Lily of the Valley Garden Venue

We booked Lily of the Valley (also known as Savor Solar Catering) last year for our wedding. We chose this place because they seem so nice. We figured we’ll get a personal attention since it is a family run business.
When we came in to see the place for the first time Sarah keeps mentioning «we won’t charge you for this and that unlike other places». A lot of things were promised to us. Free cleaning, even if we exceed our hours they won’t charge us, no cake cutting fee, no corking fee, no toasting fee and she will also be the coordinator and free photography from her also. They will cater and serve organic food! All of these starting at $ 2,000 up to $ 7,000.00.
A few months ago we decided to hire a photographer because we didn’t want Sarah to leave the venue when we go to the park for picture taking after the ceremony and before the reception. We e-​mailed Susan and Sarah to let them know but we indicated that we still want Sarah to be the «back up photographer». About two months before the wedding we came to talk to Sarah for details of the wedding. Since our photographer wanted to see the venue we told him to meet us there. Right then Sarah had us choose if we want her to coordinate or be the photographer. At this point I was thinking… Weren’t we supposed to get both? But since our photographer has an assistant that can take pictures too, we just went for her to be the coordinator. Whatever makes her job easier to make our wedding more flawless.
Now, a month before the wedding, they sent us an invoice for more than what we have talked about before. It’s even more than their «up to» $ 7,000. Charges for the clean up came up and now we have to pay for a sous chef??? They want over double the original price for renting the venue. It’s 2:30 am and I can’t fall asleep because 30 days before the wedding they came up with these!!!
We are still going to try to talk to them but I want this review up as soon as possible. I want to make sure that couples looking for a wedding place can see this review. I hope that it will help some couple out there trying to make a decision. If we can’t talk to them then we’ll be looking for a new venue 30 days before the wedding. It’s more trouble than that too because now we have to let everybody know if there’s any changes in the venue.
I’ll update this review to let you know if they were able to change their price back.
UPDATE 05÷02÷10: We decided to just ask for a refund instead of having them go back to the original price. We are afraid their service on our special day will suffer if we force them to honor the original prices. Now we have to wait if they will give us a full refund.
UPDATE 05÷03÷10: Sarah wants to work with us, but then again we’re worried about their service. If they screwed us once then they can do it again. Susan said we can have our payment back but not the deposit. We don’t think it’s fair because of all the things we have to do less than 30 days before the wedding. Aside from looking for a new venue (venue gets booked 1 year before the wedding. We booked them May 2009!), I need to get some kind of information card, venue map and driving directions for the guests, programs that were prepared and supplies that we bought can not be used anymore if we can not find a garden venue because they won’t go well with a wedding in a hall or restaurant.
UPDATE 05÷04÷10: My fiancé sent an e-​mail and left a voice mail so they can tell him when he can pick up our payment. We haven’t heard back from them.
UPDATE 05÷07÷10: After much scrambling and running around all week, we were able to book another venue 3 weeks before the wedding. Check out
. The place is so beautiful. You can also read my review at

Another place we «visited», okay the fiancé visited and I looked at the pictures. =)
1. Location: It’s a bit out of the way for a majority of our guests which yes would decrease our guest list, but also we’d hate to have our guests calling our wedding party at odd times telling them they’ll be late or need directions. Otherwise, it’s a nice garden — looks like there are lots of open spaces and it’s very lush. The great thing about it is that it’s quite an intimate space — so it’s very nice for a ceremony and would be beautiful for a reception. The deal breaker? Well, as my fiancé put it, when the wind picked up he started thinking…“are those horses that I smell?” Although it wasn’t terribly strong… given our wedding is in the end of summer — the smell + heat might be slightly unbearable.
2. Capacity: I believe it can accommodate up to 180 or 200 guests. Don’t quote me on that though. That might be just for the ceremony.
3. Cost (packages): Not bad! It’s very comparable, about $ 40 — $ 50 a head for the reception + ceremony. It seems that they only cater organic foods — which is pretty cool! :) I don’t really know the details but I do think a wedding arch is provided, and the package includes the standard chairs, tables, etc etc. It being in a garden means you don’t really need to o. d on the flowers!
4. Ambiance: Very pretty — what’s not to like about the garden? It’s very lush + intimate — but it can also get pretty warm pronto!
5. General Feel: Lovely, but not digging the horse smell + potential heat… so it’s a no go for us.