I urge you not to host your wedding or event at this venue. I attended the worst wedding of my life, and unfortunately, it was my own, at the Vanderbilt. I am devastated that this is the memory I will have of my wedding day for life.

Coordination is nearly impossible when planning an event at this venue. After paying the initial deposit, you will hear less and less from the coordinator- often three-plus weeks waiting for a response (with multiple follow-up emails). Eventually, you get a response that only addresses every third question or issue being discussed and a promise to follow up with whoever, and then you don't hear for weeks and still rarely get the answer.

Giving explicit instruction, numbering questions and color-coding emails slightly increased the chances of getting the appropriate answers but did not impact professionalism around timeliness. Terrible coordination with their preferred vendors and only one choice of tent vendor and tent type in case of rain. In the tented outdoor space with rain, puddles will collect inside due to uneven patio stones, which further impacts the usability of the space. The day of was full of infuriating and amateur mistakes. To name a few: overbooking in their dining room restaurant, making courses 40-60 minutes apart from one another for my guests, no drinks or water being served to guests after sitting with nothing in front of them for 45 minutes before the cold appetizer course arrived, my wedding cake was cut by staff in the kitchen when I clearly asked the day of coordinator for it to be brought inside so I could see it and me and my husband could cut it with friends and family around to celebrate, as is obviously tradition. My wedding ended up being a ceremony quickly followed by everyone sitting at tables for 3 hours trying to eat. This absorbed all other time and energy of guests to do any other celebrations, dancing, or mingling post dinner. Sadly, most of my wedding photos will be of people sitting at empty tables. These are a few instances; I could go on, but it is truly exhausting and still keeps me up at night.

In the aftermath of this absolutely butchered event, the hotel manager made some efforts to compensate for some of this and was very apologetic. With that said, they continue to expect me to pay for an increased number of guests they are counting incorrectly as they are basing it on the wrong number of chairs they set up. Managerial oversight and diligence are severely lacking, which unfortunately makes it the customers' job to babysit the process post-event as well. In my experience, whatever "the team assures" management of, is blatantly false and simply fabricated. This would be crystal clear if anyone were to look at what the signed contracts outline. Be sure you direct them to do that, as I had to, before being double charged for things there were contractually guaranteed to be included.

Sadly, you don't get wedding re-dos, especially when many family members fly from the other side of the world. Taking some responsibility after the fact (and continuing to fumble the closeout) does nothing to the memory I have to live with. I hope my experience can save someone else from not suffering the same.