Fellows Riverside Gardens — Attraction in Youngstown

My wife & I were just married at Fellows Riverside Gardens over the weekend, and the process of working with them gradually fell apart. Perhaps if we had paid to have our reception there, they would've offered more accomodations and kept their word, but our issues are beyond the accommodations. They lied to us about a few amenities they told us they would offer. One of which being speakers at both the gazebo and pavilion. We initially wanted to get married at the gazebo, and were told it would have speakers that we could connect to our music source. After we signed our contract and secured the date, we were then informed that the gazebo didn't have speakers, but the pavilion did. Well, we switched to the pavilion, and guess what? No speakers. Luckily, I was able to provide my own equipment, but the point remains that we were deceived. What if I couldn't, or in my case, didn't want to do that? We were told IN PERSON, and have email evidence they made these claims to us, so they can't try to lie to us again. We won't fall for any more bullshit. We scheduled a rehearsal the Friday evening before the wedding weekend, and we did so at 7:15pm because that was the time that worked best for everyone in our party. We arrived to have the lower access point to the parking lot closed, delaying the arrival of multiple people. They eventually arrived at 7:20pm-7:30pm after detouring around the gardens, and when they arrived, security were not notified we were scheduled to be there, and gave us attitude like we were hooligans loitering after dark. She told us we had to vacate the park because "when the sun goes down, that means the park is closed", even though we were scheduled and permitted to be there by Fellows Riverside Gardens on their website. I wouldn't have so much of a problem with being told to leave if the security wasn't condescending, confrontational, and disrespectful with us, and acted inconvenienced when I asked her to please inform my wedding party after informing me, so I could go to the parking lot and tell my cousin who travelled 2,000 miles to attend my wedding to go back to his hotel. "Well, that's what I told you for, but, uh, I GUESS..." They shouldn't have allowed us to be scheduled at that time if they supposedly close at dusk, and without warning us that this could happen to us. We were also informed that the park would provide signage to indicate a private event and "security" to keep other visitors out of our wedding venue. I walked down the aisle with my mother to find the organizer of the wedding after ours standing in the middle of the rose garden, and we had to tell him to move. He screwed up shots with our photographer and videographer, which were where most of our budget went. He was walking down the middle of the aisle as our music is playing, pavilion in use, completely oblivious, and where was the "security"? The park made absolutely no attempt to keep anyone out of our rented space, people freely milled about in the gardens throughout the entire ceremony. I ordinarily wouldn't have too much of a problem with that... If it weren't my wedding... We didn't see anyone working at the park, a manager, nothing. We weren't approached by anybody, not even as we walked into the main building in full dress, discussing the wedding. They also never mentioned an outrageous fee that made chairs cost more than double what they ordinarily do because we chose to be wed on a Sunday. It made the price of 100 chairs almost $500, non-refundable. Not to mention, did they charge the wedding after ours the same amount, to add or subtract chairs from that sum? Very poor disclosure of information, we were informed last second of everything every step of the way, and the lying hurts us the most. They did us dirty and lied to us. Hopefully they don't do it to you if you choose to get married here. It's a very beautiful venue, but...

Breathtaking!

During our summer road trip through Ohio, we stopped at these beautiful gardens. This is a gorgeous walk-through, of well-maintained lawns (that you aren’t even able to lay a blanket on to keep in beautiful condition), trails, fountains, sculptures, and tons of flowers!

We started by the big fountain and made our way through the rose area. This is a huge place for photographers to do family photos as we saw a few of them. Just passed the roses was an overlook with a beautiful view. There were some trails with outdoor art, and some sculptures. We have never come across a garden labyrinth before. There was one on these grounds in memory of someone who had passed. It was beautiful!

We spotted a rainbow through the fountain, and so many different kinds of flowers!

There are a few different gazebos, archways and lush gorgeousness!

Our children were with us. These gardens are family friendly with kid friendly trails.

We came after hours, so we did not get the opportunity to check out the gift shop. Will hit that the next time around.

A very tranquil place that had everything on your list of beautiful gardens you could hope for. Will definitely revisit!

*Wheelchair accessible parking lot and entrance. Public restrooms available....

This venue is so amazing and beautiful no matter what time of year it is. We had our reception in the Daniel L. Rossi auditorium, and it was the perfect amount of space for 100 guests. We went in with less than four months to plan everything, but the employees were very accommodating. We did most of the planning with Jessica, who was very nice and a joy to work with. I would work with her again in heartbeat if I ever needed to host another event there. Everything was made easy, from the first tour, to booking the venue, and to the very end of the event. Everyone was super helpful, and answered any questions or concerns in a timely manner. We couldn't have asked for a better location to hold our reception. If you're searching for a beautiful location with on-site catering and friendly staff, I would 100% go with them. They made the wedding planning process pain-free, and I can't recommend...