Since the first time my husband and I stepped foot in The Drake, we knew it was our venue.
Upon our first visit in 2019, we met with Gina. She walked us through the then under c...onstruction rooms. The hotel was at the time renovating its guest rooms to become part of the Marriott Autograph hotel collection. Let me tell you, it's tough to believe a sales person when she walks you through dusty hallways to one complete, albeit beautiful, room and says, "Don't worry it'll be done by next summer."
We researched countless additional venues and visited about six and nothing held a candle to the vibe, service and overall aesthetic of The Drake. So we really put our faith in the construction being done.
The little touches are what really make this place wonderful. We had champagne with Gina when we signed our contract, our menu tasting with Michael was not only delicious, but also incredibly fun and the communication was clear and organized.
When we decided to postpone our wedding an entire year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team made sure our date was available and kept us abreast of the changing event landscape so that we could plan accordingly. And guess what... the construction was beyond done by that point and The Drake is looking as beautiful as ever.
Our wedding week was seamless. Michael arranged a time for us to drop off all of our decor two days before our event and stored everything in a safe place. Upon arrival at the venue the day of our wedding, Michael greeted us, said hello to our parents and delivered a plate of happy hour appetizers to the bridal party. The room looked impeccable and the evening could not have been more perfect. It really was the wedding of our dreams.
Guests complimented us on the ambiance of the venue, the food and the accommodations. If we had to choose two things to improve upon, they'd be the room reservation system and the delivery of welcome bags for our guests. When booking rooms, guests needed to book through the Marriot system which was a bit unforgiving. There were a few instances where we were booking rooms on behalf of our guests or trying to work with Michael to acquire certain rooms we needed (which is out of his team's control). Additionally, we took the time to pack welcome bags for each of our guests staying at the hotel, but unfortunately less than half of our guests received them because they were not handed out at check-in.
Overall, this place is a gem and we plan to celebrate our anniversary here every year. Michael and Gina are an incredible team and our experience was extremely positive and memorable. We'd work with this team to plan another event in a heartbeat.