The Gardens Houston — Attraction in Houston

I initially booked this venue because at our appointment we discussed, it was all inclusive. I mentioned that I needed a venue to take care of all the minor details and that night I just wanted to cater to my guests and host a party. The promise was made and contract signed. I unfortunately had to reschedule my event due to covid and many family loss. We paid the venue off in full and it was definitely pricey I didn't mind it because of the simple fact that they said they'd take care of everything. Fast forward to a couple months before event, i was asked to come in and bring my contract. It appeared that mine was lost. Thwy just didnt afmit it, however i keep all my receipts, pictures, and paperwork for these reasons. Then, I felt like I was not listened to, the plan we made could have been lost for all I know cus we never saw that again. In fact, I was asked again- what did we say would go here, what did we agree for this? I even asked, should i make signs for that day so the vendors would know where to go? (Because i witnessed a banquet- at hwr venue, where the vendors would come and ask her, where would they like us to set up, her response was that she didnt know). To me, that was embarrassing to say the least, but even then, she told me no, i have the plan written down. Well guess what, my vendors never saw the owner that day. Heck i didnt even see the owner that day. Many details were not done according to my discussion with the owner, so i pulled in her receptionist that was there and needless to say, she looked really annoyed. I'm so glad I arrived early to my event, something told me to. Literally details discussed day prior were not done, I think they thought I'd look passed it. Well no, for so much money, I was not. I hate that on the most important day, I had to be behind waitresses, owners, receptionist, etc. I had to ask for them to bring out coffee, serve the cake, how to serve the food. All those details that i had already discussed with the owner many many times, in front of my sister and husband so there would not be any miscommunication. The main waitress I would speak to said she was never told anything. So I'd direct her to call her boss cus we had discussed it. I was told she would have coffee served during cake time and I had to ask for it, the waitress said she wasn't told to do that, I kindly asked her to call her boss, they brought out 1 medium sized pot, and about 12 mugs for a packed house. Embarrassing to tell my guests that we had coffee cus there was not enough. I will say the male owner, was on it. He was getting things done for me too and seemed annoyed that many things that were promised, weren't delivered. He, many times, said to me, that they're here to serve ma'am (in spanish) and he seemed to want to make things right. I appreciate that. The venue was brought to life, I won't lie but it was the minor details for me and huge lack of communication to the staff and even with me. I was never asked at any time of the night, if I needed anything else or how was it going. I was the one after waitresses, the receptionist or anyone that I could catch that worked there. I asked for a VIP area for the teenage guests and she tried many times to say that kids don't sit anyways, The fact was, we needed more seating, I had to ask for more chairs to be brought out. The staff, with the exception of the man, seemed so annoyed by me, this was a night of a huge milestone and I was not going to let it fall a part for lack of services. I paid for services and I expected them to be done. They could be upset with the owner for not communicating with them what needed to be done and not with me. All in all, I gave them 3 stars because the venue overall, looked beautiful, but the lack of communication and service was one I wouldn't wish on anyone. I hired this place to take away some of my stress for that night and instead I had to pull it together and complete the finishing touches. The bartender was so sweet. I was approached by one of my guests who will be getting married, about venue....

The positive part: My wedding turned out beautifully, I'm now married to my best friend, and the stress of a wedding is over.

The rest: I was told on Thursday (after calling, emailing, texting and never getting a response) when I went to the venue, that everything would be done by Saturday night so on Sunday morning I could go make sure everything was finished and done correctly. Since I had family and friends coming into town, I planned my weekend around the timeline I was given from Carmen. My bridal party and family and I went to the venue Sunday morning and they had just began setting up. The table cloths were wrong, the sign in table was wrong, the "bling" was completely falling off the chairs, the napkins were wrong, the cake table was wrong, the center pieces had hot glue webs all over them which had to be cleaned up. We expressed what was wrong, what wasn't completed and Carmen (without apologizing or trying to make up for all the mistakes) said it would be done by 5. We went back at 6, still there were multiple errors, we expressed to them what was wrong and her daughter said they would have it fixed. Monday, the day of the wedding we got there to finish setting up. The bling was still falling off of the chairs, the velcro on the bling was falling off, there was hair and dandruff on our tables which we had to clean up ourselves, the chair covers had multiple stains on them. Fast forward to time for the wedding: As I am in the dressing room putting my wedding gown on Carmens daughter came in to tell me that once again, they've messed up on my invoice and I owe them more money. Which is awesome to hear 15 minutes before I walk down the aisle. Apparently they went to tell my husband too, and he ended up paying it without really looking at what they were charging him for (that was his fault for trusting them). Apparently they never put the cake on our invoice, then they charged us a 20% fee for whatever reason. So at the expo's they advise you to use their cake lady because if you don't you'll get charged these extra fee's for having an outside cake. We used their cake lady and was still charged the extra fees on top of another 20%. We ended up spending probably 20 minutes of our wedding (After our ceremony) in the office trying to figure out what they were talking about. They used cheap wooden chairs after we expressed several times that we wanted metal chairs, and at this point it was too late to change. We paid to have food for 45 people. We only had 41 show up- and rule of thumb is you make 10% extra regardless. When I asked them to serve our pastor, they informed us they only cooked for 40 people and we had 49 people show up so they were out of food. Then carmen changed her story and said her waitstaff didn't know how many people they cooked for- that they cooked for 50 people and we had 49. Still, we are short a plate? We re-counted OVER AND OVER, multiple people counted and we only had 41 people there. So I am assuming Carmen counted herself and her waitstaff/cooks because thats the only way we would have 49 people. Still, we are short of food. The cake lady did not bring a box for the top of our cake. She lives less than a quarter of a mile from the venue. When I called to ask where the box was, she non-chalantly said "Oops, guess I didn't bring it! Just wrap it in plastic" (because I had saran wrap tucked into my wedding dress?)

Overall I feel like the fact that I had to micro manage everything just so it would get done, spend so much of my time in their office during the wedding to figure out THEIR mistakes, the fact that Carmen NEVER apologized for any of the mistakes/concerns I had weeks before the wedding, the day before, the day of, this place really doesn't care how your event goes. I would definitely not ever recommend anyone having their wedding or event here. Definitely invest a little extra money and go somewhere who has competent...

I had my wedding April 2017, don't get me wrong the place is beautiful, but the service was horrible. My husband and I had sat down and talked with Carmen so see when the salad and dinner was suppose to be served. We had decided to start serving the salad around 5:30, when my husband and I looked at the time i realized it was almost 5:50 and no salad was served. So i asked one of the waiters and they said "Oh, do you just want me to go ahead and serve it now?" the actual dinner was suppose to be served at 6. When my husband and I sat down to eat we realized that they were serving tea and not lemonade which we asked for. So i asked the person in charge of the waitress and he said well they never told us what exactly to do. I had bought chips for them to handout, and they didn't until I asked again. It's been 5 days since my wedding and I realized that they didn't serve fruit (which my husband paid for). I called Carmen to see what happened and she hasn't given me a call back nor answered my phone calls. Very bad business managing! And lack of communication! So if you want unhelpful people, that dont care about anything except their money, then this is the place for you! Save your stress and...