Vendor Review - Overlook Lodge, Bear Mountain Review (Venue)

BURGH2NYC

We had both our wedding and reception at the Overlook Lodge (Bear Mountain NY) last week.

Overall, the venue was fantastic and the staff made everything flow well on our wedding day.

Here's what was great:

The stunning view of the Hudson Valley, everyone stared at the beauty

The food - everyone was delighted and this was a crowd that has high expectations.  The food was just as good at the event as it was when we had our tasting.

The cake - provided by Homestyle Bakery as part of the wedding package.  It was incredibly beautiful and delicious.

Catering manager Ann Marie Grew was such an organized, friendly, tireless person through the whole planning phase and she really came through on our wedding day.  We loved her!

The staff in general was really willing to pitch in as needed in setting up for the wedding.

The ceremony site and reception halls were comfortable and looked elegant with all the decor in place

The waitstaff was LOVELY!  They were such nice ladies and were totally on top of things, not only for my groom and myself, but for all our guests.

Here are some things that could be improved:

Frankly speaking, if you have guests staying at the Lodge or the Stone Cottages you will have to call and check on the reservations many times to make sure they get it right.  Even once the reservations were perfect (and we told them so), some people were moved at the very last minute to totally different lodging and I wasn't too happy about that.  They need to REALLY improve efficiency there.  Even my family commented on the people making reservations.  This is the number one thing they need to fix.

Temperature control was a problem when we arrived - because it was cold the weekend before, it was way too hot in the rooms when we arrived the day before our wedding.  It took some time to cool the rooms in Overlook to the point where we felt comfy.  For the wedding itself the temperature was still on the warm side but much better than the day before.

The dance floor is small, but they did keep the tables far enough away from the dance area so that people could use the carpeted space to dance too.  It worked out fine and people danced the night away.

Since they host so many weddings, it would be nice if the rooms at Overlook had a hook high enough to hang a wedding gown.  I ended up hanging mine on the shower rod in the bathroom.  A higher hook would have been nice.

All that being said, we are very pleased to have had our event there and I do think if we had the choice to make again, we would again choose to have our wedding at the Overlook Lodge.

mrsomar2b

Congratulations on your wedding!

It will be 6 yrs in December since we were married at the Overlook Lodge. I know management there has changed during that time, but we too had a wonderful experience there and it's nice to hear somebody else has too. One of the best things about having been married there is that we've been able to go back every year for Sunday brunch to celebrate our anniversary....just like we did the Sunday after our wedding. 

Best wishes for a long, happy life together!

BURGH2NYC

We had a Farewell Brunch on Sunday too - should have mentioned that.  The food was great!  I know that our family and friends appreciated having a nice meal before heading home the next day.

I like your idea about the anniversary brunch!  We also plan to go up there just to stay at one of the Stone Cottages some time.  It was so lovely there.

I just want to mention again how gracious the wait staff were.  I wish I remembered their names!  They were so on top of things and so very nice.  They truly made the day even that much better.

mrsomar2b

I agree - the ladies who work there are wonderful. I remember our maitre'd was Lisa, but unfortunately the other names escape me. We still see them every yr when we celebrate our anniversary and they remember us! I was happy to see that even though management changed they still kept the banquet staff. They really are great at what they do!!!

We actually went up to Bear Mtn today to check out the inn now that it has reopened. Unfortunately, the entire inn is not open yet, but the work they've done is beautiful and it will be great once it completely reopens. I realized though once the inn is open brunch will be there and not at the lodge so that makes me a little sad, but it was eventually going to happen. We love to just go to the park/zoo/carouselle and it's a lot of fun to go through the memories of our wedding day for our 4 yr old daughter when we do visit. I just really love that we can go where we were married whenever we want.

Congratulations again!!!!