Meadowlark is a waste of money. It was an embarrassment to host our wedding there in September!
The “day of” staff is young, inexperienced and completely unresponsive (see other similar reviews under The Atrium at Meadowlark on WeddingWire).
It’s a long review- but worth the read if you are seriously considering Meadowlark.
The facility is beautiful- but use your own cater and get a coordinator!
Will definitely answer any questions any prospective bride and groom have- as we would like to ensure that no one else’s dreams and money are squandered as ours were.
We have the wedding video- and will be uploading it to YouTube as a testament.
General Meadowlark Issues:
-They aren’t responsive at all. Everything is “sure you can do that” until the week before your wedding.
We met with Renee and Liz 2 days prior to the wedding to go over everything and drop everything off. Liz couldn’t have been bothered with meeting with us- she rudely blew us off and told us if it was labeled she could figure it out. Everything was labeled and included a manifest. We tried to detail what each box was and go through the timeline- yet Liz was very obviously not paying attention and kept saying “uh huh”.
We tried to walk through the final timeline with her and she told us- it was “self explanatory”. We were appalled at her rudeness and lack of attentiveness.
We knew after our meeting with her, things were heading in the wrong direction- we spent that afternoon desperately trying to find a last minute coordinator- but we were too late. We later found out that Meadowlark had “double booked” our wedding night- one at Meadowlark and one at an offsite that Great Blue Heron was catering/coordinating.
Our stuff got lost in the mix of the other wedding’s stuff.
The morning of my wedding- Meadowlark calls the bride with two “emergencies”. Literally as my hair is getting done, I’m emailing Meadowlark the dinner breakout and dealing with where some of the desserts should be stored. This information had all been emailed to them the week prior and we had tried to go over it with Liz two days earlier.
As we arrived at the reception- we realized that the favors had not been distributed on the tables (were still in the box), the hurricane vases and candles were put out- but never lit, and the chocolates we had made for our desert bar were never put out.
Our engraved champagne glasses were no where to be found for the toast- still in the box we delivered them in. Luckily our photographer guided us through the cake cutting—there were no utensils put out to cut the cake, most importantly the ones we provided were missing. At that point the mother of the bride, did grab Sean who after 6 minutes (as the video shows) of us standing there, he emerges with the engraved cake cuter we supplied.
-There was a busted water pipe in the back room that leaked onto a table their entire meal. The meal was so heavy, the guests at that table- moved their chairs and place settings to other tables.
-They lost wedding items we provided. When we arrived on Sunday- we were missing hurricane vases and our table numbers. Their response was to “check with guests and vendors- these things always happen because people take stuff”. We’ve checked for the last 3 months, they are gone and we had to reimburse the florist for her missing hurricane vases.
Alcohol Disaster:
-We provided 3 times the amount of alcohol that both Great Blue Heron and Total Wine suggested. 20 minutes into the cocktail hour, the groom and father of the bride were pulled aside to be told we were running out of alcohol.
We had painstakingly divided the alcohol by bar and provide it to Meadowlark organized- unfortunately, they loaded it onto a cart and minimally filled the 2 bars. After 30 minutes of panic by the bride, groom, and brides parents- in which we searched the bars, closet where we left the alcohol, etc- the father of the bride sent someone to purchase cases of beer. There are no pictures of us enjoying our cocktail hour because of this.
When we arrived at Meadowlark the day after our wedding to address our complaints, there was our alcohol stacked on a cart that had been moved by an employee.
Our guests were turned away and told that we had run out of wine, liquor, etc- yet the cases we provided were there but not “found” because of a communication breakdown.
-Bar tenders were young- very young, high school young- as in were in high school with kids that were guests. They didn’t know how to make a drink- would grab the gin instead of the rum, give Bud instead of Budlight. With that, the bar line was long- ridiculously long because they had no idea how to serve guests.
Issues with Great Blue Heron:
We had 3 tastings with them- everything was perfect and delicious.
Totally different story the day of the event.
-Food was sparse during the cocktail hour. The displays were prepared for 50 people not 150. They were wiped out within the first 15 minutes.
Great Blue Heron is greatly understaffed- so the passed appetizers were almost non existent. Seldom did you see a waiter, and when you did the trays were made for 20 people--- there is plenty of room to nearly double or triple the amount of appetizers that were on those trays. Of the 6 passed appetizers we chose, we only saw and heard of people having 3 of them.
-Food was undercooked. The chicken appetizer was nearly raw- so raw, that my uncle grabbed the waiter and told him that he needed to return that tray to have it cooked.
The filet at dinner wasn’t cooked for even the rarest of heart and cold- ice cold. We had almost 30 guests complain to us about their cold, undercooked meal. Several guests asks to have their meals “re-cooked” and the wait staff told them no.
-The portion size of the dinner was a fraction of what we tasted and were told was going to be served. It almost looked like a kid’s meal.
-Understaffed: Because there are so few waiters- there is a long delay as the food is served. The salad was served and nearly 40 minutes later, service started for the main room’s dinner entrée. The main room received their meal, ate it, and some tables were cleared before the back room was served—nearly 45 minutes later. At this point, the band resumed playing to entertain the front room.
We went straight from our post wedding brunch to Meadowlark to address the issues and were blown off by excuse after excuse. At the time we didn’t realize the extent of damage was going to show in our pictures and videos- so it was our word verses theirs. We raised the complaint to the Regional Superindent, who was prompt and apologetic- even offered a small reimbursement (minimal compared to what was spent on Meadowlark and GBH).
We would never recommend Meadowlark or Great Blue Heron. They are inexperienced, unprofessional, and rude—which contributed to ruining our wedding day.
.