Belvedere & Co. Events — Attraction in Baltimore

First, the venue and the rooms are beautiful. We were in the JEH ballroom and while it could use a little TLC as an older room it was gorgeous (I have heard they were replacing the carpet which will help). We plan a lot of social events and I will say this was one of the most disappointing venues we've ever worked with. I'm sure they're great if you are one of their bigger weddings, but they let so many small things fall through the cracks with our event we were absolutely shocked. We felt unimportant to them the entire time as we weren't a wedding. As other reviews have said they either nickle and dime everything or just say they "can't" do certain things. For example, we paid $200 so that we could pay another company to rent a few pieces of furniture. We paid $200 for a coat check and no one even knew where it was so they left coats everywhere. All of these things are fine, but you expect to get what you pay for when so many things come with an extra price tag.

It's not what we expected from such a historic, well-known venue. A few of the more surprising issues we had.

there was no red wine allowed in the room we were in, we were never told this. we even clarified the bar menus with the "planner" ahead of time. That evening no red wine was served and none of our guests were given an explanation of why, just told "no." they eventually did offer some type of financial compensation for this after some back and forth.

We talked to the planner about going to owl bar after and despite confirming we were going, owl bar was never told and our guests were rudely turned away. This is the afterparty we told everyone to go to and the planner... despite confirming numbers never let them know... it caused chaos for our guests as we tried to find smewhere else to go. They claim this is an ongoing issue with weddings and apologized with a $50 gift card They lost some of our koozies and then tried to say it never happened, which was ridiculous and just untrue. It's not fun being told by a venue you pay so much money to that you are basically lying. It was hard to find someone that evening to help us when little things went wrong (people couldn't find coat check, way too hot in the room, wrong music playing, lost items etc.--- it's like the hosts were the last thing they were worried about). They charged our card without giving us an itemized receipt of our alcohol consumption so we have no idea what was consumed, or a final total... just a charge on a card we didn't approve with no heads up was shocking.

It felt like for everything they did right (finding our vegan guests) they messed something up (claiming certain food was brought out when no one got it).

They did call us to apologize and clarify on a few of these things, but i've had much better experiences and fewer issues at other venues in the city. We hosted a similar sized party a few weeks before at Barcocina which overall did a MUCH better job for a fraction of the price (different vibe of course, but they seemed much more equipped to handle events, and we had low expectations for this more casual social event).

It's really sad when Belvedere is so pretty and the venue was trusted with a very important event of ours. We just want other people planning social events to be warned of our experience as we were overall disappointed in the cost to value of this event. And I wish i would have also read some of the negative reviews first so I was...

I read these positive reviews before booking and was incredibly disappointed to have a different experience. Future brides; and please read our warning and save yourself the disappointment.

Venue specific feedback:

It was incredibly hot and humid inside the building. One of the main reasons we chose this venue was because we wanted to be out of the heat but everyone ended up sweating bullets because apparently the building i/ too old to cool properly. They didn’t even have the air on in the parlor suite where we got ready so makeup was melting off as it was being applied. We were incredibly uncomfortable and the humidity turned my hair into a frizzy mess that was super frustrating. I would absolutely not recommend a summer event at the Belvedere for that reason. It has all the drawbacks of an outdoor space with none of the benefits.

Reception specific feedback: I paid around $600 for fruit and cheese displayed appetizer and multiple guests got rotten berries. Strawberries with obvious ugly brown spots. I thought my friend must be mistaken but then I went over and I got rotten fruit too. I would never serve that in my home and was incredibly disappointed to serve it at our wedding.

We paid around 600 for a single baked Brie en croute pastry that our guests had to cut themselves. I’m assuming it wasn’t sliced because then it would have been even more obvious that that isn’t 40 servings.

We had small plates fish and short rib for the dinner portion. I was charged for each guest to have one of each but when they went to be served the server made them choose beef or fish giving guests the impression they could only have one. They should have been in offered beef fish or both that’s what I paid for. I paid for double the food that guests were actually offered. I also paid for two attendants but every time I looked over, there was only one.

There was a bunch of nickel and diming over petty things. Example: the microphone for the ceremony and reception was an additional rental fee of $75 each. I was charged $200 for a table for dessert (that we had already paid the baker to set up). At that point just raise the venue rental fee with the initial quote. I don’t want to deal with petty charges like that. I had enough to think about.

I was happy on my wedding day. I’ll have good memories of my wedding, but I would absolutely never recommend this venue to anyone. Maybe our 13k fee wasn’t big enough for them to bring out the 5 star experience but our wedding was hot sticky and just generally below...

I hosted my 30th birthday brunch at The Belvedere, the overall experience was deeply disappointing and frustrating. The food was served cold I, the guest of honor, received my meal last. The service staff was disorganized and unprofessional: drinks were served in glasses with visible mold, a guest was spilled on with syrup, place cards were ignored. (Which I had to MAKE MYSELF to add)

After submitting a detailed formal complaint, their response was both disappointing and dismissive. They blamed the cold food and disorganized service on my late arrival — which, while true, does not excuse the breakdown in execution. The original schedule was for starters to be served at 12:45 and entrées at 1:10. Due to my delay, starters were served at 1:20 — only 35 minutes off — yet entrées didn’t arrive until 2:30, nearly an hour later. Even with the slight delay in the start, the kitchen had ample time to follow the adjusted timeline. Their excuse was that the food was ready at 12:45 — but if that’s the case, why was it not served until nearly two hours later, after we’d already finished starters by 1:45? Rather than take any accountability for the cold meals, lack of coordination, and overall poor service, they deflected blame and offered no refund, no accommodation, and no solutions. At first they offered to sit down with us & the team to discuss further. But once we added we wanted to bring statements from guest to eliminate the “he said, she said”at the advice of an attorney, they stopped communicating with us entirely. After we pleaded with them that we were not seeking council or legal action they still never responded. The lack of professionalism and unwillingness to make things right only deepened the disappointment.

This was supposed to be a joyful milestone event, and instead it became a source of stress and embarrassment. I do not recommend The Belvedere for any event unless you want terrible service, communication, and professionalism. If you stayed this far the venue was beautiful. But at what cost? Not the amount of money, time & effort put into this day to just be silenced and not...