Jennifer Macdonald, Married on 05/08/2017

I had both mine and my brothers wedding in this venue. We had a great experience in both weddings. Ymg Staff was very helpful, professional and knowledgeable of our wedding customs and did their best to make our wedding a memorable one. Isaac is an amazing person, he was always available to help whenever we needed and tried his best to accommodate our unreasonable demands at times. The gallery is beautiful, spacious and well decorated with lighting with a nice dance floor. There was barely any need for external decoration. I want to Thank Isaac, Aileen, Frances, the office team and the wonderful waitstaff for making us a memorable occasion! Thank you!

Vanessa Voisard, Married on 24/06/2017

We found out about YMG when calling preferred caterers for another venue we were looking at. catertrendz owns this venue and was building a new venue next door, for smaller weddings called YMG2. If we booked before construction was complete, we received a discounted price on the catering costs.

We met with the catering manager who showed us the space during construction, we looked over the menu and were able to add upgrades and stay in budget. We decided to book them, and went into the office to sign the contract. Present was only the catering manager, despite the contract containing a piece about sole power being the only allowed sound and lighting company in the space. I was only explained about the plug in fee, and was actually given a list of companies I could reach out to for DJ services, so I was under the impression that any DJ could be used, bring their equipment and we pay the plug in fee. Sole power was contacted for a quote, but came back with a quote that was 2.5x higher than anyone else. We decided not to go with them, for cost and professionalism reasons. We never hear from Sole Power again until 3 months before the wedding. This is important later. I will touch upon this further down.

Over the next few months, we have a catering manager who is pretty responsive, then suddenly I send an email and get a response from someone else. The catering manager is now gone and has been replaced with someone else. It would have been nice for them to let me know and reach to me, before I found out they were replaced. Nevertheless, our new contact is fine, I have hired a wedding coordinator at this point, so she takes over most of the communication. We schedule a tasting about 3 months before the wedding and the food is delicious. We end up having in YMG1, which I guess is ok, but the space was freezing. We never once took off our coats for the entire meal.

The venue was actually very flexible with what we could use to decorate. However, in our contract it was stated there were "plenty" of rectangle tables, which actually only meant 3. We wanted to use rectangle tables and not round ones, so we had to pay extra to rent those. This was not expected as I was asked specifically and mentioned in the contract. The linens, tableware and glasses were all included.

Back to the DJ situation. i would have reviewed Sole Power but they don't have a page here and they are affiliated with the venue, so this is the best place for this. As i mentioned previously, after getting a ridiculously high quote, for things I didn't understand. No effort was made to explain anything to me, nor was it shared above a few sentences in my contract that if i hired someone other than sole power, there would be consequences. I had already put down a deposit with another company, and it wasn't worth losing that. So I discover that my DJ is not allowed to bring in any speakers, or lights. We have to pay for a tech from sole power, even though i am paying the plug in fee. We have to rent all the equipment from Sole Power, even though my DJ had incuded it all for free. After a lot of attempts to compromise, we ended up with a $1000 bill for things I could have had for free. Sole power was gracious enough to discount the tech fee, but we still had to feed him a meal. Funny part was that we shared him with the wedding next door, and he chose to eat dinner there and not ours, so I paid for a vendor meal that wasn't eaten. So... before you sign a contract, make sure that someone from Sole power and YMG are present to explain EXACTLY what you are signing up for.

Now on to the wedding day. We arrived at the venue just before our guests, our coordinator had been there since noon which is when they allowed her to start set up. Everything looked great. A few small issues, the bridal suite safe never locked, despite multiple attempts to fix it. They just gave up and never mentioned it again. Thank goodness my brother in law kept on top of our gifts and stored them safely since we couldn't use the on site safe.
The bartenders were super friendly, in fact I think they were a little drunk. They had shots prepoured on the bar, which was nice, but they didn't have a shaker, so it meant all the shots were warm. The waitstaff forgot to pour champagne at the head table for the toast, so we had to cheers with empty glasses. At the end of the evening, the bathroom baskets were accidentally left behind, and when we went the following day to retrieve them, we were told they were taken by the cleaning staff and they were gone. No attempt at retrieving anything except the baskets themselves. We also had a few guests bring desserts and it took 3 weeks to get the dishes they gave them to the kitchen in back. I actually had to call the venue myself, because they kept asking for a photo of a bowl (who has a photo of a bowl), and refused to let anyone in the kitchen to look for themselves and didn't make any attempt to look. Finally after some persuading, they allowed the bowl owner and she located it in a few minutes.

Overall, our wedding day was great, just a few hiccups from mostly just not knowing, since, you know, I've never planned a wedding before. If i had to do it again, I would still get married here, i would just have made a few different decisions about music and lights.

York Mills Gallery's reply:

Thank you for your "review". This review is now 6 month after the wedding. To be honest; I am not sure where this came from. A week after the wedding you had sent me a direct message (if I could post screenshot, I would) stating that you "over the moon" and "thrilled with everything". At YMG we strive to make ourselves better every day. I would encourage you to reach out to us and let us know how we can make your next experience with us a better one. Thank you

[Private User]

I am taking the time to write this review as I recently held a formal sixtieth birthday celebration for my mother at York Mills Gallery (YMG2), and want to share the wonderful evening I had with others who may be considering the YMG space for an upcoming event. From initial contact to post-event follow-up, Isaac, Frances and the entire team provided a level of professionalism that was truly unforgettable. They assisted with making my vision a realisation, and in the process demonstrated patience with my concerns or uncertainty and provided the requisite level of knowledge and guidance in terms of the space and its possibilities when making recommendations. I felt that they were very upfront from the beginning, providing me with all my options and the associated costs, ensuring there was a complete understanding of the contract and our mutual obligations. I appreciated their thoroughness as it is a critical element in event planning that ensures a surprise-free ending.

The event space speaks, and shows, for itself. It is absolutely stunning when lit for the evening and will impress even the most stubborn of guests. Beyond what you can see, however, is the staff ‘behind the scenes’ that made our celebration a truly magical event. Assigned coordinators on hand the night of ensured that the evening proceeded without any glitches. Service staff, from the bartenders, to the waitstaff, to the coat check attendant, were so incredibly courteous to my guests, going above and beyond time and time again, that a full week later I am still hearing stories of ways in which staff attended to an individual guests’ needs unexpectedly. Lastly, the Chef and his amazing team. They put together a special menu in honour of our west indian background that impressed each and every guest who had the pleasure of tasting their dishes. The hors d’hoeuvres and three-course meal was above what I could have expected and was one of many elements that reassured me that I made the best decision by selecting YMG2 to host my mother’s birthday celebration.

Advance apologies to anyone who had to grab a coffee to read through my essay. I just have nothing but positive things to say about YMG2 and would highly recommend the space to anyone with an upcoming wedding or celebration – it may be one of the best decisions you make during your event planning.

Nassim Vahidi, Married on 29/09/2018

Blank Slate Type Venue for Events

This is a great venue if you are looking for a space that you can do anything with and bring anything into. We originally thought it would be an easy option as drapery, linens, tableware and glassware are included. However, the space is large and we ended up spending quite a lot of decor (in additional to floral of course) to make it warmer. Staff were great on the evening of, but we did have some issues. Some requests that were already in our floor plan were not followed through with and I was bugged on my wedding night by my vendors to get the venue to set up an extra table for the photographer, etc, as planned. We also didn't eat a thing on the wedding night, and didn't get anything packed up for us, which we are aware some venues do as a nice touch for the bride and groom. Overall it was reasonable for the price. The food was excellent.

James, Married on 05/05/2018

Disorganized and rude team. Lack of communication between the owner and catering. Worst of all, they double booked us and notified us with the worst email with no details of alternative dates or when they would get back to us with dates.
When we responded the caterer addressed nothing in our email other than providing alternative (earlier) dates and didn't include any other months that were outside of their "off season" dates or address if they would offer anything for other months. They stuck by their contract and provided a full refund, but provided no customer service.
Owner has not even apologized or contacted us and hides behind the catering group. Look elsewhere first.

York Mills Gallery's reply:

Ning Ning and James - Thank you for your review. You were told and we have noted again and again - that your wedding is not confirmed for 7 days period after your "booking" - for reasons that we would like to keep private to avoid embarrassment to you and your family. Your rude approach and inaccurate description of you booking is petty and using "reviews" as tactic is unacceptable.