Teresa W.
Yelp
I don't really know where to begin, as I used the State Park Lodge as the venue for many of my wedding events. I will try to start at the beginning in a chronological fashion, and I only hope you can follow my train of thought.
When we first booked the Lodge, we met with a woman named Patty who was incredibly overwhelmed by the grand re-opening of the newly renovated Lodge. She was often difficult to get in touch with, and sometimes simply was not able to give us an answer to our questions (granted, they had been closed for a few years and had not done events in that time).
Soon, she practically disappeared and I was panicking a bit about not totally confirming our date and other details. She finally contacted me and let me know that she had hired an assistant, Mark, whom I would be mostly communicating with about the vent.
So Mark and I began discussing quotes for meals, alcohol, and lodging. He usually did a good job with responding in a timely manner, but he too eventually dropped off the face of the earth.
Then out of the blue, a man named Bo emailed me requesting me to sign another contract which I had already signed. He gave no explanation as to who he was or why I needed to resign another document. Eventually I came to understand that HE was now to be my main contact regarding the wedding and surrounding events. Patty was never heard from or mentioned again (except what I said "Well, she said we would have ____ or that you would provide ______").
So now it's really time to make decisions. We decided to use the Lodge for the rehearsal dinner, cocktail hour, and reception (our ceremony was at a church). Many of our guests also chose to stay at the Lodge for one or two nights during the weekend.
Bo and my wedding planner soon did most of the communicating, but I was always included in the e-mails and updated about conversations. Bo did an adequate job of coordinating all of our services, but he was a bit unprofessional for my taste (making weird crass jokes, smoking around us/right before meeting us, etc).
The biggest complaint I have about the Lodge was their inconsistency with details. I was told they were going to have floor-length linens, but a few weeks away from the wedding I was told that they did not have floor-length linens. I was told that they provided wedding cakes, but they did not provide wedding cakes (not a big problem, see my Cake Crumbs review). I was told our guests would be able to reserve rooms by the night, but then they said that was not possible (this took us WEEKS to resolve). I was told our cocktail hour and reception would be closed to the public and private, but indeed this was NOT the case.
During both events, guests from the Lodge were wandering in and out of the room (where the bar was) and were loud and a bit obnoxious during our event. We were told we would be able to bring CDs to play during these events, yet (very bad) live musicians were playing during our event and we were told we would not be able to play our CDs.
They were unprepared for our cake cutting and we had to stand awkwardly at our cake while we waited for staff to retrieve a knife and server. Bartenders were rude to our guests. Our satellite bar was set up in a far corner and was rather sad looking in the nice room.
Our hotel room AC was broken, but when we called the operator we were quickly fixed up, though the AC never quite got cold enough for an Alabama August.
Oh, the positives? Why did I give them 3 stars? Well, first off, the price cannot be beat. This place is beautiful - with the newly renovated Lodge and the incredible view, it really is a steal. There are no rental fees if you are using their catering services. The food was pretty good for a non-gourmet place (the appetizers were very good). And, well, really that's it. It's a beautiful, beautiful place.