The Grand Long Beach Reviews

I cannot express how grateful my husband and I are to have booked our wedding reception at The Grand. We worked primarily with Marissa and Lauren on this event for close to 18 months due to postponements as a result of COVID. What stands out about this venue is their professionalism. We opted to go with this venue primarily for this reason and the value for what you are getting. Throughout all the changes, they were nothing but responsive and helpful in any way they could be. My emails were always answered promptly. Despite all the stress from having to change my wedding plans, I never had to worry about being taken care of at The Grand. When my husband and I finally had our event this past October, everything on our agreement was delivered as promised. Zero issues whatsoever. We had great waitstaff and a super fun bartender. The venue itself was set up beautifully. Thank you so much to everyone at The Grand for creating such a beautiful day for us.

We had a wonderful ceremony and reception at The Grand and definitely would recommend!

Planning: Lauren was our main point of contact at the Grand and Marissa our second, and they were both fantastic! We had so many questions and details the entire process and Lauren or Marissa were always there to answer them, even when we got to the nitty gritty and cost breakdowns. From the initial planning to the tasting to our final details meeting, Lauren and Marissa were so great about getting us what we wanted on our wedding day.

Staff: We had a grand (... sorry) experience with the banquet staff! Erika was our banquet captain and she was so great about the little details, such as keeping some appetizers for us to snack on after cocktail hour since we were moving about the whole time. We didn't have a day of coordinator and yet she was still able to keep up with the hectic day. She also made sure we got our dinner and cake, even though I kept changing my mind about when to eat it. Thank you Erika and staff for your attentive service!

Venue: The venue itself is beautiful, especially in the Palm Terrace! We had our ceremony there in the courtyard and the reception in the Garden Room, which was great when guests got too hot on the dance floor and wanted a nice breather outside! Also got some pretty night time shots with the lights there. The top of the parking garage made for a nice little spot for pictures at sunset as well.

I have only met with them one time so far and that was when I booked the venue. They were very nice and showed me each room available and let me pick which one I wanted. My wedding is September 14, 2019 and I will be meeting with them again soon to finalize the day.

Everything was above and beyond! We couldn't of been happier with our experience at The Grand. The food was delicious and the staff was amazing! Would definitely recommend.

My husband and I couldn't be happier with how our wedding turned out. We had our wedding ceremony on the Palm Terrace and reception in the Garden room. Everything was decorated exactly the way I wanted it to be. Everyone at the Grand was polite and helpful. Salvador, our Banquet Captain, was amazing! He was on top of everything- he and his staff followed my timeline. My husband and I didn't get to eat any hor'deurves during cocktail hour, so during dinner time they gave us some. The food was delicious!!! We got the ahi poke and pork/shrimp for hor'deurves and chicken and tri tip for dinner. I can't say enough good things about this venue! If you are considering having an event here, do it!

I would choose them all over again for my wedding!! They were awesome!! Ann Williamson was so professional, flexible, and accommodating! This place could not make planning a wedding on a budget any easier!! The set up and clean up is all done by them! Easy parking! Exceptional service! Full bar! Cake included in package! But the best part was how delicious the food was!!! Very impressed! Highly recommended!

Our Wedding was on 10/04/14 and our guests were blown away on beautiful the reception was. The staff was extremely helpful and our coordinator Andry was everything we needed. We still have friends and family asking for their number for their future events.

The Grand delivered! Our wedding on 10/12/14 was perfect. The service was excellent, food was good (had many guests tell us they were so used to expecting boring wedding food but really loved their menu) and made our day feel so special. All the servers, managers, and staff were friendly and professional. I had no doubt they were going to be the perfect location for our wedding and they delivered without question. I will use them again for any event I need to plan or recommend to someone who does.

We used this venue for our wedding and ceremony. The staff was beyond amazing. Andry was our venue contact and was great at having us put everything together. I would highly recommend This venue.

Ann and the rest of the staff at the Grand were great!! My husband and I had our wedding reception here, and we were really happy with the outcome.

One of the main reasons we chose the Grand over other venues is that the Chef was willing to work with us to create a completely custom menu. My husband and I wanted the food to reflect the fusion of both of our cultures. The Chef was able to create a wonderful Asian-American fusion menu that included 3 tray-passed hors d'oeuvres, a table of stationary appetizers, and a multi-course dinner: a first course of soup, a second course of (beef) filet, and a third course of fish. It was a great meal! The Chef was even kind enough to stay late on our wedding day to make sure the custom menu went off without a hitch.

We also appreciated how punctual the staff was on the day of our wedding. They followed the timeline to the "t". Our event manager checked in with my husband before each course was to go out to confirm the timing. He also checked in with us the entire night to make sure everything was to our liking. Really nice staff.

From the beginning, Ann was super great to us. She helped us build a package that addressed all of our needs. Everything we did in our reception was custom. Ann was always very professional and responsive - she usually responded to my emails same day. We were so lucky we got Ann to work with.

To top it all off, the price at the Grand was very reasonable. We were able to get chiavari chairs, unlimited beer, soda, ... the list goes on. Simply put, the value is great here at the Grand. Plus, it was a huge weight off our shoulders to have a full-service events team - we didn't have to worry about coordinating anything.

So glad we chose the Grand for our wedding reception - it was perfect!

The Grand was simply A M A Z I N G!!! Ann was so wonderful to work with! She responded right away everytime I needed to contact her! I was a very indecisive bride and she was understanding and helpful the whole step of the way. She was the greatest!
Everyone at the grand was so wonderful the day of the wedding!
The food was really good! Even better than the day we did the food tasting.
All of the waiters were so kind. Thank you so much for making our day an amazing one'

The Grand Events Center near the Long Beach Airport is a wonderful venue for all types of occasions. They did a fantastic job providing us and our guests a memorable day for our wedding reception. We would recommend them to anyone. Thank you.

I have nothing but great things to say about the grand! We had our wedding here in August and everything was flawless for our special day! We worked with the coordinator Ann and she was amazing! She was always available for questions, checked in with me often and was even able to deal with my phone calls and emails during the high anxiety planning moments. The grand was very flexible and accommodating to any of our needs. The venue is perfect because it's a one stop shop and everything is in one place! The food was delicious! We received so many compliments from our guests about the food. I would recommend the venue to any couple looking!

Anne Williamson and Devin Wright were contacts persons for our wedding.

Both ladies were responsive, professional and understanding of our needs as we had only 10 days to plan our wedding & reception.

We had our wedding 1 month ago and we were so happy with the decision we made.
They have 5 options to choose from all of them are very nice.All the staff is very friendly and polite.
the prices are very reasonable and the food was great, the parking is free , the bathrooms are clean and they have a free suite for the bride.
Our cordinator was Ann she is very friendly and super cool to get along with, she was very helpful for any questions we had she was always there to answer.
ask for her! :)

Loved how everything was set up, excellent service I didn't have to worry about anything

We did the Friday wedding package and it was a great deal! The venue was beautiful and we were delighted with how everything turned out. Ann was our event coordinator and really took great care of us. We did a lot of little upgrades which made everything that much nicer. The Chivari chairs are a must in my opinion and the open bar really brings the party together. We used the Garden Room and had a full bar available to our guests that was great in photos as well. Absolutely worth the money we spent. We had an amazing time and so did our guests. We did the ceremony on the outside terrace. The sun was just going down as the ceremony began and for the first 10 minutes the sun was in the boys eyes, but as soon as it set the rest of the way it was really beautiful.

The food is amazing. My wedding was 2 weeks ago and I have family still telling me how good the food was. They are very generous with their alcohol in the mixed drinks. I honestly coiuld not say anything bad about this place. Viviana was my sales person and she is a sweetheart.

If we could do it all over again we would definitely do it at The Grand. Everything was perfect from the rep who helped us (Viviana), to the food, decor, and service. They are the absolute best at what they do. We are want to have our 10th Anniversary there as well! Thanks for everything The Grand!

Had our wedding ceremony in the Palm Terrace and our reception in the garden room. Received many positive compliments on the location, hors d'oeuvres and dinner. Alex Weiss was our coordinator and she was a pleasure to work with. She was very helpful with all my questions and always responded in a timely manner. The staff was very professional from the servers to the bartenders.

This place is beautiful. The food was incredible. Alex was our coordinator and she was more than helpful. They really take care of their clients.

My husband and I worked with Viviana at the Grand for our wedding event. I can't tell you how wonderful our experience with her was. She always emailed or called us back the same day, and if she was busy, she would let us know so that we weren't waiting and waiting for her.

Everyone said how good the food was. We chose the salmon and prime rib for our guests and everyone said how tasty the salmon was, and how tender the meat was. The appetizers were also a huge hit with the salmon and cracker bar. The waitstaff was polite and made sure we were okay. All our vendors had a very easy time with the Grand. The Grand provides a cake when you book with them, and we chose Torrance Bakery, which was also a pleasant experience and had the best cake.

I would highly recommend this venue for your special event. They really do take care of you, and Viviana is the sweetest person to work with there.

I have nothing but positive things to say about the Grand. Viviana, our sales person, was so helpful and responsive to all of my requests, I must have emailed her dozens of times with questions and she responded quickly every time. They were professionals in every aspect. Our reception room was set up complete with table linens by 9:30am for a 6pm start time. So i was able to do last minute set up there myself and not be stressed for time. Also, I received many compliments on how good the food was - we served chicken with melted goat cheese. It was delicious. I would highly recommend the Grand to anyone for ceremonies and receptions.

the grand was very helpful in helping me plan my wedding. the staff was wonderful! they were polite and very helpful and treated my guests and my husband and i with the utmost respect. I had a wonderful time on my wedding day. i loved it especially because we did everything at one venue, including ceremony. good times!

We just had our wedding and reception at The Grand. All of the details were taken care of to our satisfaction. We had no worries on the day of the event. We had a wonderful wait staff and contact person. All of our vendors were pleased. All of the planning--from the booking of the room, to the tasting, to the menu selection--were all very straightforward and easy. They were even able to accommodate our small (75) number of guests.

I'm am so happy I chose The Grand for my wedding reception. They staff was so very helpful, the coordinator whop worked wit me (Jodi) was awesome and they just helped my whole day go by without a single problem. all of my guests loved the food, the facility was absolutley beautiful. it was the reception of my dreams. i highly recommend The Grand for the bride/groom that's look for a high quality one stop shop for their wedding reception. having it here alleviated so much stress.

The Grand was a delight to work with. They are VERY attentive, will help you set up your menu. The tasting was amazing, and so was the final result at the wedding! They will also let you switch out some things on your menu if you get a package which was very nice. Their servers were friendly and made sure to check with guests often even though it was a buffet. Don't hesitate to use them, they do a wonderful job.

From start to finish, this venue was nothing short of exceptional. The site inside and out are beautiful. The food is amazing and a fantastic value for the price. They included all the linens, chairs, cake, and much more in their reasonable package pricing. The staff is fantastic too! I recommend this venue to everyone having a wedding in Southern California!

The Grand made our 'wedding dreams' come true!!! EVERYBODY was blown away with the Grand Ballroom and the service. Lisa McIntyre is phenomenal!!! She was always available to answer our questions and made the wedding planning so easy!!! I would, and do, recommend The Grand to any couple that wants the best value for their money and a wedding that will have people talking for months....ours did!!! =)

Soomin is great

We worked with Ann. Very thorough and explained everything right off. The day of, staff in our reception was very helpful and courteous with my guests. Will use again in the future.

The Grand Long Beach went above and beyond to help make my dream wedding a reality. The venue itself is beautiful and the food is delicious. I don’t think any option would be a wrong decision. And the staff is amazing. They will do whatever they can to help make your day run smoothly. They offer great packages for many price ranges and they are willing to customize to a certain extent to meet your needs. The staff has great pride in their facility and they want to make sure their clients know this. I will definitely recommend The Grand Long Beach to anyone looking for an all-inclusive venue whether it is for a wedding or any other special event. You will definitely get your money’s worth and then some.

My rep was Alexandra Weiss she was very professional and very nice. My day of coordinator was Beto and he was amazing! The Master Chef kept coming in and checking in on us. The waiters were very attentive and noticed that my husband and I had been running around and brought us appetizers to our table! They were so sweet.

We had been to the tasting and loved the food but we didn't realize the portions would be so generous! We received so many compliments on the food. So many of our guests said how great the food was and they were actually full, and that usually does not happen at weddings. =)

There was one minor problem, they gave us Fruit Punch instead of Pink Lemonade but if that was the worst of my worries, I was ok with that.

I would recommend them in a heart beat.

Viviana was a great event coordinator and ensured we had an amazing event!

My husband and I decided to get married at the last minute. We were going to go to the court and get married and my mom and sister in law said NO WAY! So we has a month to put together a ceremony that was going to accomodate 65 guests. The Grand was AMAZING!!!! The staff was so helpful and we got the mexican buffett and the food was sooo good!! I can't tell you how many compliments we got on our wedding. Lots of parking.... You can't beat their prices either :-)

Although, The Grand was not a choice we made (it is the only caterer you can have at the EBM Japanese Garden), it is the best choice in the Long Beach area. The food is so amazing, we talked them into letting us come to two tastings (I so needed one for the wedding and one for the rehearsal dinner ;). Becky was so accommodating and we got everything we wanted.

I’d recommend the use of this very accommodating venue to any bride to be! The venue staff, food and location were ideal! I'm still receiving compliments on how great the food tasted the location, the wait staff and the room. Thanks for making my day special.

Very, very pleased with this reception venue. Very professional, the site it beautiful and was a perfect fit for what we were looking for. Also very accommodating to last minute changes.

Our experience with this vendor was outstanding. Elizabeth schedule an appointment with my fiancé and I to me within that same week that I received her email. She showed us two rooms that were available for our wedding and described the venue that atmosphere and type of ceremony and reception that we were going for. We fell in love with the monarch room. The ceremony area fit perfectly with our wedding theme . It fit perfectly with our budget a little pricey but we saved time and work that we would be doing on our own.

They have a high turn overate for the coordinator that work there. Between December of 2015 and August 2016 I went through three people. I had my wedding on a Sunday and found out that day the coordinator is not there Sunday . No one works the front desk on Sundays. Despite that the cooking staff and the staff that set up the venue does an excellent job. The food is very tasty and my wedding ceremony and reception ran smoothly despite not having the coordinator.

The grand has the best food i have ever tasted for a wedding. The grand was a great place to have my wedding. Alex weiss was my coordinator and she was great. My only complaints are that initially i was not told that the 5 hour reception time included my ceremony time which i was not happy about. The owner Mr. Ryan choura met with me and fixed the issue and now they have it stated in their brochure. Alex is good with responding to your emails and having you come in to talk if you have questions. The only have two food tastings a year so you will have to plan for that or pay for your own personal tasting. They dont give you alot of set up time before your event because someone could be using it before you do. Wedding rehearsals are complimentary which i was never told until one week before my wedding and i had to rehearse in another room....not too happy about that. They set up your room on your wedding day and the banquet captain...i cant remember his name.....he was so nice and professional!!! The salmon was moist from start to finish,the chicken marsala was great,strawberry lemonade was perfect,chocolate fountain was great,and we even got a few things free just for booking our wedding. Their prices for sunday wedding was the best in the whole county!!! Our package included EVErything for a great flat rate without service charge and tax......food,cake,champagne,apple cider,table,linens,microphone etc. I absolutely love this venue and will be back to celebrate our 5 or 10 year anniversary in the same monarch ballroom!! Overall this place is great but needs to get a little better with stating everything at the initial consultation.....like the little details for ceremony and rehearsal.

Our coordinator, Ann, has been wonderful and responds to my (many) inquiries usually within 24 hours. She is very knowledgeable of The Grand's services and I've yet to stump her with any request for information.
While there are a several key aspects that come as "a la carte" items (i.e. a dance floor, lighting etc.) and some that I wish they provided (i.e. projector/screen for montage), for the price you really get a lot included at the best value we were able to find. Food/cake, table settings, linens, cake cutting and basic ceremony amenities are all included with options for additional upgrades.

They also don't try to "up-sell" you on additional items and make it super easy to stay within a set budget - even to the point of making suggestions on how to cut costs!

We are looking forward to our wedding in February and I have every confidence that the day will turn out great!

I had my wedding here 6/18/11. The venue was beautiful and for a banquet hall catering for 160 people, the food was better than one could expect. It was actually pretty good!
Our even manager, Alex was awesome, she helped move everything along and the whole planning process was smooth and really non eventful (which is a good thing).
The only mistake was that on the day of the wedding, they got my tablecloth color wrong. We had 45 minutes before the guests started arrving and when we found out that they messed up the color, they fixed it in less than 15 minutes for all 17 tables! So yeah they got it wrong, but they were able to correct it almost immediately which was great.
As for service, the ONLY complaint our guests had was that when they served the wedding cake, they cleared the tables before some of our guests were even able to have some cake! But if thats the worst complaint i have to mention they hey... that tells me the wedding was great!
Great value for the venue and great venue - they bundle everything up for you so nicely it really does take the stress out of wedding planning. I will definitley use them again if I ever have another large party to throw.

We recently got married at The Grand in March, and we were content with the results. My bestfriend and I had been looking everywhere for a venue that was beautiful but affordable at the same time. Upon some web research, we found that The Grand was having a promotion for 20% off. We fell in love with the Monarch room because we could meet the room minimum (150) and it was more private compared to the other rooms offered. Of course, it was booked for all the dates we wanted…but we were taken to the Grand Ballroom where they had beautiful swag hanging from the ceiling and gave a very open feel. We presented the promo we found online and raised concern about meeting the room minimum (220). Our consultant at the time was very accommodating and tried to work with our budget, since we had budgeted for a smaller guest list. She put our day and room on hold, and if offered another promo if we booked within a week (free appetizers). We put down a deposit and booked our special day! Once we booked the venue, we felt huge relief! Everything was starting to come together.

We did run into a bump in the road when we tried to reach our contact a few months later. I did not receive any response… two emails later and a week later…still no response. At this point, I was a little stressed out and called the front office, in which they informed me that our consultant was no longer with the company. I was disappointed that my emails were not being responded to and that nobody had notified us of who the new contact would be. I was quickly transferred to Viviana. She was really a doll and was responsive through the rest of the process. After we resolved the consultant issue, everything else was smooth sailing. We had our tasting, and chose the Salmon & Chicken Marsala as our entrée options.

Other than the normal items on the worry list, we were really hoping for some great food and appetizers. The Grand has about 2 tastings a year in which both prospective and currently booked clients are able to see one of the rooms dressed up and have a tasting of their menu. For appetizer, we really enjoyed the NY Strip Steak on a baguette, Ahi Tuna on cucumber slice and cheese tray. At the tasting we had options of prime rib, shrimp, salmon and chicken. We particularly enjoyed the salmon, which we chose for one of our dinner options. Our 2nd split menu was the chicken. The shrimp was nice, but we felt it was more of a side dish and it may get cold by the time it was served.

Results: We received a lot of compliments on the venue and the food. We really could not have found a better place for both the quality of food, beauty of venue and the price that it offered. It was convenient having both the ceremony & reception at the same location because guests did not have to drive around looking for the reception venue, and parking was plentiful even with another wedding going on.

I'm really glad that we chose The Grand as our wedding venue. Although I was disappointed that our salesperson would not be present on the day of my event, the staff and banquet manager bent over backwards to help us out. They provided extra details to my friends while they were setting up and were well organized and on the ball.

1) Food - The food was great, especially considering the price. Everyone loved the buffet and raved about it afterwards. I didn't get a chance to have any of our spread during cocktail hour but it seemed to be well presented and no one complained.

Our only complaint was the cake service. They refused to cut our top tier (perhaps a language barrier issue) despite my repeated request because it was a different flavor and we wanted to share it. Also, many people didn't get any cake because it wasn't left at their seats while they were dancing and no one could find it later. I have no idea where the extra cake ended up since so little of it was eaten by guests.

2) Bar - We were in the Garden Room and had the ceremony on the Palm Terrace so my guests walked past the bar on the way to the ceremony. It was great that our bartenders (who were wonderful) were already set up before the ceremony so everyone could get a drink on the way in. It actually made it a little tough to corral the guests out to the patio for the ceremony, but everyone seemed to appreciate having the cocktail tables and bar set-up so they could mingle before the wedding.

3) Ambiance - I love the decor of the venue and the unique set-up of the Garden Room. It's cozier, but not too small, and it didn't feel like your standard wedding banquet hall. The lighting is perfect without extraneous spots or up-lights.

4) Set-up - It's unfortunate that there was another wedding immediately before mine, but I guess that's what happens in June. We had limited time to set-up so I didn't get to participate at all. If you want the room to yourself all day, I recommend getting married in a less popular month.

5) Overall - Everyone loved the venue. I'm glad they have plenty of parking right next door. They are conveniently located near a Marriott Residence Inn so we had our hotel block there. You could hardly tell that there were two other weddings at the same time, except for the dance music that started blaring during my ceremony. Make sure they shut all the doors before getting married on the Palm Terrace.

The venue was perfect and my sisters wedding turned out beautiful. The wait staff were very nice and accomodating to our needs. Even our bartenders were wonderful. The set up for the ceremony was perfect and the reception set up was more than I expected.

Our consultant Natalia was very helpful in the beginning of the process but as things had to change due to some personal matters, she became a liitle harsh with us. I feel that as our consultant it would of been nice to see her on the day of our event and to ask us how things were going.

I would recommend this venue for weddings, or any big event.

Loved my evening at the Grand! We felt like VIP's all night, and we're still getting raves about our food! What a night!

The room we used was so beautiful and flexible due to the all wood floor. The linens were very nice. The food was excellent and worth the month. They worked with us and our budget. I would recommend this location to anyone who wants to have their ceremony and reception in one location. The location is easily accessible from the freeway.

We had our wedding in October 09 in the Garden room and we had Natalia as our coordinator. We booked our event in March. I made a lot of changes during our wedding planning and didn't know that we were locked in to a much higher rate. No one ever tells you this during your wedding planning. I would suggest not to over estimate how many guests you will have and choose the cheapest menu plan possible (this is a suggestion for whichever caterer or reception you get). You never know what will happen down the road. You can always upgrade, but never downgrade at venues.
I had wanted to downgrade my bar tab, and they couldn't accomodate that. I also wanted signature drinks, and they couldn't accomodate that unless i upgraded to the platinum buffet. I had thought I would have at least 100 adults and 20 children, so I guessed at 100 people. We only ended up with 80 adults and 20 kids, so I still ended up paying for 100 adults.
For the most part, they were able to accomodate my many requests. Natalia was quick with responses via email, she was very professional. The presentation of the buffet was nice, the setup of the tables was nice, everyone loved our bar area, it was so art deco-ish. The food seemed good to me, the buffet was plentiful along with our chocolate fountain. But a few of our guests did say that the food wasn't great but to each his own I guess. The patio area was great! We had our photobooth out there and a few cocktail tables for our smokers.
We had our wedding on a hot Saturday night and the whole venue was PACKED. Every single reception room in the place had a party and people were kind of crashing all the different parties (I didn't mind too much, my guests were doing it too) so be prepared if you pick a Saturday night or a busy Summer or Fall night.
It was a fun reception venue for the actual day. Got a lot of compliments from guests.

The place books up quickly but guest service representatives are helpful and accomodating. We were able to customize our menu according to our needs as well as the price per person. Waiting staff are corteous and friendly.

Didn't pick this Venue, due to the rooms being taken already for a wedding on the day I want to get married. The staff was very nice and helpful, I would definitely recommend this venue for a wedding.

Yummy food! A little pricy, but they did a wonderful job.

It’s a good place. It has a lot of room you can choose for your wedding, all rooms have diferente styles and sizes. They are kind. When you make an appointment they give you a tour of all the places and all the rooms. It has a patio when you can have your ceremony and reception. The only thing I didn’t like and that’s why I didn’t choose this venue is because they are very very strict and this made me think about it because the music couldn’t be too loud at 8 pm. And I want to finish my party at 12am and they told me that my party has to finish at 10:30 pm. And all my vendors have to have a license even the tables! And they only give the vendors 2 hours before the event to set up. After that everything is fine about this place. the entrance is very beautiful and has a fountain. If the above is not so important to you then this place may be perfect for you.

Natalia was great but no longer works at this venue. The rest of the staff I encountered was average. My recommendation is this, if you want an affordable event, book a Friday night special with this venue (one of the best deals in town) but carefully scrutinize the contract at every revision, and make sure your gifts aren't left unattended.

My husband and i were having our reception here for our wedding.
In the beginning we chose them because they were right down the street from our wedding location, about a mile down the road. We liked the room and the price was within our budget. Parking was easy in the garage and the room was nice.

Cons: If you book an event with them that is in the evening, there could possibly be an event BEFORE yours, which means your vendors will not be able to set up there and no one will be allowed in until a certain time.

We were told the earliest our event could start was 6pm when our ceremony ended at 3pm. This was their exact words "Sorry, ALL of our events begin at six or later-The only way to begin earlier is if you buy out the morning which is $3800."

We were trying to follow a sensible budget here and that was a lot to ask for the morning time which we weren't going to even use!!!

We had an issue as we had been communicating with one of the reps there and she just did not communicate to us certain important issues, for example we wanted to do the food tasting and had scheduled our flight and everything for it ( we live in Bay Area) and it changed, and no one bothered to notify us! We actually called THEM, and then found out.

In the contract it did not state to rent the draping to decorate the room included tax/tip, only that it was a flat rate. No one told us this, so when we asked we were told that's just "how it was". Luckily the manager Lisa stepped in and talked to us about it and why those fee's were charged.

Cons:
We had to do the tasting for the food selection and meet with our rep and they wanted two different meetings for that, when they knew we were located 6 hours away and couldn't make our way down there that easy
We were told they could not help us with any of our set up, luckily my florist was more easy going and sweet about that and helped out. Also my groomsmen right before the wedding had to go over there to set up the favors because the grand would not do that. I thought that was not very accommodating.
We did end up going to the tasting, and vegetables were WAY over cooked. I wasn't impressed with the food as much, the chocolate fondue fountain was great though.
We weren't told who our "captain" was and didn't have a phone number for them until a day prior to the actual wedding date. That was stressful because there was no one to talk to in case something were to change!!
They charge a corking fee if you bring your own, we were only bringing one bottle so the fee was waived.

After having many issues with them, I felt as if they were trying to be more accommodating but before that I felt they were just trying to charge us and make money. And there were many misunderstandings about things making it difficult for us to work with them.

Pros: General manager was accommodating if there was an issue brought to their attention.
They were willing to set up a private tasting for us even though it wouldn't include all the dishes at the real tasting, but this was only because no one told us the date and time had changed.
They were good mostly about emailing us back when we had questions, but somehow it seemed like we always had to ask the question rather than them telling us. They wouldn't go out of their way to tell us otherwise.
I asked about using the bridal private suite for bustling and they said that was okay.
They had promotions such as for booking early they gave us some h'orderves no charge.
They paid for the most expensive h'orderves so we only had to pay for the lesser amount.
Our video camera was left and luckily someone put it in a room with our name on it and the janitor helped us get it, which was great.

I have to start by saying that the venue was beautiful. It was the staff that was lacking,and by staff i mean the planner. I "worked" with Syndi. I use the word "work" losely because she was just not on top of her job. To begin with, i made an appointment to first see the place and the representative never showed, after 1 hour syndi showed me around. Still we gave it a chance and booked 2 weeks later. And this is when sooo man problems came up.

1. She was too busy to print a contract so she said she would email it to us; Well she didn't until i asked for it.

2.We were supposed to get a call about a food tasting but since it was 1 day before the tasting i called in to see what had happened. I was told that Syndi emailed me an invitation because she didn't have my phone number ( even though i had seen her write my number down before. I asked them to verify my email and it was wrong, even though she obviously had the correct email because i made her email me a copy of the contract.

3.At the meeting before the wedding, she promised to have plates on the tables for my guests but come the day of and she hadnt told anybody about the plates. I was already running late and i didnt have the time or the mindset to fight over the plates on the day of but it would have been nice to have them.

4. We had given her a updated schedule which she neglected to give to the coordinator the day of. We just eventually had to queue the day of coordinator before every little event.

In general the venue is beautiful, its just the planner that made my experience a nightmare. Her lack of responsiveness was appalling.

A HUGE PLUS SIDE!!!!
The day of, the coordinator was a dream. He could probably tell that i was already unhappy with the shortcomings thanks to Syndi so he was very accommodating and helpful. That coordinator and his staff really saved the night.

I was helped by Natalia and I was planning on getting married in August with this venue. I gave my deposit of 2000 dollars and had asked for the largest room because at the time I was planning on having 250 guests. Since the economy started to effect us financially I asked Natalia if we could use one of the smaller rooms instead since we were financially not able to accommodate 250 people. We wanted to reduce it by 200. She told me there was nothing she could do because I had signed a contract and they could not change it. I told her that I still wanted my wedding there I just could not afford to have as many guests. She told me the only thing I could do was give another deposit for another room if I wanted to do it there. I lost my 2000 dollars and will never do business there again. Although it actually worked out for the best I had my wedding at the Skylinks where I didn't have to share the venue with anyone else. Also at the Skylinks they have a beautiful waterfall and wonderful landscape I was able to take wonderful pictures there for my wedding.

Daughter's Reception - Initially signed up with Alex Weiss who was awesome. However, she left shortly after we signed up, and it was all downhill after that. After the first week of trying to make contact with someone, I told my daughter she should probably move the Reception because the service we received now demonstrates the type of service we will receive later. However, the representative assigned assured us things would get better. Must I say, there were poor responsiveness up to a month before the reception, it took at least three attempts to get some type of response. Then, ONE WEEK before the reception, I did not receive a response from the coordinator until after making several calls and leaving numerous voicemails until TWO DAYS before, wherein she was requesting full payment, and I was still waiting on answers to questions. On day of reception, servers did not smile. They were very DRY. There were a number of missing items requested by my daughter that were not there (strawberry lemonade, mojitos, coffee, tea). The coordinator promised to be onsite (up to and including day before the reception) and did not show up nor was there a backup, so with missing items was told by head server "not in contract." When contacted coordinator, she said, "oh they must have had an old contract." As mother-of-bride, while walking around greeting guests, servers served salad, and when I asked for a salad, it was like they scraped the bottom of the bowl or gave me someone's leftovers. Then for the toast, I asked for champagne, it took about five minutes before the server returned, the glass was the size of a child's toy champagne glass, and it was less than 1/2 full. The room was setup correctly and the food was excellent. However, I should have followed my first mind and selected another venue. Even though I tried to stay on top of things, because it was on the day that the Grand did not follow through on - which was unfortunately, too late to mend.