Pond Hill Pavilion Albany - <a href

Advantages: Don’t ruin your special day by booking this venue Disadvantages: This is long but needs to be said. Please don’t waste your time and money or let a loved one waste their special day here. We did attempt to communicate with the venue but apparytbey do not feel they should respond- I will outline our concerns in hopes we can find some form of resolution in these matters. 1. When our Bride and groom visited the venue, our son, was concerned that no notes were taken when discussions regarding the wedding and needs for the ceremony and reception took place. Our son, although concerned figured that she was on top of things and had it all in order. Well, unfortunately this assumption was incorrect. Upon arriving at the venue, on the day of the event, our son had to ask for previously arranged settings. Ie; a small table for the guest book- when he asked were it was, he was told they would find one. This should have been prepared before the wedding party and/or guests arrived. Set up was still occurring immediately before and during the ceremony. 2. The rehearsal, which occurred the day immediately before the event, was very unorganized and the owner? advised that due to impending weather, (which was not confirmed) the ceremony would need to be held in a small, very tight “hallway”. This was communicated as if there was no discussing this. Our son, immediately following rehearsal, did communicate with the venue that as long as it was not actively raining, they would expect the ceremony to take place on the planned tree line. Having someone dictate location of the ceremony during the rehearsal, without privately discussing with the Bride and Groom is to say the least unprofessional. 3. The venue advised, the DJ, music and all dancing, ect would have to take place in the lower covered/enclosed pavilion as “people around here do not like this type of music and it has to be done in the enclosed building” What kind of music was that exactly? Dance music? Or the music that was played to include the Bride’s family and ethic background? Because it was not clear, I am hoping that the venue was not saying that mixed ethnic backgrounds are not welcome to have blended weddings at their venue? 4.The music regulations also made it necessary to move the wedding party and all guests (capable of the back and forth) to move from the cocktail area/dining area to the lower level pavilion for the entrance of the newly married couple and their first dances. Then the guests and wedding party had to return to the cocktail/dining area for their meal and beverages. Then again the guests -all 65 and the wedding party had to be moved again to the lower pavilion for dancing and toasts and cake cutting. The lower pavilion is enclosed with little to no air flow and the ceiling fan(s) inside that area were not in working order. This made the area extremely hot and undesirable. This caused some guests to miss a lot of the festivities as I have outlined in #5 below. 5.The movement of approx 80 people back and forth was also complicated by not being very handicap accessible. We had a few older guests and family members that could not navigate the stairs between the areas and had an extremely hard time navigating to the tree line for pictures over stones, uneven ground and roots. These unfortunate guests also could not access the other areas of photos being taken as there were no handicap accessible steps taken to allow access to these areas. The only other way between the areas was a loosely graveled and uneven path which was treacherous to say the least. 6.Th bathrooms (1 female and 1 male) were also located down this gravel path and very hard for people who are mobility challenged to access. A wheel chair would not have been able to gain access as there was a forcible lip/step to access them both. 7.In the dining area, where the self serve drinks were located, there was no ice for the self serve drinks. And no direction for guests to acquire ice for their beverages unless they went to the bar for alcoholic beverages. 8.In the dining area, there was broken glass on the floor, causing a small child in get glass in her feet. The broken glass was located under the table near by. First aid was administered by a wedding guest and not offered by the venue owners. Very little to no concern was shown for the child as a guest supplied tweezers and had to remove the glass. The guest fortunately had a bandage for the child as no first aid supplies were offered. 9.During the reception, a few children were on the top of the bar/seating area. When one of those children was seen climbing on the “cattle railing” the owner promptly reprimanded the children which escalated immediately to the owner yelling in the child’s face (within 2 feet from the child’s face) loudly enough for guests to witness. The owner never approached the parent or had the maturity to escort the child to their parent to discuss. This behavior was deplorable. 10. The owner of the venue NEVER discussed or had permission for the owner’s husband to act in any way as a photographer for the event with the exception of one photo offered to be taken and printed/displayed immediately in the dining area. Her husband was dressed in stained jeans and a very casual, unkept collared shirt and inserted himself in every area for his photography- often blocking the paid photographer from doing her job. His constant and obtrusive presence, dressed in extremely unkempt casual clothing, unfortunately stood out in all the photos. This also caused many guests and wedding party attendees to question who this man was and why he was continuously in the individual scenarios of the event. This should have also been discussed with the Bride and Groom as using any photos taken during the event without permission for their website is unprofessional and unethical. We would like to advise that these photos taken by the venue, will not be used for their website without written permission from the Bride and Groom. 11. During the event, one of the owners? Employees? decided that it was a great time to water all the plants. With watering cans and a hose she watered the plants throughout the venue. This was extremely unprofessional to say the least and also caused dangerous conditions along the concrete stairway and walkway. This area also developed puddles that formal dresses and shoes were dragged through causing damage to clothing and shoes. The puddles and overall unnecessary water in these areas made navigating back and forth needlessly treacherous. Watering plants around the dining area while guests were eating and celebrating was shocking. 12.The next day following the event was extremely disappointing. When the bride and groom arranged for pick up any and all belongings from the venue they arrived to find the following: A. The staff was actively eating the Bride and Groom’s wedding cake, (which was paid for by the Bride and groom separately from the event) and the staff was also eating the leftover remaining food, which was also NOT paid for by the venue.. All 20 cupcakes were gone and no cake was packaged up for the bride and groom. The Bride and Groom had 1 bite of cake each for photos only. B. The event was charged for food for 80 guests. Following dinner, all food was seen being wrapped and packed away. This food was paid for and should have been made available to the Bride’s family. It was not. The food was gone. C. The bridal bouquet was also missing from the Bridal “suite”. And other items were not found. 13. The food was not anything like the food that was sampled at the tasting. The chicken was undercooked-causing people not to eat due to fear of illness, the rice was dry and the steak was dry and tough. Very disappointing that the food could not be executed to the expectation set at the tasting. The caterer was recommended by the venue but not supplied by the venue. 14. Before and during the event, the assistant manager repeatedly requested a $1,100.00 tip for his staff. My son advised they would take care of that following the event to reflect the execution of the event. He even stopped the groom to ask for this tip when the groom was leaving the dance floor during the reception in the presence of guests.This is so beyond unprofessional and inexcusable. 15. The wedding Bride and Groom signed a contract stating 70—80 people for a set price. The week before the wedding the venue requested another $1000.00 for a “higher tier” of guests “80”. The guest count did not exceed the original contract but the venue requested and was paid an additional $1000.00 and never revised or provided an new contract to reflect this “change of pricing”? This is unprofessional and the addition $1000.00 should be returned promptly and is not to be included as part of any resolution of the above mentioned “issues”. Unfortunately, due to the multitude of disappointments and issues, we would be hard pressed to recommend this venue to anyone for any event. … – show

This place was a beautiful setting for a wedding. The food was out of this world. staff was friendly. I would definitely recommend this place for a wedding or any occasion

The staff was super efficient and friendly! Ten plus stars.

Little hard to find. But love the outdoors. Great place.

Due to COVID, our wedding plans had to change drastically. We had to downsize from a large wedding to an intimate wedding with our immediate family. Pond Hill Pavilion was the perfect place for our wedding, and we loved every minute. We were able to have our ceremony down by the lake and afterwards had an amazing view from atop the hill inside the venue. The venue looked amazing and we didn’t have to worry about any detail. We cannot thank Sam, Tim, and Cindy enough for all their hard work and … – show