Reviews for Always Occasions

Reviews

+19 User photos

• Sydney W. Sent on 06/01/2024
  5 out of 5 rating

  5.0
  • Quality of service
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Response time
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Professionalism
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Value
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Flexibility
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0

  They best team to trust with your day.

  Anna and her team did our set up and take down, day of coordination and Anna officiated our wedding at a venue separate from their own. They did everything perfectly and hit my vision 100%. They worked in the background and made sure everything was moved from the ceremony to the reception. They also had everything packed away and put into vehicles at the end of the night as we had to be out by 3am. They did an amazing job and there’s no one I would have trusted more on my big day!

  Anna and her team did our set up and take down, day of coordination and Anna officiated our wedding at a venue separate from their own. They did everything perfectly and hit my vision 100%. They worked in the background and made sure everything was moved from the ceremony to the reception. They also had everything packed away and put into vehicles at the end of the night as we had to be out by 3am. They did an amazing job and there’s no one I would have trusted more on my big day!

  Always Occasions's reply:

  Oh thank you so much! This was such a sweet thing to read tonight. I loved every minute of your day and it was such an honour to officiate for you!
  
  Wishing you both forever in happiness!
• Maddy P. Sent on 13/11/2023
  4.4 out of 5 rating

  4.4
  • Quality of service
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Response time
    4.0 out of 5 rating
    4.0
  • Professionalism
    4.0 out of 5 rating
    4.0
  • Value
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Flexibility
    4.0 out of 5 rating
    4.0

  Great wedding venue in central Edmonton!

  Our wedding was almost a year ago and we still talk about how great the Always Occasions venue and team was! They were very helpful coordinating the decor, bar, and catering! It was so nice to have them take care of set-up and take down so we didn't have to enlist family/friends to do it for us. They even did the room flip from ceremony to reception set up while our guests enjoyed the various nearby bars/restaurants. We loved that this was a central location with easy parking that had loads of character inside and out. Our wedding day was perfect and Always Occasions had a huge role in making the day so special!
  

  Our wedding was almost a year ago and we still talk about how great the Always Occasions venue and team was! They were very helpful coordinating the decor, bar, and catering! It was so nice to have them take care of set-up and take down so we didn't have to enlist family/friends to do it for us. They even did the room flip from ceremony to reception set up while our guests enjoyed the various nearby bars/restaurants. We loved that this was a central location with easy parking that had loads of character inside and out. Our wedding day was perfect and Always Occasions had a huge role in making the day so special!
  

  Always Occasions's reply:

  Thank you do much Maddy! I still look back on your day and smile. It was so beautiful and we were so honoured to be apart of the love you share together!
  
  Wishing you all the very best,
  Always
• Klarrisa M. Sent on 07/11/2023
  4.6 out of 5 rating

  4.6
  • Quality of service
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Response time
    4.0 out of 5 rating
    4.0
  • Professionalism
    4.0 out of 5 rating
    4.0
  • Value
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Flexibility
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0

  Wedding at Always Occassions

  I had a 65 person wedding at Always Occasions and had a fantastic time! The location is so convenient being close to downtown - lots of hotel options for out of town guests. The location is a bit small, but I think it creates an intimate environment and is great for smaller weddings.
  
  They also turn the upstairs into a "getting ready" area for the bride if desired, so it was very convenient to be able to go there in the morning and be there all day.
  
  For the value, convenience and location - I certainly don't regret picking Always Occasions! Anna, Courtney and Bryanne are nothing short of amazing and were so kind in assisting me through all stages of the planning from date of booking to the day of.

  I had a 65 person wedding at Always Occasions and had a fantastic time! The location is so convenient being close to downtown - lots of hotel options for out of town guests. The location is a bit small, but I think it creates an intimate environment and is great for smaller weddings.
  
  They also turn the upstairs into a "getting ready" area for the bride if desired, so it was very convenient to be able to go there in the morning and be there all day.
  
  For the value, convenience and location - I certainly don't regret picking Always Occasions! Anna, Courtney and Bryanne are nothing short of amazing and were so kind in assisting me through all stages of the planning from date of booking to the day of.
Are you interested?
Send a message
• Alexa K. Sent on 03/11/2023
  2.2 out of 5 rating

  2.2
  • Quality of service
    2.0 out of 5 rating
    2.0
  • Response time
    1.0 out of 5 rating
    1.0
  • Professionalism
    2.0 out of 5 rating
    2.0
  • Value
    3.0 out of 5 rating
    3.0
  • Flexibility
    3.0 out of 5 rating
    3.0

  Unique venue but AVOID!

  I know on your wedding day everything does not go perfectly. While all the big things went well, many little things went wrong and unfortunately when I think of my wedding day, I only see the negatives.
  
  For the positives:
  - Always Occasions is a unique venue and has character with its loft style. It’s located in picturesque Manchester Square and provides many picture locations.
  - The price we were quoted seemed fair for what was included.
  - The venue has preferred vendors, which is helpful if you need ideas for vendors.
  - The venue has decor you can use, as well as a contract with a rental company that gives you a discount.
  - The venue provides ceremony music which is nice since DJs charge more ceremony music.
  - Anna, the owner, is friendly and is there throughout the day. She was hands on during the ceremony and helped with walking down the aisle and making the dress train look good.
  
  For the negative:
  - The venue has very poor communication. Twice I waited over two weeks for an email reply. One of these times I sent 4-5 emails within the two weeks, asking questions I wanted a reply on. I only got a reply back when I sent a more stern email and cc’d Anna on it. I understand they are busy and don’t expect a reply the same day, but the month of your wedding it should not take two weeks for a reply. When we would meet in person, I had filled out the provided form thoroughly, but it seemed they did not go over it prior to the meeting and were reading it for the first time then.
  - Please do not let them convince you to do the wine service, it's a joke. I wanted to do table wine, but Anna convinced me to do their provided wine service. She mentioned wine would be offered frequently and if someone wanted to keep the whole bottle they would be able to. I also reminded her at the rehearsal that I wanted wine offered frequently throughout and not just once. Most tables were offered wine once, maybe twice. Many did not have wine for the speeches. My mom even asked Anna once if they could get more wine, but the wine never came. My dad, who bought the alcohol, went up to the bar to ask for a bottle and they would not give it to him. I wish I would have gone with my gut and did table wine, the wine service was a huge disappointment.
  - There is no table water during dinner, which was never mentioned to us. We were told water goblets were part of the provided glasses, but did not mention they will not be used since they don’t offer water. If we were told this prior I would have bought pitchers for the tables. We were told we would need to buy water bottles for the bar, which we did, but all that water was drunk during dinner due to no other water being provided.
  - I had bought personalized napkins to be put out in designated areas. During the rehearsal, I went through with Anna where to put them. They were never put out and it was a waste of my money since they were never used. I wanted the extra personal touch and am very disappointed.
  - To pick up our belongings, Anna and I agreed on a time to meet up. At this agreed upon time she was not at the venue. We found out she had to go pick up her kids, but she did not let me know. We were told we could still collect our belongings while we waited. Our belongings were scattered over two venues, two floors in each venue. Some belongings were found in utility closets, at the bar, against walls, on the upper and lower floors of two venues. It was chaotic, unorganized, and very unprofessional. The microphone I rented was found in a random cup by the bar. On our wooden board guest book sign, there was a very noticeable piece of wood removed from the center of it, which I know was not there when we dropped it off. The bartender mentioned we ran out of a certain shooter option, but there were two bottles of it left over. When we picked everything up, Anna had lost the paperwork from the officiant for us. When I said I wanted a copy of it, her response kept being, “it's not a legal document”. She claimed she reached out to the officiant for another, but weeks went by with nothing. I ended up reaching out to get it myself, which the officiant did within a few days. Anna claims after I got my copy she also got one, but it was a little too late.
  - As per contract, they wanted payments by the first of the month. I did not receive my final invoice until the 27th, and our wedding was on the 30th. Once we did get the invoice they were flexible with payments, but we still had fully paid only one day after the wedding. The venue ended up owing us a small amount of money due to someone paying at the bar with a card. It took Anna a month to send us this money. This was with me constantly reaching out and asking when it would be received. She kept saying she was sending it but I received nothing. I would let her know I did not receive it, and that usually came back with no reply back. I would send another text asking for when she would send it and she would reply back with “I didn’t know you didn’t receive it”. It was very frustrating. When they asked for money, we sent it. But it was not the same when they needed to send money back.
  - A few other small things were that the coffee/tea and desert went out way later than initially told. We were told this would be put out right after dinner, but it did not go out till around the time of the midnight lunch. By this time, most of the people who wanted coffee or tea had left. They took down the welcome sign and replaced it with the seating chart when we were told there would be an easel for each. The welcome sign had a dirt mark on it when I saw it and I removed it. Also, it says their occupant capacity is 100, but I would keep it around 80. We had around 85 and everyone fit, but a bit cozy. Anything more I could imagine being very pinchy.
  
  While Always Occasions is a beautiful venue, I would avoid it. Maybe they do better with smaller events, but I think with weddings they bite off more than they can chew. Anna seems to promise a lot, but in the end falls short and always seems to have an excuse for anything that the couple is not happy with. She told me she would send me pictures and videos from the day, but I never received anything. They would benefit from hiring more staff. You put trust into someone when they set up and tear down your vision and have your belongings in their care. Maybe if there were more people they wouldn't miss so many little things. The venue added more stress for me the month of the wedding than it should have and was frustrating to deal with. I will not be booking with this venue again or recommending.
  

  I know on your wedding day everything does not go perfectly. While all the big things went well, many little things went wrong and unfortunately when I think of my wedding day, I only see the negatives.
  
  For the positives:
  - Always Occasions is a unique venue and has character with its loft style. It’s located in picturesque Manchester Square and provides many picture locations.
  - The price we were quoted seemed fair for what was included.
  - The venue has preferred vendors, which is helpful if you need ideas for vendors.
  - The venue has decor you can use, as well as a contract with a rental company that gives you a discount.
  - The venue provides ceremony music which is nice since DJs charge more ceremony music.
  - Anna, the owner, is friendly and is there throughout the day. She was hands on during the ceremony and helped with walking down the aisle and making the dress train look good.
  
  For the negative:
  - The venue has very poor communication. Twice I waited over two weeks for an email reply. One of these times I sent 4-5 emails within the two weeks, asking questions I wanted a reply on. I only got a reply back when I sent a more stern email and cc’d Anna on it. I understand they are busy and don’t expect a reply the same day, but the month of your wedding it should not take two weeks for a reply. When we would meet in person, I had filled out the provided form thoroughly, but it seemed they did not go over it prior to the meeting and were reading it for the first time then.
  - Please do not let them convince you to do the wine service, it's a joke. I wanted to do table wine, but Anna convinced me to do their provided wine service. She mentioned wine would be offered frequently and if someone wanted to keep the whole bottle they would be able to. I also reminded her at the rehearsal that I wanted wine offered frequently throughout and not just once. Most tables were offered wine once, maybe twice. Many did not have wine for the speeches. My mom even asked Anna once if they could get more wine, but the wine never came. My dad, who bought the alcohol, went up to the bar to ask for a bottle and they would not give it to him. I wish I would have gone with my gut and did table wine, the wine service was a huge disappointment.
  - There is no table water during dinner, which was never mentioned to us. We were told water goblets were part of the provided glasses, but did not mention they will not be used since they don’t offer water. If we were told this prior I would have bought pitchers for the tables. We were told we would need to buy water bottles for the bar, which we did, but all that water was drunk during dinner due to no other water being provided.
  - I had bought personalized napkins to be put out in designated areas. During the rehearsal, I went through with Anna where to put them. They were never put out and it was a waste of my money since they were never used. I wanted the extra personal touch and am very disappointed.
  - To pick up our belongings, Anna and I agreed on a time to meet up. At this agreed upon time she was not at the venue. We found out she had to go pick up her kids, but she did not let me know. We were told we could still collect our belongings while we waited. Our belongings were scattered over two venues, two floors in each venue. Some belongings were found in utility closets, at the bar, against walls, on the upper and lower floors of two venues. It was chaotic, unorganized, and very unprofessional. The microphone I rented was found in a random cup by the bar. On our wooden board guest book sign, there was a very noticeable piece of wood removed from the center of it, which I know was not there when we dropped it off. The bartender mentioned we ran out of a certain shooter option, but there were two bottles of it left over. When we picked everything up, Anna had lost the paperwork from the officiant for us. When I said I wanted a copy of it, her response kept being, “it's not a legal document”. She claimed she reached out to the officiant for another, but weeks went by with nothing. I ended up reaching out to get it myself, which the officiant did within a few days. Anna claims after I got my copy she also got one, but it was a little too late.
  - As per contract, they wanted payments by the first of the month. I did not receive my final invoice until the 27th, and our wedding was on the 30th. Once we did get the invoice they were flexible with payments, but we still had fully paid only one day after the wedding. The venue ended up owing us a small amount of money due to someone paying at the bar with a card. It took Anna a month to send us this money. This was with me constantly reaching out and asking when it would be received. She kept saying she was sending it but I received nothing. I would let her know I did not receive it, and that usually came back with no reply back. I would send another text asking for when she would send it and she would reply back with “I didn’t know you didn’t receive it”. It was very frustrating. When they asked for money, we sent it. But it was not the same when they needed to send money back.
  - A few other small things were that the coffee/tea and desert went out way later than initially told. We were told this would be put out right after dinner, but it did not go out till around the time of the midnight lunch. By this time, most of the people who wanted coffee or tea had left. They took down the welcome sign and replaced it with the seating chart when we were told there would be an easel for each. The welcome sign had a dirt mark on it when I saw it and I removed it. Also, it says their occupant capacity is 100, but I would keep it around 80. We had around 85 and everyone fit, but a bit cozy. Anything more I could imagine being very pinchy.
  
  While Always Occasions is a beautiful venue, I would avoid it. Maybe they do better with smaller events, but I think with weddings they bite off more than they can chew. Anna seems to promise a lot, but in the end falls short and always seems to have an excuse for anything that the couple is not happy with. She told me she would send me pictures and videos from the day, but I never received anything. They would benefit from hiring more staff. You put trust into someone when they set up and tear down your vision and have your belongings in their care. Maybe if there were more people they wouldn't miss so many little things. The venue added more stress for me the month of the wedding than it should have and was frustrating to deal with. I will not be booking with this venue again or recommending.
  
• Carley W. Sent on 02/10/2023
  4.6 out of 5 rating

  4.6
  • Quality of service
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Response time
    3.0 out of 5 rating
    3.0
  • Professionalism
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Value
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Flexibility
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0

  Always Amazing Always Occasions

  We had such an amazing wedding at Always Occasions! We were told by multiple attendees that it was one of the most beautiful weddings they had ever attended. Bryanne at Always Occasions met with us multiple times to ensure everything we wanted came to life. She was so kind, patient and thorough with helping us to achieve what we wanted. I would definitely recommend booking a wedding with Always Occasions. We were able to book other vendors through them which made wedding planning a much less stressful experience. All glassware, chairs, and tables were also provided, which made that aspect a breeze! If you are planning a wedding for under 100 people, we would recommend!!!

  We had such an amazing wedding at Always Occasions! We were told by multiple attendees that it was one of the most beautiful weddings they had ever attended. Bryanne at Always Occasions met with us multiple times to ensure everything we wanted came to life. She was so kind, patient and thorough with helping us to achieve what we wanted. I would definitely recommend booking a wedding with Always Occasions. We were able to book other vendors through them which made wedding planning a much less stressful experience. All glassware, chairs, and tables were also provided, which made that aspect a breeze! If you are planning a wedding for under 100 people, we would recommend!!!

  Always Occasions's reply:

  Thank you so much Carley! Your wedding was simply stunning and those pictures already!!!! In LOVE!
  We were so honoured to celebrate such a beautiful day with you! Wishing you both the upmost happiness, Always
  Anna & Bryanne
• Leigh M. Sent on 08/07/2023
  2.6 out of 5 rating

  2.6
  • Quality of service
    3.0 out of 5 rating
    3.0
  • Response time
    2.0 out of 5 rating
    2.0
  • Professionalism
    2.0 out of 5 rating
    2.0
  • Value
    3.0 out of 5 rating
    3.0
  • Flexibility
    3.0 out of 5 rating
    3.0

  Always Occasions as a Wedding Venue

  The venue will sell itself to you with its awesome loft style appeal including a flower wall running up part of the wall which gives for a unique but beautiful experience. The hallway or lobby that comes off of the main entrance will make you feel like your down a corridor in Italy!
  
  I will say in the beginning the communication from the venue to me was not at all what I had expected as I felt at numerous times they ignored my emails or text messages. Once I was put with Bryanne correspondence became a little better . I really was quite organized when it came to my 6 months, 3 month and 1 month meetings but I feel it didn’t really matter as sometimes when sitting with the coordinator she hadn’t really looked over the stuff I did prior.
  
  I want to preface this by saying I know on your wedding day things don’t always go as smoothly as planned but I did figure that was more like the forecast might say plus 30 no rain in sight , then it might rain. However I never thought how many chairs at a a table might be an issue. I have read other comments on here about attention to detail and figured the venue had time to iron out such kinks before my day. But a couple issues arose I was told that 6 people could fit at each table however 3-4 tables were missing a seat which to me is a big deal as friends and family members had to a. say something or b. find a different seating arrangement! We were also told by the bartender first that our tequila was fully drank but another bottle was not open. The following day however the owner told us another bottle of tequila from the venues stash was opened. Its neither here nor there . I would however suggest that on your own wedding night to designate someone sound of mind to perhaps check on liquor levels it might save you. We were charged for coffee that never came . No issues with it not coming except that a couple of my guests did ask the waitress who said she would be back with it but never came.
  
  A loud bang went off twice during our event , the first time my fiances step dad went upstairs to check it out as it sounded like all our liquor had fallen to the ground. Later in the evening the same bang went off and my husband witnessed a cabinet open and almost fall on one of our guests.
  
  Lastly the contract that is signed states that the $1000 deposit would be refunded within 3 days it took us well over a week to receive it . Meanwhile when money was asked from us we paid up immediately. Upon reaching out to Anna the owner of Always who received the money via email transfer radio silence, professionally just respond back with some response. When I saw her afterward to pick up something that we left behind she didn’t even bring up the situation it was the wedding coordinator that had to explain to me that the tequila bottle that was “opened” was being used as potential payment . Honestly the money should just have been taken from the coffee we were charged and hadn’t gotten.

  The venue will sell itself to you with its awesome loft style appeal including a flower wall running up part of the wall which gives for a unique but beautiful experience. The hallway or lobby that comes off of the main entrance will make you feel like your down a corridor in Italy!
  
  I will say in the beginning the communication from the venue to me was not at all what I had expected as I felt at numerous times they ignored my emails or text messages. Once I was put with Bryanne correspondence became a little better . I really was quite organized when it came to my 6 months, 3 month and 1 month meetings but I feel it didn’t really matter as sometimes when sitting with the coordinator she hadn’t really looked over the stuff I did prior.
  
  I want to preface this by saying I know on your wedding day things don’t always go as smoothly as planned but I did figure that was more like the forecast might say plus 30 no rain in sight , then it might rain. However I never thought how many chairs at a a table might be an issue. I have read other comments on here about attention to detail and figured the venue had time to iron out such kinks before my day. But a couple issues arose I was told that 6 people could fit at each table however 3-4 tables were missing a seat which to me is a big deal as friends and family members had to a. say something or b. find a different seating arrangement! We were also told by the bartender first that our tequila was fully drank but another bottle was not open. The following day however the owner told us another bottle of tequila from the venues stash was opened. Its neither here nor there . I would however suggest that on your own wedding night to designate someone sound of mind to perhaps check on liquor levels it might save you. We were charged for coffee that never came . No issues with it not coming except that a couple of my guests did ask the waitress who said she would be back with it but never came.
  
  A loud bang went off twice during our event , the first time my fiances step dad went upstairs to check it out as it sounded like all our liquor had fallen to the ground. Later in the evening the same bang went off and my husband witnessed a cabinet open and almost fall on one of our guests.
  
  Lastly the contract that is signed states that the $1000 deposit would be refunded within 3 days it took us well over a week to receive it . Meanwhile when money was asked from us we paid up immediately. Upon reaching out to Anna the owner of Always who received the money via email transfer radio silence, professionally just respond back with some response. When I saw her afterward to pick up something that we left behind she didn’t even bring up the situation it was the wedding coordinator that had to explain to me that the tequila bottle that was “opened” was being used as potential payment . Honestly the money should just have been taken from the coffee we were charged and hadn’t gotten.

  • +3 Photos

  Always Occasions's reply:

  Hello Leigh,
  
  Thank you very much for taking the time to write a review and express your concerns. I will send you a private email as well to discuss further. In the end however, we do hope that you had a wonderful day.
  
  Wishing you all the best,
  
  Anna
  
  
• Jennifer D. Sent on 21/06/2023
  4.8 out of 5 rating

  4.8
  • Quality of service
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Response time
    4.0 out of 5 rating
    4.0
  • Professionalism
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Value
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Flexibility
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0

  September Wedding 💕

  The day that Anna and her team were able to put together was better than we imagined. There were a few points where communication could have been improved but when concerns were brought forward they addressed our concerns. Would always recommend Always Occasions for any special event. Our guest loved everything about our day and we received so many compliments!

  The day that Anna and her team were able to put together was better than we imagined. There were a few points where communication could have been improved but when concerns were brought forward they addressed our concerns. Would always recommend Always Occasions for any special event. Our guest loved everything about our day and we received so many compliments!

  • +2 Photos
• Marisa M. Sent on 17/10/2022
  4.2 out of 5 rating

  4.2
  • Quality of service
    4.0 out of 5 rating
    4.0
  • Response time
    3.0 out of 5 rating
    3.0
  • Professionalism
    4.0 out of 5 rating
    4.0
  • Value
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Flexibility
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0

  Beautiful Venue & Wonderful People, But Unrealistic Promises

  My now-husband and I were trying to find a unique wedding reception venue that was both affordable and not your typical “hotel ballroom”. Always Occasions popped up on Wedding Wire in my search, and we took a look at it even before it was finished being built! It was slated to open that fall, was available for our wedding date the following June, and fit the bill – a brand new venue no one on our guest list had seen before, and super unique with its location, loft, etc. Also unlike every other venue we had looked at, Always Occasions allowed set up the day(s) prior, and even tore down your décor for you to pick up the following day, instead of packing everything up when you’re exhausted after your own wedding. This was a huge selling feature for us, so we booked the venue even without seeing the final product!
  
  Anna and Mihaela were so kind, they really love what they do and make sure each bride and groom feel special. They go above and beyond to try and make your biggest wedding dreams come true and are really accommodating for anything and everything you want to do. I really enjoyed my experience working with them through all the planning, etc., however there were a number of issues that we encountered when the Wedding finally arrived.
  
  Anna and her team really want to make everything perfect for every couple, however I think in doing so, they may over-promise on what they can actually deliver. To be fair, there are so many moving parts to a wedding there’s bound to be a few things that slip or don’t go as planned, and there’s only so much a small team can do, but Anna assured us numerous times that her team could handle taking care of a number of items and unfortunately some of these went by the wayside.
  
  When we arrived at the venue after the ceremony, I had my bridal party all designated to double check certain things throughout the venue, just to make sure it was all ready for the reception since there were so many details, they all also had a list of things to check and photos of how it was supposed to look. Everything should have been ready to go by then, but our group was frantic trying to fix a number of things. We had requested one long table for all our guests – 6 tables put together along the one wall of the venue, but when we arrived all the tables were all significantly separated, which was a problem as the couples who would be seated together at one long table would now be seated apart from each other. All the place cards were also mixed up, they had to be moved around completely to match the seating chart. I know a few other tables, like the signing table, etc. had to be rearranged a bit, but that was minor compared to the guest tables.
  
  The venue itself is absolutely beautiful and the perfect size for a small wedding. There are so many photo ops around there as well for couple photos. The one downside is that they do have their bar upstairs. While it makes sense based on having room to fit all the tables/buffet/dance floor, etc., it is a bit dangerous. One of my bridesmaids fell down the stairs after having a few too many towards the end of the night, luckily she was ok, but it was terrifying as it’s a very steep, open staircase. It was also hard on the older guests at the wedding to have to go upstairs for their drinks all the time. We had an open bar and wanted to pay for a secondary bar on the main level for this reason, but Anna assured us many times that her staff would take drink orders from these guests and serve them throughout the night. So, we didn’t get the secondary bar, however in talking with these guests, no one took their drink orders at all and one or two of them wound up getting drinks for the whole table throughout the night so certain people didn’t have to use the stairs. We asked for a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine to be on each table for dinner, which would also have helped with the stair issue, but there was no wine on the tables at all. We had requested to have a Champagne Toast for the speeches, and were told that the servers would hand all our guests champagne when they took away their dinner plates so everyone would have something to toast with, but this didn’t happen, the champagne was still being poured throughout the speeches and some people didn’t even get any. Lastly, we had bought a keg for the bar, and Always Occasions just bought a new Kegerator to keep it cold/pump the beer. I don’t think they set it up properly because they over-pumped the keg so it was all foam and no one could even have any, the whole keg was basically wasted even after the wedding because it was too pressurized. We luckily did provide other beer, but there is only one fridge behind the bar and there was no room so most of the canned beer was warm.
  
  I had included a plug in cord for my iPad which was being used with an app for the Photo Booth, but the iPad was never plugged in and died at the end of the night so a few guests didn’t get to take part. The cord that I provided was never found, but the charging brick was.
  
  We didn’t have a DJ, I handpicked all the music and made specific playlists for the cocktail reception, dinner, dance, etc., including a complete breakdown of all the chosen songs throughout the night and when to play each playlist/shuffle it, etc. I even renamed/numbered all music on my iPod for ease of use. Once again, we were going to have one of our bridal party look after changing the music, but we were assured that Anna’s team could handle it. Our music didn’t even play at the cocktail reception, and the wrong playlist was started for dinner. We had asked for certain songs to be played at key moment, but the cake cutting song never played, the bouquet toss song was late, and the wrong song was played for the garter toss. We had actually choreographed our first dance and asked that the song be faded/volume turned down at the end, but this never happened. For the dance, I put all the songs in a specific order and asked for it not to be a shuffled playlist…but it was shuffled to start with so at least one song was played twice. The biggest issue, however was that they have a Party Speaker as their sound system. We had heard it at the venue before, and thought it would be fine, but when you get that many bodies in there, it just isn’t strong enough. People had trouble hearing our MC, and when the dance started it just wasn’t loud enough. I had ensured all the volume levels on all the dance songs were the same on my main iPod, but not on the backup one. The backup one ended up being louder, so they swapped them out…but then a number of the songs were either too quiet or too loud because they had been fixed for only the main iPod. I had to stand by the speaker all night turning songs down or skipping ones you couldn’t hear, which was not quite how I wanted to spend the evening of my wedding. I realize we could have hired a DJ or our own sound system and this problem wouldn’t have been an issue, but again, we were assured that the speaker system they have on-hand at Always Occasions did work for other weddings and would be sufficient…and that they were happy to take care of the music for us.
  
  The next day when we arrived to pick up all of our décor, nearly all of the boxes for everything were either thrown out or strewn all over the building next door. We had to hunt everything down to re-pack it all up and there were bags hidden in closets, things on multiple floors in a myriad of locations and really took forever to find...if we found them at all. I completely understand that our décor may not have been put away exactly how we may have brought it, but it seemed in their haste to set everything up, they just threw all the boxes/unnecessary pieces wherever they could find a spot instead of in one location for ease of tear down later. In our hunt, we also found that the chafing dishes from our buffet and the leftovers from the late lunch were all just sitting out/on the floor still with food in them. We would have gladly taken any of the leftovers home as we had paid for them, but everything just went to waste sitting out all night on the floor of a warehouse. After unpacking things later at home, we discovered a couple of our table cloths that we did provide were missing, one of our picture frames was broken, and that two of our personal ceramic ornaments were broken inside their packaging. Upon further inspection, pieces from one ornament were found with the other, so these were broken prior to being put in their protective boxes, and instead of telling us about it, they just pretended like it didn’t happen, maybe hoping we wouldn’t find out…
  
  I am a very organized person, probably too much so. I plan a lot of parties/events myself, so since I knew I wasn’t going to be “in charge” this time but we were actually providing all of the décor, I tried to make everything as seamless as possible laying out everything the way I wanted it to be for the big day. I provided a map layout of exactly where I wanted every table/décor item to go on both floors, including staged photographs of every table/photo booth, etc. that I set up at home for reference. I gave a very specific seating chart, a complete list of all décor we were providing including the location they were to be set up, as well as what they were providing (which was minimal aside from tables/linens/place settings), and a schedule that was almost down to the minute for the order of things (with music cues). Because everything was provided with such detail, it was a little frustrating when things didn’t quite go as planned.
  
  I do think that many of these issues came down to it still being a new venue and the team just wanting to make everything perfect by making all these promises, however there was perhaps a lack of organization and personnel on-hand to actually follow through on everything. They refused to let us or the bridal party help set up the day before, even though we offered, especially because we had brought so many items, but if they had, perhaps a few of the issues would have been alleviated. Even in our email exchanges prior to the wedding, often responses would take a little while, another indication that while everyone is so lovely and well-meaning, they are just a tad over-extended. All of these smaller things aside, all of the major moments of the wedding were executed very well. While my husband and I, and at times our families and the bridal party, noticed things weren’t quite as we had expected, none of our guests really noticed the mishaps and all thought the venue was beautiful and our wedding was one of the best ones they had ever been to. Anna and a couple members of her team also came to our rehearsal and ceremony to help make sure everything there went off without a hitch, organizing our large bridal party and taking the décor for us from there to the reception venue, which was really a huge weight off our shoulders. Planning everything myself, I’m probably way too close to everything and all those small details really stick out to me, but really, all in all, our wedding was beautiful and everything we had hoped it would be, and Anna and the team at Always Occasions did have a big part in making that all happen. While we would like future patrons to be aware of some of the issues we encountered so they can be prepared and make some different choices/arrangements for their events, we ultimately would recommend the venue and the Always Occasions team for other weddings.

  My now-husband and I were trying to find a unique wedding reception venue that was both affordable and not your typical “hotel ballroom”. Always Occasions popped up on Wedding Wire in my search, and we took a look at it even before it was finished being built! It was slated to open that fall, was available for our wedding date the following June, and fit the bill – a brand new venue no one on our guest list had seen before, and super unique with its location, loft, etc. Also unlike every other venue we had looked at, Always Occasions allowed set up the day(s) prior, and even tore down your décor for you to pick up the following day, instead of packing everything up when you’re exhausted after your own wedding. This was a huge selling feature for us, so we booked the venue even without seeing the final product!
  
  Anna and Mihaela were so kind, they really love what they do and make sure each bride and groom feel special. They go above and beyond to try and make your biggest wedding dreams come true and are really accommodating for anything and everything you want to do. I really enjoyed my experience working with them through all the planning, etc., however there were a number of issues that we encountered when the Wedding finally arrived.
  
  Anna and her team really want to make everything perfect for every couple, however I think in doing so, they may over-promise on what they can actually deliver. To be fair, there are so many moving parts to a wedding there’s bound to be a few things that slip or don’t go as planned, and there’s only so much a small team can do, but Anna assured us numerous times that her team could handle taking care of a number of items and unfortunately some of these went by the wayside.
  
  When we arrived at the venue after the ceremony, I had my bridal party all designated to double check certain things throughout the venue, just to make sure it was all ready for the reception since there were so many details, they all also had a list of things to check and photos of how it was supposed to look. Everything should have been ready to go by then, but our group was frantic trying to fix a number of things. We had requested one long table for all our guests – 6 tables put together along the one wall of the venue, but when we arrived all the tables were all significantly separated, which was a problem as the couples who would be seated together at one long table would now be seated apart from each other. All the place cards were also mixed up, they had to be moved around completely to match the seating chart. I know a few other tables, like the signing table, etc. had to be rearranged a bit, but that was minor compared to the guest tables.
  
  The venue itself is absolutely beautiful and the perfect size for a small wedding. There are so many photo ops around there as well for couple photos. The one downside is that they do have their bar upstairs. While it makes sense based on having room to fit all the tables/buffet/dance floor, etc., it is a bit dangerous. One of my bridesmaids fell down the stairs after having a few too many towards the end of the night, luckily she was ok, but it was terrifying as it’s a very steep, open staircase. It was also hard on the older guests at the wedding to have to go upstairs for their drinks all the time. We had an open bar and wanted to pay for a secondary bar on the main level for this reason, but Anna assured us many times that her staff would take drink orders from these guests and serve them throughout the night. So, we didn’t get the secondary bar, however in talking with these guests, no one took their drink orders at all and one or two of them wound up getting drinks for the whole table throughout the night so certain people didn’t have to use the stairs. We asked for a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine to be on each table for dinner, which would also have helped with the stair issue, but there was no wine on the tables at all. We had requested to have a Champagne Toast for the speeches, and were told that the servers would hand all our guests champagne when they took away their dinner plates so everyone would have something to toast with, but this didn’t happen, the champagne was still being poured throughout the speeches and some people didn’t even get any. Lastly, we had bought a keg for the bar, and Always Occasions just bought a new Kegerator to keep it cold/pump the beer. I don’t think they set it up properly because they over-pumped the keg so it was all foam and no one could even have any, the whole keg was basically wasted even after the wedding because it was too pressurized. We luckily did provide other beer, but there is only one fridge behind the bar and there was no room so most of the canned beer was warm.
  
  I had included a plug in cord for my iPad which was being used with an app for the Photo Booth, but the iPad was never plugged in and died at the end of the night so a few guests didn’t get to take part. The cord that I provided was never found, but the charging brick was.
  
  We didn’t have a DJ, I handpicked all the music and made specific playlists for the cocktail reception, dinner, dance, etc., including a complete breakdown of all the chosen songs throughout the night and when to play each playlist/shuffle it, etc. I even renamed/numbered all music on my iPod for ease of use. Once again, we were going to have one of our bridal party look after changing the music, but we were assured that Anna’s team could handle it. Our music didn’t even play at the cocktail reception, and the wrong playlist was started for dinner. We had asked for certain songs to be played at key moment, but the cake cutting song never played, the bouquet toss song was late, and the wrong song was played for the garter toss. We had actually choreographed our first dance and asked that the song be faded/volume turned down at the end, but this never happened. For the dance, I put all the songs in a specific order and asked for it not to be a shuffled playlist…but it was shuffled to start with so at least one song was played twice. The biggest issue, however was that they have a Party Speaker as their sound system. We had heard it at the venue before, and thought it would be fine, but when you get that many bodies in there, it just isn’t strong enough. People had trouble hearing our MC, and when the dance started it just wasn’t loud enough. I had ensured all the volume levels on all the dance songs were the same on my main iPod, but not on the backup one. The backup one ended up being louder, so they swapped them out…but then a number of the songs were either too quiet or too loud because they had been fixed for only the main iPod. I had to stand by the speaker all night turning songs down or skipping ones you couldn’t hear, which was not quite how I wanted to spend the evening of my wedding. I realize we could have hired a DJ or our own sound system and this problem wouldn’t have been an issue, but again, we were assured that the speaker system they have on-hand at Always Occasions did work for other weddings and would be sufficient…and that they were happy to take care of the music for us.
  
  The next day when we arrived to pick up all of our décor, nearly all of the boxes for everything were either thrown out or strewn all over the building next door. We had to hunt everything down to re-pack it all up and there were bags hidden in closets, things on multiple floors in a myriad of locations and really took forever to find...if we found them at all. I completely understand that our décor may not have been put away exactly how we may have brought it, but it seemed in their haste to set everything up, they just threw all the boxes/unnecessary pieces wherever they could find a spot instead of in one location for ease of tear down later. In our hunt, we also found that the chafing dishes from our buffet and the leftovers from the late lunch were all just sitting out/on the floor still with food in them. We would have gladly taken any of the leftovers home as we had paid for them, but everything just went to waste sitting out all night on the floor of a warehouse. After unpacking things later at home, we discovered a couple of our table cloths that we did provide were missing, one of our picture frames was broken, and that two of our personal ceramic ornaments were broken inside their packaging. Upon further inspection, pieces from one ornament were found with the other, so these were broken prior to being put in their protective boxes, and instead of telling us about it, they just pretended like it didn’t happen, maybe hoping we wouldn’t find out…
  
  I am a very organized person, probably too much so. I plan a lot of parties/events myself, so since I knew I wasn’t going to be “in charge” this time but we were actually providing all of the décor, I tried to make everything as seamless as possible laying out everything the way I wanted it to be for the big day. I provided a map layout of exactly where I wanted every table/décor item to go on both floors, including staged photographs of every table/photo booth, etc. that I set up at home for reference. I gave a very specific seating chart, a complete list of all décor we were providing including the location they were to be set up, as well as what they were providing (which was minimal aside from tables/linens/place settings), and a schedule that was almost down to the minute for the order of things (with music cues). Because everything was provided with such detail, it was a little frustrating when things didn’t quite go as planned.
  
  I do think that many of these issues came down to it still being a new venue and the team just wanting to make everything perfect by making all these promises, however there was perhaps a lack of organization and personnel on-hand to actually follow through on everything. They refused to let us or the bridal party help set up the day before, even though we offered, especially because we had brought so many items, but if they had, perhaps a few of the issues would have been alleviated. Even in our email exchanges prior to the wedding, often responses would take a little while, another indication that while everyone is so lovely and well-meaning, they are just a tad over-extended. All of these smaller things aside, all of the major moments of the wedding were executed very well. While my husband and I, and at times our families and the bridal party, noticed things weren’t quite as we had expected, none of our guests really noticed the mishaps and all thought the venue was beautiful and our wedding was one of the best ones they had ever been to. Anna and a couple members of her team also came to our rehearsal and ceremony to help make sure everything there went off without a hitch, organizing our large bridal party and taking the décor for us from there to the reception venue, which was really a huge weight off our shoulders. Planning everything myself, I’m probably way too close to everything and all those small details really stick out to me, but really, all in all, our wedding was beautiful and everything we had hoped it would be, and Anna and the team at Always Occasions did have a big part in making that all happen. While we would like future patrons to be aware of some of the issues we encountered so they can be prepared and make some different choices/arrangements for their events, we ultimately would recommend the venue and the Always Occasions team for other weddings.

  • +2 Photos

  Always Occasions's reply:

  Thank you for your feedback and your review Marisa! We were so honoured to celebrate your day with you and we are working hard to continue to improve aspects of our business to create more organisation on all sides for our clients and our team.
  
  We are happy to hear your guests enjoyed their experience with us. Your day was so beautiful and so true to you as a couple ❤️ it meant so much for us to be able to celebrate it with you!
• Andrea C. Sent on 15/10/2022
  4.2 out of 5 rating

  4.2
  • Quality of service
    4.0 out of 5 rating
    4.0
  • Response time
    3.0 out of 5 rating
    3.0
  • Professionalism
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Value
    4.0 out of 5 rating
    4.0
  • Flexibility
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0

  Professional and flexible

  Always occasions has a beautiful loft and you can tell they take pride in their space. They are able to provide suggestions that will enhance the wedding experience in their space. Staff are incredibly kind and accommodating. The only downfall is communication, as it was difficult to plan in advance. It wasn’t really till a month before the wedding that staff then became really attentive and were able to assist.

  Always occasions has a beautiful loft and you can tell they take pride in their space. They are able to provide suggestions that will enhance the wedding experience in their space. Staff are incredibly kind and accommodating. The only downfall is communication, as it was difficult to plan in advance. It wasn’t really till a month before the wedding that staff then became really attentive and were able to assist.

  Always Occasions's reply:

  Thank you for your review and feedback Andrea,
  We so loved celebrating your day with you ❤️
  Wishing you both so much happiness!
• Julia Sent on 23/09/2022
  5 out of 5 rating

  5.0
  • Quality of service
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Response time
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Professionalism
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Value
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0
  • Flexibility
    5.0 out of 5 rating
    5.0

  Wedding venue

  We had our ceremony and reception at always occasions and it was perfect. Everyone loved our venue and we would highly recommend it to anyone. We loved the day of coordination and the venue does all the set up and tear down which was super important for us and our families to have a stress free time. Beautifully decorated and amazing staff. Bartending was great. We broke a few glasses and someone was there to clean it up immediately.
  
  The venue even made a little video for us and gave us a gift which was so special and lovely.
  
  The only downsides were that on the day of our wedding there was a farmers market in the parking lot which we were not informed of. We had told all our 80 guests that there was a huge parking lot and then it was full of the farmers market so that added a lot of stress on the day.
  
  There was also no water for our guests during the dinner portion so one of our guests was going around giving everyone water almost as if they forgot about water because the wine service and everything else was great.
  
  We would recommend this venue to anyone who is looking and are so happy we had our wedding here at always occasions!

  We had our ceremony and reception at always occasions and it was perfect. Everyone loved our venue and we would highly recommend it to anyone. We loved the day of coordination and the venue does all the set up and tear down which was super important for us and our families to have a stress free time. Beautifully decorated and amazing staff. Bartending was great. We broke a few glasses and someone was there to clean it up immediately.
  
  The venue even made a little video for us and gave us a gift which was so special and lovely.
  
  The only downsides were that on the day of our wedding there was a farmers market in the parking lot which we were not informed of. We had told all our 80 guests that there was a huge parking lot and then it was full of the farmers market so that added a lot of stress on the day.
  
  There was also no water for our guests during the dinner portion so one of our guests was going around giving everyone water almost as if they forgot about water because the wine service and everything else was great.
  
  We would recommend this venue to anyone who is looking and are so happy we had our wedding here at always occasions!

  Always Occasions's reply:

  Thank you so much for your review Julia and your feedback. We appreciate the opportunity to continue to improve our services for our clients. Your day was so beautiful and we so love seeing your photos!
  Wishing you all the best!

Are you interested?

Send a message