The Pavilion at Lake Elmo Holiday Inn & Suites — Local services in Lake Elmo

While the Pavillion itself was beautiful and our guests had so much fun at our wedding, it was really in spite of the horrible experience we had with this venue. It would not have come together so nicely if not for the herculean efforts of my personal attendant, wedding party, and our parents. To start, there was terrible communication leading up to the day with the wedding coordinator. This coordinator took over from the last one 6 months prior to our wedding and in that time I was never, not one time, able to reach this person on the phone. Email was the only way I could ever get a response. We set up a meeting the afternoon before our wedding to hammer out all the details we hadn't been able to get to through email and she cancelled on us with two hours notice... Again, through email. I am not upset at her for not feeling well, but is so wildly unprofessional that she would choose email as the means of communication to cancel so last minute and expect that to reach me in time. The morning of our wedding, no one, including the hotel staff, could locate the coordinator. There was no point person to turn to with questions, so all morning, every issue was brought to me or my step mom, causing extreme stress and anxiety. The coordinator showed up literally 30 minutes before the ceremony started without an apology or explanation. I was ready to forgive, forget, and just move on with the day. She told me to wait in my room, she would take over the wedding party and come get me when the ceremony was starting. Then, I kid you not, she literally forgot to come get the bride. Not even ten minutes later I get a call from my dad telling me that our wedding party was already walking out and where was I?I found out later my grandparents were told they weren't allowed to sit in the front row, so the entire front row was nearly empty and my grandparents had a hard time seeing the ceremony (I can't imagine where anyone got this idea because the venue was certainly not involved in any aspect of our ceremony planning and I have never heard of saving the front row for the wedding party). I didn't see her again until just before our grand entrance. Meanwhile, I have since found out she was busy trying to prevent our florist from accessing the reception hall to decorate until after all the tables were flipped instead of following behind them to decorate as they went, causing the schedule to run behind. I saw her briefly standing next to the door leading into the reception and clapping as the wedding party entered for dinner and no one saw her again the rest of the night. To top it all off, I called her multiple times after the wedding and left her a message to tell her i still hadn't been charged for the event or received a receipt for the night and EVEN THEN, she would not call me back. After almost two weeks of trying to get ahold of someone to figure out why I hadn't actually been charged for this wedding, I had to give my card info over the phone to someone at the front desk to get this taken care of. This experience was very different from the great experience our friends had with their wedding here a few years ago, the reason we chose this venue. Today, I would not recommend this...

If I could I would leave 0 stars. Do not have any trust to handle the biggest day of our lives!

My Fiance and I had scheduled a tour of this venue for our wedding reception we drove an hour the first time just to get there to meet with Katie on it and then we get there and find out Katie is at another event off site and the other person had something come up land was not there the front desk attendant got stuck showing us the venue and could not answer any questions at all really on it.

WE had scheduled another day about a week and a half later to re tour it and Katie once again was not there and at another event this time the General Manager LYnn showed us the place and was able to answer questions and soothed over the damages from the last time with Katie and no one being there and said he would remain on top of her and that she would reach out the next day or so. Well she never did and I called them again and was told she was out of the office for last minute sports event she had gotten tickets to and had emailed with a specific date in mind to book, and Lynn had told me that she would call me first thing in the morning. That call never came So I called again and asked for Lynn. I called again early afternoon on the day Lynn had said she would of called me and asked for her and got transferred to her voicemail. I called again three hours later asking for Lynn yet again and he quickly said I was on her list to be called today and she did call me about 90 minutes later.

She had no answer to all the information even after expressing my disappointment and frustration with wanting to trust them with the biggest day of our lives. She asked basic questions to get the contract written on everything and I then asked her if the date was available and that she replied with that she is unsure as she is not in that system. She said she would have the contract emailed to me in the morning at the latest for review and I verified my email and Phone number with her and I have not received that contract or any follow up at all and it is currently 8pm on a Friday night when I should of gotten everything 12 hours ago!

No trust at all and defiantly not worth risking 10 thousand dollars to have the biggest day of our...

The best way for me to review The Pavilion is to share what I wrote to the Catering Manager after our 50th Reunion event on October 29, 2021: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THAT YOU DID TO MAKE OUR 50TH CLASS REUNION CLASSY, FUN AND FESTIVE!  Throughout the event and into today, my classmates and I have been raving about The Pavilion Event room, the food, the service, and the fun.  Your attention to detail is extraordinary: the mirrors and votives on the tables; the variety of snack bag selections; the microphone and bluetooth sound system; the attractive table linens and table settings; the generous and delicious dinner portions; the "always-available-but-never-overbearing" servers; the experienced bartender; you and General Manager Lyn (spelling?) checking in from time-to-time to make sure all was well; the coffee and water station; and the overall setup of the room. (When I walked in Friday at Noon, I became teary eyed as The Pavilion was so beautiful and classy: it was the perfect palette for our autumn and Halloweened-themed decor.)

Thank you again, Laura McKenna, for your part in making our event a smash success. It was a fabulous night for us "sexagenarians."  You know a party is great fun when the time is up and you have to herd exuberant guests to the door before the carriage turns into a pumpkin.

P.S. Many classmates, including me, stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn, which is connected to The Pavilion. Perfect for events where some of the guests are out-of-towners. The front desk personnel were friendly and efficient making check-in and check-out a snap. The beds are comfortable and the rooms are clean and spacious. They rooms also have a fridge, Keuring, and microwave. The indoor pool and whirlpool are fun and relaxing. In short, the interconnected hotel, event center, and restaurant has it all with easy access to shopping and the freeway....