The Bell Tower On 34th

My daughter and son-​in-​law were married at The Bell Tower on Friday, June 10, 2016. What a beautiful event it was. Donna, their planner was wonderful. I even had people coming up to me to say how on top of it she was. The food was delicious. People loved this event and said that they really had never been to a more beautiful wedding. I would 100% recommend this venue to anyone who wants to have the wedding of their dreams. The next morning, my daughter thanked my husband and me for giving her the wedding of her dreams. It could not have been more beautiful. Thank you Bell Tower Staff.

If I could give this place zero stars I would. I tried to book this place for an event and called them and gave them the details of my event about 5 times over the course of 6 months. Every time I called I spoke to someone that couldn’t figure out who I spoke to before and continued to take down the same information as the previous person promising one of their «event coordinators» would call me back. I never received a call back from anyone.

Only giving one star because that’s the lowest I can give, the staff was very unprofessional, especially the valet staff.
I handed them my ticket to pick up my car, and it took over an hour for it to arrive. I was told that limousine services had the valet backed up. but that shouldn’t take an hour, plus it took most people 10 mins max to get their vehicle. When I went to confront the lead valet guy, I found out that they never even went to get my car in the first place. I told him that I had been waiting for an hour and his response was to be patient. I was on the phone with my boyfriend and when walking across the street I was almost hit by a car and he yelled out «if you weren’t on that damn phone maybe you’d be more careful» my response was to tell him to «shut up» and afterwards he had told the valet guys to hold me for an additional 30 minutes then proceeded to approach me and tell me to watch my mouth, and I replied with the same thing.
It shouldn’t take an hour to pick up a vehicle.
Very unpleasant experience.

I had been at at Saturday am tour and fell in love with it.
My now husband proposed at his birthday party and my birthday party was coming up on May, 7.
We were planning a September wedding.
But we’re crazy and surprised guest at the bell tower thinking it was a fancy birthday party.
And SURPRISE it was our beautiful wedding.
I loved the chandelier room from the moment I saw it. I did not have a big wedding so I didn’t need a big space. The food was delicious my guest raved about it. Since I planned this in less than a month, I couldn’t schedule a food tasting or have much time to get décor and things.
But I went with blackened chicken and beef tenderloin with cheese potatoes and green beans.
And it was delicious.
Everyone loved the food.
My coordinator was Leslie, she is so sweet and amazing. We couldn’t get to see each other that much we literally emailed about everything.
But I am beyond thankful she helped me.
The day of the event Meredith helped me and I salute her and group with everything they do.
Lastly A lady named Jordan caught my eye.
I saw her at 2 Saturday Am tours and I said to myself, she’s so sweet.
I saw her the morning of my event and smiled because she was there.
Throughout the whole night she was everywhere and as sweet as could be and I imagined how tired she was.
But I want everyone at The Bell Tower that you guys make our events and speaking for myself my wedding/birthday/Mother’s Day magical.
Everything was coordinated to perfection and everyone there did awesome.
Jordan, Meredith, and my lovely Leslie
Thank You
I will see y’all soon

Well, the wedding is over and our experience with The Bell Tower was officially fantastic! Angie, our coordinator, was great! She responded to emails quickly and answered all our questions adequately and patiently.
Having your wedding at The Bell Tower will lower your stress levels by a million. They help with everything and the staff is so, so, so professional and friendly. And you’ll hardly need to decorate because the building and grounds are so beautiful, as is.
The only minor issues were that sometimes the staff is TOO efficient. Some of our guests wanted more wedding cake, but the staff had already boxed it up as soon as the first round was served. They also only give you 2 hours in the bridal suite to get ready. Most people need more than 2 hours. If it’s available, you can buy more time in the suite for $ 100 an hour. Not a huge deal, but kind of annoying
Minor issues aside, we were thrilled with our wedding at The Bell Tower! GREAT staff, worth the money, beautiful place, and LOW STRESS!

We have held 2 End of Year parties at the Bell Tower and the service is ALWAYS top notch! Angie is our event planner and her staff are all professional and kind. They are willing to go above and beyond. 2 years ago we decided to make it a costume party a week before the event. The staff not only accommodated, but helped with my costume. The food is out of this world, and their chef is something special. The best part about these events, is that you really can sit back and enjoy as they take care of EVERYTHING. I HIGHLY recommend using the Bell Tower for all your events!!!

If you are looking to get ripped off then this is the venue for you!
If you don’t like to eat and think that your guests don’t deserve to be fed either after you just spent thousands and thousands of dollars then look no further!
If you don’t want to be able to have a courteous and professional conversation with the owner regarding the issues that undoubtedly will arise with this venue, then you have found the perfect place!
My sister in law and brother in law were married here and did not get what they paid for! The bride specifically confirmed that the food they had selected at their tasting would be served in the same portions at their wedding and was told YES. She selected a nicely sized sea bass and 4 pieces of tenderloin per plate/​guest.
But on the day of her wedding guests were served ¼th of the sea bass and merely 1 piece of tenderloin. At least two tables were not served food AT ALL. Many of the guests were served just salad and a roll.
Is that the memory you want you guests to have? For them to remember joining you on this joyous occasion and then having to leave early because they are faint from hunger because the owner (catering is managed exclusively by this venue) ripped off the bride and groom and did not deliver on what was ordered and PAID for!
After a few conversations, the owner stopped speaking to them entirely! But don’t worry– he has the time to write scathingly sarcastic replies to the reviews on here. What a class act! His replies are full of fluff as he points his finger at EVERYONE but himself. As the owner– you are responsible for the product you turn out.
Based on other reviews this seems to be common practice with The Bell Tower and it both shocks and saddens me that this owner continues to get away with taking advantage of people on what is supposed to be one of the happiest days of their lives.

(If I could give this venue no stars I would) My sister recently had her wedding here and it was a disaster! I have been to many weddings and have never seen a venue be so unprofessional. It was heart breaking seeing everything unfold, especially after how much my sister paid to have her wedding here. Can you imagine planning your wedding for an entire year and paying thousands of dollars only for the wedding venue to not have enough food for all your guests?
I was my sister’s maid of honor, and the bridal party was the first group of people to receive food. My portion was so small, it was a joke. I had a sad small piece of sea bass and one small piece of beef tenderloin. I’m a small person and was still hungry after I finished my skimpy meal. I can’t even imagine how the other guests must have felt.
To top off the disaster, there were several tables that didn’t even receive the sea bass and beef tenderloin. All they had were grilled vegetables and potatoes. When some of the guests, my sister’s wedding planner, and the groom asked the staff what was going on they had the nerve to be rude to them. My uncle even mentioned to my mom that the staff had the nerve to put the blame on my sister and her husband.
Lastly, if you go read my sister’s review, Roger the owner has yet to make it right with my sister and has completely ignored my sister. However, he has time to reply to her review, which illustrates the continuous lack of professionalism and disrespect this wedding venue has for her and her husband. Please save yourself the headache and have your wedding elsewhere. I know my sister’s biggest regret about her wedding was having it at The Bell Tower.

When I first started looking at venues for my wedding the Bell Tower is the one that stood out the most to me. They also have a variety of spaces you can choose from for your ceremony or reception. They have 2 ceremony spaces, 2 cocktail spaces, and 2 reception spaces and they are all fantastic. We ended up selected the Campanile Chapel for our ceremony, the Water wall courtyard for our cocktail hour, and the Carillon Ballroom for our reception. A big perk was that it was all at one location so our guests didn’t have to move too far for the next event; its transition was very smooth. The food was also included, they had an on-​site chef with a large menu to choose from so we didn’t have get a caterer. The Bell Tower also worked with us to allow our guests to select what type of protein they would like for their dinner, they chose from chicken, vegetarian, or fish and the feedback from our guests was good for all 3 different types of main entrees. Our day of coordinator was Donna Chun and she did a fantastic job on working with my wedding planner throughout the entire engagement and into the wedding day making sure all of my questions were answered. She did a great job of taking care of me and made me feel like my wedding was a top priority to her. One thing that is a bit tricky about working with the Bell Tower is they have very strict load in and load out times they allow about an hour for each so when working with other vendors make sure they can accommodate the quick loads and outs or else there will be a hefty plenty. I was lucky I didn’t have any issue with the load in and out times all of my vendors performed their duties in the time allotted so it’s definitely doable just something to be aware of. They also offers an extended stay in a bigger Bridal suite for a little extra on the day of your wedding I would definitely recommend this to anyone considering get ready there. If you don’t get that then you only get 1 hour before the wedding to come on-​site to get ready and the suite is much smaller. I felt like it was a good investment, I was able to come on-​site at 1:00 pm so I wasn’t rushed at all. The Bell Tower is top rated so they book up quickly so if you think you want to get married there I would book sooner than later we booked a our wedding a little over a year in advance and that was with us pushing it out the wedding date some because the original date we wanted, which was 9 months out, was already booked. The biggest con of the Bell Tower is just the cost, it’s a very expensive venue; but it is one of the top rated in Houston so you get what you pay for. So even though we cringed a bit at the price we would still choose the Bell Tower all over again if we had the choice it exceeded our expectations. They do have other options for wedding days; Fridays are slightly cheaper than the Saturdays and the Sundays are half the cost of Saturday. So if you want the Bell Tower but can’t justify the high price tag a Friday or Sunday wedding may work well for you so you can still have your dream venue. I’m so happy I choose the Bell Tower for my wedding and the search for a venue ended for me the minute I laid eyes on it, it really is a showstopper and completely unique from a lot of the other venues in Houston. They are also highly professional because they have been in the business for so long, so yes they do have some strict rules but I felt like the rules were completely reasonable.

First of all, I don’t usually like to give bad reviews because I’d hate for a venue to lose out on potential customers as a result of them. However, I feel obligated to be honest about my experience at The Bell Tower, especially for any future brides or customers considering this place for their wedding day or special event.
I’d like to start off by saying we actually got married here in September 2014. Our wedding coordinator, Donna Chun, was absolutely amazing — always available to answer any questions and extremely helpful throughout the entire process. The venue itself is also very beautiful as you all know. Our wedding was quite successful and we received numerous compliments. My niece loved it so much she decided to have her wedding here as well. We were so thrilled and really looking forward to her big day so we could experience the venue as guests and enjoy it without the stress of being the bride and groom.
Well I’m not sure what happened from the time we got married until now as its only been a year and a half, but we were BEYOND disappointed. The ceremony was gorgeous and thankfully it was a beautiful day so my niece was able to capture some nice pictures. However, when all the guests were moved into the reception area that’s when everything went downhill. My niece opted to go with a buffet style lunch and since there were only 150 guests or so you’d expect it to go rather smoothly and efficiently. Well the service was not only slow, but the venue RAN OUT OF FOOD with over 4 tables left to serve! I was one of the last guests to get a full plate (if you could call it that) of food. My poor husband who was behind me was told there was no more beef and that he’d have to wait for it to be brought out later. I could totally understand this happening if you’re at a Luby’s cafeteria and they didn’t anticipate a party of this size coming all at once, but this is the Bell Tower we’re talking about and a final head count is given WAY before the wedding day, usually 2 weeks from what I recall. Well they eventually brought out some beef for my husband and a few other guests, but he was already done with the rest of his skimpy plate of food by then anyway. He didn’t, however, get any of the fish that was offered to me nor did ANY of the guests who were seated at the 4 tables after us! Those poor guests were starving and some of them drove in from Austin or Dallas that morning and were offered NO FOOD! When we tried to tell the staff about the situation (which I assumed the Bell Tower wedding coordinator would have been on top of) they weren’t even apologetic about it. There was no sense of urgency to make things right either. They seemed aloof about the situation, like ‘Oops, oh well, my bad’ kind of an attitude. It was appalling to say the least. This was the first time I’d ever been to a wedding where the venue ran out of food. And I’ve been to a LOT of weddings in my day. Thankfully my niece was too busy cutting the cake and carrying on with the wedding to fully realize what was taking place. But the rest of us noticed and tried to get the staff to make things right, but I guess when you’re out of food you’re out of food. Some of the wedding guests had to pick up food on their drive back home because they were starving. How does that even happen? How does a place that claims to offer a 5 star experience drop the ball like that? We’re not talking small ball either, we’re talking a Hiroshima sized ball — where everyone at the wedding noticed. And for those of you who don’t know, the Bell Tower isn’t cheap. The food is EXTREMELY expensive. I know this because I had a wedding here myself. Not only was I embarrassed and humiliated for my niece and family, but I also felt partially responsible for her choosing the Bell Tower to begin with.
In summary — yes the venue is pretty, but customer service and following through and delivering on someone’s biggest day is way more important. And on this day for my niece, the Bell Tower failed miserably. I can only hope they make things right with her and that they learn from this because I would hate for any future bride to go through such a humiliating experience, especially at a venue like this where top dollar is paid.

If I could give 3.5 stars, that would be ideal. This place is on the pricey side but overall worth the money. The venue is beautiful and the food is great. People commented on how well run the wedding was, which was in part due to my venue coordinator, Leslie, and my personal wedding planner, Sally (of Monarch Weddings, fabulous!). I had a wonderful time at my wedding and was going to give this venue 5 stars until after the honeymoon when I found out that one of my out-​of-​town guests from NY (a long-​time friend/​former roommate from college) had been denied access to the venue by one of the valet guys because she came mid-​way through the ceremony. Usually they’d let the bride make her entrance and then seat late guests, which they did for a few people, but for this particular guest, they did not. Some kind of miscommunication, I guess. She ended up crying and leaving. My venue coordinator and my wedding coordinator tried to convince her to come in but by that point she felt awful and wanted to get out of there. Her husband took her to a local houston restaurant because «she looked too pretty to not go somewhere fancy». Jesus. I give my venue coordinator, Leslie Gonsalves, some credit in that she tried to help. Where she went horribly wrong was not admitting responsibility for the bell tower’s valet service who forbade my guest to enter in the first place. Instead, she subtly tried to blame my friend. «What really happened was quite different from what she told you» Was it? What you reported to me corroborated pretty damn well with what my friend reported. «She was on the phone the ENTIRE time while I was trying to talk to her» Well yes, she’s crying and she was trying to get her husband to come get her. Also, I’m not sure why the fact that she was on her phone was important to mention in the retelling. «Well I can’t speak for what valet told her since I wasn’t there» was her go-​to defense rather than apologizing. What she says is very true, but my friend is not an idiot or a liar and I believe what she says happened since everything else she said corroborated with what Leslie reported to me when I confronted her after. «She was just way too emotional». Well she’s missing her close friend’s ceremony and the valet boys were just watching her cry outside the venue door instead of getting a coordinator/​planner to help. Leslie further insisted that everyone carries walkie-​talkies so if there was a problem, she would have known about it. Obviously not since my friend was already a wreck by the time she saw her. Just take responsibility for your venue’s provided services and admit that your venue made a mistake, okay? Everything else was great but this was really a black sore on my experience with them, not even just the fact that it happened but the way Leslie responded to it. It just wasn’t right. Not what I expect from a professional. The memory of my event is beautiful but the memory of working with them leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I feel incredible guilt now when I think of my friend and I’m determined to try to make it up to her over the next few months.
I’m sure the venue will now try to make a rebuttal response to this review but that’s just the way it is, I guess. I’m trying to be fair but truthful about my experience. Everything else was great but you really have to keep an eye on the service. My experience with Leslie was somewhat hot and cold (for reasons other than this incident) but I hear that the other venue coordinators are really good.

My wedding was March 20, 2016. I had it at the Bell Tower because my aunt had her wedding previously here and it went so well. Unfortunately, that cannot be said about my wedding. Angie, our wedding coordinator was amazing. I really appreciated all her help. However, we had 18 tables at our wedding and 2 of the 18 tables were not given the sea bass that we paid for. Our guests told us that when they asked the staff about it they were rude to them. My husband and wedding planner asked the staff and the staff was even rude to my husband (the groom). The portions that all of our guests were served was significantly less than what we had at our tasting. My husband and my portion for our beef tenderloin and sea bass were about the size of one piece of broccoli. During the tasting the beef tenderloin and sea bass was at least 3 or 4 times the amount that we received at our wedding. My parents had to call everyone after our wedding to apologize for the lack of food. Only after calling them, we realized that more than half of our guests did not get the shrimp and lamb chop that we paid for during the cocktail hour. My biggest regret about our wedding was having it at the Bell Tower. They are a premium venue and we paid a premium price to have it here, but what they delivered was extremely unprofessional and disrespectful towards my guests. It saddens me that all that our guests can remember from our wedding is the lack of food that we had due to the mistakes made by the Bell Tower. I wished I had known this when we were booking our venue, because I would have picked another location.
Edit 4÷26÷16: We attempted to work with the Bell Tower to get reimbursed for the food shortage and the disrespectful manner of their staff that occurred at our wedding. After exchanging a few emails about the problems we had, Roger (the owner) has stopped responding. It has been over 4 weeks since we last heard from Roger. Again, I regret having my wedding here, because these are the most unprofessional group of people I have ever worked with.

Very disappointed. I called the Bell Tower to schedule a time to have an engagement photo shoot. I asked the lady how much it cost to reserve a spot and she explained to me I have to be a client. I asked her what it takes to be a client and she said I have to get married there. Well, me and my fiancé are getting married in Lake Tahoe and can’t married at the Bell Tower. Horrible rules and explanation is not justified.

The absolute best day of my life was here 8÷7÷15. I would recommend this place to everyone. They are a bit pricey, however this is the one day you will remember forever. It is so beautiful, which makes for breath taking pictures. The food was amazing, and there’s plenty of options to choose from. They have a bunch of different options for ceremony and reception areas. As well as dressing rooms. I had Angie as my wedding coordinator and she was the best. My day couldn’t have gone any smoother. Thank you so much for everything. I wish I could do the day all over again. Thank goodness for my wedding video.

Our wedding was on November 22 and we had an amazing experience. Donna was our event coordinator and we were so happy to have her. She was truly amazing! She is very sweet and easy to talk to. She makes you feel comfortable and she pays attention to detail. She moved the wedding along wonderfully and was very attentive. She is the one you need to ask for!!! The venue is just beautiful all around, so you don’t need extra props and such to decorate it! Very very happy with our experience from the start until the end!

Our wedding was just last night on November 1^st and i am so pleased with the high level of detail and service that we received that I wanted to leave a glowing review right away, even before we leave for the honeymoon! I can’t thank the Bell Tower Staff enough for making our wedding night perfect. The catered food was delicious and our guest felt welcomed and taken care of. Donna Chun is amazing, any potential wedding couple or company in need of an event would be incredibility lucky to have her. We feel honored that she took care of us and treated us like family with a big hug at the end of our event.
Thank you Donna and Bell Tower!
— Kathy and Derek

I had my wedding reception at the Bell Tower four months ago. The experience was good. However, I am giving the Bell Tower 3 stars instead of 4 because I was disappointed in two key areas: food and customer service.
The food was surprisingly bland, despite all the good reviews online. My husband and I did not enjoy our food selections at the tasting, so we selected entirely different food for the wedding. We tried to go the «safe» route by having green beans almondine, garlic mashed potatoes, chicken Marsala and prime rib. Unfortunately, the food at the reception was also bland and forgettable. I could have treated my guests to dinner at a 4– or 5-​star restaurant for the same price, so I was expecting excellent food.
My second complaint relates to customer service. While my event producer was very nice and pleasant, she was not very diligent or reliable. It was difficult to reach her at times, and she did not set «away» messages when she took vacation so I felt ignored when I could not reach her for days. She also did not take good notes. Here are 3 examples of her team’s oversights on my wedding day: (1) Black linens used on the cocktail tables instead of champagne linens; (2) Incorrect size cake table used; and (3) 60 mercury glass votives which I rented from another vendor were not placed in ballroom and subsequently lost by the venue.
These two disappointments left a bad taste in my mouth by the end of the experience. Other than that, the experience was good. The facility is gorgeous and perfectly laid out for weddings. The wait staff was very friendly and professional. I would recommend the Bell Tower to a friend, but caution them a little bit.

My wedding was on July 19^th. Leslie G was my coordinator and I must say she was the best. From beginning to end. She made the experience very enjoyable.
The venue was perfect. Food was great! I do not have a single complaint in regard to the venue or staff.

This place is a SCAM!!! I was engaged and planned to have my wedding here.
First off, they don’t allow outside catering. You are forced to go with their pre set menus. They also charge extra fees on top of everything and say it’s for the drinks and staff (when clearly that’s already being paid for in the expensive price tag).
After we decided to call off the engagement, they refused to refund a dime of $ 6000 I paid. What a total waste of money!
I tried to move back the date and since I didn’t do so by the 120 day window, they refused to make an exception and I can’t move the date or use any of that money that is nonrefundable. On top of it, they made me sign a cancellation agreement to release my date so they can make more money off the date I already paid 6k on. They wouldn’t even let me subcontract my date to another bride. They were not willing to compromise on anything. I suggest REALLY reading the fine print before signing anything here. They are only out for your money.

My husband and I got married almost a year and a half ago at The Bell Tower and had a wonderful experience. We were actually only four months from our wedding date when our original wedding venue canceled on us. I was scrambling for a venue when I stumbled upon The Bell Tower and was so happy I did.
Leslie G. contacted me the very next day after calling and set up an appointment to meet with her. She was very professional, attentive and understood urgency we had to find a new venue. We were very impressed with the venue. The space in the Foundry Room was the perfect size for our 100 person wedding. Other rooms there are gorgeous too, as I took my bridal portraits in many rooms there. Scheduling the bridal portraits was easy too, as I gave them a date and time, and they gave me almost free reign of the property.
On the wedding day, everything was organized and well-​run. The food was delicious and ready on-​time. Everything went off without a hitch. Leslie was great at organizing the room and making sure that everything ran smoothly. The ambiance of the room was exactly what I envisioned for my wedding day. I received countless compliments from our guests who were impressed with the venue.
I highly recommend The Bell Tower for a beautiful wedding no matter the size and their attentive staff. We had a wonderful time and will never forget the memories we shared there.