Newlands Golf & Country Club — Attraction in City of Langley

First, I want to clarify that this review is not directed at the hardworking staff at Newlands who made our day exceptional, from our pastor, Gary Miller, to the music directors, to our florist, to the kitchen staff who made delicious food, and to our photographer, Ashley Martens. This review is targeted at the photography manager and wedding planning department of Newlands. In short, they were deceitful, classless, and intentionally misled us through the entire process of planning our wedding. Our wedding planner forgot planned meetings that were set months in advance, only to inform us we had been double-booked forty-five minutes before. When we did have meetings, details never seemed to be remembered because they repeatedly asked us questions about topics that we had already covered, or would have covered if they had not cancelled the planned meeting. Unfortunately, on top of that, on our wedding day, they were absent for the entire day except for the thirty seconds she took a cell phone photo of the bride and her father. During the process of planning our wedding, we were quoted a price and we had budgeted accordingly, but after we had signed the contract we had found that most things that we thought were standard were “at additional cost” without specifying what the cost was. We expected to pay extra for all of our guests above 60 in the Cypress Room, but we were dumbfounded to discover that the price that we had originally been quoted for had doubled without notifying us except on the invoice we received the week before the wedding. As for the photography manger, they were the most deceitful salesperson I have ever worked with. Newlands billed their photographers as included (an engagement session, 6 hours on wedding day, and the photo album) in the price. When we mentioned that we already had engagement photos done, we were told that we could get “Thank You” cards in lieu of the engagement session, so we agreed. Closer to the wedding, when we asked how we would receive our photos, we were then told that we only get a photo album of 55 photos, and if we wanted our photos we would have to pay an extra $850, three weeks before the wedding! When it got to receiving our photos, they withheld all of our photos and Thank You cards until we went in to select the photos for our album. While there, we were told that any extra photos over 55 would cost $125 per page (5 photos per page), which is fair because we did not plan on going over. We were told we had 60 minutes to decide on 55 photos out of 500 total photos taken! We moved at a relatively good pace, but the photography manager made us feel rushed with side comments such as “we don’t have a lot of time” in a condescending tone. From there, the photography manager took over the session and essentially pushed us into certain photos over others. Once we narrowed down our photos to 75 in order make our final selections, the manager was all too eager to show us the door and charge us the extra $500 for the photos that would occupy the extra pages. We had to reiterate that we were not interested in spending extra money. The final straw that is causing this review to be written is the quality and attitude towards our Thank You cards. We were told from the beginning that we would be getting Thank You cards, but what we received were 100 photos on cheap photo stock from London Drugs with the words “Thank You” on the photos, and the London Drugs watermark on the back. Had we done this ourselves, it would have cost $0.49 per photo, or $49 total. When we brought our concerns to management, when they were not ignoring our calls, we were told that we were shown the samples, we were not, and that it was our fault. When asked how we were supposed to be okay sending out a photo with the London Drugs watermark on the back, we were told ‘just write over it!” In short, Newlands management has proven deceitful, classless, and greedy. We were extremely disappointed with how they treated customers and we hope that this review will drive people to find a...

Had my Wedding at Newlands in December. This venue was affordable and so very pretty. I fell in love with the venue quickly and booked them. I had booked the Newlands Club Web. Basically it was a package deal. Photographer, DJ, Food, Deco. All included. My Coordinator was great. She is meticulous in her work. The Ceremony went like a dream. However, implementation of her work was not fully carried out by the staff during the reception. (The coordinator does not stay the whole day. There is a room captain who is left in charge. He was fine.) This is not the fault of the coordinator. There was a moment during our reception where there was a champagne toast but the staff were not prepared for it and informed my MC we do not actually get champagne. Which led them coming to me and asking if we actually do have champagne and that there would then be a delay in the champagne toast which would affect our speech.

We did an open bar at Newlands and I could not be more frustrated. 19 days later and my guests are still talking about the bartender attitude. I had expressed to my coordinator how important the bar was to the groom beforehand on multiple occasions. The bar looked after me the bride well but not the groom. Or his male friends. Or my male friends. I checked in afterwards with some of my nicest friends to see if there was any feedback. Here were a couple of incidences.

1. With the groom. I had only heard part of the issue on the night of the wedding because he was so upset about it. I heard the full story from multiple people the day after. I had to go to the bar to handle this matter, only to hear from my room captain that my guests were being rude to the bartender. As I thought this was the only incident, I did not say much at that time. (After hearing multiple incidences from different guests and my personal friends I have come to the conclusion that my groom and his friends were only retaliating to her because of her actions and lack of communication) So the groom makes his first order for drinks with all his friends, who are chatting and standing behind him. The bartender refuses saying everyone needs to be right at the bar not standing behind him. 30 people at the bar covers more than the bar. My husband and the best man demands a reason saying that everyone behind him is having the shot. She refuses and closes the bar on him and ducks into the staff room. The bar was at this point only open for 1hour. I had paid for it to be open for 4 hours. The bartender closed the bar on the groom. It was his first order and only order that night. (Brides and Grooms have an agenda to keep throughout the night) I had to attend to this matter personally but the damage had been done some guests left.

2. With other friends While there have been many stories I've been hearing, I'll keep it to this one story. One of the most polite male friend I invited asked to have two drinks for him and another friend, standing next to him. "Could I have two xxxx please". The bartender looks at him, rolls her eyes at him and sighs as she pours the drinks. A very normal and polite order was met with distaste from the bartender. Brides, I'm sure you agree with me that you want to ensure that the guests also enjoy the night. You do not want guests to go home early due to extremely bad service. You, the bride, can't stay with everyone the whole night so you are paying for them to have fun while you make your rounds. Also, you don't want to have guests leave because of the bad attitude of the bar. Finally, You do not want your friends to mainly remember the bad service of the bartender to the point that they don't remember you looking beautiful as ever, walking down that aisle. The issue with this bartender was not the first instance apparently and I still had to pay for the full bar even though the bartender caused some guests to leave the wedding...

We were very happy with our wedding at Newlands—everything was beautiful, and the staff went above and beyond to make our day special. However, our experience with our assigned coordinator was disappointing.

The florals and decorations were stunning, exceeding our expectations. The staff were incredibly accommodating and ensured everything looked perfect. The food was excellent and our guests still give us complements to this day. The room captain was attentive, making sure we were well taken care of and that everything flowed smoothly. Our DJ kept the energy high and truly understood the vibe we wanted—our guests had an amazing time! Our photographer was also fantastic, capturing so many beautiful memories that we’ll cherish forever.

Originally, we had a different coordinator when we booked our wedding date, but partway through, we were assigned a new one, Cha*. My partner and I were eager to dive into the process, but unfortunately, communication was inconsistent from the start. We often had to reach out to get things scheduled and clarify details. At the same time, two of our friends were planning weddings at the same venue with a different coordinator, and their experience was noticeably smoother.

From our first in-person meeting, it was clear that Cha* was not particularly engaged in our wedding. She wasn’t personable, and many of our vendors and bridal party members picked up on the same thing. Important details were overlooked—we had to proactively provide key documents, and she never even asked for our day-of timeline or important contacts.

During our rehearsal, she had only printed one page of our ceremony plan and was unfamiliar with the flow. There were also mistakes with the guest list and seating chart, and she mistakenly requested an additional payment the day before our wedding due to a miscount. The only time she was consistently responsive was when it came to payments.

On the wedding day, she seemed disengaged. One of the more stressful moments was when she asked us to remove items from the bridal suite and store them in our vehicles, despite prior arrangements with our original coordinator to have them moved to another room. This last-minute change created unnecessary stress. We had requested a private room so that the mother of the husband could read as she has kidney failure and has to undergo peritoneal dialysis, and the coordinator confirmed that would be possible. On the day of the wedding, the coordinator said there was no room and therefore, the mother of the groom had to return back to a hotel to complete her dialysis cycle after the ceremony. Additionally, we had provided a detailed Google document with clear instructions, including who to contact instead of us on the day of the wedding. Despite this, she repeatedly messaged me while we were getting ready, adding to an already busy morning.

While she technically did her job, it did not feel like she was invested in making our day as seamless and special as it could have been.

Final thoughts: Newlands works with you and your vision. Since everything is under one roof, the process relieves a lot of stress associated with wedding planning. If you’re planning a wedding at Newlands and are assigned Cha*, I’d recommend ensuring she aligns...