The Gideon Putnam Reviews

We had our Sunday Farewell Breakfast at The Gideon Putnam this past weekend in The Arches room after our wedding and it was 10/10! Angela was amazing to work with and it was absolutely the perfect ending of our magical weekend. Everyone loved The Arches room, because of how gorgeous it is in Saratoga Spa State Park! Those windows floor to ceiling are amazing, you see the trees and during this time of year you see all of the colors... just beautiful! We had the best time, truly. The food was very good, everyone was satisfied before their drive home. We really appreciate all of Angela and her team's help and hard work to accommodate us and our large group (95 people)!. Our Sunday Farewell Breakfast was exactly what we had envisioned and more! It was also very reasonably priced for how gorgeous the space is, the location, the food, etc. It was well worth it and I can't recommend it enough for a special event. You will not be disappointed in any aspect. Angela you are wonderful and so accommodating. Thank you, thank you x10000!

The team at the Gideon Putnam went above and beyond to make our wedding weekend a wonderful experience for our guests - and us! We had a mix of local guests and folks traveling to be with us. The Gideon offered an amazing destination for everyone. Our guests thoroughly enjoyed the amenities provided by the hotel including a shuttle service, fireplace lounges in the lobby, coffee service, and an exceptional location in the heart of the Spa State Park. We hosted our ceremony, reception, and post-wedding brunch at the hotel. From management to front desk team, to catering, to housekeeping, to the awesome shuttle drivers, we experienced gracious customer service and professionalism. Stacie coordinated with all our vendors and the team at the hotel. She offered helpful advice and suggestions during our rehearsal and reception set-up. We are grateful for the memories we were able to make at The Gideon Putnam and highly recommend each aspect of this full service hotel - for events, or personal travel.

Working with the staff at the Gideon was a bride’s dream come true! Stacey was awesome to work with and quick to get back to us for all our questions and wonderings. Food was amazing for the tasting and day of and the ballroom was beautiful for our special day!!

The Gideon Putnam was a great place to have our wedding. Jennifer McVay and the banquet manager Sandy went above and beyond our expectations. The food is fabulous! My husband and I are so glad we picked The Gideon Putnam to celebrate our big day!

Sandy Makis and her team were awesome! The Gideon was so beautiful and romantic and fun. I can not say enough how wonderful it was to get married at the Gideon. They were so easy to work with and willing to help and do anything I needed. I can't wait to go back for our anniversary! Seriously happy bride!

The process was wonderful! We worked with Rob Sgarlata who made decision making easy by being prompt and knowledgable. Two days before the wedding we met with Rob and Dayle (Food and Beverage Manager) to iron out the details. We were immediately put at ease with the thoroughness of this meeting. We had our rehearsal and rehearsal dinner at GP, and the service and food were great. We had the same server both nights and she was great (Anna). I spent the night at the hotel with my matron of honor and a bridesmaid. The room was large enough for all of us to get ready, and hotel staff didn't batt an eye when we asked for two chairs with chair covers (so that we could pre-tie sashes to put on the chairs at the reception. The ceremony and reception went perfectly. The serving staff were great, food was great, presentation was great. Dayle checked in frequently to make sure we didn't need anything. We are so happy with the day, our guests raved about how smoothly the event went. What a great day it was, and we can't thank the staff at GP enough!

Note: I also posted this to "The Gideon Putnam Resort" page but wanted to be sure more brides could find it as there are 2 pages. Original review: We chose The Gideon Putnam for a few reasons; first, we had a tree themed wedding and they are in the park right off of the Avenue of the Pines. The grounds made for BEAUTIFUL photos. Second, I grew up in Saratoga and it doesn't get more Saratogian than getting married right next to the Hall of Springs, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, the National Museum of Dance and in the park. After meeting with Kathy Fribourg, the events manager, we discovered that for the amount of people we were expecting, the prices couldn't be beat compared to other locations we had looked at. We really believe in booking a venue that takes care of as much as possible to decrease the stress. All we had to hire out for was the usual: photographer, videographer, DJ, cake and florist. Kathy is SO sweet, she answered all of my emails and dealt with my Momzilla like a pro. She even had Giddy P, the giant stuffed bear dressed like a jockey that is in the lobby, placed at our ceremony because I had mentioned how adorable he was. Giddy P was a HUGE hit at our wedding and even made it into the reception. We had a GREAT time and everything was beautiful. We have been getting so many compliments and it's only a week after our wedding.

Our contact at the Resort was amazing. She was very flexible right up to the day of the wedding. Plans for extra guests, alternate plans for rain or sun. The food was wonderful....the room for the reception was wonderful. I am 56 years old and must say, of all the weddings I have attend, mine was the most relaxing and fun ever!
Thanks to all the Staff at the Gideon Putnam!

I had the most amazing wedding at the Gideon Putnam. The hotel itself is so pretty - the perfect site for a wedding or weekend stay. Meagan was my main contact throughout the planning process and she was fantastic about getting answers to my questions, making suggestions, and helping me out along the way.
Throughout my stay there, the entire staff was extremely friendly and helpful. Everything went so smoothly the night of the wedding - I didn't have to worry about a thing. I still can't believe how perfect this place was to get married.

The Gideon Putnam in the Saratoga Springs State Park is the epitome of classy. A gorgeous setting ripe with history and elegance. We celebrated our rehersal dinner here and everything from the food to the restrooms were excellent.

Shelly and her team are wonderful! They work with you to provide exactly what you want for your special day! Response to questions and concerns are addressed in a timely manner and information is delivered in a concise and clear way.

The Arches Room at the Gideon Putnam provided the perfect backdrop for entertaining all of our out of town family and friends for the rehearsal dinner. The staff was so accommodating and provided us with every item requested. The food, served buffet styles, was superb and plentiful. The Gideon provided not only the perfect ambiance e for a rehearsal dinner but created a festive atmosphere that carried over for all our guest into the next day.

Gideon Putnam R&S was very budget friendly, which is why we first sought out their services. Our wedding was recently on 8/9/14 and I can't tell you how impressed we were with how things came together. The food was absolutely delicious and that was a refreshing surprise since I had not had an opportunity to have a tasting because we live far away in South Florida. The first few people I was in contact with were sometimes unresponsive and as a customer service rep and control freak - this did get on my nerves a few times during planning. But once the Gideon set me up working with their marketing director things picked up some speed and stuff started getting done. I really appreciated that once the event was here, they pulled out all of the stops and became exceptionally flexible with making my dream wedding come true. Which it did. Thank you Gideon Putnam R&S for making our special day extraordinary.

We had our ceremony and reception at the Gideon Putnam, and were blown away with everything and could not have been happier with how our wedding turned out.

I think the thing we were most impressed with was the staff. Everyone from our on-site coordinator, to the catering manager to the front desk and wait staff was amazing. They had every detail hammered out, and everything went off without a hitch. The food was better than I thought it would be (we got a lot of compliments on it, actually), our porch suite for getting ready the day-of was out of a dream, the sun patio ceremony was cozy and perfect for us, and the Arches room reception was beautiful, unique and exactly what we envisioned. Everywhere we went in the hotel that weekend, everyone knew we were the "bride and groom." Even the bellhops and hotel bar staff. All weekend, whenever we asked any staff member a question, they would say, "You're the bride and groom, right? It's taken care of!" We felt so welcome and always felt like we were in good hands.

A lot of people in other online reviews say this hotel is run down, overpriced, musty, etc. However, I strongly disagree. One, part of the cost to this hotel is the scenery. You're paying to stay smack dab in the middle of a beautiful park surrounded by gorgeous pine trees. How anyone could be unhappy with that, I'm not sure. You're also paying for the charm of the hotel, which is simply stunning. Yes, it smells a little musty, but to me, that's part of the experience. The guest rooms have very modern ammenities, especially the gorgeous new linens on the beds.

I loved everything about our experience here. They made our wedding truly amazing.

Such a great place to have a wedding. Everything went as plannnedand Gideon followed through with all their promises. Couldn't have been happier. The food was so outstanding!

We recently had our wedding reception in the Arches room at the Gideon Putnam, with our ceremony off site. The Arches room is beautiful and the hotel is surrounded by beautiful trees and flowers in the Saratoga Spa State Park; perfect for a fall wedding. We customized a sit-down dinner and floor plan for our event. The Gideon provided linens and we rented chiavari chairs from an outside vendor. The package included everything (food, open bar, and rental space) and was very reasonably priced. The food at the cocktail hour and butternut squash soup were particular delicious. We were also given a complimentary suite for the night of the wedding, which was very spacious and included a porch.

However, we did have to work with several different wedding planners over the year leading up to our wedding and sometimes their response times were a bit slower than we would have liked. This made it somewhat difficult for us since we were planning our wedding long distance. We had to keep following up with them in order to get a firm answer on certain issues. There were several other minor miscommunications throughout the planning process as well.

That being said, everything went perfectly the day of the wedding and the room looked beautiful after everything was setup. The catering staff were very professional and accommodating throughout the reception.

My advice to brides planning a wedding at the Gideon, or thinking of planning a wedding at the Gideon is this- be incredibly, minutely, detailed! I had several frustrations with the staff at the Gideon in the lead-up to the wedding day, but ultimately I was very happy with the wedding, the location, and the service on the day.

We had our ceremony in the Blue Room (due to rain) and the reception in the Arches Room. Guests were really impressed with the unique venue and the attentiveness of the staff.

If you are not detailed, and do not want to constantly follow up and check in with the venue, I wouldn't recommend this venue. If you are looking for a unique space with a ton of history, it's perfect!

Overall, the day looked nice. The venue is pretty, but the service was horrible. We were treated as if our event was not a priority--they had 4 weddings that weekend. They have had a lot of turnover, and the new staff is not nearly as helpful as the previous ones. Our bartender was crabby and rude, and no one from the venue even said hello to us the day of our wedding. I had to seek them out just to make sure they were there.

You can get a pretty location with a vendor that actually wants your business for much less money. For what they charge, you should get much better customer service. The expense was not consistent with the service. We basically paid for a lovely location to run our wedding.

Although the wedding was gorgious, the year of planning with GP was a nightmare. During that year we dealt with 4 different event managers (the last change happened 3 days before the wedding when the person in charge of all our weekend events didnt show up for work - quit with no notice or transition. Due to turnover of chefs, front desk, food/beverage, and event managers, we had to deal with 12 different people. This added to the poor communication and inconsistent information related to everything from permits, paperwork, pricing, and menu options. 2 months after the wedding we were informed we had a very large balance for items that were "forgotten' to be included in our previous bills.
While many of the staff were friendly, none of the bartenders we had were personable, and some very rude. The "afer-party" bartender was not only rude, but "nasty" from the moment she started her shift. After 15 minutes of this, we asked what the issue was. She put down the drink she was making and simply walked off and went home. We were left with no bartender and no other staff who seemed to have a clue how to manage the situation.
While the wedding was beautiful, and most guests were unaware of all the problems, it was not worth the frustration and stress that it took to get there.

This is a nice historic site that has hosted numerous small, medium, and large size events and occasions. Unfortunately, that is the extent of my complement for the Gideon. This review is solely based on our experiences in booking a wedding.

I must first recognize that they recently had tremendous turn over in event coordination staff which consequently may have contributed to some lapse in communication. In our experience, the site was suitable for a wedding venue. We communicated to the wedding management team our interest in a particular date and we were promised a courtesy heads up should our date be in contention by another party. In the short 2 weeks, that we deliberated, another branch of Gideon event management finalized another event on our intended date, without notifying their own wedding coordinator. In short, we were disappointed by the lack of professionalism. I would advice careful consideration with this site. The management team appears to be in a state of perpetual of dissonance.

I recently attended a banquet to honor the Federal Commander for the American Legion at the Gideon Putnam.
The limp tossed salad had very little if any dressing one. The Chicken Cordon Bleu that was served was obviously frozen from a restored supply store. Our broccoli was raw.
I am a Saratoga Springs native and have enjoyed many fine meals at this establishment, from buffets, to weddings to private parties. This was surpising and appalling.