Panola Valley Gardens — Attraction in Franconia Township

Mary Anne (owner of the gardens), Patty (the gardens personal chef) and the crew were amazing. Mary Ann made our ideas a reality for our wedding. The flower arrangements for the centerpieces were beyond beautiful, the garden was stunning, the table displays were perfect. The only thing we needed was more time. I knew I should have took Mary Ann's advice to book more time. Time goes by too fast. It wasn't enough time. It was just so beautiful and I wish I had more time to visit with family. Having more time would have meant longer "dessert hour" 😀 Make sure to give yourselves enough time here! We did 4 hours and had less than 50 people and we needed more time. Also, I was warned by dozens of people that if things go wrong on the day of the wedding, no one would know but my husband and I. That's true. We had anxiety and remembered a few hiccups. That is 100% normal. And in the end, our wedding was all we had hoped for. Simple yet immaculate, intimate and memorable. And that's what Panola Valley Gardens provided for us. We were allowed to hire our own photographer and our own dj. We know both people who provided those services so that saved us money! We also had our own cakes brought in. The feedback that we received from our guests was that it was the most beautiful wedding they'd ever been to. A HUGE shout out goes to Patty (the master chef!). My husband and I built our own unique menu. The apps, salads, main courses and the desserts. We had a very complicated menu. It's something that would typically require multiple chefs. However, Patty made the best versions of our menu items that we and our guests have ever had. She is a Rockstar. Another quality was the communication with Patty. Constant updates and changes and she nailed it. I highly recommend this venue. Price, atmosphere/environment, photo opportunities, food, crew and all the other details. Absolutely wonderful. Thank you all for making our...

While the venue was beautiful for our July wedding. Mary Ann & her caterer were far from professional. My experience was filled with random charges that was never brought up to me before the wedding. Mary Ann & her husband thought that it was a good idea to be in nearly every one of our photos, and mary Ann acted more as a wedding planner than the venue owner and didn’t have a problem giving input on a “non traditional” wedding. Her and her caterer are lacking in communication between themselves. Once I told mary Ann I was not booking with her caterer, she told me, A DAY BEFORE MY WEDDING, that she doesn’t do receptions there, I mean why else would we book a 5 hour slot. I had emails to prove that these charges for the tables & labor were never brought up to me and mary Ann still argued them with me. She even told me that when the wedding party doesn’t book with HER caterer she doesn’t allow receptions. Extremely unprofessional. And very very judgmental staff and owner. THE WORST PART IS mary Ann didn’t have the courtesy to tell her friends that the venue was rented out which resulted into random people I didn’t know walking around the venue and getting into our photos. I personally do not plan on booking with them ever again. Book at your own risk for weddings. However I didn’t let that ruin my day. To say the least my experience with the owners & caterer was atrocious and having a pretty venue does not make...

What a disappointment! I agree with the others the grounds are beautiful. However, my tea-experience was less than brag-worthy.

We were seated outside, under the overhang of a secondary building next to the restroom. It truly felt like the three tables set up in this space were an after-thought. Oops...we over booked, oh well. *There were only three tea choices, interesting for a high-tea experience. We had to ask our server for warm tea -- why have your guests go through the exercise of picking cups and tea pots if you plan to serve only ice-tea unless they ask for hot? And you might want to tell them they have to ask for hot tea. And to the management, if I had wanted pre-made, frozen and heated, finger food I would have gone to Costco and heated them myself. Along with the other commercially produced items (lemon curd & desserts)...truly disappointing.

This was a gift and the person that gifted me this experience was the most delightful companion and great company -- for that reason it was a wonderful experience. The rest, meh... for the tea experience I will go elsewhere and advise others not to...