Hi, I was just wondering if any one has recently had their wedding at Monetfiori with good results?? I signed my contract Feb 2010 with Daniel, whom I just loved, and then was told in email that summer that he no longer worked there and Marge was taking over our contract. She takes sometimes over a week to respond to emails and has no contact with me unless I initiate. Although they have been good about letting us take visiting family to see the grounds whenever we call and they worked with us on the pricing. We got a really good deal with add perks so I was happy about that. But now I am worried about the chairs (plastic??) and other details that Daniel and I discussed but aren’t in the contract! My wedding is September 10, 2011. Just curious if anyone could share their recent experience! Thanks so much!

hi!

I just got married at Montefiori on August. I love the place and I have received many compliments about it. I was really happy with them until the day after the wedding. When I went the next day to pick up my wedding stuff a lot of it had dissapeared and my husband and I were the last ones to leave the night before so I knew my stuff was there. I was asked by a waitress what i was going to do with my centerpieces and I told her I was going to take them home, I still had at least 7 left when i left to the hotel. Next day I came back and only 2 left and a lot of things missing. We had also brought some ethnic food to be served to compliment the food montefiori provided and they served very small portions when we had brought way more food and they didn’t give us the left overs the next day it was all gone.

I would recommend it because it is a beautiful place but you have to have someone watching your stuff and make sure you tell Marge a fewer number of people than what you are expecting otherwise if someone doesn’t go you never see that plate again and get charged for it.

I hope this helps a little.

Yes,I agree the space is beautiful but you have to work on the rates with them + u have to take care of the stuff. My daughter lost all of her costume jewellery which was in her suitcase kept in the gazebo during the reception. It was a beautiful set, which she wore during wedding ceremony. We did not get back to them, knowing their answer.
sk

I just had my wedding there in February. I agree they nickel and dime you.
I was able to negotiate fairly good rates but probably because noone wants to get married in a tent in February in Chicago 😉 I thought they did a good job. We had the ceremony and reception in the big tent. The food was delicious, the service was excellent, and the tent was warm. They had everything set up and decorated nicely. I am a person that expects excellent customer service and I got that from Marge. She even added extra touches–like buying my mom’s favorite wine and my dad’s favorite beer (which was not part of the package) at no additional charge. However I was also a very low maintenance bride—I didn’t even want to have a wedding–just to set your expectations.

Can I ask what was the rate you were given after negotiations? Thanks!

Wao! I am glad I read these reviews, I was going to sign the contract tomorrow. I would see about A/C, if its not included in the price, then I would be off from it.

Thank you sooooooooooooo very much.

SK

Hi~
I have actually been talking to Montefiori a lot and they have been doing a great job! I am going to have them draw up my contract soon so I will let you know if we run into any problems. However, thus far they have been great 🙂

wow. montefiori was absolutely my dream location but my date was taken and it was way out of my price range…glad to hear that I may have made a good decision anyway (I was regretting it a little!)

Hi other Orland-area brides!

I did not even try to negotiate the AC price because was so fed up at that point it wasn’t worth my energy!!

OMG, I cannot believe I am reading this! I am getting married at Montefiori in July and now I am so worried about what you’ve experienced. I can agree with Twigs about how they nickel and dime you for everything. I have been lucky enough to get past a few “fees” they tend to add for cake cutting (when you bring your own cake) and upgrading the reception seats (the reception price comes with plastic patio seats!!! I upgraded to the wooden seats for no charge). The consultant I have is Marge and she has been very helpful. It was nice to get a call from Ali when she came on board. I am having my reception in the Pinegrove tent- which does not include air conditioning and they want to charge $3000 for it! That is really my only concern but after hearing your story I am really worried…

i know! our wednig was going to be in August and they were going to charge for air conditioning! i was like what?! you can’t provide that after all the money i’ve given you? they still owe me $5,000 since i cancelled my contract and they have completely cut off cmomunication with me.

Twigs, did you try to negotiate the ac price? I mean when you put everything in perspective, I can get an air conditioned reception hall with hardwood or granite floor for $60 a plate, which is less than half of what I’m paying now! I don’t mind paying $130 per person because the grounds are gorgeous and the staff is nice, but honestly, $3000 for ac is ridiculous!

Hello~
Just wondering if anyone had their wedding at Montefiori in Lemont? If you have, would you recommend it??
Thanks so much!

Hi there! just wanted to let you know that i was going to have my wedding at the Montefiori. I had the contract signed and everything and lots of payments made. They nickel and dimed me for absolutely everything and i ended up getting out of my contract and losing a lot of money. They still owe me over $5,000 that we had to file a lawsuit for. It is a beautiful place, but they are not honest people at all. They come across as very nice people, but they were not very good at communicating about the decisions that had to be made regarding the ceremony and reception either. Just thought i would let you know.

Thanks so much!! Did you find something similar for an outdoor ceremony and reception? I really loved the feel of Montefiori and am looking for something like that?
Thanks again for your help! This planning is really stressful 🙂

I know the planning is stressful! i agree! We are actually going to get married at the Hard Rock hotel in Las Vegas outside at the beach pool in the Palapa hut. It is less expensive and the atmosphere is phenomenal. We were loving the outdoor feel as well at the Montefiori but after getting into the nitty gritty of everything, it was not worth it as far as cost goes. We had a budget and the montefiori “crew” continued to pressure us to get add on after add on. By the way, who have you talked to over there? i’m inerested to know. Let me know what you think!

That sounds awesome. Unfortunately we have some elderly relatives that can not travel so we must do it here. We actually have been talking with a women named Ali at Montefiori. She just started there and is one of their caterers they have been working with. She just came aboard to do wedding consulting. She seems really good. Initially to set up an appointment and visit I spoke with Marge (the owner, I think).
If you are comfortable with it, could you tell me a little more about your situation with them when you were planning? I’m just really kind of worried now. Who were you working with?

hi again! we were working with Marilyn. her communication with us was awful. She would lie about sending me e-mails etc… She kept adding on costs to our package without telling us. She made it sound like these things were included but they weren’t. Then, when we tried to get out of our contract, they did not give us back the money that they owed us. Part of the contract was non-refundable which we accepted, but the extra money that we paid on top of this should have been refunded and it was not. I know you may not be in the same position as we were, but i just think that something like that speaks volumes about an organization and how it is run. They were all about the money. let meknow if you have any other questions!

Thanks so much for all your comments/advice. This is definitely something to consider. We aren’t getting married until summer of 2010 so we have some time.
Thanks again and congrats on your upcoming wedding. I may think of more questions for you in the near future…hope you won’t mind! 🙂