Macray Harbor Reviews

I have two separate reviews:

Bridal Shower - We had our Bridal shower at Mac & Rays at the end of February. Everyone was really easy to work with and more than happy to help! Guests commented on how beautiful everything was and how lovely the room was. We choose the Salad with all the fruit and chicken on it for the guests, and it was Amazing!!! Fantastic salad! Fresh and tasty! Plus the pricing was excellent!

Wedding Cake - Shelley, the pastry chef from Mac & Rays, made our wedding cake for us. My DH knew her because in college he use to be a banquette server there. She has the most AMAZING cakes I have ever tasted. Her decorating is also beautiful! I still have guests telling me the cake was so good they had more than one piece! :) Her prices were very affordable as well, you would expect to pay a lot more money for such a delicious, moist cake!

This is a beautiful venue for a wedding and reception. They provide many additional services as well. I was even able to order my stationary (invites/thank yous) and cake. My DJ and florist were very familiar with them which helped with the coordination of the even. MacRay's staff was very attentive and helpful through the planning process right up to the last minute of our celebration.

Overall My experience with MacRay's Harbor was amazing. Perfect venue for my perfect day. Amazing, staff and the ballroom was perfect! Minor mishaps but nothing major to ruin the day

We had a wonderful wedding and shower at MacRay. Worked with Lisa & Fergy and they were both amazing! Very responsive to my calls and email through out the whole planning process!
We received so may compliments on the venue, the food, and the cakes! The pastry chief is wonderful!! I will be buying cakes from them for birthdays because she was that good!
Everything was 1st class and my wedding was just as I imagined it would be. Truly a dream come true!!
I would recommend this place to anyone that wants a breath taking wedding with views & wedding pictures to die for! This isn't just a "hall" type of wedding. If your looking for unique and classy this is your place! 5 STARS Wish I could do it all over again

When we started our hunt for a venue we were so overwhelmed by all the options. We met with Kelli at MacRay on day 1 of our search, we kept looking just incase, however after at least 15 other tours and meetings with various venues and coordinators, we kept on coming back to MacRay. The venue is amazing, it’s right on the water with a beautiful view of the harbor. The ballroom, outdoor space and even bridal suite were all incredible. The food and drink options were very reasonably priced and the service from bartenders to waitstaff were everything we needed. No other location had as much to offer as MacRay, above everything else MacRay has Kelli. Kelli was so helpful during our process, she was attentive, responsive and incredibly informative. As someone who overthinks and tries to overplan everything, Kelli really made this process so easy. During our month long search she reached out to us many times just to check in where we were at in the process, she answered all of our questions and even helped give us advice when talking to other venues(she could tell she was our first stop lol!). My fiancée and I are on completely different schedules so we only have availability to meet with venues on weekends. Surprisingly a lot of venues do not have weekend visit times(?). Kelli had no problem accommodating us and had us come in on Sundays when she knew we would both be free. Our wedding is This upcoming October and we are so excited for the big day and cannot thank Kelli and the staff at MacRay Harbor enough for making this process so easy.

It was so important for my husband and I to get married on the lake that we met on. From our initial tour meeting, we were welcomed like family by Kelli, our MacRay contact. She made every part of the planning process with their facility a breeze. As a little girl who has always dreamed about what her big day would look like, I never imagined how truly beautiful of a setting the outdoor ceremony spot and indoor reception space were. I will highly recommend MacRay Harbor to anybody planning any type of event - I also held my bridal shower in the lower level of the venue. I had people compliment the service and meals at both my bridal shower and wedding long after the events had passed! MacRay will always hold a special place in my heart. We always look forward to going to the events that they host as guests to enjoy the space even more after our wedding!

I had my wedding of 350 here on September 12, 2009. I was extremelly happy with the service and food. I would recommend this venue to anyone. They are practical, fun and professional people to work with and I am extremelly grateful that I had my wedding here. They worked with all of my vendors in a very professional manner and made sure that my day was perfect. In addition, every single small request that I asked for was remembered including 1 case of bottled beer etc...

awesome hall!

I worked with Fergy at MacRay, she was amazing from start to finish. Always responding to my emails and phone calls. They were amazingly flexible, letting us create our own menu, style of the room etc. I would recommend them again and again! It was an amazing venue with amazing people!

The food was amazing and the ballroom looked amazing! So happy we paid the extra money for the ballroom upstairs, beautiful! Everyone was very helpful!

Being a same sex couple, the first hurdle we thought we would have to jump is finding a place that was accepting. But from the time we walked in the door to get a quote, to the very end of the wedding night everything went amazing. Fergie and her staff were very accepting, accommodating and did everything they could to make our wedding day special. Anytime i had any questions, Fergie was very prompt in responding. I couldn’t of imagined having my wedding anywhere else. Our wedding coordinator Stephanie did amazing at calming our nerves on the big day. We couldn’t of done it without her. The guests are still raving about the food, how nice the venue was and the great drinks. 10/10 would recommend them to anyone.

Venue was superb except for two minor exceptions...we had our ceremony in the lower level banquet room and had no way to keep guests out until we were ready. Also, the temperature and humidity in the entire facility, including the upper level where we had our reception, were too high. We requested several times for cooler temps but were told the A/C has not been working correctly. Other than that, everything was wonderful- staff, food, view, and drinks were A+.

They set up my room and it was beautiful! They did everything I had asked and the food was out of this world!!! People could not stop talking about how amazing the chicken persillade and slow roast beef were, it was exactly how we tried it!! I also had my cake done here, it was gorgeous and it was amazing!

MacRay was the perfect venue to have my bridal shower! Kelli and the team were very dedicated to making it a perfect day. We received so many compliments on both the venue itself and the delicious lunch! My bridal shower theme was “love is in bloom” and the atmosphere of the “Anchor Bay” room was perfect for this. We also loved how they were able to make so many food and beverage accommodations for us! 10//10 recommend this venue.

Renee made it so easy to visualize, plan, and finalize details for our wedding. My fiancé and I wanted to be sure to find a venue that would help handle the majority of details through one contact (food, beverage, venue, etc.) and MacRay was exactly that. We didn't have to worry about a thing going into our wedding weekend.

We also used them for our wedding shower which was a great preview to our day.

We were very satisfied with the service. The food was excellent and the bar tender was great. The only thing that happened was we ran out of plates and chicken. But otherwise everything was great!!

Fergie from MacRay helped make my dream wedding come true. I never thought I would be able to afford such a beautiful place to have my wedding reception. I scheduled my wedding only 2 1/2 months before and I must say everything went smoothly with her

MacRays Banquet & Events center is an exceptional venue for weddings! Everything from the setting to the service was fantastic! Kathy Hubel ("Fergy") took care of every detail and made the planning for the day seamless!!!!! I would definitely refer any bride looking to have a beautiful ceremony or reception to this location !!!!! The baker made such a delectable cake, and the food was outstanding , my guests are still talking about it 27 days after the wedding on Facebook!!!!

The view is absolutely breathtaking!! Staff was very friendly and helpful! :o)

MacRay was such a beautiful venue. Fergy was very responsive for us, and super accommodating to all of the requests that we had. She even accommodated the request of turning off sprinklers at a certain time so we could take pictures in a specific area at the venue. Her assistants, on the other hand, seemed to not always relay correct information to her for one reason or another. There were at least three times where we mentioned to various assistants that we had already done a dinner tasting, but she never received the info. Service was solid, however the cooking staff messed up our food a bit. We had requested no mushrooms due to certain guests who have severe food allergy issues, and Fergy noted it on the sheet, but the kitchen staff still included mushrooms in their sauce for the chicken. The wait staff rushed the order back and got it fixed, so it turned out to be alright in the end. Value wise, the venue prices are fair, although outdoor ceremony costs seem a bit high compared to other places. Overall, I would highly recommend this place despite the minor mishaps that occurred.

I'm sad to read that other brides did not have that good of an experience here.
My wedding was October 27, 2007. We had about 225 people for our wedding upstairs. We rented out the entire upstairs with the exception of the restaurant.
In the beginning we thought we would be working with Fergie but ended up working with Angela. At first it was a little hard to work with her, and I think that had to do with the fact that she does these events all the time, and being a first time bride I never had (I had no idea what needed to be done). I tend to procrastinate sometimes too. With that being said, after speaking with her more we were able to develop a good working relationship. I think she is very knowledgeable in the business and a good representative to work with.

My only complaint was our first tasting - it was not good. I was so disappointed I was afraid that after I set my heart on getting married and having my reception here I was going to have to find a new venue. But Angela came through for us, reassuring us that if we came back in for another tasting we would have a far better experience.....and we did! I think it could have been a misunderstanding in what we were really looking for. We came back for the second tasting and it was AMAZING! We had a hazelnut chicken and filet for the main course. The food at during our wedding was so good!
The day of our wedding was running behind (because of me, not the hall) and Angela was right there to get me where I needed to be.
Right before dinner Mac & Ray's was still even more accomodating. I forgot to mention that one of my bridesmaid's and another guest sitting at one of the tables did not eat red meat. I mentioned it to one of the girls who was attending our head table and she made sure the filet did not come out on the plates for them.
We paid for the premium bar which was fully stocked and the bartenders were right on for getting our guests their drinks.
My husband and I along with our families and friends had a great time. Everyone complimented us on how great the wedding, the food, the bar and the entertainment was!

This venue is a great place to get married at. Our pictures look absolutely amazing. Fergie, the catering manager, was very helpful with everything. The staff was amazing on the wedding day.

We absolutly love MacRay, we have been coming to the marina for years. It is actually where we got engaged. The site is beautiful.

This is a beautiful wedding location. I had my wedding here and everyone had positive things to say about the location and the food. I would recommend this venue to other people.

I had my reception at MacRay in the upstairs ballroom, and I also contracted to use Belle Maer Harbor for my ceremony through them. Both were absolutely beautiful. So many of my guests commented about how breathtaking the view was. MacRay truly is a full-service venue, and they took care of everything for me! All I had to do was drop off the things I wanted set up a few days before the wedding and they took care of it all. The food was amazing, and the staff are great. The one issue I had was that it was a little difficult to get certain questions answered over email. However, as the wedding got closer Fergy became more responsive and was very attentive to detail. Overall, I could not see my wedding being held anywhere else.

Mac & Ray's is a beautiful location and has great food. People still tell me how much they loved the food. They can get pretty pricey and fast, but they do offer options for those who don't have $25,000+. They offered 10% off our event for having it on a Friday and their menue prices when you are not getting a full bar package, are very reasonable. We had a little confusion at the end where a question had been answered incorrectly prior to the wedding, and so more money was spent that I had planned because of incorrect information I had been given. But all in all, I would still recommend them.

Our wedding was amazing! Only a few minor issues on the beautiful day. We paid $27 for each one of our vendors to eat dinner..(this was half the price of our guests) and not only did the staff almost forget to feed them, when they finally did feed them, they were given hamburgers!!! Meanwhile we are having a lovely hazelnut encrusted walleye and a fabulous chicken entree. WHY wouldn't they eat the same thing the rest of us were eating. It was one of only a few minor issues, but embarrassing nonetheless!

We had our wedding shower here and they were asked us if everything was running smoothly and were very helpful with whatever we needed. They gave us the wrong napkin color but then made up for it by giving me and my family free buffet lunch which was excellent.

Great place for a reception and venue.

The setting is beautiful, but so expensive. The food was excellent. Everyone raved about it. All was great minus the cost. About 3K more than other places I priced. Worth the scenery though.

We absolutely loved the venue, food, and day- of assistance from Lisa!! My main complaints are with Fergy, who seems to have far too much on her plate to return phone calls or emails in a timely manner. It would also be extremely helpful if brides were provided with a timeline of when payments, guest counts, and various decisions were due to prevent last-minute phone-tag and anxiety-ridden brides ;) Communication overall was not the best. That all being said, I felt they were flexible & accommodating, and wedding day couldn't have gone more smoothly!

MacRays was very expensive. I can't believe another bride got their tasting for free. we actually had to pay. We thought the food was good. The pastry chef did a good job with our cake except it was a bit lopsided. The servers smooshed the top two tiers into the box when they were packaging it. MacRays said we could come back on our anniversary and they would bake us a new cake though. Which was nice. One thing I was really disappointed about was the fact that we had left a digital camera at the hall by mistake. It was never found. I don't think they really cared to look very hard. The impression I had was that they got our money, our day was done and they didn't have to deal with us again. Basically, not their problem. I am sure that one of their staff took the camera though, so that really sucks. All our memories...gone. Other than that, if you don't mind spending alot of money, go for it. I won't be going back to MacRays though.

The views at MacRay are uncomparable to any metro Detroit reception site. My husband and I are in love with the water so we knew we had to have our wedding reception here! The food is amazing and we got lots of compliments from our wedding guests about the good taste and high quality of the food and wedding cake. People were mezmorized by the 3 walls of windows. We had our reception in the grand ballroom on the top floor which is much more costly than the room on the first floor. The cost was quite high but definitely worth it! Everyone is talking about how great our wedding was :)

The down sides to MacRay is that we had many difficulties communicating with the banquet representative. She wouldn't return emails or voicemails. If she did, she woiuld only answer 1 question... whether you had 2 or 10. We paid for a piano to be played... that was never played.... For the money you have to spend there, I expect better customer service!

MacRay Harbor was a last minute change for our wedding venue, and they were more then accommodating and flexible. The day of my wedding was the only day that I faced some problems (which obviously isn't ideal). I let myself in the backdoor because the event manager was late. I had a wonderful staff member from the kitchen offer to help me move around tables. The bartender for our wedding was horrible, and our wait staff could have been more professional and done a better job. I didn't like that half my guests were done eating, and others still hadn't received their entrees yet. I will say that Jason, the restaurant manager was the BEST person we worked with throughout the process. He addressed all of our concerns, and went above and beyond to make sure we were happy, after our wedding day.

Mac & Rays is a BEAUTIFUL venue with OUTSTANDING FOOD. The General Manager is also a doll- a great gal to work with.
Where they are lacking is in the customer service department. I was also incredibly disappointed with the Pasty Chef, Shelly Hein.
I had spent a tremendous amount of time preparing for my wedding at Mac & Ray's. I visited and met with Angela twice (who was impossible to get in touch with by phone, by the way), I also came for a tasting (complimentary- that was wonderful of them), and met with the General Manager the day before my wedding. When I came the day before, Tina (GM) was so nice to me and so accommodating. The problem was that she had no idea who was setting up my event- this was something Angela and I discussed 2 weeks before the wedding when we made our final payment. (What would have happened if I didn't pop in the night before??) So at 5pm the day before my wedding I was going over the details that should have been ironed out well in advance with the events department. As if this did not stress me out, I went to check on the 30 cakes that were being made to serve as my centerpieces. Mind you, it is 5pm. Only HALF OF THE CAKES WERE FINISHED. There were only two people working on them from what I could see. However, they assured me that they would be done in time and be beautiful. After my ceremony on Saturday I got a frantic phone call from my Aunt. All of my guests were arriving and none of the cakes were on the tables. I was mortified. To make things worse, when I entered the room I wanted to cry. They were thrown together and sloppy- none of the designs I had printed and given to Shelly had been made. I had put so much confidence in her- this was a huge disappointment. As if this wasn't the "icing on the cake", my wedding cake was a disaster. She put a real ribbon around the tiers and WROTE in icing our monogram on top after I had requested that she make it in fondant. What's worse? She crammed several roses on top of my cake WITHOUT MY CONSENT, hiding the cake topper that was sentimental to me (I am the forth generation to use it). What it boils down to is this. Angela was hard to get in touch with (though Fergie was not- she was always eager to help), and the Pastry Chef made a huge botch. I can't say that I am thoroughly appalled by Mac & Ray's but I will recommend to other brides to deal with Fergie and buy a cake elsewhere, even if they have to pay the slicing fee.
I work in the events industry and I know how hard it is to deal with brides. In fact, I hate brides. But these were inexcusable mistakes.

This place is the worst. I would never recommend this venue for anything. The food was served late, and was cold. Bridal table was served almost last instead of first. Servers never came around to see if you needed water, coffee etc. The servers never cleared off the tables before serving dessert in fact bridal party girls were clearing off the tables because it was a mess and the bride was getting upset. The dance floor was coming apart luckily no one was injured. The whole evening except the DJ was a disaster. If your ever considering this place DON'T you will be totally disappointed.