Lauritzen Gardens

when planning my wedding. I felt like I was constantly going to break a rule because they have a million of them. The front desk staff were extremely rude to the point where I will never return to the venue for leisure. The night of my rehearsal I said I was there for my rehearsal. They all just stared at me so I asked if the coordinator was there. They said "Yes, do you need to talk to her?" with attitude. Like what.. I would assume I need to talk to her considering this is my rehearsal. The next morning, I was told all of stuff would be set up by 10 am so that I can decorate. The only thing set up were the tableclothes on my tables. Random tables were just set everywhere. I had two, three tier cakes to carry in, 24 vases with flowers already in them, and some other little things. We parked at the front of the building for maybe 15 minutes. We were constantly harassed by the front staff to move our car. I also had a lady say with a snarky attitude that we "need to use the garage." I told her I would have used the garage had I been told about it. As my hands were full of stuff she walked through the door in front of me and let it slam in my face. Then of course I was told we need to move the car again by the ladies at the front. I would suggest that if you don't want people to park their car in the front while unloading, you need to tell them where to unload to avoid the extremly rude ladies at the front. So then I ask them to get my coordinator. They tell me they can't because she's with another ceremony. She did help once she was out of the ceremony but I was still disappointed. She also gave me her phone number in case I needed something. Now this should of came in handy 5 minutes before my ceremony when my dj came up to me and said there was NO electricity and my coordinator was no longer there. My coordinator couldn't have stayed just to make sure everything was set up? I told my coordinator at least three different times that I needed electricity. My coordinator did not answer my call or text me back. Luckily, we found a guy to set it up. The night was wonderful and it all turned out great but I just wish that there was more professionalism and communication for how much money you spend.

s you are not decorating at all. The delivery system is difficult for vendors and not user friendly. The day was gorgeous either way, but wish there would have been more professionalism from the start of an already hectic day.

went perfectly. Everything was setup according to my instructions and they cleaned up everything and returned it to me after the event. Overall there was nothing that I was disappointed with and would highly recommend the gardens to anyone for their reception!!

ss headache with these people! First of all, we paid 4 grand to get married here and have our reception. With promisesof planning, organization, and top-notch service from their newly hired coordinator, Stephanie, we were ready to get hitched in the location of our dreams. If only had I known...you can have your flower girls drop flower petals ("tripping hazard"), you can't steak things in the ground (aisle runner steaks), you can't decorate anything other than the tables, you have to be out of there by midnight, you can't get to the gardens before 4:30pm (um, hello? what about pictures!?), there is no place to get ready (don't be fooled by their "bridal room" it's the size of a shoebox - plus you can't get there til 4:30pm anyway), your vendors can't show up before 2pm (very tight window before guests come), you have to pay extra for them to move their tables and chairs out of the way in the display hall (what did my 4 grand go to pay for again? - they also told us this a week in advance of the actual wedding), no rice, no bubbles, no rainbows (okay, I made that one up)...you get the picture. Now this is just an abbreviated list of their rules. Don't worry, you'll get a WHOLE list of them in a snotty email from Stephanie. Now, let me tell you about MY personal experience, beyond the list of rules: This Stephanie chick is fresh out of college it seems and is all around not the most intellegent person in the world. She is easily distressed and snotty. When she told my mother it would be extra to move tables, my mom laid into her (explaining that this was NEVER mentioned until now), making her cry, and even then she STILL didn't offer to do it for free! She even admitted that it was "due to [her] ignorance and being new that [she] forgot to mention it." At that point, lady, you need understand that creating a terrible customer experience is more valuable than the money you are going to lose ($70+). We also had to send in an ADDITIONAL 1k damage deposit check to them, WHICH THEY CASHED immediately. Now think about this, this is already costing you 5k at this point. Even IF you get this 1k back! On top of the fact she neglected to tell us that they were going to cash this check. To me, a damage deposit is held until the damage can be assessed and if there isn't any (in our case), you return said check. Regardless of policy, she should have informed us that it was going to be cashed. Oh yes, at let me tell you about the aerating they did 3 DAY BEFORE THE WEDDING on the garden lawn we were to get married on! WTF!? Are you serious!? And because they aerated, we couldn't rehearse on the area we were actually having the ceremony. We were told to "play pretend" somewhere else, in addition to being sent ANOTHER list of rules (no music, chairs, 1 hour max for the rehearsal). Yes, let's tell the 5 year old flower girl we have to play pretend and hope she knows where the heck to go the next day! I requested that the dirt clods from the aeration be removed, to which they said okay. Come wedding day...you guessed it, not removed. My bridesmaids' heels were getting stuck in the holes, the dirt clods got drug along under my dress, and it was embarassing to have my guests see. I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND GETTING MARRIED AT LAURITZEN GARDENS! It is my BIGGEST wedding related regret!