The Woman's Club of Coconut Grove — Attraction in Miami

We had our wedding (ceremony and reception) at the Woman's club in Dec 2022. We absolutely loved the venue, as we loved the old Miami building and the oak trees outside, and its prime location in the Grove. We got married outside, had an outside cocktail hour, and then indoor reception. We had 110 guests, which we felt was about the max that could fit comfortably in the venue. We had a package from the venue, and the food was AMAZING (they accommodated our request for vegan and non-vegan options), as was the cake vendor (Malka, who does a fantastic vegan cake) and DJ (A productions) that we worked with.

I give 4 stars instead of 5 because we found that Leslie did not serve as a true day-of wedding coordinator and planner (as others have suggested, if you could hire your own, that would be ideal.) While I found Leslie to be a nice person, I think her organizational skills could be improved. During our tasting, she told us she would give us the notes she wrote down, so we stopped taking our own. However, we never got those notes and asked us the same questions again at a later date. We constantly had to check in to ask questions, and were frustrated when we had meetings where she didn't write anything down and so we had to go over details again. I felt like I had to double check things like the number of guests and the seating chart, because I wasn't sure they would be right if I didn't count myself. There were little things that were wrong the day of, like the wrong beer out (which was important because the groom and I are beer drinkers; this was fixed, but at the very last minute) and no outside bar (too late to fix this). Nothing big, but also things that could have been avoided with some better organization. The biggest surprise was when Leslie told me right before the cake cutting that she was leaving after the cake cutting, and her husband would be there the rest of the night. Supposedly they "always do this", but I was never told this, even though there had been plenty of opportunities to tell me this, including the day before during our dress rehearsal, when I specifically asked if we needed to discuss anything.. My bridesmaid had to stress herself out coordinating with the husband who took over (he didn't know we were doing the sparkler send-off), which was really unnecessary. If I didn't have such organized bridesmaids, there may have been more confusion.

The groom and I and the guests enjoyed the wedding and didn't let the details get in the way of an amazing day. I probably would still have my wedding at the venue, but I wish I would have hired a day of coordinator of my own. If you are not an organized person, I suggest hiring a...

Flora McFarlane, the first woman homesteader in the area as well as its earliest school teacher, founded the Housekeeper's Club (today's Woman's Club of Coconut Grove ) in 1891. This was five years before Miami was even a city. It is the oldest civic group in Miami. Aware of the feeling of isolation that pioneer women could feel in the area Flora wanted a place where women could find fellowship and camaraderie. The club was created with the goal of "community uplift," which was achieved through fundraisers that paid for needs in the community. The club motto was "lend a hand". The promoted literacy and education. Their first project was to raise the money in 1894 for a Sunday school which later became the historic Plymouth Congregational Church. The fame of the Housekeeper's Club spread quickly. Within one year of its inception, Harper's Magazine, a major national publication, profiled the club. The Woman's club became the social hub of the city holding concerts, parties, and performances. Through the years they supported important causes like preserving the Everglades, a library, a girls ranch, cancer survivors, teaching children to swim, and canine companions. Over 100 years later the Woman's Club is still going strong and supporting civic activities in the community.

Today you can rent the historic Woman's Club for weddings and private events. The building was designed by Floridas first registered architect Walter de Gamo and it was completed in 1921. The building is made of stucco, oolithic limestone, concrete, and stone. It is a rectangular shape with a gable roof and wrap around porch. In 1975 it was added to the United States national Register of Historic Places. The club has been renovated and special occasions can be booked through CG entertainment. On the night I went by a wedding was being held so I didn't get a chance to look inside but they have extensive pictures on their website. The club looks like a lovely and historic venue to hold a special event. An added bonus is that you can cross the street to get pictures along the...

Summary: Event fine. Staff/administration (Leslie/Rudy) terrible. Venue is nice but BEWARE… if you have any issues with them it is going to be very difficult to communicate and work with them. Poor customer service. Also: 1) make sure you do your OWN research on the date of the event if you want an outdoor event as their knowledge of local festivals (that may interfere with an outdoor wedding) is poor. 2) the whole process of receiving the refund check has been incredibly frustrating with nothing but hostility and lack of communication from Leslie and the staff at the Women’s Club.

Details: I am the brother of the bride and paid for the wedding. After the wedding, I asked that the check for the return of the damage deposit be made out to me and sent to my house, I also sent an email and so did my sister (the bride) with my address. Many unanswered/unreturned phone calls and emails that were promised but never sent later, I discovered that the check had been sent to my sister’s old address (she had already moved). It was another uphill struggle to get Leslie to agree to cancel that check and issue a new one. At which point she called me and stated that they had the check but that is was made out to my sister. Even though they agreed to do so before they then refused to make it out to me. My sister has moved to Texas, and I paid for the wedding. Yet they refuse to give me the refund deposit even with her consent. In addition, my sister wanted to have an outdoor wedding and the date was checked against the Coconut Grove Events Calendar, and a date was picked with allegedly no conflicts according to Leslie. Lo and behold my mother and I happened to pick up a random newspaper the week before that was advertising the outdoor Beer Festival directly across the street from the Club. So no outdoor wedding, Leslie claimed that the park had not sent her the details, but come on, that is her job to...