The Oread

t. We rented the Hancock Ballroom, Library, and All Seasons Den. Bayli was incredible to work with! There was not a stone left unturned through the whole planning process. She thought of every last detail and made sure we were happy with every last decision. She was extremely professional and timely with regard to responses via phone call or email. The day ran absolutely seamlessly thanks to her leadership with her team. The room was flipped efficiently between ceremony and reception, food tasted fantastic, service was quick for the plated dinner. Guests were extremely complimentary of the venue and service. We are so grateful we were able to work with Bayli and her team! We have nothing but positive remarks about the venue. Would recommend The Oread to anyone researching venues for any type of event, big or small!

ery easy to enjoy the night of. Our guests were very impressed and had a wonderful time. All the food was AMAZING!

bridal suite, was a dream come true! This was the bride's and bridesmaids space for getting ready for the ceremony. The room was large with an ample closet and elegant bathroom. The windows wrap around the room giving a panoramic view of the campus, and there is a sweet terrace to walk out on that that will made me feel like a princess! There is a bar counter in the room with bar stools that were perfect for our makeup and hair services to come right up to the room! (I did notice that the trash containers are too small for a large room which is the site of an event.) While I was busy attending to the small details, the staff had prepared the reception hall. We had perfectly set tables in all the appropriate places. The room was beautiful, and I noticed upon entrance the chalkboard sign for my guestbook was nicely placed on a small round table with our book at the entrance. (Little things mean a lot!!) This is an all inclusive arrangement which left us and our guests to enjoy the event! Having the room arranged by staff, the appetizers were served, the bar was staffed, our tables were set, the diner was served and cleared, and our cake was cut and served. There are so many small details that we did not want to have to worry about, and we were not disappointed! Whitney Webber was available for all of my questions and concerns. She even held my bouquet while my bridesmaids and I troubled ourselves trying to bustle up my dress before our entrance. Then, she helped with the bustling! We had nothing but happy responses from our guests, and they told us what a wise choice we had made in choosing The Oread for our event!

the reception in a basement ball room so you would have thought it would have been cool. The opposite. It was so uncomfortable many guests had to leave for fresh air. Also, the bar prices were outrageous. In the wedding reception area they were twice the price as the upstairs lobby. Overall it was just an alright experience.

wedding director and the lack of direction and her availability when it came to answering text messages and or phone messages from the bride, bridesmaids and the mother of the bride on the day of our wedding. We have proof of several unreturned phone calls and text messages from these parties and it left a feeling of stress throughout the entire afternoon. That being said, our wedding director, Whitney, was basically non-existent throughout our entire process. After not returning at least four messages from the wedding party, the bride's mother, bridesmaid and mother of the groom searched for our director and thankfully found her at the other wedding in the hotel. With about 30 minutes before the processional, we lacked direction and placement as to where the bridal party could aline themselves since other wedding was going on in the same space. The parents of the bride and groom agreed that the direction was lacking and the director essentially said yes to everything, but we are still missing items from our reception. Conversation held between the director and the wedding parties were never held up. That is what was the most troubling. My wife and her bridal party called several times the morning of our wedding to try to get an early check in for our wedding sleeping room. She needed to have a place to hang her dress before traveling Downtown to have her hair done. Several phone calls to the front desk later, she was given keys to the room, only to find it littered with alcohol bottles, trash and used towels. Cleaning service had not cleaned the room, but scurried in and apologized, saying house-keeping had never advised them of the need to clean the room early. That was frustrating, but the room was clean after they returned. Leaving an expensive wedding dress in a room that hotel employees have open access to was extremely troubling to her. While we understand an early check-in is not a guarantee, guests should be given keys to a clean room. In an ironic twist, after our reception, our hotel room keys would not work, causing me to go down and get new keys printed to access the room with all of our personal belongings inside. Overall, we felt like the lack of communication was extremely troubling and lacking. The venue, food, and employees were helpful and apologetic when we voiced our concerns about the lack of direction from our director. Thankfully our DJ Service we hired was outstanding and was the only one who gave us actual direction to our entire day. If we had to do it again, however, I do not think we would choose the Oread or at least respectfully ask for another wedding director outside of Whitney.

:-) I live in California, and planning my wedding in Kansas was nothing short of a logistical nightmare. I had a lot of specific ideas that I wanted to use, but I couldn't deal with the complete DIY of a loft space from 1500 miles away. The Oread packages were the perfect happy medium. Chairs, linens, place settings, barware, etc are theirs and included. Beyond that, I could to as much or as little as I wanted. Whitney was so helpful and worked with me every step of the way, and accommodated any special requests that I had. Due to a lot of outside complications, my bridal party and I were running late getting ready and taking pictures, so we hadn't set up the reception space yet. (I had tons of candles, votives, and table chandeliers that needed to be arranged on the tables). When my bridesmaids rushed down to work on it, they found that Whitney and her team had already unpacked and set up everything BEAUTIFULLY! That was so above and beyond what we had talked about, and I am forever grateful. One of the most important aspects of the reception for my now husband and I was the food and drinks. We absolutely did not want standard, boring wedding food, and really wanted Mexican. Although not part of their wedding menu, Whitney worked with the Executive Chef to create a wonderful Southwest buffet that I received so many compliments on. The day of the food tasting was one of the best days of my life!:-) Haha, but I was genuinely impressed with the time the chef took to offer several options and sit down and talk with us about what we were looking for. I also would like to compliment the bartenders and servers during the reception, they were amazing. We used the Terrace suite as a getting-ready room for the girls and to stay in the next couple night for my husband and I. I highly recommend it, the location is so convenient and it's absolutely beautiful! My favorite part was the huge, claw foot tub, which was great for relaxing after so many crazy days! In all, I couldn't be more complimentary of the Oread, and it is a perfect backdrop for wonderful wedding pictures!

wedding coordinators did all of our decorating. Our food was delicious. We didn't have to worry about anything while working with the Oread. The wedding coordinators were prompt and helpful when getting back to us about all of our questions/ comments/ and changes. Our reception was beautiful! All of the hotel rooms were wonderful! I would highly recommend the Oread to anyone planning a wedding in Lawrence! We had a great experience and the Oread helped to make our day perfect! They all went above and beyond to make things easy for us!

happy with their professionalism and politeness. We worked with Whitney and Kiley from the beginning to the end. Kiley was even there at the end of the reception personally packing up all of our valuables. They both played a huge role in making our wedding a weekend to remember. The building itself is gorgeous on the inside and outside so hardly any additional decorations were needed. All of our guests were pleased with the venue as well as their hotel rooms. The value for their service is unbeatable. Based on my experience, I would highly recommend having a wedding or event at the Oread! It is truly a one of a kind venue with exceptional service.

ial to me because my husband and I met there. My reception was in the Hancock Ballroom and it was gorgeous. My guests could not get over how beautiful the ceremony and reception spaces were. Another reason my wedding was such an incredible experience was the staff. The staff was wonderful and very professional to work with. The staff set up my reception space exactly how I wanted it and when they tore down the reception space they even packed up my décor for me. And the service of food and drinks were amazing. Whitney Webber was my wedding coordinator for The Oread and I can’t say enough wonderful things about her. From the time I booked the venue and through my wedding she was always very involved and responsive. I was disappointed in some of my other vendors (bakery, florists) because they took SO long to return my calls and emails, but that was never the case with Whitney. She always returned my emails and calls quickly and always seemed happy to help. When I got married at The Oread there were multiple weddings happening throughout the weekend and even that day, which initially made me a little nervous. Whitney made sure everything went smoothly though. She did everything from helping set up my ceremony décor, to putting out my flowers out at the reception, and even showed my husband and I how to cut the wedding cake during the reception. I would absolutely recommend The Oread for wedding ceremonies and/or receptions because of the beauty of the venue and the professional and hardworking staff.

s (and locals) because it is so close to the KU campus so everyone can explore that and very close to Mass St. The rooms and views are beautiful, but the thing that sets this place apart is their impeccable service. From the moment I started to inquire with the Oread about using it for our wedding it was 5 star service. Whitney Webber and Kiley Nottingham are the two wedding coordinators there and they were amazing to work with. They helped me to prepare so well that when it came to having the reception there I was not worried at all. Whitney was there all weekend with anything that we or our guests needed, and because of her and her excellent staff everything went off without a hitch! My only complaint would be that the valet was a little slow, so plan accordingly, but besides that is is perfect. I would recommend the Oread to anyone looking for a great place to stay in Lawrence, it has one of a kind food, service and views and never disappoints!

he wrong information in MANY aspects such as pricing. She literally told me one day she would be at a meeting with my parents and in-laws, who traveled a combined 15 hours to be there, and did not show up. I was told there must have been a "miscommunication," the Oread likes that word. I signed a contract for room agreements, and reserved our room 11 months in advance only to find on check in day that I did not even have a reservation! The 5th floor terrace, that my entire bridal party would get ready in....and honeymoon suite, was not reserved. Luckily, nobody else had reserved it either or I would have come unglued. The valet service LOST my maid of honors car multiple times. We had flowers delivered to the Oread, that were taken into the building by Oread staff, and found out later that there were entire boxes of flowers that went unused because they were not in the same cooler as our other flowers. A total waste of money. I think there are too many "cooks in the kitchen." There are directors of several different departments that don't communicate with each other, and they have what seems like entirely too many events to coordinate to get it all correct. They definitely do not make your experience a special one. There were some positive aspects. The food was delicious, the chef, Todd, was fantastic, and Whitney, our second (and clearly superior) wedding director picked up the pieces of our miserable experience in the best possible way I could have hoped for. Overall, the Oread is operated by a lot of early-20s people, and probably college students, thus, creating a large turnover rate within their staff. There is clearly a lack of expertise provided by employees, and when you pay a premium price you expect premium service. You won't get that with the Oread, simple as that.

er two. Very impressed.

ad hotel. My husband and I were so excited to have our wedding ceremony held at The Oread- a newer hotel at the end of KU's campus- where I went to school. The pre-planning wasn't terrible. Kiley and Whitney did a pretty good job of keeping in touch with me and letting me drop by to look around the ballroom space. However, I was promised several things: 1) That we would be able to play a video and a CD during our wedding. 2) We would rehearse everything during the rehearsal the night before the wedding to ensure everything ran properly. 3) That we would have an actual A/V person there on the wedding day to run sound properly. NONE of those things happened. The wedding planner we hired was the only one that cared about getting things done during the rehearsal. Our rehearsal ran behind because she kept trying to find someone to help us figure out how to run everything. There was ONE laptop that ran everything. It was plugged in at the front of the ballroom where the front of the ceremony was. Our wedding planner had to hide under the unity candle table DURING the ceremony to run everything from that one computer. The video started by the guests seeing a computer screen projected on to the wall. Then the sound was completely off for half of the video, then it proceeded to skip a few times- probably because it was being played in a laptop. We spent 15 hours on that video. Next, during the ENTIRE ceremony, no one at The Oread helped try to figure out how to turn off the projector, so my groom and I stood in front of a blue computer screen backdrop on the wall the entire time. All of our wedding pictures and video from our ceremony will have a blue computer screen behind us. Next, my best friend was to sing a song during our ceremony- the music started, she got one line out and the laptop died. She couldn't sing her song that I'd dreamed about for years! Once we were announced Mr. & Mrs. we had put together a CD for exit music, but it couldn't play because the laptop was dead. There was NO ONE at The Oread that cared to make this better, tried to make sure it all ran properly, or cared to speak with me after everything was over. Not only that, but the entire staff could have cared less we were there. The front desk staff was clueless about our event and told us "I don't know, walk around and try to find someone." Our "gathering room" we were told we could get ready in had a trash can full of old pizza boxes in it like we were an after thought. It was the most unprofessional, disrespectful way to run something that's supposed to be the best day of someone's life. I would NEVER recommend doing any event at this hotel unless you want a low-grade event that gets zero attention. I am in awe that this expensive hotel advertises itself as an event space. It's overpriced with terrible service. I will always think about The Oread when I see our ceremony pictures for years to come with a blue computer screen lit up behind us. - Lindsay Gant

y.

as shining brightly upon our guests, the staff was ever so diligent, especially Catherine, and our wedding was a magical moment. I can't tell you how many great comments we had on the venue, food & staff. Catherine was a huge part of our wedding being such a success and I want to tell you what a "gem" you have with her on your staff. The appetizers that the Chef created for us were FABULOUS & the presentation was phenominal!! We would highly recommend the venue for future events and we're so happy we chose The Oread for our special day!!

s perfect and Whitney is a fantastic wedding coordinator, we couldn't have asked for anything more!

off without a hitch and we couldn't have been more pleased. Many of our guests had never been to Kansas and kept commenting on what a great hotel the Oread is. We are so happy we chose the Oread for our big wedding weekend!

both for aesthetic reasons and due to the quality of service.

The only downside, the offer no discounts. But the viwes were worth it.

ng Aubrey Cain were very professional and accommodating. The chef even replicated our family's cheese grits and they helped bring to life my vision of a biscuit bar (a tribute to a tradition I had with my grandmother of making biscuits!) We can't recommend them enough

o create the perfect reception within our budget. She was also great to work with on the day of- she kept the whole evening flowing without flaw. I must mention the food was absolutely amazing! We received so many comments on how delicious our buffet was. Our reception was in one of the ballrooms. I did all of the decorating myself, but with the beauty of the building itself- it didn’t need much. Be sure to get a few photos from one of the terraces too!