I'll start with the good- Kelly, the catering coordinator, was awesome. I have been working on two "weddings" due to COVID, and she was hands down the most amazing, attentive, kind individual toward me, throughout my entire experience with wedd...ing planning. Not only did she try to make my day special, we stayed for 4 nights and she made sure that time was special too. The getting ready bridal room was SPECTACULAR. The venue also let us use the rental card box, baskets, cute signs and some decor, aside from our own, which was great. The food tasted great. They had a great menu selection as well.
The bad-I chose this venue because they have a BEAUTIFUL, large, covered outdoor space on the beach that accommodated my ceremony and dinner. Nextdoor to it, there's the hotel restaurant, that gets crowded on a Saturday. There is enough separation from the private space to that space, so it didn't really interfere, but I did see some guests try to walk by my private space, possibly for beach access? Unsure why.
Our card box was left right at the entrance of our event so guests could slip their gifts in. I later noticed that it was still there, and I asked my DOC to move it. She then informed me that the cards were missing. I went out, in my wedding gown, to try to see if I could recognize any guests that walked near my event earlier. I saw two staff members talking to someone sitting alone right near my event, who looked just like one of the individuals that I saw earlier trying to get beach access. I questioned them and they quickly snapped and said that they've been "with this man for hours".
This ruined my wedding day. How could I enjoy knowing that potentially thousands of dollars were stolen from me and my beloved family? We have been put through so much trauma due to multiple deaths in our family in the last year. I spoke to the catering manager, Sonia, she was nice about it, but busy managing my guests.
Not one security guard from the Hilton was brought out, and IMO the police should have been called. This crowded hotel now had a thief on the loose, and NOTHING was done about it. Thankfully, I had hired my own security guard due to some family issues, and he took a walk outside my event to try to see if there was anyone who may have been trying to open the envelope, etc. However, he was for MY event, not to manage THEIR hotel guests.
My DOC made an announcement to see who gave gifts so they could stop the checks ASAP. 15 minutes later, we went to move the card box again, and the gifts were back in there. The situation was handled very poorly. After spending thousands of dollars on my event, this venue should have done everything in their power to try to help me find the gifts or catch the perpetrator.
My MIL wasn't feeling well and had to use the restroom before our announcement so it held us up about 15 minutes so she didn't miss our announcement, I think this resulted in some food being cold, as per my guests. Since we did the "banquet menu", the cocktail hour was not included. We had to pay for hors d'oeuvres by the piece, about $5 for 1 pig in a blanket. I spent hundreds of dollars, possibly thousands on these and other apps, and they couldn't spare just a few pieces for my husband.
At the end of the night there were water-bugs crawling around all over the place, I am from NY, so I was not used to this, and had to run out. Overall, this venue did not meet my expectations, although I would have liked it to.