My husband and I just had our wedding at Woodcliff on Friday, 11/7/25. Although it was a joyous day for he and I, there unfortunately is much that went wrong. I cannot express enough how disheartening it was to spend a year preparing, organizing, and DIY’ing our entire wedding, only to have it handled so poorly after the tens of thousands of dollars it cost us to hold our wedding at your venue.
To be upfront, transparent, and straight to the point, please see the below issues, lack of staffing, and disappointing behaviors that took place throughout our wedding weekend. You will see the top three trending issues organized below: Bartender Behaviors, Wedding Coordination and Rooms & General Staff.
Bartenders:
- During the wedding reception, the sister of the groom went to the bar in the back of the event center corner to get an ice water. The bartender quite literally grabbed a glass, put it into the ice bucket that was holding all the bottled beer and seltzers, and handed her that glass filled with ice and melted ice water. It is truly insane to me that she was not given a fresh glass of water? This is not just unsanitary, but beyond disgraceful for what it cost us for this upgraded, top tier bar package.
- The same bartender, when approached by the mother of the groom, was counting her drinks saying this was her “tenth drink without tipping him” to which she replied that this was actually her third drink and that she had in fact tipped him, alongside her entire family dropping 20’s into both tipping jars ALL throughout the night. To be the mother of the groom going up to the bartender and be met with such dramatics and uncomfortable comments... Again, beyond disgraceful behavior.
- This same bartender making tip comments to the mother of the groom was also emptying out his tip jar regularly, making it appear empty multiple times over throughout the course of the evening, while complaining to guests he was not getting tipped.
Wedding Coordination:
- We had one tote with sentimental valuables that I requested remain under lock and key. This conversation took place in person, via email, and was also reiterated in the wedding binder I created and provided. These valuables for the memorial chair were left out in the open in a random tote throughout the entire evening. I specifically spoke to the Coordinator and stressed that these were valuables and requested they be under lock and key once the ceremony ended, which again, was also reiterated in emails and in the binder. This did not take place and had the families scrambling the following morning to locate these items, which Woodcliff could not speak to where exactly they were. These were not just random décor items. These were literal ashes of the groom’s grandfather. I later learned from my husband that this metal rose that housed his Grandfather’s ashes fell onto the ground and was not picked up by the Coordinator who was present when this happened. He himself went over and picked this up, reiterating to the Coordinator that this item was his Grandfather’s memorial items.
- I spent countless hours building a wedding binder to make the entire setup process so easy and so simple for those setting up the tables. I provided the same information not just inside the wedding binder, but also inside every single tote for every single table. The seating placements at the head tables were somehow completely incorrect, which forced my maid of honors to fix everything right before the ceremony.
- When we signed with Woodcliff, it was stated we could bring to-go containers for all late night foods. We bought and provided these personalized containers for the late night food, which was stated in both the wedding binder, the tote they were in, and in person with the Coordinator. These containers were never brought out and were left inside the Woodcliff kitchen. It was not until after the wedding that I realized and asked a bartender where they were, to which he went into the kitchen and brought out the entire package of containers unused and unopened.
- The tent delivery for the day before was stressful and unorganized, as no Woodcliff staff was onsite to assist. My maid of honor’s phone was getting blown up by the tent vendor asking where Woodcliff staff was, because they were nowhere to be seen. When she called the front desk asking for help, she was told to call Catering. She called Catering and was left on hold for so long, she had to hang up and call back, to which the same woman stated “I don’t know what you’re talking about, there are all kinds of people outside ready to help.” This tent company, McCarthy Events, has worked with Woodcliff multiple times on several occasions and can attest to the fact that NO staff was outside or present to assist. I urged Woodcliff to confirm this themselves with McCarthy if these words are not testament enough. The lack of help and communication amongst the Woodcliff staff in this matter was astounding.
- Thursday evening after the tent was setup, the chairs were left outside in the rain. It was not communicated by Woodcliff when these chairs would be setup, so my maid of honor, her husband and my father setup all the chairs themselves to make sure everything would fit properly inside the tent.
- The DJ needed help setting up a pop-up tent due to rainy weather. Woodcliff staff, again, was nowhere to be found and again, my maid of honor had to leave pictures with the photographer to run over and help them. Furthermore, there is actually a picture of the Coordinator seated in a chair inside our ceremony tent while the groom and groomsmen were setting up the entire ceremony area and décor. I would like to know why this is and what happened here.
- All our ceremony items like our tissues, blankets, umbrellas, etc. were left outside all night long. Nothing was organized, nothing was brought inside the event center. We did not even realize these items were missing until we sat down at breakfast and looked out the window and saw all our items still sitting out there. We had to retrieve these items ourselves after the fact. We have multiple pictures of the mess that these were left in outside.
- There was a hand built welcome sign built by both y husband and I for the ceremony. The Coordinator could not figure out how to set it up and instead of asking for help, she decided to just not use it. It wasn’t until a groomsman realized this and called it out, to which she communicated she couldn’t figure it out and wasn’t going to set it up. We then had the groomsman set it up, which is perfectly fine. The issue was her choice to not utilize a hand built sign that we poured our hearts into creating for our ceremony. This was truly one of the most careless behaviors to me.
- We had our own wedding guests helping us move and setup décor from the ceremony to the reception due to the lack of help and staffing provided by Woodcliff, and at that point, the lack of trust in that it would even get done by Woodcliff staff.
- My two maid of honor’s realized details that went wrong and without mentioning this to the Coordinator, they simply offered their help and asked if there was anything they could do. The response received was a cold “I’ve got it under control” without giving them any further acknowledgement.
- The entire point of the golf carts was to help guests move from the lookout point where the ceremony was held, to the event center for cocktail hour and reception. Our Grammy needed the golf cart to bring her over to the event center from the lookout point. When her and an Aunt asked if she could be seated in it, the Coordinator responded coldly with the fact that there were some floral pots inside the golf cart. The response again felt careless, implying that it was a hassle to help move guests and also do what she needed to do with setting up final décor. Our Aunt and Grammy sat in the back of the golf cart anyway, where there was still plenty of room to transfer both them and the floral pots that had already been loaded.
- These golf carts were NOT running back and forth to assist guests which is SO upsetting considering the rain, wind and cold weather. It took 10-15 minutes to get my 86 year old Grandma out of the cold from the lookout point over to the event center. This is another testament to being understaffed and underprepared, as well as not following through with the contract. Where was the rest of the Woodcliff team and staff to assist in this matter? How was one Coordinator expected to clean up the ceremony, finalize décor setup inside the event center, move décor items, and transport guests back and forth, all at the same time??? She was completely inundated with tasks and so clearly overwhelmed with absolutely nobody else present. We truly would like to know what plan Woodcliff had in place to complete all of these tasks and why this was such a failure.
- At our final meeting 3 days before the wedding, we were told we had to decide on and commit to a weather plan 2 days before our actual wedding. I went home and reviewed our contract, where this was never mentioned. When reaching out to the Coordinator to confirm where this was stated in the contract, the response back was crystal clear, which was that this was never a stipulation stated in our contract and only then did Woodcliff communicate they could give us more time. This was a stress put on my husband and I two days before our wedding that was completely unnecessary.
- When we booked with Woodcliff last year, we were shown pipping and draping that could be utilized inside the event center to create “separate” areas for the ceremony and cocktail hour. Again, at the final meeting just days before our wedding, we learned this was no longer an option. This was another promise that Woodcliff made at the original time of contract that could not be upheld come time of wedding.
- I had roughly 30 bud vases of white roses provided for Woodcliff to setup. Only 5-6 of these bud vases packaged up had roses still inside them the following morning. Where did my other 50 roses go? Why weren’t these returned to me?
- The wedding to follow ours the following day is someone we know. We were made aware they actually fired this same Coordinator the day before their own wedding due to their lack of trust in the Coordinator’s ability to execute their wedding successfully. I truly wish we had done the same, although I am not sure that would have made much of a difference, as the new coordinator that was assigned to them was so confused that she took their bathroom baskets and tried to return them to me and my family, to which I had to tell them they were not ours. She reiterated that they were in the bathrooms the night of our wedding, to which I again communicated that I had no idea why because, they were not ours! Turns out, they were for Saturday’s wedding the following day and had been set out for ours.
- When originally signing with Woodcliff, the Serenity suite for women to have hair and makeup done was inclusive. Months later, we learned Woodcliff made the decision to charge $750 for this same suite. I complained about this and Woodcliff dropped the price down to $500, before tax. Frankly, this should have been dropped down to $0 given the fact that it was included when we signed.
- Also when we signed, we signed off to and agreed to a 22% service fee. This service fee was increased months later to 23%. When I mentioned this to the previous Coordinator, she stated in writing that Woodcliff would honor the 22% agreed to at time of signing. Woodcliff did NOT honor this and I have all emails and documentation to support the fact that they did not.
Rooms & Staff:
- Multiple rooms had broken Keurig’s. My suite should have also had an espresso machine, which it did not. The mother of the bride had to request a working Keurig, to which they were handed one inside a box that they had to assemble themselves, only for it to still not be functional.
- Bathroom sinks were clogged, various electrical outlets not working across a handful of rooms, bathroom toilets were chipped, bathrooms had mold along the caulking.
- A family member of ours had literal blood stains on their bed sheets, along with what looked like buggers on their lamp. I am embarrassed to even be typing this and sharing it with you.
- The power of my premium suite went out the night before my wedding. It took multiple texts and phone calls to the front desk, ALL of which went unanswered, as well as two different bridesmaids going down to the front desk over the course of an hour. There was over an HOUR of me and my girls sitting in darkness before someone actually came to the room to let us know that the power had been tripped.
- My florist delivered my bouquet at 9AM to the front desk. Nobody at Woodcliff told me. Woodcliff took the flower delivery and put it inside their fridge and it wasn’t until I called my florist asking where my bouquet was that I learned they had delivered hours prior and nobody at Woodcliff notified us.
- Two days before the wedding, the staff at the spa stated they also needed licenses for the hair and makeup artists. I was having to hunt down this information two days before my wedding because Woodcliff had just then realized they didn’t have what they needed on file. Mind you, these artists have been onsite at Woodcliff multiple times this year for other weddings.
- We had a Room Block contract in place for Thursday the night before, and for Friday. We had multiple guests who were told there were no more rooms available for Friday night, yet according to our room block contract and the listing provided to me the week before the wedding, we had 7 or 8 rooms still available for Friday night. I would like to know what happened here, why guests were forced to book at another hotel on Friday night, and why Woodcliff did not hold up their end of our contract regarding the room block.
- At time of check-in, our Grandma was charged her room fee and incidental fee. She paid the entire payment in cash, so she was never reimbursed by Woodcliff for the incidental fee. The family had to call and wait days to get her money returned back to her. Woodcliff should reiterate that anyone paying in cash needs to return to the front desk for check out to receive their cash back for the incidental fee. I understand that may be common sense, but for an 86 year old woman, it would have helped to have made this known.
- Due to the weather, we were forced to take many pictures inside the hotel. We went to the spa and asked if we could take some pictures in their lounge area. There was nobody inside the lounge room. A woman let us in and quite literally stood next to the photographer the entire time, telling her how to do her job, asking if we were done, counting down the clock and stating we shouldn’t be in there. I fully understand that lounge is for spa clients who are paying for services. I also know and understand that nobody was in that lounge and everyone who was booked on the schedule was inside their treatment rooms. It was so frustrating to have to stand there and listen to the professional photographer who we hired, be told where to move me, what angle to take a picture, etc. The photographer handled herself with such grace but I had to intervene and tell the Woodcliff staff member that the photographer was the professional we hired and we trusted her input. This was the most bizarre experience coming from a venue who holds so many weddings each year, and whom has allowed numerous wedding parties to take pictures inside the spa lounge when able.
Overall, the experience with the Coordinator was of a very low caliber, with low energy, carelessness towards the décor and guests, and just not the happiest or most pleasant person to be with through such an important day. She was not approachable and it was sad to hear multiple family members and bridal party members ask us what was wrong with our Coordinator and why she seemed so miserable. It is widely understood by us that this individual is not actually a Wedding Coordinator, but the Catering Manager, as Woodcliff still remains without a proper Wedding Coordinator since the last one left at the beginning of the year. Although our frustration with the Coordinator herself is valid, we truly believe the real problem stems from Woodcliff itself and the lack of management and staffing. She was completely set up for failure to manage our wedding from the very start and this is not to her own fault nor in her control.
The entire point of booking a venue with a Coordinator was to not have these problems or have to source another vendor. I was cautioned by others to still hire an outside Coordinator who represented my husband and I, and not also the venue, but I felt confident in Woodcliff’s ability to show up for us. I was truly wrong in placing my trust with your staff and regret it fully. The above scenarios and the frustration caused is not worth saving another couple of thousand had we hired a professional Coordinator to represent us and show genuine care towards our wedding and décor. I am as type A as they come and absolutely poured my heart and soul into the wedding binder provided to Woodcliff and all the organization and preparation that came with it. I went above and beyond to make this wedding as seamless and as easy as possible for your staff, simply because I cared to.
In fairness, the food was excellent, and we are grateful for that. We also want to give a huge shoutout to the woman who took over the remainder of our wedding after the Coordinator left. I am sad I do not recall her name, because SHE is the standard and proper representation that Woodcliff would be proud to have. She was full of energy, positivity, helpfulness, and was also so extremely conscious of the little things throughout the last couple hours of our day.
All of this being said, we do NOT believe that Woodcliff held themselves to the standard promised, nor do we believe that the details of our contract were met. Having worked so hard to pay for this wedding ourselves and hold this event for us and our families, we do not accept the experience we had with their team and will need to speak further regarding how this is to be rectified.
