The Hacienda — Attraction in Santa Ana

The Hacienda has changed....Please consider my terrible experience at the Hacienda before you plan your special event .If things go wrong , like in my case, you will never get your special day back!! In planning a celebration of life for my late husband, I chose the Hacienda because I had hosted many successful events there. Upon arrival, I was informed that Julie would be my events coordinator for the day. At 10:45 She informed me that my guests would not be allowed in the venue until exactly 11 am. She was monitoring a closed gate. I explained to her that I had guests flying in from around the country to attend this event and It was rude to keep them waiting on the street. Her demeaner was rude and unhelpful. i told her that this was my husband's memorial. I asked her to please be compassionate and help me have a good event . I then asked her if she could excuse the tables for the buffet so there would not be a long line. She said that they do not do this. She said that she would try to get someone to help, After telling me all about what she could not do.( Keep in mind, i am hosting this event for grieving family and friends and I was hoping I could concentrate on my guests, not organizing every aspect of the event.) With Julie this was impossible. During the buffet, people came to me to say that there were not enough tables and people were standing around while the others were eating. Unbeknownst to me at the time, many people asked Julie for another table. They were told that there was plenty of single seats .(my niece and family ate on a bench). I then got up, left my family to assess the situation. Sure enough 10-15 people were standing around while the rest of the group were eating. I went to ask Julie for additional seating. Her response to me ( in a condescending way)was that they had set up enough seating. I once again, explained that I had paid for my guests to have a seat. People want to sit with their friends and family at a memorial. they did not want to sit with strangers. About 30 minutes later another table appeared. The guests were finally seated and eating when we had to start the memorial video, which was in the next room. they gulped down their food in order to watch the video. The next item on our agenda( I had given Julie a copy of the program/agenda at the beginning of the event) was the eulogy to my late husband (an emotional moment) and speeches from family members. As I began the final tribute to my late husband the music from a loud Mariachi band boomed through the room. I was flabbergasted, I didn't know what to do, do I stop the eulogy, can the guests hear me over the music. I can't believe that the hacienda did not plan this better. Perhaps staggering the music for after the speeches, (she had the agenda and knew the order of events) or not scheduling a mariachi and a memorial at the same time. It was unbelievable. I will never have that moment back to honor my late husband. During the planning appointment I was told that the hacienda staff would not help me with my video and music. I asked friends to be in charge of it during the event. We went before hand to see the music system and do a trail run. We were told what adaptors we would need etc. When my friend that was in charge of the music started the play list of my husband's favorite songs, Julie went up to her and said that she could not touch the equipment and that Julie would handle it (said in a very rude way) luckily Julie left the music area and never came back so my friend continued as planned. It seems like there was no communication among the Hacienda staff, some telling me I had to do my own music and Julie telling us not to do our music. They would not let us take home the left over cake (that I paid for).The next day I informed the manager about my experiences. although concerned, did not offer us anything to rectify the situation or compensate us in any way. I will never get this day back. I have never posted a bad review but I hope no-one else has to experience what I...

The Hacienda was a dream wedding venue.... We looked at a lot of venues before deciding on The Hacienda. As soon as we stepped into the restaurant, it felt like we walked into a magical fairytale land. The space is just gorgeous! What appealed to us the most was their very simple package deal, unlike other venues where they add a bunch of costs on top of each other and come out with a very complicated quote (like F&B, servers, bartenders, tables, chairs, decorations, cake cutting, sound system, venue hourly rental fees etc. etc....) The Hacienda is an all inclusive package INCLUDING centerpieces, cake and cake cutting, live pianist for ceremony, full lunch or dinner service, hor' dourves during cocktail hour, open bar+ bartender, event coordinators, wedding planning and a coordinated rehearsal!! Where else can you find a venue like this that simply includes EVERYTHING! All you have to provide is your headcount and you have the final price. I also didn't have to hire an outside wedding planner or wedding coordinators cuz they do that all for you!

The other big draw was the beauty and functionality of the whole space. I dislike empty ballrooms because you have to bring in all of your decorations and it's a lot of $$. But this place is naturally so full of greenery and flowers everywhere that there's no need to bring in any extra decorations (other than your personal decors like photos, gift card box, place cards... personal things like that) They even provide beautiful orchids as centerpieces! Where can you go to save cost on centerpieces?? It's almost unheard of. I only had to spend floral money on bouquets, bouts and corsages, spent ZERO on florals for venue (cuz there's no need to!) Their food is amazing, and their wedding cake (included in the package) is a delicious carrot cake and I couldn't believe it was included too! There was no cake cutting fee either, all included! I couldn't care less about spending money on centerpieces and cake, so it was perfect for me!

The functionality of the space was amazing, the ceremony courtyard is BEAUTIFUL and a dream place to get married. All the other spaces were beautiful and big, lots of space to decide where you want the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception to be. We had all 3 in 3 different spaces, our guests were very impressed! There are many beautiful areas with chapels and greenery to take photos, there's a beautiful water fountain and the bridal suite is really cute! Another huge perk was the parking, there's ample free parking so guests don't have to worry about that at all.

The team! They were terrific and so helpful, gave a lot of guidance and always were very responsive. If I wrote, someone always wrote back, if I called and they weren't available, I always got a call back. They are a very professional and organized team. I want to thank the team members that we worked with: Art, Laurelee, Claudia, Robin & Melissa. They are all wonderful at putting together our dream wedding. Through the 6 months of planning, we went there to take meetings with them 3 times, and each time, they were very patient and worked with our vision to get the logistics right. I want to give a special thanks to Art and Laurelee, our 2 coordinators for the wedding day, they were so great and guided everything and everyone to be on time and everything was where it should be, literally nothing was out of place or missing. I had expected there would be little flaws here and there, but thinking back, they worked so invisibly (I can't recall seeing them much during the wedding, but I knew they were working their magic so everything would go right) I can't recall a single flaw!

A special special thanks to Art, a very very kind man and professional wedding planner/coordinator, he took our last 2 meetings and also conducted our rehearsal smoothly. You are the best Art! We were VERY VERY pleased and couldn't be happier about our PERFECT wedding!! THANK...

This review is the The Hacienda as a wedding venue:

The Hacienda was a great venue to work with for our wedding, and I'm so glad we chose it. Here's a detailed account and review of our experience working with them: To start, the actual location itself is gorgeous and our wedding was stunning - the fountains, the plants, the lights, the decorations - all of it, perfect! Second, the food - it was really, really good. We chose the Sunday night "buffet" style option, which cost us a little less than $100 a plate, and we and our guests loved it. Third, the service - and this is perhaps the biggest section. This is the only area we have mixed feelings about, so let me elaborate: The administrative office is kind of a mess. They are hard to get a hold of, can be slow to reply, and are kind of inconsistent with information provided to us (slightly conflicting answers from different people, etc) but all this is ENTIRELY a management issue. The biggest problem we had here is that they didn't tell us until like a week before our wedding that we couldn't have the dance floor indoors, like we wanted, due to Covid concerns. That's totally reasonable, of course, but the problem is... why wait so late to tell us?? Lol. That was the only stressful part of our wedding week, to be honest... but in the end, having it outdoors proved to be wonderful anyway; in part because of the beautiful location, and in part due to our DJ (Showcase DJ) making the dance portion of the night lively and fun no matter where it took place! :) So, not that big a big deal in the end. Overall, this venue seems very popular and therefore very busy, so just make sure you follow up on the details with them and are aware of what's going on at all times, and you'll be fine. That all being said, the STAFF was just... amazing. To start, our wedding coordinator, Laurelee, was seriously the best. Throughout the entirety of our wedding, she was present, attentive, friendly, helpful, and completely dedicated to helping us with whatever we needed. She even helped politely ward off any well-meaning but overwhelming guests that tried to visit us as we scarfed some dinner down during the reception! The rest of the staff was helpful, professional, and attentive to our needs as well - every time I began to think "hmm, I think I'm kind of thirsty," miraculously there was a waiter right next to me handing me a glass of water (or champagne, lol!) Sorry this review is so long, I just wanted to make sure it covered all the important stuff for anyone reading this looking for a detailed account of what it's like to work with The Hacienda. It is a beautiful venue with great staff and awesome services for a reasonable price, and I would recommend this venue to anyone looking for their wedding to be as smooth and enjoyable as possible....