Panola Valley Gardens

ication with the caterer was top notch. Patty and I went back and forth with my requests for the menu. The food was executed perfectly. Everything we had talked about, Patty made a reality. People came to us throughout the wedding to compliment the venue and the food. A lot went well. However what went wrong were important details to my husband and I. 1st, when we booked venue, we knew there's no a/c in the grooms or bridal suite. We brought 2 portable a/c units that required ice. We brought ice because ice was not free at venue. We needed it for beverages as well. Once the ice was brought in, it was used by the venue. None left over for the a/c units. Bride, Groom and 10 others in wedding party struggled with heat. 2nd, we created "day of" programs for guests, caterer and MaryAnn (venue coordinator). After ceremony, program stated that apps will be ready, groom and bride will have meet and greet, then wedding party takes photos while guests eat the apps. Apps were never put out. When a bridesmaid approached staff, they said, "no one is around so they are not setting them out". That was not ok, people expected apps. Once apps were set out, guests rushed the app table. We learned there were no plates for the apps. I asked for a zero waste wedding so they were avoiding disposable items, however, napkins are compostable. We had compostable bins. No one had a way to eat apps without getting dirty. 3rd, the salads sat out for a half hour before dinner was to start and were wilted by the time it was noticed. The head table was to seat 12 people but we were squished, shoulder to shoulder. 2 people in wedding party sat with backs to guests. We could not get out of our seats once sitting. 4th, our parents tables were the furthest from the head table. All were confused and livid. Speeches by parents were given from across the room. We could not communicate to our parents the entire wedding. 5th, the 2 tiered cake we instructed and paid venue to cut & serve our guests was being set out. We asked them to cut a specific amount of pieces. This cake was never cut. Then we saw our personal cake being set out. This cake was for the bride and groom to cut and was going to be taken with us after event. My husband ran to MaryAnn and told her this was not the cake to cut. She shrugged him off as if she was annoyed. Our own, personal cake was cut by the venue and about 5 pieces were placed on a table. We are devastated. 6th, we paid for 75 dessert shooters. 3 flavors. We saw some of each flavor placed out on a table briefly. I have talked to each of our guests and about 10 of them had 1 dessert shooter. The remainder was never packed to come home with us. We paid a large amount of money for cake cutting services, and the dessert shooters. 5 pieces of wrong cake cut and few shooters were eaten by guests. Where did the desserts go? All guests were shocked to hear there was even cake and desserts available. I feel like we were over charged. We paid for services and food we never received. We paid for servers and they never had any beverages /water filled in the 2 glasses per person that we paid for. I asked the servers after about a half hour to please fill our guests toasts glasses with the beverages we bought and water. Great venue, not reliable services.

y, the gardens were picturesque.

allowed me that outdoor space in a beautiful landscape but under a pavilion (which was nice in case of rain, luckily we had a perfect day). Mary Ann is one of the sweetest people I have met and was very prompt with responses and willing to answer any questions that came up along the way. She has speaker rocks throughout the gardens that allows you to bring in your own music to be played before, during and after your ceremony - or you can also choose from music she has. The gardens themselves are well manicured and simply stunning! We had many compliments and got so many beautiful pictures in many different locations. Definitely worth the drive to see this beautiful site.

lace?" Everyone was commenting on how lovely the gardens are. As the bride, MaryAnn made me feel so special, most of the time I like to stay in the background and make sure things are to everyone else's liking, but MaryAnn would keep making sure things were the way my groom and I wanted them, she has such an encouraging manner about her that it made it easy to plan and carry out this wedding. She is so sweet. Both my husband and I are looking forward to going for tea at the garden next summer. Also, Patty the exclusive caterer was great to work with, we had a lot of positive comments on the food.