Lions Garden

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 For starters, we had originally made arrangements to have the actual ceremony and reception at this place.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.

Would not recommend. Owners really tough to deal with. Stated that they could do catholic ceremonies outdoors, though this was not true. I called around and confirmed this. They would not refund the extra 700$ we payed for outdoor ceremony even though we gave 6 months notice and it was based on what they originally lied to us about. They like to walk through the event and monitor the guests frequently. Though they cannot upkeep portapotties throughout event. Setup had to be the same morning and cleanup on the same night. If you can’t clean up drunk and in half an hour then there are even more charges. They come in yelling “get out, get out” while pointing at their watch. Wouldn’t even set up chairs or tables though they ask you for a floor plan a month prior. For such an exstravagant price, they don’t give you any service. Also flooring is not high heel or elderly friendly as it is quite uneven. A really bad experience to have on YOUR “special day”

My fiance and I are getting married here in July. The venue is gorgeous and the space is large and open! You do need to put effort into communicating with the owners ane thoroughly reading their guidelines because there are quite a few rules. We asked the owners to move a piece of farm equipment away from the barn entrance because that wasn't the style we wanted and it's taking up a fair amount of space. Hopefully they will accommodate us with that as it's been our only request. :)

She ain’t pretty she just looks that way. She’s a three dressed up as a nine. I personally feel sorry for all the brides currently booked with this place for their upcoming wedding. I sincerely believe that your product is only half of your business and the rest is your customer service. The grounds are gorgeous and my photos turned out beautiful. That being said, if I could turn back time I would have gotten married at a hotel downtown and taken my photos elsewhere. The owners do not lift a finger and essentially make YOU PAY an exorbitant amount of money to work FOR them. The cost of the venue, at the end of the day, is comparable to that of higher end venues in the city. However those other venues we explored included a wedding cordinator, decor and setup in their cost. My wedding day was unbelievably stressful and the owners just stood by and watched. We had to pry at them to grab the decor we rented, that should have been at the barn before hand. The earliest they let you in is 9am, but for most people it’s 10am for set up. If you’re planning any elaborate decor, press the back space button at the top of your search bar now, and keep looking for another venue. My day was so rushed my makeup and hair didn’t get that “perfect wedding day” time that it needed. what a Nightmare. The end of the night was also a disaster with the owner (husband) yelling at my guests to get out while aggressively tapping on his wrist (gesturing time). Everyone was working so hard to get things put away, but the rush caused my guests to frantically throw things in the u-haul, which in turn, caused many things to either be misplaced or broken. I’m sorry, but screaming at me isn’t going to magically make my legs work faster. Does that work for you? Maybe instead of wasting your breath you could fold up YOUR TABLES like every other venue known to man. With the amount of unorthodox rules they set in place, they are in the wrong business. Myself nor my guests, have EVER heard of this. Night-of clean up? closing at 12:30? No driving up the GRAVEL road to the venue? No table set up? No help? No table take down? Just watching, inappropriate yelling and, screaming. APPALLING. What kind of a venue makes you pay to clean for them? This is someone’s wedding day. This is the most important day of their lives. Most of the people getting married here are young couples establishing themselves. People are being used and abused here. You can’t charge THAT MUCH and include NOTHING in that cost. Not to mention that for the price we paid — a leaking ceiling? SEVERELY uneven floor boards? Bathrooms with urine all over the floor? (we were told these get cleaned throughout... FALSE). Owners inspecting my guests throughout the night, waltzing into my wedding? My family is rather tame and definitely on the classier end of the spectrum so I take high offence to this. Nothing on their property was disrespected or ruined at ANY point. All in all, we were very disappointed. This venue is the personification of a pretty girl with an ugly personality. There are Country lodges in Edmonton that are just as gorgeous with customer service to MATCH.

This business is run by a family NOT in the HOSPITALITY business. They don't want you on their grounds, because you will just make a mess or wreck something. It seems like people are an inconvenience to their business plan.