Atlanta Cosmopolitan Event Center

Venue was not cleaned before my event. Owner added extra fees the day before and day of. I was not able to use the full upstairs space.

I had my reception here almost two months ago on August 17. Up until about three days before my wedding, I was extremely excited to be have our event here. I toured this space with the owner in May 2024 and secured the large space upstairs in July 2024. Communication wasn’t the best but the space was close to my house and because my father in law was immobile, we needed to be able to get home quickly. After reaching out a few times about visiting the space while my mom, mother-in-law, and then planner were in town and not receiving a response, he eventually informed me that he would have someone at the venue everyday from 11-6pm. So with that, I was able to take a few people by the venue to show them the space and explain my vision. We walked the entire upstairs and were never informed of any limitations or additional fees (the contract had been signed). Two weeks prior, I walked the space with my wedding coordination team to specifically point out the layout using the ENTIRE upstairs space. Throughout this time, I’d seen the venue at least seven times and again, no limitations.

Saturday, August 16th, my caterer informed me that she’d went to see the space to map out setup and layout and the owner informed her that there was a $100 fee to use the ice machine (that the owner had only ever said ‘If you need to use it, just let me know 24hrs in advance’) and a $300 fee to use the warming room (never was informed about this room). So the day before my wedding, I am spending an extra $400. Also, there was a quinceañera the day before. The week prior, the owner ASSURED me that the space would be CLEAN before my team arrived.

Morning of, my team arrives and the space is FILTHY. Trash, spilled drinks, and there is only ONE WOMAN cleaning the space and trying to rearrange tables. He told me a group of people would be there cleaning. NO. My team, my husband, and some of his friends spent the morning CLEANING the venue and rearranging the tables before even being able to set up for the reception. While the employee was an extra set of hands, she was not much help because she had to call the owner for everything. As the team began to set up, they were informed that we could NOT use the space to the right of the bar because it was STORAGE! Never had I been told that it was storage! So my team had to quickly switch gears and plan for my cocktail hour with 250+ guests to be downstairs in the ENTRY WAY! There is also a broken window in the “storage” space. The prep closet is filthy with bugs and looks like it is never cleaned. This all made my wedding day almost an absolute nightmare. Because I was a DIY bride, we cleaned up the space after and forgot two coolers. I reached out to the venue owner. He told he he’d have his team check and call me back. I didn’t hear back. I reached out again and no response. My husband called and he said he never spoke with me. I still do not have my coolers.

I had very mediocre expectations but I did not expect all of this.