Riverside Terrace — Attraction in Mishawaka

⚠️ IMPORTANT NOTICE TO BRIDES: PROCEED WITH CAUTION

The venue itself is beautiful, and the staff are professional and helpful. I gave one star solely because of the staff; the owner’s behavior was the primary source of stress throughout my wedding experience.

During rehearsal, we ran over our scheduled time without realizing it. Instead of politely informing us, the owner entered the space in a rude and confrontational manner. She began turning off lights while my bridal party was still practicing, creating a rushed and uncomfortable environment, and even locked my bonus daughter and sister inside the venue. This conduct was completely unprofessional and demonstrated a lack of respect for my family and bridal party.

On the wedding day, a seemingly minor issue—an umbrella—became a source of unnecessary conflict. She first approached my guests about the umbrella, creating discomfort and tension for them. She offered one because we did not have an umbrella, but it was never used. All bridal party and parent photos were taken inside the venue. Later, when the rain stopped, my groom and I went outside for our photos without ever using or seeing the umbrella. She had given it to my coordinators but later claimed it had been given to me, the bride. She also threatened that we would have to pay for it and attempted to claim that an umbrella left by her door was not hers, despite it never being touched or used by anyone in our party.

When a member of my bridal party misplaced her phone, the issue was dismissed entirely, with instructions to “come back tomorrow to see if it was there.” Yet she threw a fit over an umbrella, made my maid of honor cry (my little sister), and involved my guests unnecessarily. It was clear her priorities were completely backwards: she cared more about a trivial, unused umbrella than the needs and well-being of my bridal party.

Her behavior went beyond isolated incidents—she made my entire bridal party so uncomfortable that they felt the need to avoid her whenever they saw her. This is the last thing any bride wants for her closest friends and family on such an important day.

Leading up to the wedding, I received repeated calls requesting the same information—details that should have been documented. She has told me in the past that she has dealt with many “bridezillas,” and now I understand why—her attitude and behavior throughout the planning and wedding day created unnecessary stress for everyone involved.

The venue also requires a mandatory “security” fee of over $200, which in our experience provided no meaningful assistance. The officer assigned to our event was largely inactive, offering no support beyond eating dessert. Meanwhile, Cindy herself stood inside the venue the entire time, being rude to guests at the bar. It was unclear why security was even necessary, as her presence only added to the tension rather than alleviating it.

Thanks to my family and coordinators handling these issues behind the scenes, my groom and I were able to enjoy the day—but this was entirely due to their support, not the venue owner.

Recommendation for brides: I cannot recommend this venue as long as Cindy is the owner. Ensure every charge and agreement is in writing, do not rely on “borrowed” items that may later be disputed, and prepare for repeated calls, disorganization, and unnecessary stress. While the venue and staff are excellent, the owner’s behavior poses a significant risk to the smooth execution of your...

I do not recommend this venue. The worst part was that the bartenders were taking shots of the booze we paid for and were completely drunk during the ceremony which was highly unprofessional and they were caught serving the underage serving girls doing the food service as well. I was mortified at this behavior and embarrassed that all my guests were talking about it. As a bride you don't want your reception remembered that way. Also they were so drunk before the reception even started that they forgot to fill the head tables champagne glasses (we paid extra for the champagne) and we didn't have it during the speeches and toasts. Also Cindy is not very disorganized or helpful. We booked this venue a year and a half before our wedding date. The prices changed twice in that time frame which we were unaware of and nearly forced to pay because the contract is so vague. Also we did not receive an invoice of specific billing and was instead given dates of payments that would be due every few months. This led me to believe we would be paid off by the wedding date and instead it was only half paid off. A huge shock 2 weeks before your wedding day. If you are going to use them make sure you get the estimated invoice. She also had several "typos" on the final invoice that if I did not catch we would have been charged much more. She typed 200 guests instead of 180 (open bar and food for 20 extra people is a lot) You also get charged the service fee and the tax on everything not just service charges so even renting the hall you get a 19% service fee. It all ends up being very expensive and one of the reasons we booked here was that we led to believe it was going to be more reasonably priced. When we wanted to see the St. Joe river room she would not even walk us down there to show us, we had to find it ourselves. The valet parking was made mandatory (another extra charge) and the valet staff was rude with our guests including my own father. The only positives I can say was that the polish buffet food was great, the room itself is beautiful, and the girls doing the food service were all friendly and prompt refilling the food. Otherwise would not recommend this place and wish I had...

My fiance and I looked at Riverside Terrace twice hoping that our experience would have been better second time round. It wasn't. Both times we walked in to Cindy's office to meet here where she didn't even get up to shake out hands. Both times she pointed to a table with photo albums on it and told us to take a look. They just displayed pictures of centerpieces and other useless small details of past events that Riverside doesn't even offer. Absolutely nothing helpful. When we asked her if we could see the room she led us to a windowed room that looked down on the "River Room" and when asked if we could go down and actually see it - she led us to a stairway and said she would see us back upstairs when we were done looking. What salesperson doesn't lead the customer around answering all questions along the way??

Cindy ruined our experience twice. She couldn't answer questions and her "packet" of information was formatted so poorly and left out all information on this "new" room that has been there for several years. She said she was working on updating the packet and would be done in a couple weeks. I emailed her 3 months later to see if it was updated and she was still "working on it".

DO NOT GIVE HER YOUR MONEY!!! GO...