The Cotton Room

r, but unfortunately, this was my experience with The Cotton Room. During the approximately six-month-long planning process, we had a very difficult time with our assigned event planner, Melissa, which I've detailed below. After the event, I contacted the owner of the company so we could meet and discuss the very poor customer service in the hope that we could use their venue again in the future. She gave me one option for a time (during my teaching school day) & since then has ignored my many messages (even though I told her I'm widely available to meet in summer). I'm now not that surprised about the customer service from the event planner after being treated this way by the owner. I will say that the bartenders and food servers at The Cotton Room were all wonderful. I'm including a detailed list of issues we encountered both during the planning process and at the start of the event, which includes changing prices two weeks before the event, changing food and drink items at the event without any notification prior, forgetting to include items we paid for, mistakes on decorative items, not checking in with us during the entire event, losing items we provided, incorrect menu items served, incorrect room layout so our centerpieces didn't fit, and many others). Since the owner will not make time to hear about these issues directly, I felt compelled to write a review in order to prevent what happened to us from happening to anyone else. It won't let me type more than two of the MANY issues, but feel free to message me for more details. - I was clear from the beginning that we were hosting a bat mitzvah with at least half of our guests being 12-13 year olds and that we wanted a station-style event with adult toppings on kid-friendly food items (e.g. a nacho bar with upscale add-on options for adults). We were quoted a less expensive kids price for all of the kids but were then told only a few weeks before the event that ALL GUESTS would be charged an adult price because the kids were over 10 years old (this was a $23 price differential per child and with 100 kids that meant an extra $2,300!). They refused to honor their original quote and we had no other choice but to pay the extra money or find another location two weeks before the event, which wasn't feasible. - The most important thing for my 13-year old daughter was the Boba Tea bar for her friends. She chose two flavors from the list they offered. Just two days before the event, they changed the flavors without telling us - I only noticed it on an invoice. We made phone calls and emailed to ensure we'd have the right flavors and Melissa ensured we would and I received confirmation via text message. However, when we arrived, they were the flavors listed on the invoice that my daughter didn't want (jasmine and matcha instead of strawberry and brown sugar, which is a huge difference for young teens). Instead of taking the family photos before our guests arrived, we had to taste test new boba tea combinations they were trying to put together with the ingredients they had on hand. There was never an apology from Melissa even though I explicitly expressed many times that this drink station was the most important thing to my teenage daughter.

e a private tasting for food, the sip session was really nice. The open houses were a nice chance to sample some of the offerings from the menu of offerings. On the night of our wedding the food was amazing! We loved the look of the venue and how you could personalize with linens and decor. It was great having the dance floor as the center of the event space and our dance floor was so much fun throughout the night. It’s also an incredible value as far as chairs, tables, cutlery, etc. as so many nice things are included in part of the fee. There are some very nice bride and groom suites, however due to limitations in timing (for the evening event booking, access to the suites starts at 1 p), we didn’t really use them for getting ready. In order to have access to the suites starting at 8 am, we would have needed double the venue fee. In the grand scheme, this wasn’t a huge deal. On the night of the wedding, the staff was incredibly professional and helpful. Everything went very smoothly.

But Natalie and Courtney made sure we knew about what changes were happening to the venue, and always had suggestions of work arounds. Both were so attentive and understanding of the current situation and put our minds at ease while they figured out different ways to make sure we stayed on schedule with our wedding. The day of, was absolutely stress free and magical. Heather waited on us while we were getting ready in the Magnolia Suite and she was so sweet and made sure we were comfortable. She would check in on us every hour or so. Once the ceremony started it was a like a dream. The venue was so beautiful. And the food was FANTASTIC! I am so happy that we decided to keep our wedding date and grateful for everyone that assisted to make it happen. I would definitely recommend The Cotton to anyone and would definitely host another event here.

unique, abundant, spot on colors, - perfect big hits in just the right places. I used to be a visual merchandise manager- they could not have been more beautiful! Oh yes- the linens- perfect choice! The service- yes, I noticed you serving, making sure all went smoothly. Willa’s kid meal coming out nice and early, the vegan meals served exactly at the right time, and I understand you replaced Liz and Kevin’s meal when it got cold. And no wait at the bar- that’s huge!!!! I know your venue has hosted a zillion weddings, and they may all blur together for you. But our night, as Liz just said to me on the phone, was “the best day of my life!” Thank you for being a part of that special memory that my daughter will cherish forever! Liz’s mom Kim

provided Christmas decorations and then the brides added decor. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time with our fantastic DJ and all commented on how beautiful the ceremony and the space was. I am thankful for that because the food and beverage service was absolutely terrible! Our trouble seemed to start with the ceremony being 20 minutes late for no explainable reason. Both sides were ready well ahead of the expected start time. The bar service was to include 3 bartenders at all times with 3 wine and 4 beer selections that had been made earlier. They never put out one of the most popular of our beer selections. We had our own experience plus were told of at least several others where guests were told to come back in 30 minutes because there was no cold beer or cold signature cocktails. Several times there was only one elderly and very slow bartender. The water and drinks on tables were taken up an hour before the reception ended and when guests went to get water from the bartenders, they were out of glasses. I could go on! Then the food....the passed hors d’ouvres at the cocktail hour were delicious. Beyond that, at least 2/3 of the food was completely inedible. The shrimp and grits were underdone and cold, the flaming pasta wheel tasted like pure alcohol and was cold, the chicken and waffles were cold, the fried pickles were cold and tasted like cardboard. The beef tenderloin was delicious but ran out quickly (before all guests went through the stations) and was never replenished despite there being a two hour food service listed in the contract. Soon after the event, both the bride’s parents as well as myself and my husband wrote and called The Cotton Room to talk about all of the issues. It was our experience that there was never a sincere apology for things gone wrong and instead, excuses. Finally after about eight weeks, the bride’s family was able to get a partial refund for the food (not nearly enough in our opinion...especially since we had raved about how great the food was going to be). For us, with a botched bar service, we were offered the cost of four cases of the IPA they didn’t put out for a total of $237 out of the thousands that we payed. I cannot even express the frustration that we (the parents) experienced with all of this. Avoid!

a tour and gave us a generous amount of time to decide whether to book with them. As soon as we decided to have our wedding there, we were assigned a coordinator and granted access to their online software called Base Camp, which was super convenient for organizing all our documents (vendor agreements, itineraries, contracts, etc), as well as having discussions between us and our coordinator about various planning details, both big and small. I could easily upload pictures to convey my vision, and see updates to all our wedding details in real time. We also got their preferred vendor list, most of whom we used since they were so familiar with the space and so highly recommended on multiple wedding sites. We were SO lucky to have Heather from The Cotton Room as our coordinator! From the beginning she set our minds at ease by letting us know she was there to help us communicate with all the vendors and stay organized in the planning process. She was also there on our wedding day from start to finish. She worked SO hard. She always returned my messages on email or Base Camp promptly. She advocated on our behalf to make sure we were able to get the lighting options we wanted and get as many food options as possible under our package. She was thorough in working with me on the timeline for the rehearsal and wedding day. She oversaw the set-up of all our decorations (which turned out exactly as I had dreamed), as well as packing everything up at the end of the night. Throughout the day she checked in with me regularly to make sure I had everything I needed and was feeling good. She even took charge of bustling my dress! As a result my (now) husband and I, and our families, were able to just relax and enjoy the day. Most of all, throughout the whole process Heather was upbeat and genuinely excited for us! She has a bubbly personality that kept everyone calm and focused on the important things- spending time with each other! Besides the excellent care we received from the staff at The Cotton Room, I want to mention how gorgeous the venue is! Floor to ceiling windows, exposed brick, and vaulted ceilings give it a feel of rustic elegance. The bride and groom suites were awesome as well! We each had our own suite attendants who ensured we had plenty of snacks and drinks getting ready that morning. The bridal suite is especially comfortable, with essentially an entire salon space in the back, a kitchenette, a bathroom with all the toiletry essentials provided, and a nice front room with tons of natural light for those pictures with your mom/bridesmaids helping you with your dress. We also had a ton of fun with Triangle Catering’s tastings. They do open houses at The Cotton Room rather than individual tastings, which are essentially whole weddings without anyone getting married. We got a chance to go to three of them, and try a ton of different food options from the menu. The bar tasting was amazing too. We got to try all different wines and cocktails and they gave us a bunch of appetizers to have with them- basically a great date night! All of the food at the wedding was delicious! Our guests raved and we were able to find a good balance to satisfy many different tastes.

l. For someone who is supposed to facilitate planning, our wedding coordinator (Summer) repeatedly asked me the same questions at each meeting when we had previously discussed in detail the nature of her questions. I was unaware I had to send out my own vendor contracts. When I sent mine out, I had several vendors ask me questions about the contracts. The vendors were required to have ridiculous insurance policies that they hadn't been required to have before. Obviously I didn't have these answers. My bridal portraits were cancelled by the cotton room at the last minute. (about one week before they were scheduled) Rearranging this caused me stress and days of emailing/coordinating a new date for everyone involved. The night before the wedding, the coordinator emailed us and said that none of the people had been sat at tables in social tables (the program you use for your reception seating). My fiance and I had spent hours on this and had guests placed in social tables weeks prior to this. I talked to multiple guests about the passed hors d'ouvres and most of them said they never saw or had any. The place cards were supposed to have been set out at the head table, but weren't. When the bridal party was announced for dinner, no one knew where to go. Summer came over to me and basically accused me that no one knew where to sit. It took an extremely long time for food to start coming out. 4 of the grapevine balls were not lit, but we still paid for these. The photobooth printer was completely backed up for most of the night. Don't use their photobooth and hire a different company!We also never got any wedding cake to take home. We sent them an email about these concerns and they never even emailed back!!! I will not be recommending this venue to friends.

acious, etc. I could go on and on! We loved the rustic modern feel inside the venue, and felt it really represented our personalities. The bar was large and prevented crowding, and the service was excellent. Highly recommend!

scheduling and such all works out. The food is great! The staff is great. If you are looking for a venue with the full package I strongly recommend the cotton room.

like meeting with an old friend, absolutely no stress and totally comfortable. The Cotton Room staff was all unbelievably kind and helpful in making our big day a dream come true. From the delicious food and drink to not having to worry about ANYTHING on my wedding day except getting down the aisle, The Cotton Room is the complete package and worth every penny! We would recommend to every couple!

ride and Becky was so supportive, helpful, and organized. She created such an amazing reception experience!

e wedding; and wonderfully attentive staff. I planned my wedding from several states away, and my coordinator Shelley was incredibly helpful and responsive in answering my (many) questions thru email and phone. When my fiance and I were in the area, she and the catering staff put together a spread of food for us to taste (a service they usually plan for large crowds). Shelley made me feel so secure in the months leading up to the wedding by walking us through our timeline and coordinating with our other vendors on her own. On the day of the wedding, all the girls had access to a huge and lovely bridal suite for hair and makeup. My photographer said that this was the best space she has ever gotten to shoot in for getting ready, and I believe her. In addition to the huge mirrors and chandeliers, we got mimosas and snacks. When it was time to move to the ceremony space, Shelley and 4 other staff members helped shuttle us from the bridal suite to the ceremony space- through Hurricane Matthew. The rest of the wedding day went flawlessly, thanks to the wonderful Cotton Room staff. While the bridal party took pictures in the cocktail hour, the staff brought us drinks and hors d'oeurves. Shelley was there every step of the way, from lining us up for our grand entrance into the reception to making sure no one bothered us while we scarfed down their AWESOME food. (and I mean AWESOME- every single guest we talked to raved on the food) Throughout the whole process, Shelley and her hard-working staff anticipated our every need and really took a lot of the stress out of the planning and execution of the wedding day. So if you're looking for a venue that comes with fantastic service, delicious food, and a beautiful space - Look no farther than the Cotton Room!

ng with multiple vendors. Amalia was on top of everything, and her attention to detail was impeccable. She even slipped a late night pizza in our car as we left for the hotel. I can't speak highly enough. I had the perfect wedding.

give us the wedding of our dreams. Her calm demeanor, positive attitude, and confidence in executing all aspects of a wedding will help ease any anxious bride's nerves. Also, two members of the staff, Maranda and Anthony (there are many more but these two stood out in a lot of ways), made us and our guests feel welcomed and valued. Our guests could not stop talking about our "storybook" wedding days after the event. We would like to thank everyone at The Cotton Room for their excellent service and we would highly recommend this venue!

and flexibility of food options. To put it simply, they did whatever we wanted and we were able to have amazing food and drinks for all our guests. After having our coordinators switched a couple times Becky ended up working with us and we could not have asked for a better coordinator. She seemed to know everything about the venue and the menu, she answered emails immediately (no matter how many I sent her in a day), and made our day stress free for us. Becky and The Cotton Room helped make our day everything we imagined!

needs and desires. I could not find any fault in the food they provided. The beef was succulent. The salads were savory and colorful. The hors d’oeuvre, visually appealing and non-messy, were a well received at cocktail hour. And the flambéed donuts with ice cream were a hit with guests as a wedding cake alternative. Guests never noticed we didn’t have a cake to cut until hours after the reception ended! To make the wedding trifecta complete, the venue’s open bar won over our guests. The variety of beers and wines provided, in addition to liquor, satisfied all palettes. Most importantly, the venue’s personnel were attentive, responsive, professional, and amicable at every step of the process. Though our wedding was adults-only, several guests had newborns or toddlers. The venue allowed us to convert the bridal suite into a childcare center where a local childcare professional watched all children while their parents partied 200 feet away. This also permitted nursing mothers to have some privacy to feed their children throughout the night. This consideration by The Cotton Room was invaluable for several close relatives and friends. It allowed the parents to be near their children and enjoy the celebration unencumbered with constant childcare demands. If you’re looking for a spacious venue with great staff in Durham, NC, then The Cotton Room is your destination. You cannot go wrong.

Cotton Room was for the promise of everything included - linens, tables, chairs, food, drink, servers, and an event coordinator. In the end, everything turned out great. However, the communication was EXCEPTIONALLY poor. It took over 8 months from when we booked the venue to find out who our event coordinator would be. Originally I was told they did not assign one over a year out... but I did not get one until less than four months before the wedding and even that was after many unreturned emails, phone messages, and even reaching the receptionists, who either failed to pass along the message or the coordinators would not call me back. This was problematic for me because I was not in the triangle (going to school), so I couldn't schedule meetings easily. Even the week of the wedding the coordinator was very difficult to reach (her voicemail said she was busy with another event) which was stressful as we were trying to iron out last minute details. The Cotton Room is an amazing space, but be forewarned that you will have difficulty getting people to call you back if you book with them. One last thing of note - I received feedback from my florist and from guests that Michelle Aldred, owner of the Cotton Room, was extremely rude to the guests arriving for the wedding.

efore deciding to do anything. Once we visited and saw The Cotton Room, we knew it was THE venue for us. From that point on, everything was so easy and fell right in to place. Every single guest ranted & raved about how beautiful everything was and how delicious the food was. We could not be more pleased with our decision to have our special day in this gorgeous space. Michelle was also super quick to reply anytime I had a question and was very helpful every step of the way. The day went off without a hitch! It actually went by so fast, I wish we could go back and do it all over again! I would highly recommend booking The Cotton Room for your wedding or any other special event! Ps. ALL of the food is superb, but the pork puppies are ridiculously good and we had the Asian scallop spoons and I literally (and not exaggerating!) ate about 8 of them myself! You just can't go wrong with any of the available food options!

included in their contract. Because they are owned by Triangle Catering, they provide the food and bar. They also provide linens, dishes, some decor, etc. within their contract options. They provide a wedding coordinator to help you work out all of the little details for your wedding and to make your day flow smoothly. We worked with Amalia as our coordinator, and we loved her! She is great at her job, and was so helpful with every question that we had. You can choose to meet with them as often or as few times as you would like. We met once about 6 months before the wedding, and met 2-3 more times in the last couple of weeks to iron out all of the details. They are very attentive to what you want and pay attention to small details! The venue itself is gorgeous. It has a rustic vibe with its exposed brick walls and wooden columns. And there is nothing more beautiful than the dozens of high arched windows that surround the space. I think the best thing about this venue, other than being pretty much full service, is the FOOD. AMAZING. We got so many compliments from our wedding guests. I've never been to a wedding where people sang praises to all of the food at the wedding. We have had so many wonderful comments about the food and are thrilled that our guests enjoyed it as much as we did. We served 3 appetizers (Pork Puppies (these AWESOME little hush puppies filled with BBQ that have a pipette with BBQ sauce stuck in them), Mini Beef Wellingtons, and Okra Fries), 2 entrees (Prime Rib and Maple Pecan Chicken), Caesar Salad, Green Beans, and a Mashed Potato Martini Bar! Everything was great! They also did 2 signature cocktails for us (Strawberry Margaritas and Autumn Apple) that everyone loved. I am so glad that we decided to have our wedding here. I would do it again in a heartbeat!

pricey it leaves little up to the bride. They had everything set up the way I wanted it when I arrived. They did run out of our alcohol choices early in the evening, and apparently not everyone was able to try all the food stations before they ran out, but we were still pleased. You really can't beat the beauty of the room.

which are delicious. The linens were somewhat overwhelming just because they had so many to choose from but that also makes it more fun because you can pull different designs, etc. and piece it all together. The coordinators there are all very nice, although mine got switched, they all handled everything very professionally and my wedding day went off without a hitch. Fantastic people, fantastic venue, I would definitely recommend.

tual coordinator (and we learned that the person we were working with was no longer there), we were MUCH happier and totally moved on. (The process from this point on out is why this review was five stars and not four.) Amalia (and the rest of the staff) is wonderful and did a ton to make us feel satisfied, confident and at ease with the preparations for our wedding. She was extremely accessible and made us feel so comfortable. In addition, she made it a priority to ensure that we were happy and was very generous in doing so. The day-of execution was superb and we received so many compliments on the quality of the service and food, the ease of the event and, of course, the beauty of the space. It was wonderful and we couldn't be more thrilled!