to do lots of problem solving to deal with that, including delaying our dinner by over an hour.