It’s such a shame, because this is still the most beautiful venue I have ever seen, and I don’t regret getting married here as we have beautiful photos. BUT dealing with the difficult, unorganized and unprofessional staff was exhausting. I spoke to 4 different sales reps during the 11 months we had the contract. Each person would give us different information about what’s allowed/included. There was also an incident where the roof came off 4 weeks before our wedding, killing most of the plants. The staff neglected to tell us, we found out only when we came in person for our finale details meeting. The owner was not helpful, and did not try to work with us or help us with the situation we found ourselves in.

If you want to get married here, because it is beautiful, make sure to get a wedding planner or day of coordinator who can deal with these people for you, it will save you one hell of a headache

I want to make this as comprehensive as possible for people looking to book Madison Greenhouse as their event venue.
TL:DR - the wedding turned out amazing, the venue was gorgeous and we got a ton of compliments on it, but it was not without hiccups along the way.
The Good - stunning, unique, we walked in and immediately knew we had to get married here. It was like European patio vibes while being in the GTA. Lily and Theresa from the venue were lovely to work with, as was the owner. Also, as much as it was extra work, getting the SOP and bringing in your own alcohol is a massive money saver at the end of the day, since you can return anything you didn’t drink. Also the bartenders that were provided by the venue, Kim and Jess, were amazing.
The Bad - initially you think this is a great deal on a venue, but once you realize that all they provide is tables and chairs (and you have to obviously upgrade to the nicer chairs), you have to add the soft bar package, get your SOP etc. the extras do start to add up.
Also, you do not have the venue for the entire day, guaranteed. They will book a wedding lunch/ceremony in the morning before your wedding. Which means when you are doing your first look, people will be tearing down the previous event and setting up yours. If I didn’t have a day of coordinator, this would have been a massive problem and source of stress.
Also, the manager, Shawn, was extremely rude to me on many different occasions (compared asking about bringing Arabic drummers to asking about bringing elephants into the venue). She tried to have us pay $1000 extra as a deposit to bring in drummers, then when I asked for the owner’s information she didn’t email me back for a week. We ended up contacting the owner ourselves and came up with a solution without having to give the extra money. Lesson learned, just deal with the owner or someone that isn’t Shawn. Additionally, Shawn made a final details meeting with us on a Sunday at 11am. Myself and my husband came from Hamilton, and our coordinator came after being awake until 3 doing another wedding the night before. No one seemed to know that we were coming and Shawn didn’t show up. We were all extremely disappointed with the lack of planning and professionalism. Also, don’t bother to book a rehearsal with them there. They will book something on that date and move your rehearsal date literally the week before. We just didn’t bother after it was changed. As much as we loved the venue you can tell some people there only care about profit, not about your experience.
A lot of reviews here shared parts of our experience, so if you are good with all of that, then yes, I would still recommend this venue!

This venue was recommended to us by our wedding planner, and we are glad that she did. This venue was perfect, magical, and amazing. This venue provided the vision that we were looking for for our wedding. I was able to add my personal touch by adding my DIY centerpieces/decor and I was so happy that it meshed well with the venue. The staff were very kind and were able to help make our special day happen. Thank you for letting us celebrate our special day at your beautiful venue!

When I first checked out the venue, I was a little skeptical about it being mostly bare bones. The venue itself is beautiful with a lot of areas. We wanted our ceremony outdoors but to have the whole wedding in one venue, and I didn't even look at any other venues after visiting Madison. We used the courtyard for the ceremony, terrace for cocktail hour and the fig room for reception. Aside from the venue, they offer tables and chairs, bartenders and a few preferred partners and some add ons, and thats all. Our biggest worry was the alcohol as well wanted an open bar, and they don't provide any. After speaking with a friend who had their engagement party at a venue that operated the same way we became more comfortable with the idea of getting the SOP and buying our own alcohol. In the end it actually saved us quite a bit. Another big reason we went with them is because we wanted to bring in our own catering, and even though it was at an extra cost they were actually one of the few venues that would allow us to do so.
If you're able to navigate all the elements that you need brought in, it's a well worth it venue. My advice is to read through your BEO thoroughly. One problem I did run into was with water at the bar. I had just under 200 person wedding and didn't realize since we wouldn't have water pitchers at the tables that most of the guests would need to come up for water. They had one small water dispenser and left the glasses out, so unfortunately there was a longer wait for the water than for actual drinks. If you're aware of what does come with the add ons and what doesn't, it's a simple fix to rent the pitchers and have your servers refill at the bar. I think the venue could have been slightly more helpful in maybe listing the items we would need but I also get why they didn't-- most caterers provide these things and we just happened to have one that didn't. Other than that, sometimes the response time was slow for emails but overall everyone I interacted with during my visits and over the emails were helpful to all the questions and concerns I had. I had my wedding on a Monday so we had to have music down by 11, and finish by 12. Not sure how much that extends on the weekend but unfortunately it is due to noise level laws for the area.
The pros aside from the staff is obviously that it's a gorgeous venue. The weather was perfect the day of but it was very comforting knowing that had it rained that day that the ceremony space inside would have been just as lovely. They have a ton of (newly renovated) washrooms, and a lounge area away from the other spaces were people can chill out, bring their hyper kids or elderly people can convene away from the blaring music. There were so many different places to take photos, so naturally after all was said and done I was told over and over again how lovely the venue was.
I planned my wedding myself and had a lot of DIY elements, so if you have a planner or if most of your vendors can provide multiple elements that they don't, it's a great venue to go with.

We recently got married here in July as the venue was very unique and beautiful. However, we want to caution future couples of the “money-over-client-experience” attitude of management that cost us 1.5 hours of what was ‘guaranteed’ set-up time on our wedding day, and a surprise landmark fee of 10% that management quietly tried to add to our tab.

LOST OF "GUARANTEED" SET-UP TIME: A few months before our wedding, we discovered that another event was booked on the same day. Our ceremony was scheduled for 4PM, and the other event was supposed to be packed up and gone by 2PM. We expressed our concerns to management of how they could possibly “guarantee” the party would be gone on time, but they continually persisted that this would not be a problem and we had plenty of time.

Lo and behold... on our wedding day, my husband and I met at the venue at 2:15 for our First Look. To our horror, we saw three coach busses, with herds of guests still EVERYWHERE, and a FULL BUFFET taking place where we were to do our First Look. Guests had full plates of food, were sitting back, chatting —clearly without a clue another event was scheduled. They even told us that management told them they could stay til 4.

When we went to the Office for help, management told us they were "busy on the phone with other clients". This was very upsetting because we were standing in front of them clearly distraught, and there was no sense of urgency or prioritizing on their part. Finally, when management got off the phone at 2:30, they brushed us off, saying not to worry as the party would be gone soon.

Not only were we baffled by this response, but management did not even step outside of their office to try to usher the other party out. Their continual nonchalance was absolutely unacceptable. In the end, our wedding coordinator and groomsmen had to awkwardly ask the other guests to leave, which was NOT their job and really soured the way our day started.

At 3:30, the other guests finally left, but we had now lost 1.5 hrs of set-up time. Management continued to hide in the office, while our vendors scrambled under high pressure to set up the space with barely any time. Because of this, certain sentimental details from our decor had to be left out. And even as our own guests arrived, welcome signs and decor from the previous event were still not taken down.

Management later tried to retort that our contract stated that we weren't guaranteed 'exclusive access' to our space until 4PM, but 'exclusive access' is VERY different from having ANY access at all to our space for set-up. This lack of responsibility was extremely unfair to our vendors and bridal party who had to step in to resolve the situation.


SURPRISE LANDMARK FEE: Two weeks before our wedding, Madison contacted our caterer saying that starting in 2023, a 10% landmark fee for outside vendors will be added to all events.

We were very confused since our contract was signed in 2022, meaning any new policies thereafter should not apply. Also, our caterer was a preferred vendor.

We carefully reread our contract, and copied/pasted the section on 'Outside Caterers' (pg. 3) to refute the fee. Madison agreed to waive the fee, but our vendor told us that two other couples they worked with, whom also signed their contracts in 2022, didn’t catch on to this and had paid the 10% fee, which Madison accepted without question.

This begs the question of how Madison could even try to apply this fee, knowing full-well that this was a preferred vendor, and that legally, any 2023 policies should not have been applied to 2022 contracts.

IN THE END, Madison refunded us $1500 for our lost set-up time; but keep in mind, the contract states that they charge clients $500 for every 30 min of overtime use of the space — so really, this was the least they could do. In fact, they initially tried to offer us ‘free use’ of the garden space to redo our First Look photos as a solution, which just further shows their lack of understanding of good business and ethics.

Yes, the space is beautiful, but future couples beware — read the fine print, don’t be afraid to speak up, and know your rights. Management WILL try to take advantage of you otherwise.

Madison Greenhouse has a stunning venue space. My wife and I had originally set our sites on their outdoor space for our ceremony, but on the day of, it rained like crazy. Madison’s staff quickly accommodated and setup for an indoor wedding for us immediately. Their coordinator, Shawn, is excellent and provides great service and information.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE BOOKING A WEDDING HERE:

I had my wedding at the Madison greenhouse last December and although I don't regret it looking back, there are a lot of things I wish I knew before booking. The venue was worth it for me because I really wanted a unique venue and was mostly happy with how the day went, but it was a bit of a nightmare getting here.

PROS:
- This venue is just as beautiful as the photos and the vibe is very romantic and aesthetic during both the ceremony and reception
- I truly did have a lot of compliments from my guests saying that this was one of the most unique wedding venues they've been to
- The lighting during my daytime photos was really beautiful and I'm super happy with how those turned out
- The staff was pretty friendly

CONS:
- This venue is EXPENSIVE. I figured that all-inclusive venues would be more costly since you are paying for the convenience of not needing to find your own vendors; however sourcing your own vendors at Madison's actually ended up being more expensive on top of being way more work. To put it in perspective, my friends with a similar guest count (180 people) had their weddings for around $35-50k at other venues in the GTA. Our wedding ended up being $65k and this was already with me cutting costs by skipping a wedding planner, editing my own wedding video, and purchasing our own alcohol/mixers. Just something to consider if you are planning on sticking to a tighter budget.

- Catering was a nightmare to find. I did research on Madison's recommended caterers, but most of the reviews were mediocre. Providing quality food was the one thing I really cared about and all of the popular caterers in the GTA were charging a lot more to come all the way out to Newmarket, in addition to them simply not being able to work with the very limited kitchen resources Madison's has. With that being said, I eventually discovered "Cibo Special Event Catering" and was so so happy that I did. They happen to be based in Aurora, offered the best price for premium food options, and they were just an overall pleasure to work with. I would absolutely recommend them for anyone who is struggling to find a good caterer at Madison's. I seriously got so many compliments on how good the food was, so I'm really happy about that.

- Most wedding venues allow you to have a rehearsal the night before, but Madison's would not allow us to book our rehearsal until 30 days before our wedding and by then, their schedule was all booked out during the days leading up to our wedding, so we had to have our rehearsal 5 days before. Since most of our bridal party wasn't able to make it all the way to Newmarket late at night on a Monday, we were literally forced to do our rehearsal on the day of, 1hr before the actual ceremony.

- Adding onto this previous point, most venues will allow a decor team to set up early on the day of the wedding, but Madison's is only able to guarantee 2hrs of setup before your wedding, which is frankly quite absurd and disappointing considering we paid $12k just to rent the venue.

- Madison's owners are extremely cheap and refused to turn on the heating at the venue until the exact moment that our wedding ceremony started. Considering our wedding was in December, our decor team and guests were all wearing their jackets during the ceremony since it was freezing for the first few hours. Even their own staff was wearing winter jackets in their office..

- There is no in-house media or anyone to help set it up, so you're on your own if you want to have a slideshow or any videos playing during the wedding (we had to bring our own soundboard, projector, and projector screen, as well as all our mics)

- The venue gets very dark in the night, which was nice for the vibe, but terrible for our photographer. As mentioned before, the greenhouse has amazing lighting for daytime photos, but all of the nighttime photos will require flash which kind of ruined all of the reception photos.

Anyways good luck to all your brides out there! Hope this helps with your decision process :)

Had my wedding last weekend and we can’t stop thinking about how wonderful it was. The venue really is magical. The staff was amazing they accommodated us to bring in our alcohol the day before and let us store all our decor. The recent renovations to the bathrooms and bridal room were a great surprise. I will recommend Madison’s to any future bride!

We had the perfect wedding day at Madison Greenhouse Event Venue. Everyone complimented how beautiful the venue is, and the vendors that they work with are amazing. O'Malley's Catering and Bob Hawkins Professional Disc Jockey Service are both fantastic companies. O'Malley's provides delicious food, with great portions and they were very quick and responsive with all of my questions leading up to the day of the wedding. Bob Hawkins was also great to work with, we had a number of phone calls/emails and they were also very responsive and DJ'd the night perfectly.

The reason that I did not give Madison Greenhouse 5 stars all around, is because we did have a few struggles working with them. During our engagement, the venue switched ownership, and as a result there were a number of miscommunications and mix ups. I did have to sign multiple contracts with a lot of back and forth, and there was a team member that got my name incorrect several times on the contract that we were signing. There was also some confusion about the services that were supposed to be included in our contract, such as DJ and bartender services, which I had to correct and contact the venue about to ensure that we had those services the day of our wedding. HOWEVER, despite all of this we had an amazing wedding day and it is an absolutely beautiful venue.

The venue is gorgeous! Minimal decorations needed due to the gorgeous floral and flowers all over the ceremony and reception room! Guest loved being able to get pictures by the waterfall. The staff were attentive and we had an amazing night!