Flaxton Gardens Sunshine Coast — Restaurant in Sunshine Coast Regional

We recently celebrated our wedding at Flaxton Gardens, and while the venue itself is absolutely stunning, our overall experience was unfortunately disappointing.

To start with the positives: Flaxton Gardens is a visually breathtaking venue that truly exceeded our expectations. The purple flower wall and the magnificent views, especially during sunset, were unforgettable. Our marquee setup for 130 guests was perfect, with ample space for the ceremony, garden party, and reception. We worked with Mondo Florals for our flowers and LoveBirds Styling for furniture hire, and both vendors did a fantastic job utilizing the space. The separate dance floor was a great feature, allowing guests to chat and relax away from the noise.

The on-site accommodation for 16 people was also a major plus, making the day flow smoothly. The rooms were lovely, and although we didn’t get much time to enjoy them due to the busy schedule, it was wonderful to wake up the next morning and grab breakfast at the café.

Now, to address the negatives: Unfortunately, several issues before and during the wedding left us disappointed.

No Food Tastings: Despite offering to pay for a tasting, we were told it was only possible for 2 out of the 11 dishes offered and required a minimum of 20 people. We strongly believe that a tasting should be offered as an option for wedding packages to ensure couples are satisfied with their menu choices.

Misleading Drink Packages: Our package initially included cider and French champagne, but when we inquired, neither was available. We were told that the drinks are “subject to change,” but in our understanding, this should mean brand substitutions, not the complete removal of certain drinks.

One of the biggest issues during the wedding was the lack of drink service. Despite being promised table service, my husband and I, along with many guests, found ourselves with empty glasses and had to repeatedly go to the bar to get drinks. Even water on the tables was left unattended. We recently attended another wedding with fewer guests but significantly more staff, which really highlighted how much Flaxton Gardens fell short in this area.

We were warned that the Flaxton Gardens allocated run sheet was tight for our number of guests, but many delays and miscommunications on the day could have been avoided with better coordination. Rather than the venue staff taking the lead as expected, it often felt like our photographer had to step in to manage the schedule.

Response to Feedback: The most disappointing aspect of our experience was the venue's response to our concerns after the wedding. Instead of acknowledging the issues we raised, Flaxton Gardens’ team responded with defensiveness and dismissiveness, even shifting blame onto us and factors beyond our control. This lack of accountability and professionalism only added to our frustration.

While Flaxton Gardens is undeniably a beautiful venue, the poor service, lack of accountability, and dismissive attitude toward feedback left us deeply disappointed. We hope this feedback encourages the venue to take a serious look at how they handle events and respond to customer concerns, so future couples don’t face the...

We had our wedding at Flaxton November 2018. Would i recommend Flaxton for a wedding? No, we faced many challenges and still understanding how poorly serviced it actually was. The day off our wedding, our wedding organiser/planner from Flaxton called in sick, and so did half the staff. We get that this thing may happen, but there was no back up plan or staff leaving my Husband to actually set up our centrepieces and venue himself! Also due to having minimal staff member and them not knowing what was going on, our music wasn't on time, and some how had our first dance song messed up because they played the wrong song when we had a playlist labelled "first Dance" with only our chosen song in the playlist, so we were confused.

Lack of organisation was also displayed when we had to choose the wet weather option, in the barrel room. It was already set up with my table seating charts, and entry decorations but staff didn't think to put it aside to allow for our ceremony, therefore my bridesmaids had no where to stand, and were cramped beside me.

Many meetings leading up until our wedding we asked where we could get photos taken, with no one gave us information but after the wedding we learnt that we could of used the vineyard and the rest of the venue space for photos. As a bride, photos were highly important so it was sad to have missed opportunities because it was not presented to us. We had also taste tested our menu, but it being completely different on the day (Somehow the mash potato was filled with green leafy stuff throughout, so there was hardly any mash!)

The MOST disappointing though, was the Festoon Lights! We paid $200 to have the Festoon lights stay up, and turned on but as we got our photos back we noticed that there were many bulbs blown out and only half were functioning. So to pay $200 for lights that were not all working and didn't do what we paid for was extremely upsetting and still to to this day i am angry.

So unless it is guaranteed that Management can be prepared, and actually provide information to help couples create their dream day, then i do not recommend...

Wow! As a wedding planner this is one easy venue to navigate. We have a close working relationship with the Flaxton Gardens team. Every wedding we execute here is with precision and excellent communication.

When a couple books the venue we are informed straight away so we ourselves can liaise with the couple directly to work out their styling and hire needs.

In the lead up to the wedding if we need to know any details the staff are accommodating and always able to answer our questions or requests in a timely manner.

On the day the team always go above and beyond for the suppliers and couples to ensure a seamless and stress free day for all involved. If we need to drop items earlier or collect later they always find a way to make it happen to make our job easier and to ensure the couple have the best day ever.

The venue is always clean, tidy and set in a way that is gorgeous yet easy to manage for all vendors.

Flaxton is one of our fav venues especially on days when it’s wet as they have back up plans in place and a high quality functioning team that help us all out.

We have always found the team to be polite, easy to work with, professional and fun!

To date all the weddings we have done with the team here have been amazing with glowing reports of a wonderful day had by all.

We are so thankful to the team for their generosity and support for our small biz here on the hinterland.

Given we are often on site for set up and the pack down the day after we often stay for a drink or bite to eat and always find the food to be fresh and filling.

We look forward to working with the FG team and their many beautiful couples in the next...