Lakeside Center Banquet & Meeting Hall Inc.

We had our wedding here in November 2014. It was fantastic. On Friday, we had our rehearsal dinner here, and for banquet food, it was pretty good. The service was fantastic, the coordination was great. There were no surprises, and no delays. The reception proved to be great too. They had the appetizers on the dance floor for when the wedding photos were taking place, and had the bar open for us at the same time. By the time we got there, the dance floor was cleared and the food was ready to go.
Once again, the food was delicious. People were truly surprised about the food quality. The venue was beautiful, and Laurie was a pleasure to work with. The key to any event like this is clear communication with all involved. And Laurie did her part and we tried to do ours. As a result, everything went smoothly.

My husband and I had our wedding reception here August 2014. We live in Connecticut and planned our reception with Laurie by phone and email. She made it so easy for us especially since we were not able to visit the venue until we arrived in town the day before our event. She guided us perfectly. We and all of our guests had an extraordinary evening. The decorations were beautiful, the food was so delicious and the service was impeccable. Many of our guests have stated they would love to plan an event at Lakeside. I wouldn’t hesitate to host another event at Lakeside and will recommend Lakeside again and again.
Not only was Laurie patient and accommodating with such long distance planning, her assistant Robin was always available to answer any and all questions. Both she and Laurie made every effort to help us make this a very special event. They were honest with their opinions on my ideas from decorating to my food choices to my theme. Although they were always ready to offer an extra service that would make the reception even more special, they were never pushy. We felt the event was more than fairly priced and we were always kept up to date on costs.
Definitely, by far, exceeded our expectations.

I had my wedding reception last week at Lakeside Center. From start (planning) to finish (the night of), I had a great experience. All of my guests commented on how nice the venue was, that the food was good, and they all had a good time.
It seems like everyone has strong opinions about Lauri. I think she’s great. I could shoot her all kinds of questions, and she always had an answer that made sense. (Um, like I originally wanted black table cloths, black chair covers and black napkins — I’m so glad she steered me away from that! What was I thinking??) I appreciated that whenever I had an idea, she would help me fit things together to make a cohesive plan. (Combining 10 Pinterest ideas into 1 beautiful and original idea.) I even brought up some of the negative reviews and she totally owned them. Remember, there are TWO SIDES to every story! She didn’t blow them off, instead she addressed them openly and HONESTLY.
As others have said, the bathroom/​shower curtain situation might be a little strange. But you have to remember that the venue has to adhere to standards set by ADA. I think they’re just doing the best with what they’ve got and it’s just how it has to be so they’re compliant. Pick your battles with this one — would you really rule out an otherwise perfect venue because there’s a shower curtain instead of a door on a bathroom stall?
I would absolutely recommend Lakeside Center.

Although the place is gorgeous, I would never pay for an event there with the kind of service that we received or witnessed. I personally discussed allergy concerns with the owner prior to attending a family wedding and was assured that I could be accommodated. I had quite a surprise when I checked on my dinner before having it served and found out that one of the side dishes contained allergens that may have sent me into anaphylaxis shock. I felt as if there was not a comprehension of the life threatening severity of food allergies and that it was not a priority. If it wasn’t for the chef altering my dinner, I may have ended up going into anaphylaxis shock. The place is beautiful but the event coordinator was rude and made the guests and wedding party feel like an inconvenience. I am appalled that someone in the service and food industry could be so inhospitable. In addition, the guests and wedding party were shocked and disappointed when the bar was closed without even giving the guests notice before shutting the wedding reception down. I would not recommend this even as a last resort.