Whatever you do, DO NOT have your wedding at the Griffin Gate Marriott. This venue is the most unprofessional, disorganized, and downright embarrassing place to ever host an event. From the very beginning, we were passed around from person to person and nobody ever had the same information regarding pricing or what’s included with rentals. We were made promises in order to get us to book with them and it was very obvious it was all lies and manipulation. Our original venue we were supposed to have our wedding in was absolutely disgusting 3 days before we were supposed to have the event. There were ruined carpet tiles from flooding, bugs and cobwebs everywhere, mold and mildew on the walls. It was not fit to eat a meal in. Kelsey was our event coordinator (if you could even call her that) The entire process she was incompetent and unable to comprehend simple emails about headcounts and pricing that we had to tell her over and over and over again we’re incorrect. She was also non existent the day of the event so when they try to convince you you don’t need a coordinator because they have their own do not listen to them. We were supposed to have access to our venue at 8 pm the day before the wedding to set up our decor. They booked it out the day before the wedding and allowed that party to stay until 10 pm when they were supposed to be out by 8. We ended up having to take down the stage that was set up in their ourselves so that we could start setting up for our event. The day we arrived at our bridal suite, the AC was out and it was 90 degrees outside and their resolution was to bring up box fans to the room for an entire bridal party to get ready in. It took them 3 hours to get it fixed. The day of the wedding we were promised 6 golf carts to take the bridal party around in for pictures and that also was a false promise. We finally found one and then a manager came over and ripped the keys out of the golf cart and threw a temper tantrum about how we weren’t allowed to be driving the golf carts. The food was also served ice cold and they didn’t even have enough silverware for all of our guests. The list goes on and on why you should NEVER host your special day here. The best part of it all? They had the audacity to send us a bill for “overages” (that were again incorrect) and charged our card for them without our consent. RUN as fast as you can AWAY from Marriott Griffin Gate. If I could give a rating of -10 I would.

We had our November 2021 wedding at the Griffin Gate Marriott after having to postpone twice due to COVID, so over the course of 2.5 years we worked with four different event coordinators. Throughout the planning process, multiple postponements, and staffing changes (a frustrating experience to have to start the process from scratch over and over), our experience was relatively positive. Unfortunately due to the few negatives we experienced at the event itself, I have to say DO NOT BOOK YOUR WEDDING HERE!!!!! Further explanation of what happened is detailed below, but the actions of a few staff members completely ruined our wedding night and left us in tears. The joy of our wedding day was completely stolen from us, which I never imagined would happen, but I DEFINITELY never imagined the venue would be responsible for it.


Our contract stated our reception was from 7pm-midnight. During our final round of planning, we decided to have the "last song" at 11:30pm to give us some buffer time before the event ended. Our event schedule did list 11:30pm, but it's important to note our contract always stated midnight. At a point during the reception, we asked our DJ/Coordinator team to talk to our event coordinator and see if we could continue the music until midnight since we were running behind schedule and the dance floor opened late. This is a very normal request since almost all wedding schedules run late, so you would think a hotel group that specializes in hospitality and event planning would know how to handle this request. Our event coordinators had already left the event, so the question was directed to the catering lead, who approved us staying until midnight since our request was only involving music and dancing, NOT extending the bar hours or any other hotel services.

Sometime between 11:30-11:40pm, members of the hotel "security" team began to threaten the DJ to turn off the music or he would call the police. My husband was summoned over, and both my husband and the DJ reiterated to security that we were approved to have the music on until midnight. The security team was EXTREMELY rude with ZERO thought that they were starting an argument with a groom on his wedding night that was three years in the making. We decided to have the last song to avoid any further confrontation, so the music was off by 11:45, but the police were still called. The security team was on a power trip, the MOST UNPROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOR I have ever witnessed, and they were yelling and threatening my husband and many guests. Meanwhile, the catering lead (who approved us staying until midnight) did right by us and was defending us to her colleagues. That didn't matter, since they ignored her and continued on their power trip. Even the police announced they should not have been called and eventually left on their own.

The fact that this venue has awful, thoughtless people ruining a couple's wedding night is beyond my comprehension. We went through an extremely emotional time during COVID as many did, and this day was supposed to be the day we imagined finally happening after three years. It ended with staff members screaming in our faces and abruptly ending our own wedding. There were family members and friends we had not seen in years that we didn't even get to say goodbye to. Luckily the venue comped our rooms/suites and gave us some of our deposit back, but all in all that is about 10% of the total amount we paid Marriott for the entire event. Icing on the cake - the general manager said in addition to the small reimbursement they gave us, they would be sending a $250 restaurant gift card as a personal apology. We NEVER received this, so we are left with the feeling that our unhappiness and anger at these events are not actually being heard or valued by Marriott staff.

We will not be giving Marriott our business ever again, and we have made sure to share this unfortunate incident with any friends and family looking to get married in Lexington.

My experience with Griffin Gate was wonderful. From the beginning their staff has always been very responsive and able to answer any of my questions. For the kind of venue that this is, I feel like they are fairly priced and they include a lot of incentives. Originally, we were only holding our reception at Griffin Gate, but about a month and a half out from our wedding we asked if we could have our reception there as well due to our church not being able to host the amount of guests that we had due to Covid. Griffin Gate was under fewer restrictions and allowed us to have our entire wedding at their venue. They made this process seamless.
One of my favorite things about the planning process with Griffin Gate is the tasting event that they hold. Their food is absolutely scrumptious and they have out a lot of examples for various reception items. The tasting was very helpful and reenergized me about our planning process.
Due to Covid there were some slight changes, but overall we were able to have the wedding that we wanted. Jenna and Paige were fantastic, and very helpful. Jenna almost always answered my emails very quickly and responded to everything that I touched upon in the emails. She made the last few weeks of planning very smooth, and always kept me in the loop. I would highly recommend this venue!