Holiday Inn Wilkes Barre - East Mountain

enues at that point but I was a year out. The final planner we were assigned, Sundy, was 2 weeks before our wedding. At first I thought she was okay, but she is unorganized and ruined my afterparty. She also was fighting with my DJ, a super popular and reputable company in NEPA. Originally, I was told I can use the hospitality room for my after party. I was told no I cannot do that only the bar was an option, I said okay I am fine with the bar for the afterpaty. This was discussed multiple times and written down in front of Sunday and Shirly. My wedding ends and the bar is not open. They were attempting to open it a half hour after my wedding ended (that my guests waited for) but determined my guests were 'overserved' and shut it down. Making me look like a fool and be embarrassed when all my guest expected to have an afterparty there and were kicked out. I paid thousands of thousands of dollars to have my wedding there, my guest should not have been thrown out, but again they already got their check why would they care. And what hotel venue would not have their bar open knowing they would make a lot of money after a wedding? I hired a wedding stylist because I was not confident in the staff. This was supposed to be included in my contract, but I paid an external vendor for this task. It was discussed prior and on my final bill that I paid to upgrade my alcohol but guests were served well. I was told after my guest would specifically ask for Titos (which was on my bar sign) and the bartenders told them no they didn't have that and served them well. I paid the additional money per person for my alcohol to be upgrade. After communicating with the general manager for two months and having to show video proof form my videographer, I was refunded what I paid for the alcohol upgrade. This venue is an absolute nightmare. I would warn all future brides to stay FAR AWAY from this venue. They are deceitful and do not believe the client who is paying thousands of dollars to have an event here. They are unorganized and will cause you so much unneeded stress.

ing coordinators. First was Maureen. We had some minor concerns after we had to send the contract back multiple times because they were going to charge us more than had been discussed. They also held a bridal expo which said right in the invitation you can bring two guests for free, but when we got there with our mothers they were charging all the guests admission until I showed the email. But everything else was going smoothly so we didn't question it. Then Maureen left, and Pam replaced her. Long story short, her communication skills were terrible. I would have to send multiple emails to get a response. I would ask three questions and only get an answer to one. But worst of all, Pam had forgotten to schedule two major dates with the venue: our meal tasting and our rehearsal the night before our wedding. Both times, she tried to blame us before I showed her the emails where we had confirmed a date and time. For our tasting, we drove from Bloomsburg to Wilkes Barre only to arrive and find out that no one was prepared for us and we had to reschedule the tasting. Then she did the same thing for our rehearsal. Shortly after that, Pam quit. This was one month before our wedding. Then, Pam's supervisor took over. Her name is Sundy, and at first it seemed like she was going to make things right. And I understand that she must have been very overwhelmed after having to suddenly take over all these weddings because of Pam leaving. But unfortunately, Sundy was also unreliable. The day before the wedding, we found out that Sundy had completely messed up our seating chart. We also found out after the wedding that Sundy had been talking to our family/friends about us as if we were unreasonable. While my bridesmaid was helping to get the seating chart fixed, Sundy complained that we 'kept changing things' even though we had only changed the tables around one time. Then Sundy said that the reason why she messed up the seating chart was because 'there are a thousand emails to go through' and because we 'should have sent the chart as an attachment rather than copy/pasting it in the email', even though she had never told us that. She also said that she didn't know who was supposed to take the card box 'because they changed it so many times'. We changed it one time. It was really discouraging to find out how Sundy was talking about us, since we always maintained politeness with them. The day of the wedding, dinner was served an hour late. They said dinner comes at 7, but it didn't start getting passed until almost 8. This set the photographers and DJ behind, and they didn't even have time to eat their meals when it finally did come. Had it been communicated to us that dinner was going to be late, we could have started some of the activities that were originally scheduled after dinner so our other vendors weren't so rushed. There is so much more that happened but I would be here forever typing. Our wedding was so simple. 100 people, we did most of the setting up and tearing down. And yet this venue still messed up so many basic things-meal tasting, rehearsal, seating chart, the reception dinner... I honestly can't even recommend this place for someone who wants the bare minimum for their wedding.

re black linens being ordered (my colors were white and gold). When we tried asking for the correct linen color, it was very difficult to get it fixed. She told us she was unable to place an order to Dempsey because it was a week prior and if we wanted to contact them we would need to do it ourselves. Thankfully my husband worked with them previously and was able to contact someone to place the order— even they said it was ridiculous Pamela would not call them. They have priority orders for a reason and that’s all she needed to request. After all the stress of calling and getting it figured out— the invoice was given to Pamela and we paid it. We asked for it several times and still do not have it. But after all of that— my shower day comes and it was amazing thanks to my bridesmaids for decorating & shocker— Pamela did not show her face or check in once to see how things were going or if we needed anything. I did see her peeking through the kitchen window, so she was there but didn’t want to talk to me apparently. An issue we had was being told that several things weren’t going to be done or were different than what Maureen had told us. For the linens, she wanted to charge us $1 per napkin to get a color, we wanted chocolate covered strawberries which also did not happen because they were “out of season”. This would have been fine if she didn’t state during one of our meetings that she would be doing chocolate mousse regardless. During our meetings, she mentioned the other weddings she was doing had issues— we didn’t get specifics but was this necessary to say? She tended to focus on changes the company was experiencing and complained during our meetings, it was quite uncomfortable and not professional. At one point we were sending multiple emails for a week, she finally gets back to me saying she was out with a sore throat (okay that’s fine). Another week goes by with more emails finalizing our menu, guest count, etc. and she is now out with Covid. I’m unsure of a company where emails aren’t covered when you are out, especially when it’s a big event such as a wedding. But that’s fine, we made sure all details were there and shouldn’t have been any issues. She sends me a response, confirming the details and asking when we would be dropping off our decorations (at this point it was 2 weeks prior to the wedding), we said we would be there 3 days prior with everything and she said she would be there for me to explain where each item needed to be placed. We show up and she is not there, I left a voicemail stating everything was dropped off and to call me back to discuss anything she had questions on. Will Called me back (two times) and was more help than Pamela ever was. He assured me that everything would be perfect and even though he hasn’t done weddings in a bit, he would make sure there was no issues. He and Shirley (food and beverage manager) stepped up and helped us tremendously for rehearsal and day of the wedding. They checked in with me several times during setup- making sure everything was how we wanted it. I could not imagine a more perfect day thanks to them. My husband and I are very thankful for them stepping up and taking over the planning/ setup. Thank you again to Will and Shirley!!

g up for us that day and it looked better than I even envisioned. The food was delicious and our guests loved having everything in the same location. I highly recommend this venue!

th Mandy and her crew consisting of a handful of very friendly ladies who each have a certain job or aspect of the day that they take care of. Many was so great and she got back to us very quickly any time we had questions or concerns. I would recommend this place just as other have to me, a hundred times over. Super professional but also very warm and welcoming. Not sure what the one ladie’s name is but she was blond and semi retired and she saw me have a near melt down on my wedding day and helped me to calm down a bit. Thank you so much! Please consider this venue if you plan to marry in northeast pa. If you move forward with them I know you will be very happy you did!

day Inn - East Mountain is worth it. Along with the room and catering, your cake is included in your package as well as a complimentary wedding night stay in the bridal suite, which has amazing views of the Wyoming Valley. The week of the wedding was a breeze because of the amazing wedding team. On our wedding day, from Mandy all the way down to the waitstaff, everyone made sure that my husband and I didn't have to lift a finger for anything. The grounds of the hotel are beautiful and secluded. You almost forget that you are in Wilkes-Bare and just off the highway. I could go on and on about how perfect our day was, but it was all made possible by Mandy and her team.

my bridal shower, and other minor and major aspects of the big day. Mandy is lovely--warm and accommodating. We planned the entire wedding from afar as we no longer live locally, with both sets of parents filling in for in-person meetings. We did run into some trouble and miscommunication over email (which can be stressful when planning such a big event!) but our few in person meetings when we were in town usually cleared up any confusion. Mandy was super flexible in meeting with us since we were only in the area a few times the year before the wedding. EMI does a lot for the price--they make the center pieces, decorate the ballroom, and even include your wedding cake in the package. As someone who resigned herself to having a ballroom reception due to the size of the guest list and budget constraints, I was extremely pleasantly surprised with how beautiful and elegant the ballroom looked. The food was unbelievably good--the best food we've had a wedding. The venue accommodated all manner of dietary restrictions, including vegans and an onion allergy! There was plenty of food to go around and everything tasted great. The waitstaff was almost part of the party--they were super friendly, super helpful, and even danced with our grandmas! We are still hearing compliments and good things about the food and staff a month later. The outdoor space for the ceremony is breathtaking. Unfortunately, the venue had not done a mic check prior to the ceremony, and the speaker was improperly set up. Only the first few rows could hear the ceremony, which of course was a major disappointment. Mandy did contact us after the wedding and provided a heartfelt apology and a complimentary two night stay for the trouble. Something goes wrong at every wedding, and we're just happy it wasn't anything life altering. After the ceremony, we were directed into the indoor space for a private cocktail period while our guests had cocktails outside. We were also a little thrown off by this as this was supposed to be our only time for photos, and we weren't told about it until about 2 weeks before the wedding. We expected someone from the venue to be a time-keeper, but no one ever alerted us that it was time for us to finish up cocktails and get our photos done. As a result, we only had about 40 minutes for photos and our reception started late. (In spite of this, our reception went off without a hitch and everyone had a great time). Although we are sad we didn't get all the photos we requested, our day was still beautiful. We're also so glad we got to try the hors d'oeuvres! Our bridal suite was stunning and our guests who stayed at the hotel found the rooms very comfortable. The complimentary breakfast the following morning was delicious and there was a great variety of foods. The staff took care of all of our decorations from the reception and organized them for us to take home in the morning. Truly we don't think we could have picked a better place to have our wedding. Knowing that weddings are a huge production, even given the mishaps we know that if we could go back in time we would still pick EMI--just make sure they do a mic check! ;) Thank you Mandy and staff. It was magical.

ay). The caterers were very willing to make changes to the menu to suit your needs & the food was REALLY good the day of!! The reason I gave 4 stars is because we did have some initial trouble with our tasting and because we were traveling in from out of town miscommunications seemed to happen more often. Overall - I would certainly recommend - the lessons I learned were to make sure to be clear about what you want because everyone is MORE than willing to work with you & keep yourself organized so that the day of your wedding will be a dream come true (with NO stress) like ours! We are coming up on 1 year now and we will be staying at the East Mountain Inn for another wedding near our anniversary - really looking forward to it! Good Luck

ve the most perfect day. We did! I still have guests raving about how beautiful everything was and how delicious the food was. It does not get any better than the Holiday Inn. I highly recommend this as a wedding venue or a venue for any special occasion. You will not be disappointed!

special meals. The staff was kind and did everything to make our special day perfect! Highly recommended!

t. I have had a number of guest that have commented on how great the food was and beautiful the grounds were during the outdoor cocktail hour.