Elm Hurst Inn & Spa

Our original wedding date was scheduled for 2021. Due to Covid we had to change our wedding date 3 times. Erin at Elm Hurst was very understanding and we were able to add a covid clause to our contract.
Lesley at Elm Hurst took over Erin’s position. Lesley did an amazing job! She was very accommodating and she made sure that everything leading up to the wedding was exactly as planned.
On the day of the wedding Lesley made sure that everything ran on time. Sergio and his team did a fabulous job behind the scenes and the set up and the food was mind blowing.
I highly recommend this venue.

We worked with Erin at the beginning stages of planning our wedding (e.g. showing us the venue), and Lesley for the rest, including the day of - both were wonderful! Lesley promptly responded to my MANY emails about various wedding details and always responded to all of my questions. On the day of, Lesley was very organized and ensured that everything ran smoothly - a few of our guests even noticed and commented on this, saying that they were very impressed. Lesley checked in with us multiple times throughout the day to make sure that we had everything we needed, which we really appreciated. Thanks Lesley! :)

As for the venue itself, my husband and I are so happy with our decision to have our wedding at the Elm Hurst! It is such a beautiful venue with picturesque scenery that made for so many stunning photo opportunities. We had our ceremony on the Front Lawn in front of the fountain, and so many of our guests commented on not only how beautiful it was, but how a light breeze carried a refreshing mist from the fountain that made the ceremony all the more enjoyable. We had our reception in the Carriage House, which perfectly accommodated our smaller wedding (60 guests). We loved that the Carriage House felt like our own private venue within the venue, as it is outside of the hotel. The food was incredible - everyone raved about it, even days later! And the honeymoon suite for the night of (the Lord Connaught) was amazing - we are already planning to book it again for our first anniversary. Overall, we would highly recommend the Elm Hurst to anyone! :)

Elm Hurst Inn and Soa was the absolute perfect wedding venue, we really couldn’t have asked for a better location to host our special day. The building itself and the grounds are so beautiful but it is the service that really sets Elm Hurst apart. We had a very long process with this wedding, with not one but two postponements due to COVID and the staff at Elm Hurst was nothing but kind a supportive throughout the process. This really made a stressful time so much more manageable. Lesley and Sergio were both so excellent in their roles coordinating the wedding. The food at Elm Hurst is also fantastic. Many of our guests said it was one of the best weddings they have ever been to and we definitely owe that to Elm Hurst! Thank you!

The team at Elm Hurst were absolutely incredible and made us feel so special from beginning to end! Honestly if you need a sign to choose Elm Hurst for your wedding venue, this is it!! Lesley was our wedding coordinator and made everything run so smoothly. We had to postpone a and she was super helpful in finding us an alternate date. She always responded promptly and was eager to answer all of our questions. We sat down with both Lesley & Sergio (banquet manager) 2 days prior to go over absolutely everything (which soothed my type A brain lol) and we left feeling like we had nothing to worry about which was absolutely correct! On the day of the wedding, we felt spoilt from the staff at Elm Hurst who always made sure to keep us fed and hydrated and we even ended the night with a surprise gift in our hotel room from Lesley which was so sweet! Highly recommend!!

Simply amazing and elegant. They took care of our food allergy very carefully. The whole day went without very smooth.

I originally booked my wedding in 2019 for the Elm Hurst Inn & Spa. They were super accommodating throughout the changing plans brought on by COVID. Our entire wedding team did change multiple times throughout the process, but that is not surprising considering the state of the wedding industry during COVID. My only complaint is that some of the Elm Hurst staff (specifically the hotel and bar staff, not the wedding staff), were rude to guests. Again, with COVID I am somewhat understanding, and all of the wedding specific staff were fabulous.

As so many have said before me, the Elm Hurst truly is one of the best wedding venues in the entire province. My husband’s family used to go to the restaurant for Easter dinner every year, and the first year I joined them, I knew from the moment I saw the building that this was where I wanted to get married. The old rustic house, the incredible grounds, the sense of class that’s baked into every experience there is just unbeatable. When we got engaged, we contacted the Elm Hurst right away and set up a time to book a viewing. We booked a date for a year and a half out and signed the paperwork that day. When the pandemic caused us to have to delay our wedding by an entire year, Erin and the team were so accommodating and understanding. They worked with us to find a new date and honoured the same price we’d signed onto. We kept in good communication with them leading up to the day; Lesley, our wedding coordinator, took so much time and care into making sure the day was planned as best we could, even with provincial health restrictions making things so unsure. Day-of was as perfect as it could possibly be. Our guests were blown away by how beautiful the venue was, and the excellent service. Even a month after our wedding people will not stop talking to us about how incredible the food tasted, and how large the portion sizes were. Lesley was there the whole time to ensure things were running smoothly, and the rest of the staff was incredibly supportive and helpful as well. It really felt like a dream come true getting to celebrate our wedding there, and I couldn’t possibly recommend it highly enough. Five stars is not enough stars!! Thank you to the entire crew at the Elmhurst for such a perfect day.

Every aspect of the venue from the bridal suite to the grand ballroom room was beautiful. Staff was very friendly and accommodating. The food was was complimented by everyone. Breakfast included for guests that stay and made it all the more special delivering it to your room on your wedding day. Many good backdrops and opportunities for photos. Only thing is when planning and calling the main lobby desk it is very hard to get ahold of someone.

My wedding day at The Elm Hurst was the best and easiest day of my life! The staff and especially wedding coordinator were so on top of everything that I had nothing to stress about. The meal was likely the best meal I've ever had and all our guests said the exact same thing. All the serving staff were so friendly and helpful, everyone felt like a priority. I cannot recommend this venue more!

Cons:
-Our tables were not set up in the morning when they were supposed to be so that I could have them set up the way I wanted. This was discussed in our final meeting and it was stated to us that it wouldn’t be an issue.

Set up was done late and I had to have my bridesmaids set the tables and decor up to the best of their ability and things were missing because I wasn’t able to do it myself. Our day of coordinator wasn’t even aware that things weren’t in place.

This was also reflected in Alon’s (general manager of the venue) Facebook post for the day which talks about three weddings (one which happened in The Valley in the evening after ours) and highlights all the wedding tents and decor but ours because it wasn’t finished. There are two photos posted which barely show our tent way off in the distance and this is because when you zoom in, you can clearly see that the tables were still not set up (in fact they didn’t even have enough tables in the tent to match the dinner chart submitted before and discussed at our final meeting). I have also screenshot this post and saved all the photos posted if needed for reference.

-our original ceremony space was taken away and a permanent setup of a tent was placed weeks before the wedding right by The Carriage House which is the building we had rented and where our washroom facilities were. This tent had been used for overflow outdoor dining space by the venue and they had reserved it for one of the other weddings receptions taking place that evening. We were able to use the washroom facilities in the main building which were located by our wedding reception tent, but after paying thousands of dollars for someone to do my makeup for the day for both myself and my bridesmaids, we were obviously reluctant of putting on a mask and ruining it. I therefore opted for walking over to The Carriage House but only one washroom was useable (noted in the attention to detail lacking section).

-our parents who had booked a room for the night of the wedding, had a hard time checking in before our 2:00pm ceremony (which we had to bump up to include all the elements we wanted because there was another wedding happening in The Valley after ours. Our original ceremony space had been given away to someone else). They had requested early check-in and were told it wasn’t guaranteed which we all understood but then as they were waiting to try and check in, individuals from other later weddings were checked in to their rooms before our parents.

Attention to detail was lacking:
-yellow chair down in The Valley which I noticed and had to ask to change out

-fly poop visible on the chairs (the had been sitting out and hadn’t been wiped off)

-head rest on chairs in the suite were worn and crumbling off the faux leather (looked terrible, and like the room hasn’t been taken care of, and had to be edited out of photos)

-dead ear wig in jacuzzi by the drain which I made my husband remove

-the curtains in the bedroom in the suite do not shut all the way. In addition to this, there was a wedding reception tent below. This created a pretty awkward scenario for us newlyweds.

-one of the restrooms in The Carriage House was unusable because the toilet was so filthy (feces all around the inner bowl)

-my husband’s name was spelt wrong on our thank you card from The Elm Hurst (which really made the card feel sincere and special)

-we met our day of coordinator on the morning of our wedding and she didn’t know anything about our wedding (why tables weren’t set up, who our vendors were, etc.). Meeting her or communicating with her previous to the event so she knew what our day was actually supposed to look like would have been helpful

-out to-go cake was just plunked on a table. There wasn’t even a hand written sign that said (Last Name’s) wedding, or John and Jane, etc. It was near another wedding’s tent and we had guests leave without taking any because they didn’t know where to find it (unfortunately, we were tied up with taking photos with other family members who were then leaving also)

-there are giant thistles and other weeds in your gardens and we chose not to take photos in front of certain parts of the buildings for this reason

-you threw out our cake topper/keepsake that we paid extra to have made (edible sugar florals which can be dried and stored)

-we had to really push to be able to include the elements that were important for our day because we were told at times that you weren’t willing (not that you weren’t able) to accommodate

Pros:
-communication was very quick and until just before the wedding, we felt as if any question we asked got answered promptly

-Chantal was fabulous in helping us select our linen colours as we were quite lost here. She also made us feel very reassured in answering any questions we had and showing us around on the meeting we had on Good Friday.

-the grounds are beautiful and the buildings/fountains are breath taking

-the food is always excellent

-our bar tenders, waitstaff and the patio staff in the morning for breakfast were all very outgoing, helpful and wonderful. Your front desk staff member even though she tends to be run off her feet (especially around check in/out times) was also very friendly and helpful. We could never get ahold of front desk by calling down but figured this was likely because she was tied up helping others.

-Erin helped arrange for the tent rental and the last minute whiskey barrel rentals which was VERY appreciated.

-accommodated our ceremony to be in The Valley

-aided our grandparents to The Valley with the golf cart which was extremely appreciated.

-good to refund the difference in cost of the smaller reception due to government restrictions at the time of our wedding. Easy process, no hassles.