Marriott St. Louis Grand

ly disappointed with the customer service and level of professionalism from staff. Our wedding coordinator was a poor communicator at best and would promise us things and then backtrack later. This was especially frustrating because the person who we toured the venue with and sold us on the venue, claimed we were entitled to many services we didn't end up getting. The coordinator also brought the wrong food to every tasting we had. At the wedding itself, many guests received the wrong meal at dinner service and when they asked for what they ordered, they said the staff was rude and dismissive. This was especially frustrating given there were table cards with people's names, entree choices, and allergies right in front of them on the table. Worst of all, we had informed our coordinator on multiple occasions that one of our guests had serious food allergies. Although our coordinator often dismissed us as worrying too much and claimed she'd be on top of it, she still served this guest a meal with food that she was seriously allergic to. This guest went into the beginning stages of anaphylactic shock and had to leave the reception immediately. This guest also missed several days of work due to the reaction, and although the hotel claimed they would reimburse her, it ended up being an empty promise and they ghosted her completely. My husband and I also had to spend 40 minutes of our reception handling this issue and dealing with the staff instead of celebrating with our guests. If you want quality customer service, honest and easy communication, and staff that sticks to their word and takes the safety of your guests seriously I do NOT recommend having your wedding at the Marriott St. Louis Grand. However, if you're just looking for an nice looking venue, the crystal ballroom is very nice. Although, based on my experience, I would argue the cost is not worth it just for a nice space.

e food and service was outstanding, the bridal suite was the best of any venue we toured and last but certainly not least, our venue coordinator Quinton was fantastic. He responded immediately to all my questions and everything was exactly as promised on the day of the event - no last minute hiccups at this venue! Highly recommend.

The venue (Crystal Ballroom) was a beautiful setting for my daughter's wedding and reception, but our wedding coordinator ( we hired late in the planning process due to hotel staff's ineptitude and indifference) saved the day by making sure the wedding was set up correctly and proceeded smoothly. Even though the hotel advertises "an exceptional events team" and "we will take care of everything" as regards wedding planning and execution, nothing could be further from the truth! Our only contact/"planner" from the Marriott Grand was the Banquet Manager, and she was a poor communicator ( when she even bothered to answer our questions as the wedding got closer), disorganized (she made mistakes at both food tastings, forgetting to provide the food choices we had made), and she gave us confusing and even conflicting information when we asked questions very pertinent to our planning for the wedding. For example, at one meeting she told us we had to rent our own "pipe and drape" to conceal the bride before the wedding, then later she told us the hotel provides the necessary pipe and drape. Her carelessness and lack of professionalism caused us much stress and no reassurance of smooth sailing in the last 3 months before the wedding. And on the night of the reception, one of my daughter's guests was served food she was allergic to, causing a severe reaction ( hives, bloating, pain, etc.) that forced her to leave the reception and then miss several days of work! We had discussed this serious allergy with the Banquet Manager, and provided all the required documentation to the Banquet Manager about our guest's allergies, what table she was sitting at, and we even put a placecard listing her allergies at her place at the table, but still she was served the wrong food. A month later, the Marriott has yet to offer our guest any compensation for their error (which the hotel readily admitted to), and for her pain, suffering, and loss of wages. Therefore, I cannot in good conscience recommend this venue for a wedding, especially considering the great amount of money we spent at the Marriott Grand in downtown St. Louis in hopes of ensuring an excellent celebration.

rystal Ballroom over 18 months ago, (December 15, 2021) at this time, all that was required was a deposit, signatures on contracts and of course a payment plan. The date of the wedding was March 18, 2023. There really wasn’t much interaction between us until around December of 2022. Around this time, as the Father of the bride, I guess you could say I became VERY involved, maybe even a bit overbearing, anxious, nervous, concerned etc, you get the idea. Obviously I had many questions and I was introduced to Lisa Stark as our event manager/planner/coordinator/all around Expert! Now, although we had a contract and many of the details were covered in this agreement once I got involved and really dug into the specifics there were many “unknowns” particularly for first time parents of both the bride and groom. First impressions of Lisa were extremely professional, kind, and most importantly empathetic! It was obvious to me that Lisa was very confident in her role and went out of her way to make sure everyone involved was comfortable with the plan for the big day. A few of the issues or concerns I had involved things like: Where will the band be set up? Where will the bars be located? How many bars? What if we want to add another bar? I don’t want our quest to wait long for a drink, how much will this cost? Will the food be served HOT and quickly to 250 quests? I need to book extra rooms for out of town guests and we need to arrange for distribution of the gift bags to each person as they check in. What about parking? Should we be concerned with Safety? Can we do a special drink, are you sure they will have all the ingredients? What about bringing in late night food, how is this handled? As I said these are just a few of the questions that I had. Honestly there were probably 3 or 4 times as many. Lisa handled each question and communicated with each department within the hotel to make sure that every concern we had was addressed and handled as requested. Well, it has taken me about 3 weeks to actually sit down and recap in writing just how spectacular this day was. I have received comments from everyone at the reception on just how beautiful and special everything was. Numerous guests told me it was “the best wedding they had ever experienced”. Although I took the credit that evening, all the credit should really go to Lisa Stark and the entire staff at the Marriott. In these crazy times of finding good, reliable service staff somehow the best of the best showed up at our wedding and made this event the most memorable evening of my life! The bartenders, the servers, the runners, valets, front desk personal etc. Thanks to Lisa and all the folks at the Marriott for going the extra mile to make it so incredibly wonderful. If you are planning a get together of any kind or size I would strongly recommend the services of Lisa Stark and the Marriott Grand.

in, I would still choose to have my wedding in the Statler Ballroom at the Marriott. The space was amazing, and we had a perfect day. PROS: - All in one! I cannot stress this enough, it was so great to not have to contract with additional vendors for food, table settings, tables, chairs, etc. Marriott truly did provide the "all in" package. - Dedicated "wedding coordinator" for your planning season. There was some turnover during the planning season (which made us nervous), but we ended up with Quinton and he was also super-fast to respond. I will note, you still NEED a day-of coordinator. The Marriott coordinator was not at our rehearsal, and we didn't see him until maybe reception time? This wasn't really an issue for us because we had a coordinator, but I just think future brides need to expect to not have their full attendance on wedding weekend. - Our food was delicious. We negotiated up front that we could opt out of the hors d'oeuvres (and we were so glad that we did) but we got a lot of compliments on the food at our reception (chicken/salmon with butternut squash and mashed potatoes). I had read some reviews that the food was meh, but we had a great experience with the food. - It was free to have the venue until midnight. When we found that out, we extended our reception to 12AM and had the option to do a cash bar for the last hour. I liked that flexibility. - Bridal suite was great. Spacious and pretty for photos! We had negotiated to have the bridal suite for two nights (instead of rooms for the parents). We were happy with that decision. Overall, the hotel is gorgeous, and we still LOVE the Statler ballroom. CONS: - I’m such a planner and I felt like I was always reaching out to the Marriott (granted, there was turnover) to figure out what was next. They have weddings every weekend, it would be great if there were a general timeline on when/how things happened (such as the food tasting). I would send emails with 15 questions long and it just felt like most of these we common FAQs that could be answered with a “bridal welcome package”. Just beware, if you have lots of questions, you will need to reach out constantly. - We made welcome bags for our guests, and we later found out that they gave the wrong bags to our guests. I am assuming there was a Saturday wedding (we were Friday) and they just didn’t pay attention. We spent a lot of time on our bags (had a newsletter, custom items, etc.) and it feels like it went to waste just because they didn’t pay attention to which wedding went with which bags. We also had ~10 bags leftover and we never got those back. Don’t send extra bags. - Our cake topper was lost. Not that big of a deal, but just wanted to flag that if you spend a lot of money on a topper, you should have someone keep track of it. - We paid for additional liquor for the bride and groom (1 bottle of Titos and 1 bottle of Captain Morgan). The bar staff was not super friendly, and we ended up not even getting to take advantage of the two bottles that we purchased (for $75 each + tax, service, etc). That was a waste of money. Regardless, remember that things will always go wrong. As I mentioned, we did it again, we would choose the Statler Ballroom. I might just remember some of the items above. :) Happy planning!

remember. I think they will remember the lovely couple, the beauty of the of the ballroom and the fun that was had. I will say that the wedding planners change VERY quickly. Ours left a month before the wedding and communication was dropped which was frustrating. Our daughter was married in the Statler ballroom, which guests remarked looked like a church, and the reception was in the Crystal Ballroom. Which we could do it all again!

The food was spectacular and the coordinator, Quinton, was a true dream to work with. I changed the schedule of events during the reception and he made sure everything went off without a hitch. It was such a beautiful venue and everyone was very complimentary of the entire day. We loved having our big day at the Marriott St. Louis Grand and could not recommend it more! Thank you Quinton!

with its beauty! Quinton, the Event Manager is wonderful to work with. His attention to detail and professionalism is above and beyond! Every staff member we encountered could not have been nicer and so helpful! The food was amazing. You will not be disappointed! Beautiful venue, great staff!

own away with this space! The staff was amazing and kind. Everyone was very attentive and accommodating. Thank you Marriott for making our day a dream!

leading up to the wedding. Our guests were blown away with how beautiful the venue was. It was pretty perfect! We loved the complimentary bridal suite Friday and Saturday- was spacious enough for bridal party to gather and get ready. Some things I assumed would be included weren’t - for example there is a beautiful grand piano located in foyer for cocktail hour but it wasn’t tuned and we would’ve had to pay for it to be tuned. Also picture of Statler showed draping over windows, but that wasn’t included in set up. Loved working with Julian at the Marriott! He was incredibly attentive and did awesome especially for being his first wedding there.

nice and carried out everything we asked. She went out of her way to make sure everything was perfect. Chris was also so attentive to our every wish in the ballroom, was very visible seeing to every detail and checking in with us throughout the evening. The place is beautiful!

arged $1,000 just to change the date! We finally got it refunded more than a year later, after some stern communication. The reception in the Statler Ballroom was disappointing. The room was not set up as planned. The food was small in portion compared to the tasting, and it looked like it was literally tossed on the plates. The herb mashed potatoes were obviously dished out with an ice cream scoop, like a mess hall. The wait staff looked angry the entire night. No smiles. The cake was beautifully plated, though. We had a good night despite the Marriott. The setting is beautiful and is the main selling point. Buyer beware.

venue. Let me start with the pros... Marriott was VERY understanding about postponing our wedding at no additional cost due to COVID back in Aug 2020. Corri at Marriott was a pleasant person to communicate with - kind and quick responses. As stated, the ballroom is beautiful. The wedding package was nice including valet service and the hotel rooms for us and our parents the night of the wedding. Cons... The food is honestly just okay. The service staff on the day of the wedding was not particularly kind. The bridal suite felt like a giant empty apartment... nothing fancy and kind of sterile. Lastly (and the main reason for my low score) the communication with our wedding coordinator Erica was terrible. It would take her sometimes 2 weeks or more to respond to a simple email. It took her so long to create a floor layout of the reception that we did not receive it until 5 days prior to our wedding, so we had to scramble last minute to create seating chart and sign. At certain points in the planning process, I had to double email, call, and complain to Corri about Erica's lack of communication. Based on this point alone, I would not recommend the Marriott for your wedding. It is already stressful enough planning a wedding. It is even more stressful if the wedding coordinator at your event venue does not respond to your emails in a timely manner. I recommend having your wedding somewhere else where your coordinator will actually care about your special day.

ded our expectations. Jodie personally saw to every detail and went over and above! We couldn't have been happier! Thanks again Jodie!

r and all I can say is wow! She was outstanding! She was on top of everything and always kept in touch. I can’t say enough good things about her! She really played a large role in making our wedding day perfect! The food was wonderful and the service was outstanding. Thank you Marriott for the perfect wedding day!

rate and handed our bag of goodies. In addition, they gave us an amazing surprise of an upgraded and decorated honeymoon suite the night of the wedding. It was the PERFECT way to end the inning! Special shout out to Emily, the coordinator, who was amazing. She was so responsive and overall just awesome to work with.

itself went well but I'm giving it a 2 because our coordinator, Erica, was very poor when it comes to communication throughout the process. There were just numerous things that happened that made the process 10 times for stressful for both myself and my family. Examples: 1 - No communication about when we could check in on the Friday before (made for a very stressful rehearsal day) - couldn't check in til two and we had a happy our scheduled with guests at 3 2 - we added late night snacks and these came out 20 minutes after dinner (never were we asked when we would want this to come out) 3 - it took about 4 emails to get things accomplished - our event order was wrong time and time again. 4 - would not receive calls back when we called (my mom told me this numerous times) 5 - we ran out of rooms in our block early, they told us we couldn't add any more because of our contract (which is fair). so we scrambled to find rooms at other hotels. I had many friends/guests staying at AirBNB and scattered throughout the city. only for to tell me they added more rooms the day before it was due after people had already booked other lodging all over the city. it's little things like that that make you not very confident everyone is on the same page on your wedding day. These were frustrations shared by myself, my fiancé, my parents and the day-of-coordinator I hired (whom Erica also failed to communicate anything with). I felt like I was slightly misled by the sales people who said we would have a "coordinator." When in fact Erica told me that she was "strictly a liaison between us and the hotel." I'm not sure she even filled that role. It was just a lot of money to spend to chase your tail for months and feel like there is ZERO communication or culpability on the hotel's end. Don't be fooled into thinking you are paying for good service.

ying she could do all these things for us, we would have access to spaces, they were able to find a very specific type of bourbon, etc and then delivered on nothing. I would have much preferred her be honest and admit the Marriott was unable to provide certain things. She sold her self as the only contact we needed and sadly we learned the hard way that she could not provide that. We also found the front desk staff extremely rude to our guests. At one point despite our constant reminders they told our guests they were not eligible for welcome boxes that we paid for because they booked their rooms with points. While I do not regret choosing the Marriott I do wish they would hire more reliable people. To add insult to injury they did not upload our Marriott points in time so then I had to call corporate and request them. Erica was notorious for taking over 5 days to respond to emails and the few details she did finish for us were half hazard (putting monogram wax seals upside down? like really you could not even read the seal?). Erica would not even say hello to me on the day of my wedding, I had to approach her - because she knew she had already upset my sister, mother, and aunt. Very unprofessional staff, but beautiful room!

edding and the reception at the hotel. The Statler Room was a cozy light-filled room for the wedding and the Crystal Ballroom for the reception was so beautiful for the reception. The food was wonderful and the service great. The day really flowed. Trina was our coordinator and we can't say enough good things about her.

Her guidance helped us through the process. She really came through for us when life threw some curve balls our way outside of the wedding planning. Her ability to create a table map the way we wanted it is a gift. She greeted our guests as they checked in to the hotel and each guest who met her commented about how much they loved meeting her. Whatever the request was by guests and wedding party, Erica delivered with ease and a smile. Everyone at the hotel restaurant, front desk, mini market, valet, and lobby lounge were so friendly, kind, and just truly good people. We would stop in occasionally to eat breakfast and see the room months before the wedding, each time we'd run into someone from catering, and/or management. Each time we were greeted in a way that made us feel so special and excited for our guests to have the same experience. Thank you Erica and The Marriott Grand!

e first place! We initially thought we'd have 250+ guests and our coordinator was hesitant but we ended up having about 200 and everything worked wonderfully. They have a piano but will charge you to tune it so we passed on that. The chef was great and was able to cook persian food for us! However, they couldn't make everything on our menu so they allowed us to partially cater from the outside. Cocktail hour food is crazy expensive ($5 per bite size piece!!!) but it ended up adding up to our minimum. The venue itself is so pretty - you don't need a lot of decorations, just flowers and lights! Also they have two ballrooms and initially wanted to charge us two separate minimums to use them. I said I needed both rooms and didn't want to pay two minimums... they eventually gave me both ballrooms for the price of one (+ a small fee to use the second room).Overall great experience if you can splurge.

ator was wonderful to work with during the planning process and the actual event. The reception was such fun and we are very grateful for the wonderful memories. Thank you! Lauri H.

eginning, the staff at the Marriott were attentive and genuinely interested in making our wedding a wonderful experience! Other vendors made us feel like we needed to beg them to take our business. From Matt in the revenue department to Erica, our planner, every detail went off without a hitch! The spaces are incredibly beautiful and second-to-none in St. Louis, the food is outstanding and the staff is so friendly and attentive. At one point, one of our guests spilled red wine on my dress, and before I could even ask one of my bridesmaids to help me clean it with club soda, two Marriott staff members were in the bathroom cleaning my dress. I was so surprised and grateful! The Marriott is are truly an incredible venue--and an incredible value for the level of service--and I wouldn't have wanted our wedding anywhere else. Thank you for making our reception and brunch so wonderful!

for out of town guests (were able to have at least 30 rooms for our guests.) Our reception was in the starlet ballroom and was gorgeous! Could not have asked for better service from everyone at the hotel. Highly recommend this venue!

m and weren't overly thrilled as we had never been there before - BUT when we walked in we got a feeling that we didn't get at ANY OTHER venue we looked at. We continued to compare every venue to the crystal ballroom. The room is absolutely gorgeous and we had a great experience with our sales contact (Allison). Once selected, we were assigned Shelby as our day of coordinator. Shelby and her staff went above and beyond anything that we needed. She was great at providing best practices/suggestions from the other weddings that she worked and was always there with a prompt answer when we needed her. The food, wait staff and overall organization were amazing the night of. We are SO glad that we chose to see the crystal ballroom and have our wedding at the Marriott St. Louis Grand!!

planning process and it really laid the foundation for the wedding as a whole. Melissa was our event coordinator and she really did everything possible to make us feel comfortable and make sure our needs were met. We felt cared for in every way. Alison (Sales Manager) was a joy to work with at the beginning when we were crafting the food & beverage package. She was very reasonable in accommodating our requests and we felt we could really trust the entire team. It was the perfect venue for out of town guests. There is nothing like the Statler in St. Louis – go for it and you won’t be disappointed! They have an amazing Executive Chef and their options are truly wonderful.

was friendly and attentive to our guests. More importantly, our event timeline was well orchestrated and organized and that is all thanks to our Event Coordinator, Shelby Robbins. Shelby was my right hand during the wedding planning process. She was extremely organized, responsive, helpful, professional, and well-mannered. She coordinated the reception timeline and asked very detailed questions to ensure our reception was exactly how we envisioned. I provided Shelby with notes on how to arrange my décor (vases, guest book table, etc.) and it was all set up meticulously and exactly as I instructed. Shelby was a stress reliever for me during the planning process, and I appreciated her accountability and her willingness to bend over backwards for me. The Marriott brand is known for its exclusive and exquisiteness and Shelby is a perfect representative of that. We cannot thank her enough for her assistance during the past year. She truly made our reception beautiful and absolutely perfect.

l photographers were in awe. It is gorgeous! We worked with Susan Gallione and, when it comes to customer service, hers would be hard to beat. She was like a friend throughout the entire planning process. Our day went perfectly and the entire hotel staff was so friendly and helpful to our wedding party and our guest. Once you see this venue, you'll fall in love.

ted about 10 different venues before visiting the Marriott. Once we did the answer of which venue to choose was very simple. We worked with Matt initially. He was very professional, he was very accommodating, and just overall a very nice person to work with. He set us up with all of the details, and got us rolling for a 12/9/2016 wedding reception in the crystal ballroom. Over the next 14 months we worked with Shelby. crystbbalballroobOver the

end for anyone for a venue and place to stay in St. Louis.

xcellent, especially the wedding coordinators, Shelby and Matt. Shelby and Matt were very responsive, detail orientated and assuring throughout the whole process guiding us along. From the planning to the execution, every detail was covered and the service was exquisite. We received many compliments from our guests regarding how great the food tasted, how beautiful the ballroom was and how nice the staff was! Having our reception here was the best decision we made! I am very grateful to the staff for making it such a memorable day! I would highly recommend the Marriott St. Louis Grand Hotel!!!

n and advice. The catering was delicious. We received so many compliments from our guests regarding how great the dinner tasted. The hotel rooms were nice and spacious for guests and valet parking was a perk for guests. I would highly recommend the Marriott St. Louis Grand Hotel and especially the Crystal Ballroom. It is a beautiful room!

mashed potato bar, tacos...everyone was stuffed! Our coordinator, Meridith, went above and beyond to make the day run smoothly. I was worried initially about how everything would play out since we were flipping the ballroom between the ceremony and reception, but she took care of everything and allowed me to enjoy the evening socializing with our guests. The ballroom was gorgeous, we didn't have to spend much on decor since the room is so opulent. At the end of the night we went back to our room and were surprised with chocolate covered strawberries, champagne, and rose petals..even nicer our gifts and ceremony/reception items (toasting flutes, cake servers, left over cake, etc) were neatly packed into a luggage cart and ready to go for the next morning. The recent remodel is great, the bridal suite was very spacious and served as a nice back drop for our getting ready pictures. If you want the convenience of a banquet facility but still want a venue that retains unique character and classic beauty, this is the place for you!

tel but oh my gosh it was beautiful! We had 2 rooms the night before the wedding; one for the groom stay/get ready in and one for the bride to stay/get ready in. They let the bride's room have a late check out. The room was HUGE with so much natural light and our hair and make up team LOVED it! The beds were comfortable and there was also a pull out couch which was great! The only downside was that even though I booked a HUGE suite with a kitchen area there was only one mini fridge (very mini). All of our guests that stayed at the hotel seemed to like it and even the smaller rooms were great! My husband and I also stayed there on our wedding night. They gave us champagne, chocolate covered strawberries and rose petals. It was beautiful!!

ou. They broke some of my decor and blamed it on my guests (I was the last person in the room so I know this is a lie). That said, they are good at making last minute adjustments and the food is great. I'm not sure that it's an even trade off, but that's what you will get.

ange wedding coordinators and the hotel was under construction and I still would use this venue and recommend you do the same. The Crystal ballroom was stunning. The food was delicious. They were incredibly accommodating. The hotel is able to provide wedding services in a very convenient way - you don't have to separately arrange a caterer, dishes, linens, parking, etc.

top of every detail, ensured everything was perfect, and was a complete pleasure to work with. The food there is amazing, their halls gorgeous, and the staff exceptional. I would definitely recommend the Renaissance.

us the rooms. She was so sweet and accommodating! My event coordinator was Kristin, she was amazing! She made my day perfect! Making sure everything thing was on time and in place. She was more than accommodating and was so helpful through out the entire process. The servers were so friendly, the food was delicious, and the extra touches the hotel throws in to make you feel special made my wedding flawless and stress free!

ect setting. I continue to receive compliments on the food provided by the catering staff - the appetizers, meal, wedding cake and even the macaroon favors. My coordinator Kristin was great. I cannot be more thankful that I chose the Renaissance for my wedding!

g, as were all the servers and staff. Our guests raved about the food. The servers kept checking on my husband and I to make sure we were taken care of. I did not have to worry about setup- we brought all our centerpieces, alter arrangements, aisle runners, decorations, and the hotel staff set them all up. Likewise, they collected and stored everything until the next day when I could pick them up. They were also very thoughtful- our gifts and a slice of wedding cake were brought to our bridal suite, and there was champagne waiting for us. Having our wedding here was the best decision we made! I am very grateful to the staff of the Renaissance Grand for making it a memorable day!

rs, so I was initially a bit worried that anything less than Ritz was going to be disappointing for me. The Renaissance Grand exceeded every expectation I had! From beginning to end, everyone that I encountered during the planning process and the night of made sure that every request we had was met with a smile and a 'yes, of course!' If it was something they could not accomdate, they made sure to give alternatives that did work for them and us. We had guests at our wedding from 3 different continents and over 6 countries - everyone was blown away! We picked the Crystal Ballroom on the 21st floor for the ceremony and reception. The 22foot high ceiling and windows combined old-world elegance with a spectacular view. We went all out with the flowers and centerpieces but the room does not need necessarily need it. We just did it for the WOW factor - altough the room is truly 'grand' even without any extras. The food was superb - we opted for a dual entree of salmon & sirloin and we received many compliments. The staff was attentive and efficient throughout the night and the entire evening truly was a fairytale come true.