Secret Gardens Miami — Attraction in Princeton

There is no denying that Secret Gardens is a beautiful location and makes for a stunning backdrop for any event. That said, this review is focused on the poor customer service we received for our wedding in October of 2024.

We toured the venue in April of 2023 and signed for our October date. We booked the large property and paid extra to use their iconic open-air clear plastic tent with twinkle lights. Their contract states that the props throughout the property are subject to change and what you see during your tour may not be what is there for your event, which is understandable. That said, we could not have expected the drastic change to the property that we experienced.

To make a long story short, Secret Gardens demolished the plastic tent that we had come to expect for our wedding and replaced it with an enclosed glass structure…with NO communication about this change.

In their eyes, this was a complimentary upgrade they were providing to their clients who had signed for the previous structure. They provided absolutely NO communication about this change. The only reason we found out was because we asked to do a self-guided tour in April of 2024 and saw that there was construction happening on the property.

We scheduled a call shortly after with Joe Doyle, Sales & Marketing Director, to ask more questions about the construction. When asked about their communication plan for their clients about this change he essentially said that they were not going to communicate with their 200+ clients because construction is unpredictable and they didn’t want to be providing constant updates. We were dissatisfied about the lack of communication, but Joe kept promising us that we were going to love it, that it was a complimentary upgrade, and that it was going to be the same/better than what we had expected. He couldn’t understand why we weren’t happy and was actually surprised by our reaction.

Although there are many elements to the new structure that are similar to the previous structure, it’s not exactly the same. The flooring is a totally different color and finish (polished cool gray concrete versus the warm brown stamped concrete), the ceiling drapery design is very different and the look of the glass panels has an industrial feel that the former tent structure didn’t have. Although there is AC, which is certainly a nice addition, it is also noticeably noisy (especially in moments where these was no music playing, like during the speeches).

It seemed like a reasonable expectation to be communicated of such a change to our wedding venue, but they didn’t think so. What’s worse, is that this change was within 6 months of our event date. According to the contract, if we cancelled within 6 months of our date, we would owe them all the money. Whether they acknowledge it or not, this put us in a difficult position. On our call, I mentioned to Joe the difficult position they were putting us in and it was only in that moment when he took a brief pause during his “trust me, everything is great” speech that he offered to not charge us if we chose to cancel. We had no choice because we didn’t want to try and find another venue with less than 6 months to our date, so we agreed to keep our event there and make it work.

Did the event turn out beautiful? Sure. Was the enclosed space actually quite nice considering the rainy weather we had during our wedding? Yeah. But the treatment we received with this lack of communication really soured the whole experience.

Given this lack of communication, the lack of acknowledgement of our concerns, and the lack of accountability over the challenges this caused, we would not recommend Secret Gardens. Unfortunately, I don’t believe they will take this as a learning opportunity as they receive a lot of business and are generally very successful. So much so that they likely justify their current business practices/customer service and will hold firm to them. Be extremely wary if you choose to work with them. I hope that if you do, you have a much more positive experience...

At first glance of this venue, I know this would make for a day to remember for the bride and groom, even though they advised that the manager Blanca was unprofessional at the showing but, they still were in love with the venue. Helping in the day of preparations and arriving at the overnight bridal suite , I quickly noticed that it was all a facade.

Lets start with the onsite bridal suite. Convenient that it on property but no proper cleaning and maintenance seen in years. You would think for roughly $1000 a night this place would be impeccable, but it was filthy! Broken drawers, animal dropping in drawers (in the ones you could open) and dust accumulation beyond belief. Being a bridesmaid, I was proactive and went go out and get a mop to avoid getting the gowns dirty that night in preparation for the morning. Again, still giving the benefit of the doubt of things being overseen. After cleaning, went to take a shower…comical! If you taken a bath in 3rd world country where you have to sway your body to get the driplet of water coming out the corroded shower head, then you know what type of shower we had in a $1000 suite. Its not the price, but that the price doesn’t align with what was provided (Some photos attached).

Wedding day was finally here and the groomsmen and groom were on the way to the venue. We had arranged a elaborate breakfast spread to have ready for them upon their arrival. Once we got everything setup in the Man Cave, Blanca advised that they were going to move to the other suite that was under construction. I am trembling just thinking of here she had the audacity to suggest such a thing. First thing, contractor was CURRENTLY cutting wood and working on the front patio. So, imagine the saw dust and noise but still went inside. NOTHING! Base boards on pile as soon as you walk in, caution tape on doors, no furniture or even chairs to sit, but this is where you want to put the wedding party. She gave us the option to stay in the 1st suite with masks on (they all had no issue with that) or “Have more freedom” in the unsafe/under construction suite. I suggested the guys stay in the suite and left to check on the vendors and other pressing issues. Later to find out, Blanca gave the groom continuous attitude about their choice, so they just moved to the hut , but stayed outside due to dust. My husband in particular has bad allergies but regardless, who wants dust on your clothes,food and etc. Notice in photos-caution type in hut .So much so the photographer did the “getting ready shots” outside because it was unacceptable for his photos and couldn’t bare it.

I can go on showing unprofessional texts she sent to the wedding planner and recorded conversation about threatening to cancel to wedding the day of because of “her inconvenience” but you all should get the idea.

I prefer to spend my money on a stress free venue, on a clean and professionally managed venue.

I would highly recommend looking into: Redland Koi Garden** For similar venue and world class service.

Not to mention, she attempted to hold deposit being” someone wet towels and flooded suite”, but when asked for picture and proof , quickly refunded. Mind you, you went to suite after to retrieve our stuff and film because we saw how Blanca handled us during the wedding and what foolishness and dishonesty she may try to take it. Glad we did!

STAY AWAY!

Photos: • You can see the caution tape and bare room in “Man Cave” • Dust and broken drawers in “Bridal Suite” • Unable to add text...

A few days ago my wife and I had the wedding of our dreams at Secret Gardens Miami’s Villa Laguna property, and it was everything we could’ve hoped for. Upon visiting Secret Gardens the first time for their wedding expo (where we toured the property, met the owners and many of their preferred vendors and sampled food and beverages) we knew it was the perfect venue for us. Their pricing was beyond fair, especially in contrast to many other venues of similar size nearby, but beyond that it was stunning the night of our wedding. They have lights strung through trees and a gorgeously lit reception tent, their lush vegetation and blue green lagoons were a gorgeous setting to spend the night among. All of our guests loved it. What’s more, the layout of the venue allowed us to split the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception into three unique settings, cocktail hour under their tiki cabana was a big hit.

I can’t speak any higher of Joe and Blanca Doyle, who run Secret Gardens. Every time me or my wife had a question I would text one of them and almost every time we’d have a response within five minutes, they were so attentive to our needs even in months prior to the our big day. True professionals, if we needed help with direction in any sense they would either have the answer ready for our questions or were quick to put us in touch with the person who did, and they set us up with some really amazing vendors. With the exception of one, all of our vendors were from their preferred list, and having a team who had not only all worked the venue but had also worked the venue together before made the day of come together seamlessly. It made everything so smooth.

To top it off, when my wife showed up to prepare morning of, she arrived to find the Doyle’s had an entire crew on site freshly mowing the grass, picked up fallen branches and beautifying the whole property. She got ready with her girls in their on site suite and had the best time, even the photos she had taken from cellphones while they prepared in the beautiful suite looked like they were straight out of a magazine.

All in all they delivered better than I could’ve hoped, excellent communication and quick to address any concerns, even the day of Joe was there to make sure everything was running smooth. If you want a venue thats absolutely gorgeous and owners that make your life easy as possible, you won’t regret choosing Secret Gardens Miami. Their main property was beautiful as well, but for our wedding of just over 70 people, the Villa Laguna property was perfect size and a huge success.

Thank you Joe and Blanca, and the team at Secret...