The Meritage Resort & Grand Reserve at The Meritage

thout our wedding planner Angelica. I would say the people who worked our actual wedding (bartenders, waiters, etc.) were great. It's really the events and sales team that is difficult to work with and very disorganized. For how much they charge to get married here the service is not in line. Below are some of the issues we ran into: -Our first wedding coordinator we were with (Lily) was great and very responsive. Unfortunately she left and there was no communication on who would be taking over. It was only after I e-mailed her several times and finally called her cell phone directly that I was informed she had left. Our second wedding coordinator Jasmine was not there for very long. However, she scheduled over our tasting appointment and was not helpful when trying to resolve this issue. Again limited communicated when she left. -Many back and forths about adding to our room block (took several months to add 15 rooms). Additionally the room block rate that was first quoted to us was actually more expensive than what was on the website! -Told us we could rent their on-site shuttle for guests but then rescinded that. Would recommend they have an on-site shuttle rental option as it can be a hike up to the vineyard deck. -Sent banquet event orders 5+ times that were wrong -Said they were going to charge $4/bag to pass out welome bags at the front desk -The literal day before our wedding our wedding coordinator was not working so had to coordinate through other event staff

ofessionalism of the team, flexibility in allowing you to have the day of your dreams and undoubtedly amazing quality in everything that is shown and served to you and your guests. The Meritage is one of my favorite venues to show my clients because they fall in love with it immediately. This is a venue that you come to if you want a dream wedding!

coordinator I was passed to and worked with for several months stopped being very responsive to my emails in the last couple weeks leading to my wedding. Then, 3 days before my wedding, she announced she was leaving. She didn’t finish my paperwork so I had to go back and forth with the new event coordinator why I should not be charged current prices in honor of the contract I signed before with the old prices. As bad as that seemed, though, that still did not compare to the true nightmare that I experienced working with the venue’s Audio-Visual Team. Its shoddy and shifty sales guy, Nick Freda, gave me a 15% discount on all the equipment but super increased the price of the labor so the discount was pretty much useless. I rented so many equipment from him and his team that you would think he would help me out with certain labor (which should already have been included in the ridiculous labor prices that he charged me) like giving us free tape and helping tape down wires and things but NO. I thought he was also gonna charge me for my request to turn on and off the lights during my reception! I hope management changes its rule about hiring its in-house Audio-Visual team so brides can shop around and work with people that they will feel comfortable with. Management also needs to ensure that brides work with only one event planner all throughout the event to minimize the anxiousness of what is already such a stressful event.

y sister’s girlfriend who recently just had her wedding there at the end of last year. Her experience was similar to mine, and I wish I could have told her before she had her wedding there. So I think I should do something to warn any future couples who maybe thinking about this place. My advice is to stay away!!!! So, to be fair, I will break it down to Pros and Cons... Pros: location is good, the facility is nice, can host many out of town guests, and that’s why I chose it for my destination wedding. That’s all the pros I can think of... Cons: my wedding coordinator from Meritage, Lisa Crowell, is an unprofessional and inefficient event coordinator I have ever seen. First, she was so unorganized that she kept missing the things that should have been easily taken care of. For example, I booked 10 rooms, all under my name, for my out of town families, and she only had 9 down, so they had to scramble room for my guests on the day they checked in. Then she misbilled me for the room charge, which took me a while to straigtened it out after the wedding. Her communication skills was pretty poor, not responding emails, and keep missing things that I asked, and the worst thing was she complained about me to the vendors who actually reported back to me how unprofessional she was (two of the vendors were actually my friends). Hope she’s no longer working there. Unfortunately, my sister’s friend had similar experiences (unprofessional and unorganized wedding coordinator at the Meritage) for her wedding. Food tasted very poor, nothing like what we tried in the food tasting session before the wedding. I could tell you one thing that my guests remembered most about my wedding was how bad the food was. This was brought up when we were at someone else’s wedding, and many of my friends told me that they were hungry after my wedding as the food tasted too salty and weird that many of them couldn’t eat it. Again, my sister went to her friend’s wedding in Meritage, and she told me that the food was not good. Very disappointing for a resort place like this scale. Customer service: besides bad experience with the wedding coordinator at the Meritage, the server at the wedding was not professional either. They gave my guests attitude when they asked for extra utensils or wine refill. The sad experience for my sister’s friend was that the top tier of her wedding cake was gone, which she planned to save it for her wedding anniversary. The server told her that they served it to the guests because it’s not enough. She found it hard to believe as she ordered a four tiers wedding cake and accounted for 150 guests without the top tier. And she only had 120 guests... so who knows what happened to her cake. The worst part was the server or whoever in charge made it sound like it’s her fault for not getting the right size cake. The bride and the baker actually specified to save the top tier, not for serving. To sum up the experiences that me and the other bride had: Meritage wedding provides you poor customer services and tasteless food... I hope this will at least help some future brides to look into their options carefully. I also hope Meritage management seriously do something to change the services.

ave been any sweeter, kinder and more patient along the whole process. To be honest, it was hard to say goodbye at the end, as silly as that may sound. Having her and her team, gave me peace of mind, which is priceless. Any bride going through this crazy process is not only in great hands, but the best hands at The Meritage. We had a 50 person wedding. The ceremony was on the vineyard deck and the reception was in the cave. To say both locations blew guests away is an understatement. My special day was magical and it went off without a hitch. Thank you Andrea and the whole Meritage team! You have a home and a Cuban family in Miami waiting for you!

vineyard deck and our reception in the wine cave. Our guests raved about the beautiful setting and delicious food and we will definitely be back to celebrate our anniversary.

d with the trouble of finding a new venue, in Napa, during peak season, with only six months notice. Luckily, we had planned to get married on a Monday, so the Meritage had availability based on the unconventional timing. But although the circumstances of picking Meritage were unusual, it was the absolute best decision that we could have made, period. Where the original venue was difficult to contact and required much effort on the part of the couple, the Meritage operated according to a streamlined yet personal process that made the whole procedure incredibly comfortable, particularly for a destination wedding. Our event planner, Andrea D., was an absolute godsend and I would encourage anyone to work with her. She answered my hundreds of emails promptly and professionally, but more than that, I really feel that she became my friend in the process. She made me feel like she was as invested in the wedding as I was and I am honestly sad that our business relationship has concluded and I don't have a good reason to send her messages anymore. I could go on and on, but for convenience sake, I will list the PROS here: - Awesome staff: Andrea was amazing, of course, but so was everyone else. A lovely woman named Patricia actually came to my room with a sewing kit to fix my wedding dress after catastrophe struck. She was so kind and helpful, mending not only my dress but my sanity in that moment. Also, the accounting department was kind and flexible when our credit card company refused to process the whole payment at once (a common problem for large transactions) and patiently split our payment across several days without troubling us with the details. - Beautiful facilities: The ceremony deck is incredible and picturesque. Some people point out that the hotel is close to a busy highway, but this is nonsense. You can't see or hear a thing up there and the vista is gorgeous. The Estate cave is spectacular. I recommend paying the extra expense for the vine-pattern uplighting because it really adds to the ambiance. - Best wedding suite ever: Our wedding package came with the wedding suite, which was by far the nicest room I've ever stayed in. Massive deck, fully equipped kitchen, couches, beautiful bed, great bathroom amenities, swimming pool where a bathtub should be-- I digress. There is no nicer place I could have spent the morning or night of the wedding. - Delicious food: During our tasting, we had a difficult time choosing which dishes to serve because they were all fantastic. Everyone commented on the quality of the food and the portions were very healthy. - Open bar: In Napa, it's tough to get an open bar and many places require you to pre-purchase wine. The bartender was great, the pours were generous, and the selection was ample. To conclude, of all the decisions we made throughout the wedding process, Meritage was the one that I would recommend most enthusiastically. While things inevitably went wrong on the big day, nothing was the fault of the venue and they consistently did their very best to make sure that we were happy and comfortable the entire time. My only regret is that we can't do it again! If we could, I'd do it at Meritage again in a heartbeat.

ge and I was really happy with all the support and guidance that she provided over the last year! The resort is just beautiful and the cost for guests to stay was not outrageous like some of the other places in Napa. We got married on June 10th 2017 and decided to come up on Wednesday to enjoy Napa and unwind. When we arrived there was a bottle of champs in our chairman suite along with a cheese plate. There were several amenities provided for us throughout our stay (Wednesday thru Monday)! We felt appreciated and got to enjoy Napa with our friends and family! The day of the wedding, I was very stressed (wanted everything to be perfect!), but after getting driven up to the vineyard deck for the ceremony, I was put at ease - It was gorgeous! We had the gazebo draped in white linen and rose petals filled the aisle - It looked like something off Pintrest - Simply perfect! The ceremony went off without a hitch and we will cherish that moment for the rest of our lives! The reception was off the hook - it took place in the wine cave and we chose the vine lighting with some pink uplighting. Everyone commented on how great the space looked and loved the vibe! Dinner service was perfect - and I mean perfect! Both my husband and I have worked in the service industry growing up and were very impressed by the food quality and the staff's attentiveness! Everyone loved the food and everyone's drink was always full - these were all must-haves going in when we picked this venue! The late night snacks were a big hit, but I didn't get any because I was too busy talking and dancing - everyone loved the sliders and fry bar! All my family, friends and husband are still talking about the wedding - we had an absolutely amazing time!

lanning this wedding was an absolute blast, and I owe most of that to the event coordinators at The Meritage. Jake and Andrea. When I was initially venue searching, Jake was persistent in his follow-ups with me. That caught my attention right away, and I booked this venue sight unseen. Once I signed my contract and started working with Andrea, everything from there on out was a breeze. She is smart, honest, knowledgeable and unbelievable organized and coordinated. She rocks at her job and made my life so easy throughout my planning process. I truly felt as if she treated my wedding like it were her own. She responded to every email, concern and question almost immediately. (I had a lot of questions, ha!) I would even e-mail her for her opinion on certain things. She was absolutely phenomenal the entire time, leading up to my arrival at The Meritage for my wedding week. The service at The Meritage was top notch. Everyone was beyond respectful and courteous. The resort and the food (not even including my wedding) were amazing. The bell men, the house-keeping, the chefs, the bartenders - everyone was fantastic. Now - to talk about my wedding - hands down the best day of my entire life. I had a beautiful evening ceremony on the vineyard deck overlooking the vineyard. My cocktail hour was by the pool and my wedding reception was in the beautiful wine cave. Everything was flawless. The décor, the flowers, the food, the service - EVERYTHING. One of the BEST decisions I've made was getting married in Napa and choosing The Meritage as my venue. I LOVE it there and I cannot say enough good things about the events team - they rocked and made me feel SO special. HIGHLY recommended for any brides considering having their wedding here, and HIGHLY recommended for anyone even coming to Napa. ALL of my guests told me it was the best wedding they've ever been to and they cant wait to come back to The Meritage! I have already booked my one year anniversary trip there for 2018. LOVE NAPA! LOVE THE MERITAGE & LOVE the wonderful staff! THANK YOU for the best day of our lives!

lounge with bowling alley and multiple areas for guests to spend time such as poolside, spa, wine room, etc. Andrea Dusil is the event manager and will work with you to make your event perfect. She is amazing to work with, very detailed, organized, and responsive. This was the perfect venue for us and our guests loved everything about it.

lient (whether corporate or bridal). We are proud to showcase our work within and are always at ease knowing when our next assignment will be on property. Behind the scenes...The Meritage Resort and Spa is always professional...ensuring that everything is flawless! What an honor and a privilege it is to design here! We couldn't possibly rave about this venue and all it's wedding glory any more. This venue is it!

et. The staff was attentive and friendly. The entire resort is an experience with or without a wedding! We got married up on the Vineyard Deck and had the reception in the most beautiful wine cave there is in Napa! We worked directly with Andrea Dusil at the Meritage Resort for our wedding and she was absolutely perfect! Andrea was friendly, attentive, responsive and the best partner to coordinate our special day! Andrea worked hard on making our wedding day perfect and she succeeded! The wait staff was quick and friendly, the wine was delicious and the food was to die for! (Best Salmon & Chardonnay I have ever had!) I would absolutely 100% recommend the Meritage Resort to host your wedding & request Andrea to work with! Thank you Meritage & Andrea for making my wedding day so perfect! You are much appreciated!

e breathtakingly beautiful. We had our ceremony on the beautiful vineyard deck with the lush vineyard as our backdrop and our reception was in the wine cave. Our guests fell in love with the venue and commented how beautiful everything was. The food was SOOOO GOOOD. They exceeded our expectations. The staff were polite friendly and hard working. Our amazing on site event coordinator Andrea Dusil did a fantastic job! She was always there to steer me in the right direction and answered all my questions and queries. She was a pleasure to work with! Thank you Meritage Resort & Spa for our dream wedding. If we had it to do all over again, we would definitely choose the Meritage once again :)

rience with Ashley Butler (who helped us decided on the Meritage as our venue) and Andrea Dusil (who helped us plan our beautiful wedding day). Furthermore, Andrea was very organized and quickly answered any questions, comments or concerns that we had. Our guests loved everything about their experience and honestly had nothing but great things to say. I HIGHLY recommend the Meritage for anyone looking to have a top notch wedding in Napa - you won't be disappointed!

but the Meritage staff handled everything so smoothly and our wedding ended up being spectacular!!! Also all of our friends and family just loved staying there for the wedding!

vendors (Meritage, officiant, photographer, videographer , florist , bakery , string quartets , DJ , photo booth and florist). I will tell you my first meeting (Fall 2015) with Meritage staff was with an Amazing Events Manager Andrea Dusil. She took the time out of her busy schedule to have me tour the facility and learn about my services and our bride and groom. She provided me with the role for her staff on the day of the rehearsal and wedding . Andrea was responsive no matter what time of the day or day of the week. One the day of the wedding Andrea and her team worked like a symphony , no detail was missed service was A1. Food was excellent. They were professional , helpful, and accommodating to the bride/groom, guest and myself. I would highly recommend the Meritage for your next event. Yvette Ford - Heart & Soul Event Production, http://m.heartandsoulep.com/

beyond to make my event perfect. My husband and I hosted a pre-party event at Crush Lounge with bowling, food and drinks. Each of our guests loved this as it brought together out of town family and friends. This venue has everything you can ever want to host your destination wedding (great rooms, a wonderful spa, an on-site restaurant with a tasty menu and on-site wine tasting room.) The reception food was beyond perfect. Not one complaint from family and friends, only raves on how tasty everything was. I would highly recommend this venue 1000x's again. I will never forget my wedding day because it was at the Meritage and neither will my guests.

in event coordinator Andrea Dusil. Don't get me wrong the resort is gorgeous and has great amenities like an amazing restaurant, Trinitas tasting room, indoor bowling at Crush that has the best fries I ever tasted, and an award winning spa, but it is so helpful to work with someone who knows what they are doing. I am currently planning my wedding to take place at The Meritage coming up this June and I only have great things to say about Andrea. She has been there every step of the way during the process. No matter what request I throw at her she has a solution that is better than anything I could suggest. She found a way to make my ideal seating arrangement possible for about 30 more people than they usually plan for (I did not even ask for her to do that- above and beyond)! She is quick to respond to any email or call I make to her and is always in a cheery mood. Even when I had an issue with the reservations department concerning my room block she was on top of the issue and made sure I was taken care of. Wedding planning can be very stressful, but she is making it so easy! I am grateful to be working with her! I have dealt with a lot of different vendors, but she is by far the most patient and accommodating, which is extremely valuable when planning a wedding. There are so many moving parts and different things to consider that I could not imagine having my special day anywhere else!

round due to another event in an adjoining space) to the awesome captaining of Elizabeth who worked with my clients and I to create an organic timeline that was comfortable to all. We will definitely be back with more clients in the future!

f events. She was also really easy to work with when discussing the pricing. The best part was that she was incredibly responsive - a vital point since I opted to have wedding with only 7 weeks notice. Since I chose to get married on Halloween, many of the venues were available and I took advantage of all of them! I had a two-day, two-ceremony event. On Friday, my ethnic wedding took place on the Oakville Lawn and terrace. My event planner was due to start setting up at 2pm so you can image how freaked out I was when there was a full blown luncheon with over a hundred people when I walked by the venue at 12:45. That event ended a little after 1, and the event crew had everything broken down in 30 minutes! We had tons of loud, live music and requested a very specific spread of food. The hotel staff handled it without any issue and everything looked AMAZING. Once that event ended, we took over Crush. Upon determining that I was the bride, the manager of Crush came right up to me, introduced himself and told me to come see him if I needed anything. Twice during the night I asked him to take care of a few small things and he did so immediately. The food was fantastic, and the staff was really eager to help and please. On Saturday, I had my second wedding on the Vineyard deck. The staff was great about getting all my elderly and disabled guests up and back down the hill. Then the drinks on the Vineyard terrance were a beautiful break before we headed into the estate cave. There, the staff (including the chef who came out to personally make sure everything was to my liking) were beyond nice. For dessert, we headed back to the vineyard terrace so the event staff could break down and remove 8-10 tables to create a dance floor. They did so in 20 minutes. I'm telling you - these guys are pros at this. While at the terrace, a super sweet member of the staff (I wish I could remember his name but he was a Mexican gentleman with a long name and an accent) even jumped in to help us when he saw me mangling our cake. In short, everything went perfectly and while it was truly a group effort, I am putting 90% of the praise on Andrea Dusil. She went above and beyond. She responded to every email thoughtfully and punctually, and I truly believe she cared about me having an amazing wedding.

reception 30 minutes prior to ceremony in the lower deck right below the ceremony deck to give folks a chance to make the beautiful walk up and enjoy the beautiful views before showtime. The Meritage provides these adorable parasols for guests if you have a sunny day. The Wine Cave for the reception has the most amazing WOW factor when guests walk in. It is majestic and romantic all at the same time. My guests were floored by how beautiful the two venues were. FOOD: Outstanding. I received many compliments that the cocktail appetizers were the best people had EVER had at a wedding (petit lambchops FLEW). We had an appetizer between salad and the main course (Short Rib Ravioli) that everyone raved about… they wanted to skip the main course and just have 5 more of those. We also had a crepe station toward the end of the night and they were HUGE hit. Delicious food and wine all around. SERVICE: My wedding angel, Ashely Butler, what would I have done without her. Ashley is the Catering Sales Manager but she went above and WAY BEYOND playing any role she needed to so that I would have the perfect wedding…. from giving me creative options for multiple events/pricing at the resort to suggesting the perfect spots in Napa for the rehearsal dinner. Life is imperfect and there were of course hiccups. One was a change of event coordinators mid way through and I was nervous about the change but Ashley stayed involved to ensure consistency with my wedding planning. When Andrea Dusil came onboard and took over everything was even better. Weddings can be messy and complicated but they both tag teamed anything that came up and I can simply say… I was not stressed and I felt pampered and very special for my wedding weekend.

n or Brix. Best of luck!" My fiancé and I stayed at Meritage hotel and liked the hotel so we decided to find out more information about their venues and after receiving the above email I called and of course with no response again I told lory at the front desk I needed to speak with either Ashley or Monica because I didn't appreciate the email referring me to different venues and providing me no info as I inquired. Ashley got on the line and first she told me she cannot host smaller size weddings (which I'm having destination wedding and clearly states is offered on their website), then she changed her story and said she didn't have the date I needed available (which I'm flexible btw), then it changed from not being able to have a small wedding to calling 6 months before the date to start planning it. I told her I found everything about my experience with her to be unprofessional and disrespectful and all I wanted was information about the venue and etc because I'm shopping around. I'm not sure how any kind of business whether service, products, people and etc can refer their own customers to another business. Thanks for the referral Ashley but if I were interested in those venues I would have referred myself to them. Not only Meritage lost my business to even think about having my wedding there but they lost my business to stay at their hotels for lifetime and I will make sure everyone knows and to not stay there.

ur and Estate Wine Cave for the reception) were beautiful. All of our guests commented on how beautiful our wedding was and the cave gave off such a "wow" factor when you walked in. The food was also delicious and the service during the reception was great- the servers were constantly filling water, etc. The chef even came out to say congratulations to me and my husband. Carly, our planner, was also great. She responded quickly to our emails and was a huge help at the rehearsal and the day of the wedding. We wanted to use the shuttle after the rehearsal to take it downtown and she arranged it for us, even having the driver stop at a restaurant off the normal route so that our grandparents didn't have to walk far. However, she was the 3rd wedding planner given to us, because the other two left and Carly took over a month before our wedding. The actual wedding went by perfectly. Up until then though, was not so seamless. So now for the bad. The reservations there are a disaster. It took us forever to get our room block contract back and guests were asking us when they could book. They told us guests could call the hotel if they wanted rather than using the online reservation system and when a couple guests tried to do that, someone at reservations told them there was no block available. The actual check in part was the worst. I'd say 75% of our guests' rooms were not ready by the check in time at 3 pm and a lot of people didn't get in until way later in the evening! Then their check-in system went down and that caused a bunch of delays and problems. They gave my grandparents a room that someone was already staying in so they had to come back down to the desk for a new room. A couple people didn't get their luggage from the front desk (who was holding it because the room wasn't ready) for hours. Our welcome bags were given to incorrect people even though they were clearly labeled with each person's name on it, and some weren't given them at all. It was just a mess. And then there are the little things. As the bride, I was staying in a suite (which was very small by suite standards). You would think since I'm the bride and getting married at the hotel that they would clean my room. Nope. They didn't clean it the day before my wedding and then my wedding day I had to call multiple times for someone to come clean it. I had my photographer and hair and make up people coming and I was still waiting for someone to clean the room. After the wedding, the hotel gave us champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. However, they put the strawberries in the fridge that was clearly broken. Even opening it for a second you can tell that it was broken b/c there was hot air pouring out of it. But they put the strawberries in there and they were melted and gross. Also, we had some time to kill before the ceremony started so me and my husband and our bridal party stopped at the bar to order champagne and they charged us for it. I just think it's odd that I'm standing there in my wedding dress with an obvious wedding party (of 4) and they wouldn't give us a free glass of champagne? We were spending thousands of dollars there but free champagne is too much. Overall, it's beautiful, just beware of reservations.

atmosphere and ambiance. Feedback from the guests was that everything was absolutely gorgeous - and it was. We were very happy with the service we received and I didn't encounter any issues during the entire planning process. Our on-site coordinator Carly was great to work with. Responsive and helpful, and always answered my questions even when I'd already asked her the same question before. Many guests commented on how wonderful the site was, but also how friendly and welcoming the staff were. That was also my experience - from the front desk to housekeeping to the bellhops to the concierge. Everyone I spoke to was extremely helpful and friendly. I'm pretty surprised by other reviews that indicate otherwise... The food is good, the food tasting was really fun, and everything on the day of was perfect and went exactly as planned. They require you to have a day-of planner, which is actually a good thing so that you and your friends/family can just enjoy the day and let your coordinator take care of all the work. Also, the bridal suite is really awesome - very spacious and helped make you feel even more special and fancy!

ur during the weekend festivities. We live in Miami and all guests would be coming from the east coast. No one ever got back to me to schedule an appointment so since we were only in the area for 4 days to venue shop, we figured we would stop by. Upon arrival I explained to the front desk why we were there and also advised that I had made several attempts to contact Monica and Ashley who are with the catering team, she proceeded to contact Monica in a rude manner I might say towards my fiancé and I. Anyways we were told that Monica was too "busy" to assist us or offer someone else to show us around the property. My fiance and I visited nearly 20 wedding venues this trip and all were very friendly and inviting especially considering we would probably spend 50K for our big day. The Meritage gets a BIG THUMBS DOWN from me and I will be sure to let others know how they treat ppl. I suggest that the staff receive some sort of customer service class as they are in the hospitality industry...hence the word hospitality. We also stopped into the Westin Versa down the block without appointment I might add and Judith had zero issues with showing us around and providing information to us regarding the venue.