Kalahari Resorts and Conventions

I was extremely disappointed in the Kalahari team that helped with our wedding. So many things went wrong that it’s almost impossible to list them all. They tried to make up for all their mistakes with upgrades and complementary items (some of which also got messed up) but that didn’t and doesn’t fix how their lack of communication ruined so much of our wedding.

Unfortunately I had to trim this review down to fit. For the past year and a half my wife Monica and I have been bragging about getting married at Kalahari. Now that it’s all over, there is not too much to brag about. All of the changes and misguided information started very shortly after giving our deposit. One of the first questions I asked is if I could pay with cash. I was told that I absolutely could, only to find out a few short months before the wedding that policy apparently changed. After our food tasting we were both told we were going to hear back shortly about final pricing of the event itself. This didn't happen until weeks later, after both of us reached out multiple times. We only heard back after I called Sarina and asked her if Veronica still even works there. Veronica told Monica she had been playing phone tag with me for the past few weeks. I'm not sure who she was calling and leaving messages to, but it wasn't me. We were instructed to meet Lauren in the ballroom at 5 PM for rehearsal. At 5:23 I asked the A/V guy where she was and his reply was "I have no idea". She finally arrived and we told her we would really like our cocktail hour to be outside as originally planned, and she said she was going to call Riley and Veronica . She then told us five different reasons as to why it could not be held outside. I still to this day don't really know what the exact reason was. I told Lauren to forget the cocktail hour arrangements because we needed to start with rehearsal. She replied that we were free to do whatever on our own and she was just standing in to observe. I have been in many weddings and never once has anyone who works there said you are on your own. After our rehearsal we went upstairs for our dinner at Sortino’s where we had made reservations for 6 PM weeks prior. We were late for our dinner, because we had no help or direction at rehearsal. My mother who made the reservations, went upstairs to let them know we would be a few minutes late. To her surprise they not only told her the room was not ready they said it was because they didn't know we were coming. My mother talked to Christina at Sortino's in person along with through email and on the phone. My wife Monica also talked to Christina via email, giving the exact food order. The time for the florist was changed to noon by Veronica and none of us were informed, which significantly impacted the whole timeline for pictures as our photographer didn't have flowers to use. This was one of the most upsetting issues, as our photographer was paid to be there at a certain time, which he was, to capture all of the moments and activities that were important to us. Even after pushing the florist to a noon arrival time, the reception area was not complete for her to do her job. The sweetheart table was not up for her to decorate, which was something we paid her to do. Multiple guests complained to us that the bars were running out of alcohol. Considering I paid $65 per person for an open bar, this was a HUGE issue. The vendors in the reception had no table to sit at. A table had to be set up while the reception was going on. If it was very unprofessional for guests to see the room break down and set up, this is definitely unacceptable during the middle of our wedding. At the end of our wedding night we were approached by Veronica and were told that they would comp food and a cabana at the water park. No surprise the employees knew nothing about it

I got married at Kalahari one month ago and it was truly the most stunning and personalized wedding I could have ever dreamed of!!! The ceremony and reception were beautiful, our guests are still calling to tell us how much they enjoyed every second of the wedding! From the beginning of the planning process our event coordinator Eric was the greatest!!! He walked us through the planning process step by step making sure every detail was perfection and on that day he was by my side perfecting every detail!!!! The food and drinks and personalized wedding cake were incredible! There really are no words to properly express how AMAZING of an experience our guests and my husband and I had getting married at Kalahari!!! My highest of recommendations!!

My cake was beautiful and exactly what I asked for. And delicious too!