Gardens of Woodstock — Local services in Lakewood

I have nothing but good things to say about the Gardens of Woodstock. My husband and I got married here August 8th, 2015. This review is really about their event planning team and not so much the retail store. But I will say, we had to visit the Gardens many times during store hours for various wedding things. The store was always beautifully decorated, clean, and the staff and customers always seemed in good spirits.

Mike, the owner, was our main contact for wedding plans. He was incredibly accommodating. We had our ceremony in the flower retail area, cocktails in the gardens and on the patio, and reception in the tent. This was the first time the Gardens had had a ceremony in the retail flower area with an aisle down the center and the ceremony under a pergola. Mike did it to accommodate our requests and larger number of guests. It was awesome and beautiful!

Kristin, the wedding coordinator, was amazing. She made sure all our requests were met and everything ended up looking more beautiful than I ever expected! My husband and I had literally nothing to worry about the night of. It was perfect.

Ann from the required caterer, Notable Events, was also wonderful. I'll admit, I was a little worried when we weren't allowed to bring in our own caterer. But it ended up being more than I could have hoped! The tasting was wonderful and Ann was so much fun and made sure we were happy. The night of, she made sure the food was delicious, looked beautiful, and the serving went smoothly.

My favorite thing about having your wedding at the Gardens is that there is something for every guest to do! We had a cigar bar so our guests could smoke at the cigar bar, walk through the beautifully lit gardens, dance on the dance floor, or converse while sitting around the fire pits.

Also, we had about 5 kids under the age of 8 at our wedding and they were having just as much fun as the parents. No complaints from staff and no complaints from those parents.

Lastly, my husband and I have big families and lots of weddings. That being said, our friends and family have said that this wedding has been one of the most beautiful and fun weddings they've been too.

I have nothing but good things to say about Mike and the staff at the Gardens. They are wonderful and our day...

As any couple planning a wedding knows, your venue can make or break the entire experience. My husband and I wanted something unique-- not a traditional, overdone banquet hall or hotel ballroom.

From the minute I saw the Gardens of Woodstock online, I knew this was my venue. We went to visit and handed over the deposit that day, without even seeing anything else in person. We made the right decision. Mike answered all my questions and was extremely responsive to my e-mails. You have to use their preferred caterer, which turns out to be a blessing. Noteable Events had AMAZING food and service, and since they work at the Gardens all the time, they knew exactly what to do so it was a lot of stress off us having to shop around for a caterer.

The best part is, since the ceremony location and venue in general is so decorated with flowers, plants and lights, you don't even need a florist. My bouquet flowers were fake and I used other things for my centerpieces. Saves you THOUSANDS, but is still a beautiful setting.

Since we got married on a Friday, we were able to use the entire venue from 11am-4pm to set up the Thursday before. This took off SOOOOOO much stress from my family and I, and everything was ready to go Friday without any last minute rushing.

They even referred us to our DJ, (Ken Murphy from AMP DJ Services) and I am so grateful for that. These were the best decisions I made during wedding planning and wouldn't change a thing!

The only two complaints I would have if I had to search for something, would be that there aren't really any nice hotels super close (nicest one is about 17-20 minutes away in Crystal Lake) but that isn't the venue's fault. The second one would be that the brick ground in the tent was pretty dirty with stains and I wish it was just a little cleaner, but honestly since there was low light in the tent with a bunch of guest tables around, I didn't notice it much day of.

At the end of the day, my guests gushed about how beautiful and unique my wedding was. It's so convenient with everything right onsite, and if I were to do it all again (I WON'T!) I would not hesitate to book at the Gardens. If you're on the...

I am so happy that we chose the Gardens of Woodstock for our wedding. Everything is done thoughtfully and with great organization so that I (the bride) could have a smooth, easy day. We had the space from 10am-11pm, a 5pm-ish ceremony, and 7-ish dinner.

I highly recommend touring and booking early. We knew we wanted a Saturday event when we started looking in Aug 2022, and there were only 2 or 3 available for all of the 2023 season.

I loved that there are a variety of spaces to use. The gardens are amazing for pictures and guests to walk through for fresh air. The tent was comfortable all evening for dinner and dancing (in July heat). Guests have indoor and outdoor seating options during cocktail hour. The Bridal suite had space for lounging, hair and make-up, as well as drinks and food.

The owner, Mike, is also incredibly responsive. He helped us remember billing dates and contract information while promptly responding to questions that came up during planning.

Beverage package prices were comparable to other venues we had toured. The catering was from Noteable Events. It included many options to fit various budgets and our dinner was DELICIOUS.

The biggest difficulty we had was organizing our DJ set ups. He had 1 stand inside the tent for the reception and a second one for the ceremony and cocktail hour. We did have a small gap in music because his gear had to move after our ceremony to be heard clearly for cocktail hour.

A final thing to consider is that the venue requires driving to anything. Closest hotels are a few miles away, and there wasn't really late night options like bars for an after party, or late night fast food without driving 10-15 minutes into Woodstock or...