Our entire experience with Horseshoe Bay Resort was amazing - from beginning to end they continually exceeded our expectations, not only with their stunning venue and extraordinary service, but with how much compassion and honest concern they h...ad that our wedding went well. We planned it in less than two months due to my mom having serious health issues, and we live in Seattle, so we had to make most of the plans long distance.
From the first day we called and spoke with Vildan Ruiz, we had that kind of experience with her that the universe was conspiring to help everything work for us. She answered almost every time we called, and literally responded within 24 hours if she didn't answer.
When we arrived we fell in love with the landscaping, the lake, the limestone circle at the beach for us to stand on during our ceremony, and the vast footprint of the resort that really creates the destination wedding feeling. When we entered the Whitewater Patio we felt like we had magically been transported out of Texas into a villa in Europe. Vildan showed us every other venue within the resort where we could have either the ceremony or the reception if weather didn't cooperate (they were great!), and she transported us around in a Navigator explaining the shuttle and golf carts options HBR offers all guests to efficiently get them between venues.
We were treated like honored guests when we were there - they gave us bottled water and complimentary drinks, a tote with an extraordinary amount of information about planning the wedding and a thumb-drive with checklists and menus to help us plan. She even said she would work with the pastry chef on-site to use my mom's red-velvet cake recipe, and recommended a local florist called Cutting Edge that was amazing and also wonderful to work with, and she gave me many stylist referrals for hair and make-up.
We knew that we had found the perfect place, and over the course of the next month and a half I spoke with Vildan personally several times a week and swapped emails as frequently. Her communication style made me feel at ease throughout the process, and when we arrived and met the rest of the staff we knew that they all valued excellent communication and amazing service. I did not need an additional wedding coordinator at all.
So when the the saddest thing happened on Friday night - my sweet mom had a stroke in her room - I never even had to think about how HBR would react, I just knew they would handle it well. My mom's wit and charm were not affected by the stroke, so we were able to move our timeline up and get married in the hospital beside her bed, with her conscious of every minute. We didn't want my mom to think for a moment that she had affected our wedding day, so after we spent time with her at the end of our ceremony, we came back and had the full wedding we had planned at HB. We had to cancel the stylist, and as if she hadn't already done enough, Vildan graciously offered to do my hair, and it was beautiful. The dinner was amazing, and Vildan and the team did all of my decorating for me. My guests all raved about the dinner, and we felt so cared for by our banquet captain that my husband and I both hugged her simultaneously at the end. Everyone who attended was amazed by HBR, and I feel like it's a sacred place for me and my husband. We are already planning our anniversary (or sooner!) trip, and want to tell everyone how special HBR is. I STRONGLY recommend it from the bottom of my heart!