Aren't wedding coordinators supposed to coordinate the wedding?
Do NOT book your wedding at Grand Bear Resort at Starved Rock in North Utica, IL, USA, or really any event to be honest. My husband and I got married in May this year (2026) and the service at this venue was HORRIBLE. We booked Friday as our rehearsal in the event room and then the wedding the next day so we were able to do the decor the night before and not have to set up in the morning and have more time for getting ready. For getting ready, the do not have any for bride and groom to get ready. no bridal suite or anything so thankfully my parents had rented one of the large cabins for out of town family to share and we were able to use that for the girls to get ready and the guys were going to have to get ready in a conference room if it was available that day.
THE BEGINNING - In the year and half that we planned this wedding, we had THREE coordinators. The first was great he helped a lot and then he disappeared out of nowhere. For three months almost I was unable to get ahold of anyone about our wedding. No response on e-mail or phone. I finally called the lobby and asked about him and what was going on to which I was informed “he no longer works here. I can transfer you to the new coordinator” (got the vibe that he was probably fired, but unknown what happened). Uh… okay… We had already signed contracts and were pretty booked already so yeah give me whoever I need to talk to. I spoke with the next, Eden, whom was great. She was our main contact for the rest of the time, had everything figured out with pricing, planning, decor, and reservations. She ended up quitting along with her husband (one of the managers at the resort) 2 weeks before the wedding. She had mentioned not being able to be at the wedding due to her husband’s surgery that week which was fine because she was to setup Kristen for our wedding. Well somewhere along the way my mom’s phone number was listed as the main contact so she got the call about the swap before I did. I get the call shortly after and was told that Eden and her husband quit and she was the coordinator. I met with her to go over everything and to pay the invoice of the remaining balance. Went home thinking everything went smooth. Wrong. I got a call a week before the wedding saying that we still owed a few thousand dollars and that something previously honored couldn’t be to which we showed the contract and that got cleared but the money was still missing. It was the amount my mother in law paid for the rehearsal dinner. They couldn’t find it and she never received a receipt but the money was pulled from her account. She had to send over a copy of her bank statement with the transaction on it and the signed billing agreement before they finally agreed we didn’t owe anything anymore.
REHEARSAL DINNER NIGHT - My husband gets to the resort first to check into our room, a whirlpool suite that was included in our wedding event package for the weekend that we extended for one night to cover Friday and Saturday. He enters the room to FILTH. Dirty sheets on the floor, garbage, bathroom was disgusting with piss and shit in and on the toilet. He has pictures and videos of this which he promptly took to the front desk and informed them that we need a new room before I got there. They then gave us a villa (upgrade from the suite) which is amazing and thought okay if that's the worst that happens this weekend then we are in good shape. We were very wrong. When i arrived my “coordinator”, Kristen, was nowhere to be found and I had to hunt her down to be able to figure out how we were to get this started. I had to initiate everything. We get to the ceremony area outside where we got eaten alive by mosquitoes. We were promised they would fog twice the day of to avoid the issue for our guests, this never happened. Kristen was asked by me to help coordinate everyone walking down the aisle to which she said “I can, but I am not very good at it.” Ma’am, you are a wedding coordinator right now… what do you mean? Also, she was the least confident, mousy, and avoidant person I have ever seen for an event coordinator. So I (the bride) had to coordinate the timing/spot of when everyone started to walk the aisle. This was until my Maid of Honor stepped in and became boss lady and basically taking over as coordinator since clearly the one we were given as part of the contract was not going to do her job. After that Kristen was basically still no help but the night moved along and we had a good time.
THE WEDDING DAY - Kristen was supposed to arrive at the cabin to get the cake topper stuff from us. She was MIA until noon when she finally arrived to get the items and then went back to MIA. No response via text or phone call and no one could find her when we needed her for questions. Ceremony was to start at 4pm. She was STILL missing. Our DJ had to assist in timing the aisle walks. Post ceremony, we sneak away to my MOH’s room as hers was on the first floor not far from the reception area. She could not get ahold of Kristen and kept being told different times for when we needed to be lined up for entrances. The DJ had to figure this out as Kristen never gave anyone a time of events so thankfully he was able to get us on track and timed to come in. We finally line up outside the reception room for entrances and suddenly Kristen appears timid as all hell with my mom. My mom was informed by one of the guests that the cake topper was broken by asking “are they supposed to be headless?” My photographers even took pictures of the cake where one of the foxes had a missing ear. According to Kristen “Your cake topper must have been dropped by the baker and was attempted to be fixed but it did not stick.” basically no apology and didn’t take responsibility for something we ALL think she actually did and just wouldn’t be an adult about it. My response was a straight face, short “Fine.” But, what else was I to say? We are lined up to enter the reception and im being told this now when it had happened hours prior and we were never informed because clearly they tried to hide it. She walks away and is again missing. Apparently she was helping everyone but us by helping hand out food, helping the kitchen, helping the bartender but not us all day. We do our entrances, our cake cutting, and then take a seat at our sweetheart table. Our champagne glasses were not out and no champagne was given. We had no silverware and one of our lovely photographers were able to get some for us. Had no little app plates for the giant plates of apps on our table. It was requested to remove the cake table from the dance floor (should have been a given but apparently not) which didn’t get removed until our DJ removed it and put it off to the side for first dances. After this we thought things finally were going smooth when my bridesman comes up to me and says, “hey, I am running to Wal-Mart. They don’t have a big enough container for your cake to take home and I had to fix the piece they were cutting as it was the wrong flavor you asked for.” He does this and comes back. This was a 3 tier cake and we had been asked 3 times if we wanted it to be cut and served. Of course we said yes. This didn’t happen even after we asked 2-3 times outside of the times we were asked. My husband’s best man had gone back to the kitchen and militantly told them to cut and serve the cake. Suddenly there was cake… hour or so after open dance started. The lights were almost not dimmed at all once open dances started and then they couldn't figure it out at first until they finally just shut them off. I became carefree at this point. I was done. I was just happy to dance with the people I love and just enjoy the rest of our night.
The next morning, I was informed of more information. The pasta dish was really bad. Bag of frozen veggies thrown on top of noodles and it being water underneath. Pesto pasta from rehearsal night was much better. Asked front desk for paper towels for the women’s bathroom and hours went by and still none were ever refilled. This was the same for the men’s bathroom as well. Multiple people complained and nothing was done about it. My MOH’s husband was in line for a drink when he saw the coordinator bartending somewhat and asked the bartender how her night was going and when the bartender asked Kristen the same question, she replied with “well I didn’t cry today”. in front of other guests as well.
Cherry on top. They have not called my husband back about any of this despite the voicemails and me telling Kristen to have the manager call. During cleanup the morning after, our cake knife and spatula were not around and we found out a couple days later it was found in the kitchen after clean up. We live an hour from this place, both work full time jobs, and I am a full time nursing student. We don’t have the time or money to just drive out there and we requested if they could mail it and at first it was “I don’t know” until a month later it was, “yes, we are going to mail it.” The wedding was May 16th and it is now Mid August… we still have not received our custom items.
This was the most uncoordinated event after my maid of honor and I had done everything except the times of each item of the day. Worst experience I have had with a resort or hotel. I have been informing everyone I can to not book anything with them as I do not want people to experience the same thing.
I have the best family, friends, loved ones, and had the best DJ and photographers. Without them this day would have been a complete mess and I could not thank them more for making the day happen as well as it did.