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| - I'm so excited to write this review! I went to a wedding here once and thought it was beautiful, and my husband and I decided to have our wedding here. We were just married at The Grove in September 2012. I mostly dealt with Zena, who was awesome and very willing to help out and answer any questions we had. We also had the opportunity to attend their "open house" a month before our wedding, which was great because we were able to taste test the food and cake. We had a large wedding with about 150 guests and the ceremony was set in the orchard at sunset. We had a specially made arch, and they were very accomodating to allow us to set it up earlier in the day even though there were other weddings going on in other parts of the venue at the time. They took all of my "supplies" and decorated the reception room exactly the way I wanted. This was a big plus for me, I didn't have to worry about setup at all. Our wedding package included cake, bride's bouquet / maid of honor's bouquet, two boutonnieres, DJ, food, open bar, wedding planner and our officiant's fee ended up being waived because our wedding was on a Sunday. (They apply a discount for having your event on a Sunday). They also do include centerpieces, but I wanted to use my own for my specific theme. I did not use their photographer, I hired my own. Photographer is included, but you have to pay additional for any pictures. I'm going to review specifics because that's what I was looking for when researching this venue:
Cake - Amy with Cake Couture was super nice and her cake was not only beautiful, it was delicious. It was more beautiful than I expected. She decorated it to my specifications, and she even offered great suggestions. All of my guests told me afterward how tasty the cake was. I posted a picture of it (cherry blossom cake).
Food - The food was delicious. We splurged for the prime rib and it was tender and savory. Our guests also thouroughly enjoyed the food.
DJ - The DJ was incredible. He did exactly what I wanted at our wedding. He kept the guests updated on activities, he played our specified list, he was always giving me and my husband updates on what to do next and let us know of any time constraints. The music he played was a good mix for our crowd. There was absolutely no lag time and everyone enjoyed the music and the dance floor was always full.
Officiant - Our officiant, Phil, was kind and cracked a couple of quick jokes which kept the ceremony light. He did forget to do a reading I asked him to do in an email, but it really wasn't a big deal. I blame myself for this. I should've re-confirmed it with him because I asked to add the reading after I already turned in the final paperwork to him.
Now some negatives:
Flowers - I made an appointment with Sherry who is in charge of the flowers. I had no idea what I wanted for the ceremony and I know nothing about flowers. Sherry was NOT helpful at all and rude! She didn't have any pictures of the seasonal bouquets, and she didn't offer any suggestions on what I can do with the ceremony space. Even when I asked, she had nothing. I felt like I was an inconvenience to her. I ended up just telling her my colors and hoping the bouquets turned out ok. (They did, btw). They wanted to charge too much for bridesmaid's bouquets so I just ended up making my own. As for the ceremony area, I ended up decorating it myself. I strongly suggest any bride that meets with Sherry to have exact specifications of what you want and/or doing any additional flowers yourself.
Donna (wedding planner) - Now, I found Donna to be helpful, but my wedding party and my guests didn't like her. She did help me with any questions I had and she was organized with all of my specifications. At the rehearsal, she was very snappy with my wedding party, BUT I am going to be the devil's advocate here and say she was entitled to be snappy. We were only allowed a 30 minute rehearsal and my wedding party was too busy being social and talkative rather than paying attention on what they were supposed to do, so I do hand it to her that she took the initiative to get their attention because it made her the bad guy and not me. We ended up taking an hour and 15 minutes, so I totally understand Donna's annoyed attitude. However, the day of the wedding, she got snappy at me when I thought they were playing the wrong ceremony music, but I got over it fast because I was being a spaz and I knew that I didn't have to deal with her anymore afterward. She is a little rude, but she does have a difficult job. My maid of honor says that's not an excuse for her rudeness.
OVERALL - I had an amazing wedding here! My guests are still talking about how beautiful and perfect everything was. I do highly recommend this place. The price is reasonable for the beautiful setting and accomodations.
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