Baltimore Marriott Waterfront

Horrible Planning Process

The wedding itself was beautiful and ran smoothly on the day of, but the planning process was genuinely one of the most frustrating experiences we've ever had. Our biggest piece of advice: get everything in writing, because we had to dig up emails from over a year prior just to hold them to their own promises. We had a kosher wedding, which required all alcohol to be kosher as well. During our initial tour, we were explicitly told we could swap any non-kosher alcohol for a kosher equivalent, provided the cost was comparable, and that they could source almost anything, unless it was hard to get (they used ordering a handful of bottles of Malort as an example of what they could do). Neither of those statements made it into the contract; instead, the contract said “replacement to be determined with Event Manager”. Five of the alcohols in the bar package were non-kosher but only three were written as non-kosher in the contract, so they tried to limit us to three substitutions total, directly contradicting what we'd been told. And when we went to make our swaps, suddenly they weren’t able to order something or needed to upcharge us for anything they didn't normally stock. They also had a selective relationship with the contract itself. When we asked to swap the non-kosher prosecco for a kosher option for the toast, they told us they weren't obligated to provide a kosher alternative because the contract technically said "champagne" and not “kosher champagne” — which is true, except they were serving prosecco, which is not champagne. The signature cocktail was another disappointment. We provided a specific old fashioned recipe in advance, confirmed it was doable, and the version served day-of bore little resemblance to what we'd requested. They used bright red maraschino cherries instead of Luxardo cherries, way too much maple syrup, and added water. Some of our guests also noticed they were watering down other cocktails, which is ridiculous given we were paying 149 per guest JUST for the alcohol. A few weeks before the wedding, we were also informed that our guest count of roughly 200 people would only fit in our selected room if we used exclusively round tables, kept all bars outside the room, and maintained six-foot spacing between tables. The room was listed for 280 in our proposal. None of those conditions were ever communicated when we signed. Fortunately, after pushing back, they did move us to a different room, but that conversation shouldn't have needed to happen right before our wedding. Throughout the entire planning process, every “accommodation” felt like a battle. The day itself was lovely and went off without a hitch (minus the cocktail issues), and the staff who worked the event were friendly. But the experience leading up to it left us feeling like a major inconvenience rather than clients whose wedding they were invested in.