The Olana Reviews
Reviews
We're all about trust. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.
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![Kelli]()
Kelli Sent on 02/02/2025My Planner Melissa Austin Is Incredible
I just had my second to last meeting with my Wedding Planer Melissa, she has been my key to an stress-free and incredibly planned out Wedding. Because of her, I have not been stressed out about my Wedding at all! Her expertise leaves me feeling ready and excited! I couldn’t ask for a more perfect Wedding Planner! -
![Katherine]()
Katherine Sent on 08/22/2024Adorable little place
This place is not only your wedding venue. This is a place that will welcome you with open arms and remember you for years to come!
Macie is my favorites at The Olana! She is quite literally a pro! I have never had more fun interacting with an individual in my life, she is not afraid to welcome you with a big smile and a kind heart! We loved our tour and love seeing you at all of The Olana events.
Edit/Addition:
The planning process has been such a breeze! everyone on the team has been so pleasant and have been able to help us with all of our needs from the vision on the floral's to the insights and timelines for how the day is going to go.
Before we got really deep into the planning for our wedding Catherine encouraged us to go to all The Olana showcases to we can start sparking ideas for the wedding, This was the best advice we received. we got to see all of the vendors in action and take time to try out the foods they had to offer!
Such an amazing venue! and we appreciate them so much! Just a few short months to go and I couldn't be more excited! -
![Matthew]()
Matthew Sent on 08/18/2024Smooth planning and stunning venue
Our planning process with The Olana has been smooth and well-organized. Our venue coordinator, Catherine Peck, has been consistently helpful and responsive, making sure all our questions are answered and guiding us through the details. She has shown a commitment to ensuring our day is special that leaves us even more excited after each meeting. We’ve appreciated the team’s professionalism and the ease with which they’ve helped us navigate the planning stages. The venue itself is beautiful, and knowing we have a supportive team behind us gives us confidence that our wedding day will be just as we envisioned. We would recommend The Olana for anyone looking for a well-managed and stunning venue for their big day. -
![Terah]()
Terah Sent on 08/14/2024So far, amazing!
Our planning process thus far has been great! Catherine is the best and makes everything very easy:) Wedding is in Nov and we’ve been booked since early 2023 -
![Angela]()
Angela Sent on 08/08/2024Perfect Venue
Our daughter's wedding is being held at The Olana in October. From the first visit, our daughter, Peyton, knew this was her dream venue. We looked at a few other locations but none had the grand feel that The Olana does. As the MOB, I was looking for the "easy button" of planning and Catherine and others with Walters have made this a reality. The vendors they utilize are great to work with. We look forward to an amazing event in October at this beautiful venue. Angela Montgomery -
![Hang]()
Hang Sent on 06/25/2024Wedding Tour Review
We went on a wedding tour of the Olana given by Calla and it was an incredible experience. She was very patient and polite and took the time get to know us before giving a grand fabulous tour of this enormous one of a kind property. She also provided very interesting history of the Olana. Every wedding questions we had Calla had a detailed answer to. The videos and photos on social media of this location do not do this place justice. It is a must visit! -
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Cathy Sent on 02/27/2024
The Olana was the perfect venue
I can not say enough about our experience at The Olana and how amazing it was. Catherine Peck made the entire planning so easy and stress free and we are so grateful for her and the entire staff. My daughter and I love Catherine and we looked forward to every planning meeting - it was like being with a friend. Being the MOB this can be a stressful time, but every experience we had at The Olana was awesome! Every vendor went above and beyond and we can not say one bad thing. All of our guests raved about the venue and the staff! I recommend The Olana 100 times over!! Sad we won't get to see these people and the wedding is over - they truly are the best. - enjoy the pics - how can you choose just 1?? -
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![Sanaa]()
Sanaa Sent on 01/26/2024Dream Come True
Nick is MADE for this line of work; if wedding planning is a love language, it is Nick's native tongue. Touring the Olana with him went so well that, at the end of our tour, I refused to get up off the couch and leave until my fiance signed on the dotted line to seal the deal; because if Nick is this professional while remaining pleasant, he's certainly set the standard for the rest of the Olana staff and their services. In getting to know Nick, my fiance and I are comforted and reassured that the rest planning process is going to go smooth with our best interest in their heart. Thank you so much Nick and I cant wait to see you again already!. -
![Emily]()
Emily Sent on 11/30/2023My fairytale wedding
Wow, wow, wow. I cannot express my thanks and gratitude towards the staff of Walters Wedding Estates for making my wedding day on 11/12/2023, the BEST DAY EVER. Every staff member I came in contact with leading up to the day made every thing go smoothly and ultimately made the wedding day run seamlessly. I wanted to personally thank and give a shout out to Melanie Anderson, Kayla Bednar, Jared + Matthew (our AMAZING DJs), Alex Larson, Derick, Malyn and Cayden. These caring individuals were all there on wedding day or helped throughout the planning process and had a hand in making every single moment special. This venue and team made my husband and I's DREAM WEDDING happen. It was ALL worth it. THANK YOU!
If you're looking for your fairytale wedding do not hesitate, the all inclusive packages of vendors was what helped us make our decision. -
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![Paola]()
Paola Sent on 06/01/2023Very professional both the venue and all their vendors
We've had the pleasure of working with Kayla, who's been a huge support helping us stay organized and stress free. She's helped make wedding planning so much less intimidating which has allowed us to enjoy the planning process. All of the vendors are just as professional and organized. The venue is GORGEOUS to say the least, which is the cherry on top of the sundae! -
![Becca]()
Becca Sent on 05/17/2023Such a great experience!
We are still in the planning process but are so enjoying working with Kayla during our meetings. She takes the time to listen and explain all of our questions and you can tell she really cares about making our day fantastic. Also, the vendors who work alongside the Olana are so great, and having a venue that has such a great relationship and communication with the vendors has been a blessing! -
![Lauryn]()
Lauryn Sent on 03/20/2023Stunning Venue with Top Tier Service
We booked with The Olana following a showcase we attended back in February. Not only is the venue stunning, but from the start our experience has been stellar! Kelli H. was our venue tour guide and event manager. She was very informative, timely, and enthusiastic during our contract negotiations. She walked us through the contract process seamlessly and never hesitated to answer any of our questions or make adjustments as needed. Then we were transitioned to Kayla B as our General Manager for our event. She has truly made the planning process exciting and stress-free, and the communication has been wonderful. This team knows what theyre dling and have perfected their craft. Every touch point with The Olana staff has been top notch. Couldn't have asked for a better experience thus far! -
Jessica Sent on 03/17/2023
Fairytale wedding come true
First off, I will start off by saying, I BELIEVE IN FAIRYTALES. I was looking for a venue that matched my vision and prayers. The Olana provided the most magical, classic, beautiful, and fairytale venue. I had a 5 star experience from working with Kayla (the general manager as my wedding coordinator/point of contact), to the wedding package that included the most amazing vendors. It was an all inclusive sort of wedding experience that made it extremely convenient and easy to plan long distance. I can't brag enough on how The Olana made my fairytale come true!!!!!!!!! I highly recommend!!!!! Many of my guests told me it was the most organized wedding they had every been apart of, in addition to raving about the venue and food!!! -
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![Jeff]()
Jeff Sent on 02/15/2023A wedding for the ages
Our daughter Chandley Baldwin’s wedding was at the Olana. As parents, this is a big moment and requires a lot of attention to detail. The team at the Olana exceeded our expectations by a mile. The communication, flexibility, professionalism, venue, accommodations, food, DJ, bowling alley and brides quarters took our families and friends breath away! We’re still talking about it! -
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Veronica Sent on 12/07/2022
Best Day Ever: Korean Nigerian Wedding
We had an amazing experience with the Olana. They were very organized and the venue is absolutely breathtaking. There were so many options that Kayla shared with us for our wedding ceremony and they were very flexible and trying to accomplish our overall vision for celebrating both cultures for me and my husband. It was the best day of our lives and we are so thankful for each and every team member that was able to make it happen. -
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![Nina]()
Nina Sent on 12/06/2022Our best day
My dream wedding venue! We were planning to have a destination wedding in Italy and when that did not go as planned due to COVID etc, we chose the Olana. The Olana looks like you are somewhere in Europe not in Texas. It is incredible. All of our guests were amazing just pulling up to the venue. I cannot say as many great things about this venue. I felt like a princess marrying my prince in a castle. Our day was smooth and if things went wrong I did not know a single thing! We were able to use their suggestions with vendors and they were always there to help take off some of the planning stress. Thank you so much to Kayla and the rest of the team for our best day ever! The most beautiful memories we have will be here. Highly recommend it if you are hesitant about booking here the bad reviews are from another management team! -
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![Carly]()
Carly Sent on 11/15/2022Magical, Beautiful, Made our day PERFECT
I don’t even know where to begin with how amazing the day was at The Olana, my husband and I truly were blown away. The names of our day of coordinator & the assistant GM have slipped my mind but they were AMAZING day off. I knew everything was in good hands with them two and I couldn’t feel more grateful. I simply got to enjoy the day with my husband and guests, IF there were any problems I was never aware of it because of how smoothly everything was. The food was SO GOOD. Guests came up to us multiple times in the night to compliment it. The manager at Olana, Kayla, was so responsive to me the whole process. Would always try to work out any solution to make sure it fit our vision. Truly want to thank her for everything throughout this whole process. Thank you thank you thank you to the whole team. The Olana will now always hold a special place in our hearts. -
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![Christie]()
Christie Sent on 10/04/2022The Olana made our wedding.
My husband and I were really thrilled with our experience working with The Olana team. We are both super busy with work and did not have a ton of extra time and energy to plan our dream wedding, so the fact that The Olana came with the most of the vendors we needed was a huge bonus. Each of the vendors were truly incredible and all contributed to a wedding that fit our dreams and wowed our guests. Our only complaint is that the festivities went by too quickly. But seriously, the venue, the food, the flowers, the cake, and the music were top notch! Kayla and her team at the Olana made wedding planning an easy and stress free experience. I would absolutely recommend The Olana to any couple looking for a dream wedding experience. -
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![Chandley]()
Chandley Sent on 08/22/2022Excellent & Easy
We are getting married in January 2023 and we have had the easiest most stress free time with the Olana! Our direct contact is Kayla, the general manager and she has been the absolute best! -
![Pamela]()
Pamela Sent on 03/01/2022Great experience
The staff at this venue is outstanding. They are very professional and very responsive. I would definitely recommend them for a wedding venue! -
![kategirl]()
Kathy Sent on 01/30/2022Gorgeous Location & Helpful Staff
I just executed my first wedding with The Olana and it was gorgeous. The staff was helpful and available at every turn, even returning phone calls on Christmas eve. I look forward to getting to work with them again in the future! -
![Samira]()
Samira Sent on 09/15/2021Our Dream Wedding!
My husband and I had our beautiful wedding at The Olana on 8/2/21! Our original wedding date was 4/4/20 and like many other couples, we had to postpone! We dealt with a few managers/sales reps since we contracted back in early 2019 and Wendy was the best of them all! She made our wedding the most amazing day we could have EVER asked for! We had only met Wendy once, but felt like we had known her for years! She was accommodating to our needs, helpful with our wants, and so informative. She was always 10 steps ahead of us! On top of the amazing service, Olana is the most beautiful wedding venue and our guests still talk about how much they enjoyed our day, especially the wedding party! Most of our guests are in the north suburbs of Dallas so location was very convenient for us and our guests! Thank you Olana for hosting our wedding! And special thank you Wendy for making us feel like royals on our wedding day! -
![Abigail]()
Abigail Sent on 06/11/2021Such a gorgeous venue!!!
I recently had my wedding at the Olana on May 23, 2021 and it was a success! The staff was great and very attentive to our guests. Wendy and Chelsey were also very helpful throughout the process and on wedding day Wendy was on top of it. The food was very good, especially the Texas pecan chicken offered as a duet choice of their buffet. All of my guests were impressed by how beautiful and elegant everything was so if you’re thinking of booking your wedding here definitely do it because it’s worth it! -
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![Katelyn Wiseman]()
Katelyn Sent on 11/11/2020A Dream Come True at The Olana!
The Olana was great to work with. We booked the venue for its beauty and unbeatable amenities, but we were very pleased with the staff and their catering. Alex is who we toured with and were in correspondence with for the beginning of our booking and she was always very kind and professional. When COVID hit, I know there were a lot of upset brides trying to cancel and reschedule, however, we were fortunate not to face that situation. Our wedding was always scheduled for Friday, October 30, 2020 and we decided to keep our date the same throughout the uncertainty. Despite all odds, the day was perfect and the Olana made it seem like we were in a fairytale. The photos speak for themselves, but Melissa who was our in-house coordinator was there from start to finish helping us set up, bring us things throughout the day, and make sure we had everything packed up at the end of the night. Melissa was amazing and we are so thankful she was a part of getting us to our big day. For our food, we had steak and salmon and it was delicious, as well as the appetizers (I could have eaten a whole plate - they were delicious!!). Thank you to The Olana and Walters for making our wedding dreams come true! -
![Martania]()
Martania Sent on 09/17/2020#Thewhitekindoflove
From the moment I started the planning process they were there to answer any questions that I had . Melissa and Alex were perfect . They were easy to work with and very flexible with any changes that I had . I had an amazing experience. The day of my wedding they catered to my bridal party every needs!!! I wish I could go back and do it all over again. -
![Lindsay]()
Lindsay Sent on 12/21/2019Beautiful, unique, magical, helpful staff,
The Olana was amazing. Where do I start?!
The beauty of the place is unlike anything in the area. The European feel makes it so luxurious, glamorous, and unique. Anytime I showed someone The Olana it was a gasp EVERY TIME. I loved getting to spend the day in that beautiful mansion and it being the backdrop in my wedding photos! Not to mention guests love it. So much so that I had people I hardly knew ask if they could come haha! In my suite I had girl talks in the sauna, a bubble bath, and a cozy fireplace!
The staff was my next favorite thing. Andrew was our go-to guy and I’m so type A that I always felt bad for asking a billion questions but he always had an answer and was so kind! All of our requests were met and he was so laid back it was so calming planning all of it! Walters has been doing weddings for so long they have all their bases covered and know what they’re doing. I’m also a wedding photographer and I love even working at Walters venues because they’re so professional and put together. They’ll take care of you!
Some people dislike venues that require you to use their caterer but let me call your concerns! Their catering is AMAZING! Very reasonably priced, wait staff was awesome, and I had so many people tell me it was the best wedding food they’ve ever had! Doing it through the venue was honestly so much easier too. All I had to do was tell them what I wanted and how much and they took care of it all. One less vendor to coordinate with makes a big difference in those planning stages. AND they accommodated for my guests with vegan/dietary requirements.
The Olana is all around perfect. I toured a couple other mansion/estate style venues and nothing is even in the same realm as this place. It was magical and I can’t imagine my wedding day being anywhere else! -
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![Taylor]()
Taylor Sent on 10/15/2019Easy, fair, and fun!
We enjoyed our wedding at The Olana so much! Overall, the staff was easy to communicate with and worked with us on all of our wants and needs in a very fair way. Even the security officers went above and beyond, showing our guests around the amazing spaces throughout the house. It was truly a night for EVERYONE to remember. -
Lindsey Sent on 04/09/2019
Amazing, amazing, amazing
We booked our wedding with The Olana later this year. We are SO excited! Obviously the venue itself is stunning and amazing and perfect and unlike any other but the staff with Walters is also amazing. I work in the wedding industry and have worked with Walters a few times in the past and they’re so put together and experienced I feel very confident they’ll handle our day without any issues. Another thing I loved was when we took our tour (I think his name was Andrew) he made us feel so not pressured meaning I didn’t feel like he was trying to “sell” us the venue like other tours we’d been on. I caught a few other venues we toured using sales tricks on me and I hated that. But at The Olana he just showed us around and let the beautiful venue speak for itself! Anytime someone asks me where we’ll be getting married I freak out because I get so excited to talk about the sauna, bowling alley, basketball court, all the amazing amenities that we’ll get to enjoy! I’m going to have to plan out every minute to make sure there’s time for it all! I have actually had people I hardly know invite themselves to my wedding because they want to go see the venue! After our tour we sat down and were given a really helpful booklet pricing everything out. Other venues would say “it’ll be xx amount” then when we got a contract it would be soooo much more. The Olana was so straight forward with their pricing and I really appreciate that! They’re always prompt with replying to my emails with 10,000 questions haha! I’m very, very happy with the service and the gorgeous venue we’ll have at The Olana! I hope other brides get to experience this for themselves! -
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Cristina Sent on 04/29/2021
A fairytale day
I had my wedding at The Olana March of 2021 and I could not have been more impressed. Wendy, the assistant GM, was amazing throughout my entire planning process & even past my wedding day. She accommodated all of my requests and then some. She responded quickly to me anytime I had a question and always helped me to the best of her ability. I also appreciated being able to visit the venue anytime I needed for planning purposes. Thank you for helping to make our day so awesome! The Olana is a dream & a one of a kind experience. -
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Agatha Sent on 12/31/2022
Dallas best kept secret
I recently had my wedding at The Olana 4/16 , and I am so grateful to have had Kayla as part of the staff. From the very beginning, we had challenges due to the constant change of staff and information been lost in transit especially with our event being a multicultural wedding, it was important we had key things standout. One thing about walters estate is their structure is very rigid ie hard to customize. Kayla, the general manager, came in soon after and was incredibly helpful and attentive, always available to answer any questions I had and make sure that every detail of our special day was taken care of. She worked very closely with my planner Dureevents to ensure it was properly executed.
On the day of the wedding, Kayla was an absolute godsend. She was always one step ahead, anticipating our needs and ensuring that everything ran smoothly. She was kind, patient, and professional, and I am so grateful for all of her hard work and dedication.
I can't recommend Kayla enough. If you're planning a wedding at The Olana, be sure to ask for her as your coordinators. She truly made our special day one that we will never forget. Thank you, Kayla! -
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User5129353 Sent on 03/07/2020The Olana – a stunning fairytale venue with underwhelming service and lacking proper management.
The Olana – a stunning fairytale venue with underwhelming service and lacking proper management. Obviously everything on a wedding day will never go as planned, but in our situation certain details were spoiled specifically by The Olana management team and staff. We felt it was only fair to share these points with other couples that decide to book The Olana so they are able to avoid big pitfalls and ensure that Olana management take appropriate steps to correct their shortcomings. We never expected such basic logistical issues from a professional wedding venue.
While it is important to say that the staff was almost always responsive and friendly during the planning stage, they failed in their execution of duties on the day of the wedding. I am going to list some of the things that went wrong for us, as you should absolutely discuss them with the venue in detail to ensure you don’t fall victim to the same issues:
CLEANLINESS: As soon as we walked into the venue on the day of the wedding, we were extremely disappointed at how dirty some of the areas and items were. While touring the venue before our wedding day, we asked several times about issues like wine stains on the carpets and debris/trash on the floor in the reception hall. We were always reassured that they had not finished cleaning yet after their prior event and that we could expect the venue to be professionally cleaned prior to our own event.
On our wedding day, the reception and ceremony areas were filled with debris on the floors from a prior event, there were huge wine stains on the carpet in the bridal suite, chairs were stained, and tablecloths on our dinner tables were so dirty that we had to ask for them to be replaced. While we were able to clean up the areas ourselves, it was disappointing to see the venue was not properly cleaned prior to our event after multiple reassurances. Considering that weddings have only been held at the venue for less than a year, it was surprising to see how quickly the venue was dirtied. It is clear they are not spending any extra money for proper upkeep.
In short: do not expect the venue to be any cleaner than you’ve seen on any tour. I recommend taking pictures and documenting any stains/damage when you arrive on your wedding day so you are not incorrectly later charged for these.
AMOUNT OF STAFF DEVOTED TO EVENT: Ask and get confirmation in writing how many waiters, bar staff, etc. will be provided for your event. During our final details meeting we were told an event of 80+ guests would generally have four waiters, two bar staff, and 1 manager.
On the day of our wedding there were only two waiters for dinner provided, one bartender, and the manager. There may have been an additional/different waiter during cocktail hour, but they appear to have left before dinner began. We even paid extra for a dedicated cocktail server for dinner which inadvertently helped alleviate the short staff, but as a result they weren’t able to perform their duties of being a dedicated cocktail server, as paid for and agreed upon.
While the wait staff was doing the best they could, they could simply not keep up with the volume of work required for the amount of guests. The cocktail waitress ended up helping the other two waiters instead of working as a dedicated cocktail waitress. In the end, we didn’t get competent service, nor the full cocktail waiter as paid for because the event was so understaffed. By the end of the night, the bride and groom never once got their waters refilled and flagging down waitstaff to ask was borderline impossible.
In short: we were provided with two wait staff and the manager to serve dinner to 80+ guests. Can you imagine one waiter handling 40 guests at restaurant?
FOOD: All of our dinner came out cold, which was extremely disappointing. If you are serving fish and steak this is not pleasant at all. Additionally, one of our ordered appetizers was substituted with no warning (I don’t think they knew they provided the wrong appetizer). The food taste and presentation was fine, except for the fact that it was cold. While we were assured that food is delivered to the venue in heat insulated boxes, it appears that the preparation area in the venue’s kitchen has nothing to keep the food warm (like heat lamps) during final plating.
Finally, please make sure to discuss even the most obvious points with The Olana management, as logical execution is not guaranteed. For example, we ordered three additional appetizers in addition to the three that came with the plated dinner. To most people this would mean that six different appetizers are available on each table for each guest. Well instead of every table getting an equal amount of variation and numbers of appetizers, there were tables that received only two of the appetizers while others received 3-4 . When we asked management about the nonsensical distribution of food, we were told we did not specifically request the appetizers to be spread out evenly amongst the guests.
While not exactly food related, the kitchen was extremely noisy during our ceremony. We held our ceremony in the front room of the house and the entire ceremony lasted approximately 12-14 minutes. I would recommend specifically requesting to the day of manager for the kitchen to stop working for the duration of your ceremony if you’re holding your ceremony anywhere on the first floor of the house. I was surprised by this occurrence as it would have been clearly evident from the first wedding ever held in the venue.
In short: verify every tiny detail even if it seems entirely logical to you (like everyone getting the same appetizers on their table).
UNPREPAREDNESS: Our venue point-of-contact person changed more than three times over the course of about 6 months, the last time being a few weeks prior to the event itself. While it made us anxious, we were assured that all of the information will be communicated to the new point-of-contact and we went out of our way to schedule a phone call with the new point of contact to ensure we were all on the same page.
Unfortunately, they did not turn out to be as prepared as expected and lacked information to make sure the wedding day ran smoothly. Some examples include: (1) point-of contact incorrectly telling us close to our ceremony time that we came to the venue too early and had to end our party one hour earlier, even though we discussed our specific timeline with management multiple times; (2) failing to put chargers on the reception tables until the bride noticed them missing through a window in her suite about 20 minutes before the ceremony was supposed to start – also fixed last minute; (3) not having knowledge of what alcoholic beverages were selected to be served; (4) failing to execute event details that were discussed previously, such as turning on the house speaker system, that The Olana has exclusive control over and agreed to turn on. The music was never turned on.
While all of these are small details, they all amounted to a series of small heart-attacks throughout the evening.
Tip: don’t take anything at face value. If they tell you they can control the speaker system throughout the house, just ask for them to test it for you and turn on in a specific room like the foyer.
Conclusion
All in all, while our wedding day was very special to us, a bitter taste remains about Olana management. From poor staffing to plain unpreparedness, the Olana management was a major letdown.
If the venue itself wasn’t so beautiful, we would be incredibly disappointed in the entire event. We hope that the information above helps future couples to have productive conversations with the venue management and avoid The Olana dropping the ball on almost all aspects of the wedding day that are within their sole control.
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![Melissa]()
Melissa Sent on 02/19/2025Brides, take this as your PSA: If you want a venue that truly values your experience, The Olana is not it.
I want to start this review with full transparency: The Olana attempted to offer me an $850 refund in exchange for signing an NDA to prevent me from sharing my experience. My wedding was close to, if not over, six figures, and I feel compelled to share my story to warn other brides.
I chose The Olana for my wedding because, as someone with extensive event planning experience, I had extremely high expectations. Unfortunately, my experience with them was deeply disappointing.
Bait and Switch at Contract Signing:
Before signing my contract, I had extensive discussions with the representative who reassured me that the package I was purchasing covered everything I needed. She explicitly told me I would not need to spend additional money. This turned out to be completely false. It wasn't until we sat down with our planning team for the first time that we realized we would have to spend significantly more to get what we had originally been promised. In addition, details what we were told we could have as part of our package weren't even services they offered.
Unexpected Rate Increases:
A few months after signing our contract, The Olana raised their rates significantly—this applied to everything we had already contracted for. We were locked in, with no choice but to pay the higher prices or pay a $25,000 cancellation fee which we actually discussed with our planner moving forward with.
Wedding Day Disasters:
While my wedding day was beautiful and my ceremony was perfect, the number of mistakes made by The Olana’s team is unacceptable. Due to a scheduling conflict, my planner, Catherine (who truly did her best to mitigate issues during the planning process), was unavailable, and I was assigned a different planner with significantly less experience. Here are just some of the failures:
The day-of planner was missing for most of the day, never checked in with me, and failed to keep the day on schedule.
A staff member was assigned to assist my medically fragile grandfather, but they never showed. In a post-wedding debrief, it came to light that they never checked who my grandfather was and ended up assisting a random guest instead.
Tables were set for 10 guests each, with 10 salads placed at every table, even though some tables had only 5-6 guests. This made it look like half of our guests didn’t show up. They also left the salads sitting out for the entirety of the meal.
We paid nearly $1,000 for greenery to be installed on chandeliers. It was installed on the wrong chandeliers in the wrong room, completely altering the planned ambiance of our dinner as the greenery was the only pop of color for the room.
We arranged for our grandparents to take the Rolls Royce home since we were taking a party bus. However, 30 minutes before the reception ended, the driver interrupted the event, telling them they had to leave immediately or he would not be available. The company later claimed he was merely “letting them know he was ready.”
We requested transportation to take guests from the front door to the gate at the end of the night, particularly for elderly guests and women in heels. The Olana advised us to use the Rolls Royce from our package, but since it left early, there was no transportation available.
Despite extensive discussions with the staff and photographers about not wanting hours of post-ceremony photos, we were lied to and told that the kitchen was running late. In reality, we spent an hour longer taking photos than planned, making our guests wait unnecessarily and causing our dinner to be served cold. This is the biggest complaint we've heard from our guests since the wedding.
Instead of personally bringing us into the ballroom for our grand entrance, the planner assigned a waitress to do so. The waitress took us through the wrong entrance, ruining the moment. Our guests were facing the wrong direction, didn’t see us walk in, and none of the video cameras captured the moment.
I paid for curtains to be drawn between the dining and reception areas to create a dramatic reveal. The décor company did not have it noted the curtains should be closed, and the junior planner did not catch the mistake. Instead, our guests ate dinner while watching the reception setup in real-time. When I asked someone to cut the zip ties to fix it, I was told it wasn’t possible.
Yes, my guests were wowed by The Olana’s beauty. Yes, my photos and video turned out amazing. But when I look at those photos, I think of everything that went wrong. I think about the hundreds of hours spent planning, the meticulous details discussed for months, only to experience poor execution or no execution at all.
My family still talks about how disappointing many of these moments were. Imagine having to explain to your 80-year-old grandmother and 83-year-old grandfather that they had to miss the end of your wedding because a driver made a mistake and refuses to own up to it. Imagine voicing all of these concerns to your planner, who was genuinely horrified, only for The Olana to turn around and offer you a mere $850 refund—on the condition that you sign an NDA.
Brides, take this as your PSA: If you want a venue that truly values your experience, The Olana is not it.
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![Julie]()
Julie Sent on 11/16/2021Lack of Management
We recently had our daughters wedding at the Olana and were very disappointed! Jordan, our event coordinator didn't return emails concerning our liquor amounts and the final bill. She didn't even show up for the event, but they wanted a credit card to pay for the add on liquor the day of the event.( or they would not serve it) The bridesmaid suite was not set up when we arrived, the refrigerator didn't work and a plug blew out burning up our make-up girls flat iron. Things did not improve as the day went on! The sprinklers went off at 5:00 pm, the start time for our outside wedding. Our appetizer's (2) that were to be passed during cocktail hour were served as late night snacks. They ran out of glassware and liquor, which they stated would not happen "under any condition" Our wedding planner, who was fantastic, spent 1/2 her time dealing with venue issues. We tried to resolve all billing issues before the wedding day, but they would not respond. Both myself and our wedding planner called and emailed numerous times. there management is a mess! -
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User1373123 Sent on 06/13/2023Beautiful venue/ poor service
The venue itself is a spectacular venue! Definitely breathtaking! The manager Kayla was awful. I hired a full time wedding planner. So please explain to me why she is emailing numerous times about details of the wedding that she must know weeks before the wedding. Clearly I am not going to be using her as my day of planner. Meanwhile she has met and has known of my full time wedding planner that she can ask all those questions versus stressing myself the groom out. She was not accommodating whatsoever, and we felt as if we were just a number. She truly is awful!,,Also I do not know how you would be able to throw a party here if you didn't have a wedding planner that is separate with his own team. We had rented different plate settings from an outside vendor, so when it came to set these out the staff that the Olana provided stated " they don't place outside vendor items." So if I didn't have a wedding team I myself would have had to set these out. Also the tasting fee, if not on the group once of month, is not provided in the 19k fee. To hold a separate private tasting it would cost 900.00 for. 4 entrees, 2 appetizers, and 2 passing food items. This does not get credited back to you. My wedding planner does celebrity weddings has never seen this in his career. We weren't able to make the monthly tasting since we lived in Washington State. Also to even get ready at the venue it's an extra cost. The staff that they provided were absolutely awful. They were slow and it was not enough staff to do a sit down dinner and open bar for 140 people. We saw one of the bar staff scooping ice with a glass cup, and they were not nice. The venue itself states they can seat 300, let me tell you with 140 it was cramped!! -
Andrew Sent on 06/03/2023
Beautiful yet awful
The venue itself is a spectacular venue! Definitely breathtaking! The manager Kayla was awful. I hired a full time wedding planner. So please explain to me why she is emailing numerous times about details of the wedding that she must know weeks before the wedding. Clearly I am not going to be using her as my day of planner. Meanwhile she has met and has known of my full time wedding planner that she can ask all those questions versus stressing myself the groom out. She was not accommodating whatsoever, and we felt as if we were just a number. Also I do not know how you would able to throw a party here if you didn’t have a wedding planner that is separate with his own team. We had rented different plate settings from an outside vendor, so when it came to set these out the staff that the Olana provided stated “ they don’t place outside vendor items.” So if I didn’t have a wedding team I myself would have had to set these out. Also the tasting fee, if not on the group once of month, is not provided in the 19k fee. To hold a separate private tasting it would cost 900.00 for. 4 entrees, 2 appetizers, and 2 passing food items. This does not get credited back to you. My wedding planner is does celebrity weddings has never seen this in his career. We weren’t able to make the monthly tasting since we lived in Washington State. Also to even get ready at the venue it’s an extra cost. The staff that they provided were absolutely awful. They were slow and it was not enough staff to do a sit down dinner and open bar for 140 people. We saw one of the bar staff scooping ice with a glass cup, and they were not nice. The venue itself states they can seat 300, let me tell you with 140 it was cramped!! -
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Arjita Sent on 08/02/20215 star venue with 1 star service
The Olana is a gorgeous venue, but unfortunately the level of service is less than idea. They are not equipped to handle (nor do they understand) Indian wedding. There were so many things that went wrong during the wedding and reception from there not being enough chairs for lunch (so we had guests move chairs from the ceremony to lunch during the ceremony; dinner plates were brought in wet; lack of spoons (we had to have a guest make a Walmart run during the reception).
Additionally, we had two other key issues. Firstly, the bridal suite was under construction and had an open blade on the floor (and exposed ceiling), and we were not told ahead of time. My mom actually hit her eye while showering due to the poor state of the shower, and all the venue said was that the bathroom had not been completed on time. Secondly, they threw away the top tier of the cake, which was supposed to have been saved for the bride and groom to take home. They blamed this on the wedding planner, and the wedding planner blamed it on the venue. Not sure who is at fault, but I also don't know why a venue would throw away an entire tier (after the family had asked them to save the cake) and not even bother calling the family before they throw it away.
Finally, The Olana is supposed to be a luxury venue. They charge a rental fee plus a per person catering fee. Unfortunately, only 25% of the per person charge actually went to the caterer, so given how much of the rental fee + catering fee the venue pockets, I would have expected much better service. We are so grateful we had friends running around to make sure the two events went smoothly, but otherwise, we would have had several holes. I hope that management reads this email and makes changes for future weddings, and especially for Indian weddings. -
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Samuel Sent on 09/16/2024Completely predatory
DO NOT WORK WITH WALTERS. Our experience with Olana—and the Walters Wedding Estates organization as a whole—has been completely predatory. They said insurance would cover anything that came up, and would help us out with the date if it didn’t work. Immediately after we signed, we asked our family if the date worked, and turns out half our family couldn’t make it. In addition, we found out the the bride’s brother having a baby the weekend of the wedding and the groom’s grandfather passing away.
They completely and utterly did not care.
We filed a claim with insurance, and they didn’t cover it (which the salesperson promised it would, but come to find out after signing, Walter’s wedding coordinator — who was different from the sales person — said that they have never seen anything payout for insurance, including people dying of cancer). Instead, they offered to move the date up to August in the middle of Texas’ 100-degree heat, but refused to move it back to make good on the promise we had from the salesperson. Know why? Because they’d lose potential cash from the future date. Walters’ upper management simply said, “Sorry, you signed a contract, and we can’t help you.”
They said that if we move the date, it’s technically a cancellation, and we have to pay 75%+ of the contract price ($30K!), PLUS however much it is to rebook with them. All they had to do was tell us upfront that they wouldn’t work with us on the date, and we could have asked our family if they could come. Instead, they strung us along with false promises and left us trapped.
The management’s entire approach has been to hide behind the contract and say, “Sorry, you signed it.” There was no willingness to help, no understanding, just a complete disregard for us as clients. We’re now in arbitration to get out of the contract because of the blatant misrepresentations they made during the sales process. From day one, they assured us flexibility and coverage through the insurance we purchased, but when real-life events impacted our plans, they left us out to dry.
The communication has been abysmal. They are severely understaffed, and we couldn’t get ahold of anyone for weeks at a time. They only respond on Mondays and Tuesdays—Wednesday through Sunday, you’re completely out of luck, because they’re doing other weddings. It took forever to get basic answers, and by the time they finally did respond, it was too late to do anything.
What’s worse, we’ve since learned that other couples have had similar experiences. One of our cousins dealt with Walters too and had to DIY most of their wedding while still paying $40K for a supposed “all-inclusive” package. Like us, they were hit with hidden costs that inflated the budget far beyond what was initially agreed upon.
Speaking of hidden costs, the “all-inclusive” package they offer is a joke. The credits they provide barely cover anything, leaving us responsible for an additional $20K in expenses we didn’t plan for. We signed for $40K, but it was actually going to be $60K.
For example, for stationary, we received a $750 credit. We thought it would be more than enough to do all signage and everything we would need for invitations, save the dates, all of it. The reality is, that only covers 150 invitations and nothing else (they charge $5-$7 per invitation!). If we had known the true cost from the start, we would have walked away.
We visited other venues after this disaster, and the difference was shocking. The other venues were transparent, responsive, and genuinely cared about their clients and staff. Olana and Walters Wedding Estates couldn’t be further from that.
If you’re considering Olana or any Walters venue, don’t. They’ve been predatory, unresponsive, and impossible to work with. Save yourself the trouble, lawsuits, lack of communication and care, and choose a venue that actually values their clients. -
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Sima Sent on 05/27/2024The food was not good at all. Our table had ten names, but 6 chairs, poor planning. They lost our gifts and they never responded to the inquiries.
Our table was supposed to have 8 people seated. There were only six chairs. The servers were unprofessional. The food was cold, rather tough meat and mushy rice with no flavor. Most importantly, they lost our wedding gifts and they never replied to the married couple's inquiry about the gifts. It's a nice building. That is it. There is nothing else about this place that would be worth paying the money they charge. -
![Tien]()
Tien Sent on 07/25/2021Horrible customer service. Don’t care about couple. Unbelievably understaffed. Admitted of inability to fulfill their promise but refuse to fix it.
The venue is absolutely stunning, but the nightmare these people will put you through may or may not be worth the price tag. We got passed through 3 different people who don’t care and don’t know our story personally to try to accommodate us. Not only we felt uncared for, but were also awfully discriminated. It was all about just the money. We were taken advantage of our horrible situation and then were ignored when we tried to reach out about all the problems. I have in writing that they owing us money, admit that they cannot fullfill their promises, and yet do nothing about it. I’m mad and hurt by how I was treated, so you think hard before choosing to work with this venue..here’s the story:
We came here 6 weeks before our wedding because our old venue had just canceled on us due to unfinished construction. Sarah seemed to be emphasizing with our heart breaking event, promised us that when we signed, they would start helping us planning RIGHT AWAY & there will be efficient staff for our large amount of drinking guests. The moment we signed is when we got passed on to the next person, Chelsea, who did not reach out to us right away until I tried to ask Sarah, just so I got sent a link to book an appointment with her, with the first availability being 2 MORE WEEKS! Which means I won’t know who my coordinator is till 3.5 weeks before my wedding because I asked Sarah to add one for $976 because we was supposed to have one with our old venue. Ok I tried to be understanding & let it go. 2 weeks finally came just for us to find out that there will be no coordinator, Chelsea’s exact words were “your coordinator will be whoever work at the venue that day”, meaning I’m paying $976 extra for someone who will be doing their job anyways? (She said my personal & rental stuffs won’t be taken care of by the coordinating) So we said we don’t want that, because that is not coordinating means to us. At that time, our last payment still won’t be due for another 2 days. I asked Chelsea to adjust our balance but she failed to respond in time, leaving us no choice but had to overpaid so we can pay before the due date. She then responded 4 days later saying that we can use that credit towards other enhancements.
Our wedding day finally came, when I first met my “almost coordinator” Wendy. According to the coordinator I hired myself, she had to chase Wendy down for things multiple times that day because she wasn’t around multiple times. There were 2 bartenders at the 2 bar spots during our cocktail hour. During the reception, my family came up to me complaining they are having trouble getting their drinks because there is ONE bartender serving the whole 250 people reception! (I paid over $8K for the bar of basic drinks) I asked my coordinator to go check, and she came back saying Wendy, who was supposed to be managing, is stepping in to serve drinks!
At the end of the night, our bridal party and us stayed and cleaned up to make sure we won’t get charge. We picked every piece of trash, bottles and cans, every flower petals in the dark, inside the ballroom and outdoor, and even took the trashes out. According to Wendy, they don’t have enough staffs and since we don’t use the Olana caterer, we had to clean all up. (We had to serve Vietnamese food so we cannot use their caterer, and thank God we did not, that’s why we got so many compliments on the food lol)
My coordinator said she’s never seen any venue making people do this. At that point, I let it all go because I wanted my deposit back. My coordinator and I walked around the whole venue, making sure with Wendy everything was good, we confirmed with her multiple times. Wendy clearly said she will process the refund tomorrow morning. 2 weeks later we got the check for $750, which is only half of our deposit, without any words. I had to email them to ask, and the answers were for “stained linens”. I asked for detailed receipts and never got it until I tried to reach out again 2 weeks later just to confirm they charged us $750 for the damages. Despite the charge was unreasonable, I then requested them to charge the damages to the money they are still oweing me instead, and the general manager Chelsea’s final response after my multiple efforts to reach out was “I do apologize if the promise was made by the sale team, but there is nothing more that I am able to offer”?!!
Please note that while all these madness were happening, I tried reach out to Sarah again to let her know what we went through, I also asked Chelsea to speak to another supervisor, I tried very hard to make things right, but they ignored all of it. I’m realizing it’s affecting my mental health so much I decided to let all of this out and hope noone else will be put through this ever again.
They did give us a discount for booking it last minute, which is the same price I’d gotten with them when I originally booked my old venue 7 months before (I had a quote from the Olana too) Although it seems to be a good discount, they are making a lot more selling us that 250 bar packages. So are they really doing anyone a favor by making $20K to rent the venue out a day to us and barely hire any staffs to work? In the end, there was no passion, no care for couples, no empathy for the one that already went through a lot like us. They only try to get our money as much as they can, even though it was obviously wrong and unethical. -
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Loreina Sent on 04/15/2020So very sad I put my trust in The Olana
My fiancé and I thought this was going to be a dream wedding, boy were we wrong. I started realizing things were off when I would email and get no response. Andrew would claim he “never got my email or voicemail.” The people they have working for them are extremely unprofessional and can be very rude. Our wedding date was scheduled for 4/26 and although The Olana cancelled it due to COVID virus (understandably), they have been extremely pushy with us choosing a new date. They gave us the option originally of dates in June, July, or Aug (all which wouldn’t work for us). I asked for some sort of refund since they couldn’t provide a new date that would work for us and they declined. We paid for 80 people (food and drink packages included) and the Olana would not offer ANY money back. I asked for our special date a year from now (4/26/21) and they declined. They aren’t worried about the brides who’ve already forked over money, they are looking out for themselves, not wanting to give up weekend dates in order to book other couples. This venue is greedy, unprofessional and tacky. Highly recommend NOT using this venue.
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