Maison May Dekalb Reviews

Maison May was the perfect wedding venue for us. The planning and event was seamless and stress free from beginning to end from the responsive, warm and professional owner and coordinator interactions, the staff, the food, the ambiance, the intimacy. This venue was absolutely what my husband and I were envisioning. We planned our wedding in less than a month and felt completely taken care of and worry free. Our garden ceremony was perfect as well. Thank you Catherine and Claudia. Looking forward to having more events there in the future!

We couldn't be happier with our choice of wedding venue! Between the classic brownstone look, the intimate feel, the impeccable food and service, and the helpful and kind organizers, it was truly the perfect place for such an important event. We highly recommend this venue for any event!

This venue is perfect for couples that are looking for an intimate space that feels like a beautiful home. The entire team (Claudia, Catherine, Sara) were an absolute pleasure to work with and were very responsive throughout the whole process. The space itself is gorgeous and the food & drinks were delicious. This venue allows for a nearly turn-key experience so that hiring a wedding planner was not necessary for our specific vision.

The team at Maison May was so wonderful to work with and so understanding and flexible with us throughout many COVID-related postponements. If you are looking for a beautiful and unique venue for a smaller wedding (we had about 60-ish guests), this is definitely the spot. The food and drink is lightyears ahead of what is offered at most venues, and the team here knows how to transform the space to throw the best possible party. I am very pleased with our choice and recommend Maison May to anybody looking for a unique and high-value Brooklyn venue!

I was thrilled to find Maison May through a colleague who was recently married here. We decided to check it out online and decided it would be the perfect space for our intimate wedding of 37 guests. Note after October, the garden is closed, so our wedding was held in the Parlour Room which is all white and makes for wonderful photographs. Staff were sweet and attentive and the best part to me was the lavender almond cake that went along with our lavender themed wedding. Such a gem of a spot!

Choosing a venue was probably the most stressful part of wedding planning until we found Maison May. My husband and I knew that we wanted to keep our wedding to about 75 guests, and we didn't want a traditional banquet hall feel. We also didn't want a situation where we would have to coordinate renting a venue, hiring a caterer and staff, and bringing in rentals. As soon as we visited Maison May we knew that this was the place for us. It had such a warm and comfortable atmosphere, and we loved that we could have the ceremony on site in the back garden patio, the cocktail hour upstairs on the parlor floor, then back downstairs for dinner and finally back upstairs for dancing and cake! The whole event flowed so nicely and they take care of absolutely everything, from the food and drinks to the silverware/seating/linens to the cakes (SUCH delicious cake!). The food is all farm to table, the dinner was served family style and everything was so delicious! We received a ton of compliments on the food and the entire event. It is also such a beautiful space. Jillian, Claudia, and Michelle were truly wonderful to work with throughout the entire process! Super responsive, flexible and accommodating. If you want a stress free planning experience, and a wedding that is simple & elegant with a Brooklyn brownstone meets French bistro feel, Maison May is the perfect venue.

We had our wedding reception at Maison May in November 2019 and it was beyond perfect. We were looking for a location that felt like our home. We're a couple that lives pretty close by in a brownstone and when we went to Maison May's open house...we fell in love. The staff were so welcoming and the moment you step in, you feel like you're right at home.

We loved that there was a garden/a downstairs/and an upstairs. All providing different vibes as you flow through each room. The garden is beautiful and even in November when you'd think it would be too cold to have the wedding to be partially outside, Maison May helped us rent heat lamps. NONE of our guests complained about it being cold - we were so impressed!

The food - is spectacular. We've been to many wedding where the location is great but the food...not so much. Fun fact: Catherine, the owner, began her career in the restaurant business, so when we heard this, we KNEW the food had to be good. Everything is thoughtfully made and so fresh! ALL of our guests, days after the event, keep raving about how great the wedding food was and how they kept going back for more.

The staff are ALL on point. They were all so thoughtful prior to the event and during the event. We really appreciated that there was a wedding coordinator, Jillian, who helped map out the timeline for the night and even offered us some great advice and different plan A and B depending on weather dependencies. On the day of the event, all the staff knew exactly what was going on and were on top of it all. If you can request MICHELLE - do so. She really knows how to run the show and make sure everything goes smoothly. However, honestly, all of the staff are great (I didn't catch all their names unfortunately). They were all so friendly and welcoming - ALL WITH SMILES! As someone who is super type A and always running around because I'll notice small things going wrong, the Maison May did SUCH a good job that I didn't ONCE think I needed to go fix something. They handled everything and it was just a night where my wife and I could just enjoy ourselves. Amazing service!

10/10 would recommend for anyone who is looking for a location that is homey, very Brooklyn vibes and will make the day all about you. I love the light that hits the rooms during the day and then the cute romantic hanging lights that are in the garden glistening at night.

THANK YOU MAISON MAY FAMILY! Hope to see you all soon again xoxo

We loved this venue! It was so intimate and special. Not only was the food outstanding but the staff was INCREDIBLE! Everyone that we had contact with during the 6 months of planning where great!!

Maison May is the perfect venue for a small, intimate Brooklyn wedding. They provide almost everything so all you need to bring are the dj, photographer, and guests. Jillian was wonderful to work with as we planned the wedding. She answered all of our questions (and we had a lot) and helped us execute the vision that we saw for the day. The day of, the staff of Maison May was on point. The food was abundant and incredible, the drinks were numerous and delicious. Many guests remarked that it was the best food they've ever had at a wedding. Everything felt intimate and well taken care of.

My favorite wedding venue of the many I contacted by far. Claudia was thoughtful, helpful, clear, prompt, and it felt she genuinely wanted us to have the best experience possible. The space is gorgeous and perfect for our intimate wedding, highly recommend! (They have multiple options which isn't clear initially. I really recommend a visit if you're interested to see what it's like/tailor it to your needs. :)

The venue is a true gem! A huge thank you to the entire Maison May team for hosting my bridal luncheon. Wow, I have never seen anything more beautiful in my entire life. Truly your venue is so special and the entire bridal luncheon was absolutely the most incredible event I’ve ever been to. Truly. So delicious, elegant, absolutely wonderful and perfect on every way. You and your team are so talented and the space is beautifully curated to be simple and chic and urban and rustic all in one. The food was heavenly and the details in the cocktails and cake all were coordinately brilliantly. I could not be happier and will cherish that experience for the rest of my life. Thank you for helping to make it all happen. What an incredible day! Thank you thank you a million times thank you. I highly recommend working with this team! It was beautiful and delicious! I was over the moon happy with the entire Event. It was just perfection all around.

My husband and I cannot recommend ICI highly enough. We chose it for the following reasons: our small guest list (the final headcount just shy of 65) worked perfectly with the intimacy of the restaurant; we didn't want a cookie-cutter feel, and the "blank canvas" at ICI allows couples to make the decor their own, whether you want to go minimal, DIY or splurge on flowers as we did; by booking a neighborhood restaurant committed to local farmers and suppliers, we felt as though our money was going toward something beneficial, rather than a commercial caterer; and of course, the food… oh, the amazing food! Our guests are still raving about the incredible menu ICI put together with us.

Lauren was such a calm and organized coordinator, and such a pleasure to work with. She and the lovely staff at ICI truly helped make our wedding day perfect. We feel incredibly lucky to have been married at this Brooklyn gem.

Ici was a fabulous place for our wedding. We had a very small wedding of just 28 people and were looking for something sweet and intimate. My groom is a professional chef and I'm a professional Baker. We met in culinary school so food was a major factor with our choice! We also live in Brooklyn and love its charm. So with all those requirments we felt limited when we started searching for venus. We deffinatly did not want some wedding hall or some swanky Manhattan Hotel or Venu with the cookie cutter pre packaged wedding. Then we found iCi and it was like someone took all of my requests and put it in a perfect package. We fell in love with iCi from the first dinner and knew we HAD to have our wedding there. Lauren was so helpfull and responsive to all of my questions, concerns, and requests. The staff on the day of was so helpfull and extremly attentive to all of our guests without being in your face about it. The whole thing was just perfection. We got married in their garden followed by cocktail hour then moved upstairs to the private room for our dinner. The food was amazing and the space is beautifully simple. All of our guests cant wait to come back and enjoy it again for dinner or brunch. I also really love the fact that we can go there for dinner often and know that it is were we got married. It was a great area to take our wedding photos too! Ici really is the perfect venu for people wanting great food, great service, great value, and a beautiful wedding!

iCi is an amazing place to hold your wedding. We had just under 100 guests, and Lauren and the team handled everything flawlessly. The ceremony was intimate. The food is delicious. People are still raving about it. The restaurant is so charming and the unique layout is perfect for an untraditional wedding.

I don't think there are words to truly express my gratitude to everyone at iCi. Everything was so perfect and everyone so kind and accommodating. It is a not a small feat to feel relaxed and at ease on your wedding day but somehow it happened. The food was amazing, the space gorgeous and the staff friendly. Not once did we feel like we were rushed around or had to be out at a specific time. From visiting iCi for the first time to view the space to when we said fairwell on our wedding night, everything was flawless and perfectly done. We were so unbelievably lucky to find iCi and even luckier to get married in such a wonderful space. Thank you to everyone who made it possible!

We had our wedding here this past month and our guests won't stop raving about the food and the service! We've heard numerous attendees tell us that their glasses were never empty and that they actually wanted to eat all the food. We did family style, which I love - tons of choices to go around. If you're a foodie and at all thinking of Maison May Dekalb (formally ICI), definitely go for it! The service is impeccable - Lauren did an amazing job leading up to the event and Russ did an amazing job that night. We felt completely taken care of.

A month before our wedding they changed the name due to business growth - same owner, location and staff. They were linking businesses with a new place they opened... Anyway, they handled the whole situation with grace and just wanted to help in any way they could to make our event run seamless with the change.

My only slightly negative word of advice pertains to a rain plan. It rained on our wedding and we lost the garden for a ceremony. If you have over 70 guests, be prepared for a crowded upstairs. We were surprised with how packed it was when we walked up for the ceremony and it threw us both a bit. It will only feel that way for the ceremony -- cocktail, dinner and dancing were completely feel fine. We've had many guests be nice and say it felt intimate but... it was definitely crowded and older relatives were definitely not comfortable. Additionally, I wish we had put some thoughts into decorations within the outdoor tent if it were to rain... The florals were lovely and ICI placed linens down, but it would have been nice to have a bit more -- and that was on us.

We had our wedding at Maison May on July 20th, 2019 (almost about a month ago). I debated writing the review, because at the end of the day we had a beautiful wedding and I’m more than happy to be married, but I’m writing a review in hopes that others can read about our experience with Maison May, and hopefully make a more informed decision on whether or not to have their wedding there.

When we first looked at Maison May, we couldn’t be happier with the place. It’s truly picturesque, in a beautiful part of Brooklyn with reasonable prices for the area. We ate lunch there and the food was delicious and Claudia was pleasant. We loved the venue because they allowed candles, and it was a huge part of our decor plan from the start. There were a few things that I didn’t love right off the bat, but decided to brush them off as we liked the place overall. Those two things were (1) the music is SO quiet upstairs and (2) there would not be enough chairs to seat our guests (85) during the ceremony (only 53 chairs).

As the months went on, we were passed off to another wedding coordinator at the venue: Jillian. This is when things started to change. We went to the venue for a walk-through in February and we started talking about all of the things we wanted to bring in for decor. I said yes, we’re bring in candles, a neon sign… etc. Jillian then proceeds to tell me that starting in January they decided they were no longer going to allow candles in the venue. I understand that you may have changed your policies, but when we signed the contract the venue allowed candles and we were told specifically by Claudia during our walk through that Maison May would supply most of them!! Absolutely ridiculous. It was a whole back and forth that day and over email, and finally we got an “ok” that we wouldn’t be stopped from bringing in candles….SUPER comforting. Most people that I told were like, yea they’re probably not going to let you in with them day of. Thankfully, they did let us in, but most of them weren’t even set up in the parlor room upstairs which I discovered later.

At the end of May we had a final walk-through with Jillian and our wedding coordinator. The meeting was tense and uncomfortable. The one thing I really cared about bringing in was a neon sign. Jillian had an issue with it and it was apparent. We quite literally googled images of Maison May to find an appropriate spot to put it in to be told by Jillian that we couldn’t put it there bc there was no outlet, only to walk upstairs to see the outlet exactly where we had seen it. I finally just told her, we’re putting it there, thanks. She was difficult about everything it felt like. We never once felt like we were the bride and groom and Maison May was catering to us or wanting to make us happy. It was their way or the highway.

Now to segway into the set-up time. Maison May has decided that it’s ok to have events held at their venue the morning of weddings there. I wouldn’t mind this at all, but they gave our vendors literally TWO HOURS of set up time, which is completely ridiculous and unheard of across most venues. Earlier in the year, I had emailed with Claudia who said we could have 2.5 hours and could come in 30 mins earlier. I told Jillian this at our walk-through and showed her the email only to be told… “sorry…” by Jillian, and we would not be allowed into the building. Seriously?

After the great walkthrough we had, I followed up with Jillian asking for our last invoice. We get the invoice and it is saying we are 10k short than we were expecting. It was the completely wrong invoice! I understand that this is minor, but in light of all of the other issues we were having I almost lost my mind.

Then, we get to the tent. At Maison May if you have I think over 85 people you need to reserve a tent (we had 80 so it didn’t matter for this reason), or many couples choose to reserve a tent in case of inclement weather. My entire family, my wedding planner and my fiance at the time, ALL understood that if you cancelled within 48 hours of the wedding you did not owe anything. Fast forward 3 weeks before, we’re discussing the tent and we’re told now that you lose 33% even if you cancel within the 48 hours? I’ve never heard such an insane policy, and it also wasn’t communicated very well if everyone heard something different.

Now, fast forward to the week of the wedding. I am a complete mess as I just realized that it’s going to be an extreme heat wave (110 degrees real feel). I reach out to Maison May to see what steps they are taking to make sure our guests are somewhat comfortable that day. I’m greeted with attitude by Jillian, speaking to me with a tone of “you need to calm down.” I obviously did not appreciate that. They were going to put in 2 extra air conditioners upstairs and downstairs (great), but nothing to regulate the temperature outside. Chris and I literally had to spent $1,500 on misting fans to make the courtyard bearable that day. Why the venue didn’t pick up this cost? Not sure. (more on the fans later). I spoke to Claudia as well at some point during the week who told me that I needed to temper my expectations of what the temperature will feel like in the venue. They’ve dealt with 90 but never 110 (the truth, but seriously who says that to the bride?) And if that’s the case, do everything you can to make it better.

Now, we are finally at the wedding day. My wedding day was hot, but it was beautiful. It truly was a day that I’ll never forget, with beautiful memories and moments. The venue itself was not temperature regulated at all. It was probably about 85-87 degrees in the place. The music was so quiet that many guests did not dance which was really disappointing. The AC that they put in did absolutely nothing. When we walked in, Jillian didn’t even say hi, just looked at me. She did not once say congratulations to us the entire night. At one point we unplugged the neon sign to make it darker upstairs, and she came upstairs and plugged it in with this snarky look on your face like… “you just had to have this sign, keep it plugged in…” At the end of the night my guests were clearing out and waiting for me downstairs to go to another bar. They said she asked them where they were going, and they said next door, and she said to them, “well then you should probably go there.” Super lovely.

I understand that it was extreme weather, but I don’t believe they did everything they could have. They also don’t have a back-up generator so in case of a blackout, we would have been screwed.

After the insane temperature in there all day, Jillian has the gall to email us days after the wedding asking us for $400 extra dollars to pay the misting fan people we hired, because Maison May doesn’t want to carry the fans out and they want the fan people to bring an extra hand to do it. I honestly never answered her because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. We paid the fan people and I hope to never speak to her again. Jillian, I’m sure you are a lovely person outside of work, but you should not be organizing weddings as you are WAY too harsh and have a sincere lack of understanding for how stressed brides get. Telling a bride to “calm down” is never a good idea. :)

All in all, it was our wedding so I’m happy with how turned out. Our friends and family rallied regardless of the heat. The food was delicious, the bartenders were awesome, and so was the service. If you want a really detailed oriented wedding, do not get married here. The music upstairs is SO quiet that it felt awkward in there, and they would not let the DJ bring any other speakers. The sweet spot at this place is not 70 people, it’s probably more around 50. There are parts of me that do regret getting married here, and all of the stress beforehand from the venue was a huge part of that.