The View at Emerald Lake

The second we saw this place 2 years ago we knew this was the venue for us. It is an all inclusive venue, so it makes planning much easier. The indoor space is huge and updated. We had an outdoor ceremony at the pergola and cocktail hour on the patio. Even with COVID there was plenty of room to space out for guests. I’ve learned it all comes down to the event management. While we there were some issues with the former management and coordinators, the current team is everything you could ask for. We were so happy that they kept everything the way we originally wanted. Maria was great with communication and we couldn’t thank Stratos enough for all the support and help in the past few months. We even did our rehearsal dinner at Ilios Noche (owned by same company) because we had such a great relationship with Stratos. I would definitely recommend this venue to anyone.

Beautiful venue with kind, helpful, accommodating staff!! Highly recommend!

we booked the indulge package in march 2019 with Tracie. she was wonderful, easily in contact, and down to earth. she went on her honeymoon in Sept and then quit. Kayla took over, she was nice and easy to contact, but quit after a month. then we had Layla. Layla was nice, easy to contact, but she mainly just informed new policies that were different than what we were promised. yes he told us we could have the bar for 5-6 hours vs the 4 hours stated in the contract, bc the contract had to be updated. this was at no cost. Layla only gave us 4 hours. Tracie said child's plates were free, Layla said they were $10 and vendors plates were $45. linens were to be peovided, but there is a $2700 service charge. this charge includes linens, labor, venue booking, etc. Layla told us she was only back of house coordinator, so I appointed my MOH as coordinator. I didn't realize that meant she was in charge of everything other than buffet and cleanup. we had to tell everyone when to go, where to meet, when to pay music etc. Layla told us that day it's not in the package and that's an extra fee. she didn't check on us during rehearsals (we booked the venue Friday for rehearsals.) she wasn't at the venue when we got there on wedding day, all the doors were locked. we had to tell the kitchen staff to get our food for getting ready ( which is not the food provided for bridal suites in contract). a mini sandwich tray, fruit, and cheese for 15 people was $85. no outside food allowed. the kitchen staff wasn't told about fruit or cheese. we called Layla and she had to go buy it. the fruit tasted like onions bc they must not have washed the cutting board. the food provided for bridal suites were the appetizers you already paid for, just they set some aside for us to eat while getting announced in. we didn't have our rose petals runner or champagne toasted.thet never gave us that, even though it's in our package (Rose petal is exclusive to that package). the doors to the venue were locked even when we are about to walk down the isle. shout of to Kenny and the kitchen staff. they truly stepped in when we needed them. Kenny could tell we were all pissed off and upset and he got us waters and checked in on us frequently. I believe he was the golf shop manager or the greens manager. emerald lake was a nice venue, but they changed to make way more money. they need to have a more outlined contract, everything is too venue. we couldn't argue on most of everything bc it wasn't in the contract, so they could change anything at any time. Layla wasnt that great during the wedding, but she was enforcing policy. she could have checked in on us a couple of times and she would have known those things.

Emerald Lakes has great potential to be a top wedding venue in the Charlotte area. The space and greens are gorgeous, and the variety of packages offer options to those looking for an all-inclusive venue. Unfortunately, what is lacking from Emerald Lakes is a well-versed and well-run events department. During the 14-month span of wedding planning, we went through 4 different event coordinators (Amy, Tracie, Kayla, and Layla). Assurance was provided by the venue, through a generic email, that the day would still be perfect. Sadly, the constant change in coordinators caused a lot of additional stress as the day-of details kept being deleted by the previous coordinator. We found ourselves constantly having to make trips to the venue and repeating the details of our day. The day-of issues stemmed from the constant changes in coordinators and the contract itself. Since our wedding was booked, the wedding packages changed, but we were grandfathered into the package we signed. The main issue with this was the bar package. The contract stated that we had a “hosted cocktail hour” and a “upgraded hosted bar during the reception for up to 5 hours, with premium liquor.” During the cocktail hour, the bartenders would only allow guests to get a handful of drinks. When it was brought to my sisters’ attention (matron of honor), she went to Layla who had it corrected. The bartenders announced that they had made a mistake and cocktail hour continued. About five minutes before the reception began, Dee and Layla pulled my sister aside and said that we had no bar package included in the “Indulge package.” They explained that the terminology “hosted bar package” meant that the bar was being run by a bartender, but it was a cash bar. The mention of a “cash bar” was not specified in the contract and never mentioned by previous coordinators. To further the argument, the previous coordinator set up with the bar manager, Brandon, to create signature cocktails for the day. We even had numerous in person conversations and emails with each coordinator about our open bar package. My sister attempted to provide documentation and emails confirming our bar package, but Dee refused to review them and give us the package we signed for. In fact, she explained that she “wasn’t sure why there was so much confusion around this wedding” and stood in the corner the rest of the evening with a frown on her face and her arms folded. Ultimately, my sister was forced to put the entire bar tab on her credit card and kept the entire situation a secret from my wife and I until the next day. The next day an email was sent, by my sister, requesting a refund, as she was mischarged for the bar tab. The venue agreed to provide a refund and offered a generic apology. The refund itself took two weeks to receive. Overall, the negatives surrounding this venue include the communication and the events management team. For anyone thinking of planning a wedding here, I recommend getting everything and every correspondence in writing or email, so that you have documentation to fall back on. For a more detailed review, visit Wedding Wire: https://www.weddingwire.com/biz/the-view-at-emerald-lake-matthews/725c8010f375a786.html#reviews