Think twice, or pay the price!
My daughter decided to have her wedding reception and originally her ceremony at Lions Garden. Keep in mind, if you live in the city this is a very long drive, for your guests.
Don’t be fooled by their website, it is definitely not what it seems. For starters, we had originally made arrangements to have the actual ceremony and reception at this place. Unfortunately, we could not find a Catholic priest, that would perform the ceremony outside of the church, despite the fact, that the owners of Lions Garden, had assured us, that they had multiple Catholic priests perform ceremonies at their establishment.
So, we ended up cancelling that portion (the ceremony) and the owners, even though they were given six months advanced notice, refused to return the $750 that we paid to have the ceremony. Six months was plenty of time for them to rent out the ceremony area should they have needed it. They still refused to reimburse my daughter.
The parking lot is a very long walk from the actual venue itself, for elderly people using walkers or canes it is not convenient and the owners won’t even allow guests to be driven up to the actual venue, regardless of age, disability, or amount of items your guest may be carrying. This walk is on uneven ground gravel and sand, a total nightmare if you are wearing a long gown and high heels. Navigating in the dark even more of a challenge.
They promised to have bartenders that were qualified, as you do pay for this, $8.00 corkage per person, turns out to be their kids tending bar.
The floorboards in the eating and dance area are so uneven, sticking out in so many places it’s a horrifying tripping hazard, many of our guests fell while dancing. Take caution, if it’s a windy day, once you open the barn like doors you may find out the hard way as we did, any tables close to those doors will have the decorations and vases blown right off the tables.
There is no running water, so we had to use rain water for our vases of flowers and the rainwater had sluge in it.
The roof leaks, a fun thing considering it rained.
The portable bathrooms are not accommodating at all for older people, And for what you pay for this place, $6000.00 for a day, they should have at least been going into these portable potties every so often and cleaning them up, as they had promised.
If you’re planning on wearing fancy shoes and a long gown be prepared, your shoes and your dress will be totally ruined at the bottom because of the rough unclean flooring and the gravel and sand that circles the venue. To top it off the owners feel compelled to walk through your reception several times during the evening, making guests very uncomfortable.
They shut you down at 12:30 AM, give you half an hour to get out of the building which is not nearly enough time to load up all your decorations, and if you run over that half hour they charge you a fee, and it’s not cheap.
You’ll receive no help whatsoever with set up or take down, you’re on your own, which for what your are charged, I feel is totally unacceptable, they could have at least set up the tables and the chairs for us and taken down the tables and chairs, like every other venue, that doesn't charge nearly as much as this place. Why couldn't takedown be done on the next day Sunday, especially when they had no activities scheduled? After all, your guests are exhausted by the end of the day, and considering the long drive many of them had to face, the shuttles that were waiting, to take those who had been drinking, it’s pretty difficult to get help dismantling and loading of decorations that late, even more stressful when the owners stand there Impatiently, and watch you while you take down everything, making you feel very uncomfortable. And don’t even think of trying to leave your vehicle or anything overnight there.
Don’t accidentally take a hanger belonging to them, your deposit will be held back, or a fee of $45 per hanger.
The only bright spot was the scenery, which made for beautiful wedding pictures. A high price to pay.