We loved Hacienda de las Flores! They really brought our dream wedding to life. Sarah, the event coordinator, was organized and punctual, and the banquet captain, James, was super ...helpful for the remainder of the night after she had to leave. All of the service staff was great (I wished I had gotten/remembered their names, but it was such a fast-paced night) and I want to give them a special shout-out for making my family feel so comfortable, conversing with our guests, and even hyping us up on the dance floor!
An even more special shout-out has to go to the DJ, Mike, or DJ MaveWave. He made the night SO fun. Our guests couldn't leave the dance floor and stayed until the very end! He took the playlist I gave him and made it a masterpiece and so balanced! Also, the photo booth coordinator, Leo, was so nice and made everyone feel so at ease. Both of our families are Filipino, and so is he, so he had some awesome cultural props for us to use that our families for a huge kick out of. There were a few hiccups. For example, we paid for the package that came with an open bar for beer, wine, and well liquors. However, the bartender that night (I didn't get her name) was charging my guests for small sodas to chase their shots of alcohol, some of my guests got charged for wine and beer while others didn't, and the ones that did get charged were getting charged with inconsistent prices throughout the night. People came expecting to be able to enjoy drinks on us, but that wasn't the case and many people were very confused. As the bride and groom, this wasn't exactly a fire we wanted to have to put out on our special day, but we were getting comments left and right about this. I asked about this and she (the bartender) said that yes, beer, wine, and well liquors are free, but when I mentioned what was happening, she implied that my guests were mistaken with their orders and did in fact order other things that they had to be charged for. That didn't seem the case when I spoke to people, but it was a minor inconvenience to an otherwise perfect night that ran so smoothly. In the end, people didn't mind paying here and there to have a good time, it just wasn't what we had expected to happen. By the end of the night, our guests had nothing but positive things to say about the venue and how beautiful and hospitable the staff was.
Clean-up at the end was also a breeze. The staff had all of our personal decor cleaned up and packed with care, ready for us to take home. All in all, I thought the night was magical and the venue played a really big part in that. Personally, as a bride, I expected to be pulled left and right by the staff to keep on schedule, but I was rarely pulled aside or bothered. Everything just happened naturally and I was able to spend the time with our guests that I wanted to.