Where to even begin? We get married tomorrow (July 1, 2023) and signed our contract with them in January 2022. The conglomerate we dealt with on the “official” payroll (Sunny and Jonah) are either incompetent. Jonah has REPEATEDLY made mistakes and blamed us. From notifying our vendors that our access times are different from our contact (caused a ton of issues) and blaming us for her inability to spend the time to read the contract, then made an excuse. Then our agreed upon food selections were reduced when we picked off the new menu, with no heads up! The contract also indicates that the decibels of your DJ must remain below 90 until 8 pm. The work around for this is issuing their “preferred” DJ. The contract also says you can only use their decorator, who while is a separate entity, takes all their payments through the Grand Imperial and has a Grand Imperial email address. The food at the tasting was bland, and when we expressed that, were told we were wrong - since 450 others didn’t say anything. Honestly, it feels like the Emperor’s New Clothes and everyone is worried to say the food is mid. We’ve had Jonah forget about meetings (we live 2 hours away and drove up for no reason) and then magically impose a 3 day deadline for if our wedding is indoor or outdoor. They’re moving the standard chairs from inside to outside and potentially moving tables 30 feet. This was not in our contract, nor ever mentioned. The “day of coordinator” Jonah couldn’t coordinate an empty field. They’ve found us at every turn about EVERYTHING. The arrogance and coat-tail riding of their reputation is UNBELIEVABLE. If we could have tore-up the contract, got our money back and never darkened their door again, it would have been the perfect wedding gift.

I’m so happy I picked Grand imperial for my wedding . Everything was perfect to the very last detail . They were so organised and helpful , I couldn’t recommend more . Such helpful staff especially Jonah , Thank you for being there for us on our wedding day to bring everything together .Excelelnt location , Great car park , Beautiful and clean bridal room and bathroom . Such a luxury venue . Went well beyond my expectations on the day . Our wedding reception was spectacular.Thank you Grand Imperial .

The Grand Imperial really knocked it our of the park with our wedding. The team working there from management, decorators, bartenders and kitchen staff were all great. The management team were always there to help us with any questions we had and little things we wanted to do to make our day unique. The decorators were fair priced and executed our vision exactly how we wanted. The bartenders did a great job managing our large wedding crowd, many people were surprised how friendly, outgoing and on the ball they were compared to past wedding bartender experiences. Last but not least the kitchen staff, they executed our family style service perfectly. The food was better than most restaurants you’d go to and they were able to serve all the food on time, at a good pace and still warm when it hit the table. We got so many compliments on the food, it really made the wedding pull together. Highly recommend this venue and their team.

We were married here in July of 2023, and this will be my frank and upfront review of our entire experience from the venue selection to the day after the wedding.

Venue Selection:
During venue selection, we visited and met with staff at the Fairmont, Chateau Lacombe, Derrick Club, and the JW Marriot. The JW Marriot and the Fairmont had so many requirements and minimal prep time allowances for clients, and their staff lacked hospitality - they talked to us as if we're peasants and they will tell us what to do. The staff at the Derrick Club and the Chateau Lacombe hotel were really friendly, but the venue was a bit less "fancy" than we were looking for. The Grand Imperial venue was stunning from the first time we saw it. We knew we wanted the same feel for our guests and the staff were so friendly and accommodating in answering every question we had, that this was more or less a done deal the first time we saw it (although I didn't tell them that they are our choice until visit 3).

Preferred Vendors:
DJ and Lights:
They have their own preferred vendors for DJ and music but you're welcome to bring your own - which is exactly what we did! We brought DJ PS from Toronto and here's the coolest part. The preferred vendor Divinity DJ (Sam) actually called me and offered help to make sure DJ PS was able to hook up and run his requested equipment. Divinity was so helpful (and we weren't even paying them for anything) that we asked them to provide a dry ice machine, the concert lights, and indoor fireworks. It gets even better. No one told Sam, the Divinity DJ guy, when our first dance is and when it started, he quickly started up the dry ice machine and had the indoor fireworks on with perfect timing.

Decor:
Their preferred vendor, Amy, worked with us to have us provide the culturally sensitive items and small touches like welcome cards + party favours on the tables, while we were limited to using her for common items such as chargers, and other indoor decor (not including fresh florals). At first, we thought it was inconvenient because they prices seemed high but after shopping around to see what similar vendors charge for the same items, we quickly realized Amy's prices were on par or below market rates.

Flowers:
We asked the venue management about sourcing flowers and they gave us a few names but also suggested that if we know florists that can help us, order them for ourselves but we have to prep them before bringing them. We bought our own flowers from Costco online, received them 3 days before the wedding, made the centerpieces at home and brought them to the venue. We set them up ourselves and the venue cleaned up after us. We paid about $3200 for 1700 white roses and 840 baby's breath stems. Quotes from florists for similar set ups ranged between $12,500 and $17,000. They saved us a lot of money in doing that.

Food:
We had a Persian wedding and we were quite picky about our food so we inquired about catering or using a preferred chef, but the venue - for obvious reasons - would only use their own. AND MY GOODNESS THEY DID NOT DISSAPPOINT. We did the food tasting 3 months prior to the wedding and the dinner on the night of looked and tasted 100% the same. What you get at the tasting is what your plated dinner would look like. The guests won't stop talking about the food. The salmon was likely the best we've ever had. The chef was able to make a phenomenal saffron chicken (we provided them the real saffron as we weren't taking any chances with that being anything but saffron) and Persian rice with "tahdig" (not an easy item to make). If the salmon and chicken were 10/10, the beef was an 8/10; still a fantastic dinner but it was obvious that the salmon and chicken were slightly better. I should note that the chef made food we requested and not items on the menu; therefore, the reality for menu items may be different. Finally, the tiramisu cake served with the dinner was fantastic and the servings are so large, we had 4 out of the 5 tiers of our wedding cake left over. By the way, they boxed the cake tiers beautifully for us and put them in the fridge for us to pick up the next day. The late night food pizza is unreal. I highly recommend the pizza option and every guest of our who tried it absolutely loved it. We had a guest ask if they can order pizza from them... that should speak for itself.

Drinks:
We provided our own alcohol and the were absolutely awesome about it. The bartenders were billed at rates below what we would have paid friends to do it, and they were super professional. We had an open bar, serving relatively higher end liquor (darioush wines, johnnie walker gold whiskey, Persian saggi, etc....) and they made sure everything went smooth. They bottled everything left over, put them in boxes for us, and had them on a cart ready for pick up the next day. We also had bottles of wines placed on the tables. Jonah's staff took care of that for us.

Wedding day:
We obviously had a unique wedding for Edmonton as it was a Persian-Canadian infused wedding and we planned the entire thing ourselves with the help of friends and family. We even obtained a license for our family friend to be the officiant. We had minimal experience with weddings as we're the first of our friends to have a Persian wedding and we've collectively attended 3 weddings in the past 10 years so we really did this blindly. We relied on the venue for a lot of support and they were perfect for us. They were absolutely perfect. They let us plan and coordinate things our own way but were right beside us the whole way if we needed anything. Our ceremony was at the outdoor part of the venue at 4:30 and we started at 4:30:00. Not even a second off. Even the DJ said he's never seen timing like this. Imagine what they could pull of with a professional planner and a properly planned wedding. Our guests were told the lobby doors will open at 6:00 for the reception, and the reception doors were opened at 6:00:00. 2 weeks prior to our wedding, we sent the estimated timeline of the day to our guests and the estimates became the exact times.

Jonah:
I read a review about Jonah right before I wrote this review and I was really surprised because without Jonah, our wedding would have been a disaster. Jonah was the cog that made everything work so well. She was super professional, understanding, she worked with us the whole time, and she let us lead the way while directing her staff and kitchen to meet our demands. One of our friends who was helping us set up was giving Jonah many demands and she was very good at handling pressure from frantic patrons while making sure things go well. I cannot say enough good things about Jonah and her team. We wanted specific wine bottles on specific tables and I gave Jonah a simple excel sheet with minor errors on it. She caught the errors and somehow managed to ensure it was done perfectly. THANK YOU JONAH.

Overall:
I cannot enough good things about this venue. I used to be quite active in cultural events and hosted 2 events per year (400-1000 people) at various venues, events that featured dinner, speeches, music/dj, drinks, and dancing. This was the most well organized, professional, and well managed facility I've ever had the pleasure of planning an event at - and lucky us, it was for our own wedding. For close friends and family, I will be a big advocate that they use the Grand Imperial with Jonah running the show and Ronaldo as the chef.

Do not hesitate to book your wedding here. It is truly a dream venue. From the very beginning, we were able to tour the venue as many times as we wanted, and Sunny and his team were extremely responsive to all of our questions and concerns. Once we booked our package, we were in constant contact with Jonah, the Venue Manager, and all I can say is she is nothing short of amazing. From answering emails instantly to coordinating our entire wedding day smoothly and flawlessly, I was blown away by her attention to detail and how absolutely amazing everything turned out. Her entire team was kind, professional, and accommodating to our guests and everything we needed! Amy and her team took my vision for our decor and blew it out of the water. The ceremony space and venue were absolutely stunning, and we received numerous compliments on the space. The food was not only plated beautifully but was extremely delicious - all of our guests could not stop raving about how much they enjoyed it all! Thank you to the rest of the amazing staff at the Grand Imperial for making our wedding day a dream come true!!

Absolutely excellent venue! Our daughter and new son's wedding was spectacular at the Grand Imperial. I can't say enough about the great service right from the start. A huge thank you to Jonah the manager, for her speedy response to every question and concern. Thank you to Amy and her decor crew - everything ordered came through and looked spectacular. Leading up to the wedding was an easy process and working with Jonah and Amy helped us feel almost worry free about the whole event. Everything was looked after in a very professional manner. The FOOD! Amazing! Our guests made comments like "the best food ever at a wedding", everything was absolutely delicious. The dessert buffet was over the top - best Black Forest cake ever! We were more than pleased about this precious event in our lives. We highly recommend the Grand Imperial. Well done!!! I guess the only downside I could share is there was traffic noise during the outside ceremony.

Charlene and Ron

The staff is so caring and responsive at the grand imperiale. They gave us a truly beautiful experience! The guests loved the venue and the decorations and the staff was so attentive during our reception and made sure to have all our needs met. Thank you to the amazing grand imperiale team! You made our wedding a beautiful night to remember 🎉😊

Highly suggest the Grant Imperial as a venue. They went above and beyond for our wedding. The venue itself is stunning. There is plenty of space for parking, lots of washrooms, and it’s straight up gorgeous. The food is incredible. I’m not even joking when I say that every single one of our guests RAVED about the food. Everything was delicious and there was a ton so food and deserts !! The staff was super friendly and incredibly helpful. Everything for our wedding went without a hitch. I would highly recommend this venue and it’s staff !!