Crystal Rose

This isn’t closed! My friend booked her wedding day today. $ 4300 for everything. Sounds like a great bargain and she barely has to lift a finger.

Had my wedding here and it was exceptional! They did everything! Their wedding planner made sure the day was perfect and I didn’t have to worry about a thing. Everything ran smoothly and the staff made sure I was always where I needed ro be. They even let us customize the music and menu to exactly what we wanted. When we sat down to eat, I asked the waiter if he had any bleu cheese dressing because it looked like there was only ranch for the hotwings we had as an appetizer. He said «It will take a few minutes, but I can definitely get you some». I said «as long as it’s not any trouble». He said «no trouble at all». I ate my wings last so I could wait. We waited a while and my husband joked that they were making the dressing from scratch and the cheese had to age. 15 minutes later, the waiter returned out of breath with a bottle of bleu cheese dressing. He ran down to the Walmart on foot and bought me bleu cheese dressing. I laughed so hard. I said «Oh my goodness, I could have had ranch! You really didnt have to do that! «He said «absolutely anything for the bride». I could have cried. If that isn’t service, I don’t know what is. I had a beautiful wedding, where I barely lifted a finger, for under $ 10,000 and its all because of the Crystal Rose.

This will be our THIRD HS class reunion hosted at a Crystal Rose venue. Our event is scheduled for July 26^th and I can’t wait! The staff and facilities are fantastic! Jay is the best! If we all live to make our 50^th class reunion and the Crystal Rose is still around, you can bet we’ll be celebrating with them! Walkers, wheelchairs and oxygen masks in tow! Thanks Jay!

So, my company is a pretty decent size (20 employees) and we were provided a reference for Crystal Rose from a business association we both belong to. Trying to support other members, we reached out to them to plan our holiday party of approximately 50 people.
I contacted Jay personally at the beginning of November, trying to ensure we had plenty of time before the date of the party itself, just before Christmas. He was very helpful and responsive initially, and we agreed on several things, like for the location to be at our offices downtown (as opposed to one of their facilities, which made it easier for them), and number of attendees of around 50, and of course pricing (which was several thousand dollars).
From there, it seemed like it should have been pretty straightforward to finalize the plan, but I kept getting no response to my attempts to do so. I called and emailed Jay multiple times to wrap it up, knowing full well that the date was getting closer every day, but couldn’t get a call back. In addition to the multiple emails, I left him multiple voicemails, and since I was actually able to catch him a few times, we spoke on the phone personally 3 or 4 times over a three-​week period after the initial contact.
Each time we spoke, especially at the end, as the time was moving forward without progress, I asked him if he was sure we would still be OK for our date, since we have a whole company of employees and their families counting on a party, and each time he assured me that everything was fine, and he would be at our location at a certain time or day to simply finalize the details.
Needless to say, that never happened. As of now, I have not heard from Jay, or anyone at his organization, for over 2 weeks. We have finally been forced to hire another company at the last minute. We tried to contact several companies with no luck, because all of them were already booked for our date (big surprise), since we were trying to book a 50 person holiday party at the busiest time of the year with just 2 weeks notice. If we had continued to trust Jay and take him at his word that Crystal Rose would be able to perform our event, we would be completely screwed and had our entire holiday party plan ruined.
THANKFULLY, we found another awesome company who just happened to have that date free for us (literally they were booked up the exact days either side of our target date, just by pure luck) and the whole process of booking was exceptionally easy. I feel like it must have been fate.
After this whole terrible experience I decided to research Crystal Rose online, and found all the bad reviews (not to mention the fact that they ARE IN BANKRUPTCY). Wow. Buyer beware!
I wish I had done this research before I wasted all this time. We are very relieved that we were able to dodge the bullet of using Crystal Rose, BEFORE it cost us too much trouble, and I hope that all of you reading this do your research before booking, rather than afterwards, like us, or even worse after an awful party or wedding, like so many of these other people who used Crystal Rose and then regretted it.

My wife and I got married here less than a week ago. Neither of us regret going with this place as our venue. From start to finish, the coordinator, Cheena, was on top of things and kept us in the loop on everything.
The venue was small, which was perfect for a small wedding (40 guests in all), and the ability to have the ceremony outdoors before going right in for the reception was a blessing. The building is definitely aged with dust bunnies hiding in places and some debris on the floor (which they tried so hard to pick up, but still missed some), but it was very comfortable. Definitely cleaner than some church weddings I’ve been to.
The number of options presented to us for the event were many, from menu choices to casino packages, bar packages, inside, outside, colours, centerpieces, etc. And the connections they had to bakeries, florists, ministers, photographers, and entertainment helped us choose our options, even when we didn’t go with their suggestions.
Now the one thing I will comment on is the food. While the meal was enjoyable, it was obvious they don’t do banquets on a regular basis. The mashed potatoes were instant and they tasted of canned chicken broth, as did the turkey, scalloped potatoes, and herb-​roasted chicken. Being in the culinary field with much experience in banquets and buffets, I just couldn’t see why they wouldn’t go with fresh potatoes moistened with milk and butter, especially with it being such a small group. The other qualm is that it didn’t resemble much of what our tasting tasted like. The chicken tasted different, probably from the canned broth, and the scalloped potatoes were creamy and looked more like gratin-​style. The one thing they got right was the green beans amondine, though looking back, I don’t think I recall any almonds at all… Still, they were cooked right and well seasoned.
Overall, I would recommend the Crystal Rose for someone planning a small wedding. I don’t know how they could put on events as large as they say they can, but that’s just up to my own speculations and size estimates.
Thank you, Crystal Rose, for making our special day memorable to us and to our families.

The website says one thing, the site is another. It’s dark, kind of dirty, and small. The decorations look really old, and there’s dust piling up in the higher crevices of the rooms. The carpet comes up in places, so you trip sometimes, and the dance floor is itty bitty and is raised a few inches, which makes me wonder how many drunk people have tripped there. It looks more like an old restaurant that needs some love rather than an event venue.

ATTITUDE SUX WITH THESE «SERVICE PEOPLE» — No hospitality to speak of. Dealers /​management had who-​could-​care attitudes. I would NOT hire these yayhoos to scrape roadkill. Very disappointed with this experience that was sposed to be fun.

Attended a wedding here earlier this year. If you look at the description, you can find what I think is the biggest flaw in this place: «Event/​party planning, venues, casinos.» It does act as a casino as well as an event and wedding location, and it’s just spreading itself too thin. The venue itself is teeny tiny; the approximately 100 guests just barely fit in the one main room in the hall, and this had to function as both the ceremony and the reception area. The cake was placed on a very small table in the entrance way, and everyone passed by it precariously.
After the ceremony, the guests were forced to leave the building and stand outside while the chairs were removed, and tables, place settings, chairs, etc. were placed in the reception area. Keep in mind it is mid-​February and freezing. Having nowhere for guests to go while you clear the area, let alone provide a cocktail hour?
Once back inside, tables were dismissed to go to the buffet too quickly, so a very long line developed. The «dining area» is basically a hallway, and it was impossible to tell which end to enter, so that added to the confusion. The food was marginal and bland, and the waitstaff was inattentive at clearing plates or refilling drinks. There seemed to be no one in charge or acting as a manager or event coordinator, so the pacing of the evening was quite strange. Maybe this place is a good casino, but it is not the best option for a wedding venue.