Went to a wedding at Oheka- my review
Since this is likely the last wedding I'm going to before mine, and I know there are a lot of Oheka brides on here, I thought I'd give some feedback.
NB: I'm sure a lot of you realize that once you're engaged going to a wedding is no longer just about enjoying the wedding, but looking at everything critically in regard to your own tastes. EVERYTHING in the wedding was beautiful and perfect for the couple, but I have my own tastes, which will be reflected in the review.
Grounds/Atmosphere: This is the #1 reason to choose Oheka for your wedding, driving through the stone gates and up the gravel path was really surreal and really brought the 'castle' feeling home. I love that you drove right up to the door where the valets were waiting for you to walk in on a red carpet. Very nice touch! It's also very private. Once you're at the castle, you feel like you're miles away from civilization. The gardens and grounds are beautiful. I loved being able to walk around in all the rooms, like the library, and the ourdoor patio at will. There were also lots of great photo ops. There are views of the sounds as well.
CH:We arrived before the cocktail hour and they were serving wine and passed hors d'ourves (sp?). I only saw beef wellington and mozzarella with roasted tomato (throughout CH as well), but I was told there had been more before I arrived. There was a lot of staff and they were very good about telling us when the bar was open and when CH started, etc, coming to all the rooms and the grounds to make sure everyone was gathered. The CH was really nice. I personally didn't go crazy over it because the couple didn't choose my faves. There was no pasta and no eggplant rollatine ! for shame! But seriously, there were two carving stations, a seafood station, a japanese station, and antipasti station and another station with baked clams. My FAVORITE station, however was the crudite/salad station. LOTS of veggies with dressings and hummus!!! And awesome toppics, cranberries, candied pecans, etc etc
The food I did eat was really tasty, I just personally prefer more ethnic foods, and I'm a vegetarian. The CH was 90 minutes, plus we got there about 20 minutes early and so it did seem QUITE long, but we were able to break it up by going outside and taking pictures, sitting in the library, etc.
The bathroom was nice, and had nice L'occitane soaps, feminine products, and best of all, a full length mirror.There was an attendant, but she didn't turn on facets or hand out towels, she was just there to keep everything clean and in place, which it was.
DINNER:
The ballroom is really pretty. The chandeliers are beautiful as are the windows, but at night, you can't really see out them. It's not really a huge ballroom, and the dance floor seemed kind of small. I honestly felt the other spaces were much more unique than the ballroom, but it's still gorgeous. High ceilings all around.
I was VERY surprised that the champagne was pre-poured. At expensive (or even medium priced) places I expect the champagne to be poured once guests are seated. It was good champagne. They also brought around red and white wine. The table numbers were nice and simple, but I don't know if this was the couple or the place.
We had a salad course, which was an arugula salad with a portobello cap, a brie filled biscuit and too much vinaigrette. It was tasty though. I wish it had a little more texture. it did have potato crisps on top.
For the main course there was lamb, sea bass, and filet. The lamb seemed to be a big hit. I can't comment because I actually have it specifically in my wedding contract that lmab and veal not be served. The presentation was beautiful.
I had the vegetarian dish, which was MUCH better than the vegetarian dish at most places. it was a napolean kind of thing with roasted pepers, mushrooms and bulgur wheat on a portobello cap, with rice. It was served kind of lukewarm, and it was a little bland, but it was good.
The cake was huge, beautiful and delicious. Coconut filling. I don't even like coconut and it was the best wedding cake I've ever had:
I didn't take pics of the dessert cafe, because it was really dark and I didn't want to blind people with my flash, but they seriously had every dessert you can think of and then some. Very little of it was anything to write home about, but it was all very delicious and good. The most impressive to me was that they had ed custard in little gold egg shells. They also had crepes and bananas foster.
A few service notes:
There seemed to be 2 waiters per 2 tables and they were very attentive but there was no bar in the dining room, so all drink orders went through your waiter. I guess you could have gone outside to the bar. I didn't try.
Also, and this bothered me, the only way to get coffee and tea was to walk into the dessert cafe. I really peronally prefer table coffee and tea service. Also, the dessert cafe really did kind of break up the party a lot. The line filled up quickly and then people were mostly wandering, it cut out the last bit of dancing. But it was still awesome.
The wedding was great. They did orange uplighting, which was warm, but didn't necessarily complement the color scheme. Satisfaction Guaranteed was the DJ, and if you want feedback on them I can give a ton of it. One thing is the dance floor looked gorgeous.
HTH! Let me know if you have any other questions.
NB: I'm sure a lot of you realize that once you're engaged going to a wedding is no longer just about enjoying the wedding, but looking at everything critically in regard to your own tastes. EVERYTHING in the wedding was beautiful and perfect for the couple, but I have my own tastes, which will be reflected in the review.
Grounds/Atmosphere: This is the #1 reason to choose Oheka for your wedding, driving through the stone gates and up the gravel path was really surreal and really brought the 'castle' feeling home. I love that you drove right up to the door where the valets were waiting for you to walk in on a red carpet. Very nice touch! It's also very private. Once you're at the castle, you feel like you're miles away from civilization. The gardens and grounds are beautiful. I loved being able to walk around in all the rooms, like the library, and the ourdoor patio at will. There were also lots of great photo ops. There are views of the sounds as well.
CH:We arrived before the cocktail hour and they were serving wine and passed hors d'ourves (sp?). I only saw beef wellington and mozzarella with roasted tomato (throughout CH as well), but I was told there had been more before I arrived. There was a lot of staff and they were very good about telling us when the bar was open and when CH started, etc, coming to all the rooms and the grounds to make sure everyone was gathered. The CH was really nice. I personally didn't go crazy over it because the couple didn't choose my faves. There was no pasta and no eggplant rollatine ! for shame! But seriously, there were two carving stations, a seafood station, a japanese station, and antipasti station and another station with baked clams. My FAVORITE station, however was the crudite/salad station. LOTS of veggies with dressings and hummus!!! And awesome toppics, cranberries, candied pecans, etc etc
The food I did eat was really tasty, I just personally prefer more ethnic foods, and I'm a vegetarian. The CH was 90 minutes, plus we got there about 20 minutes early and so it did seem QUITE long, but we were able to break it up by going outside and taking pictures, sitting in the library, etc.
The bathroom was nice, and had nice L'occitane soaps, feminine products, and best of all, a full length mirror.There was an attendant, but she didn't turn on facets or hand out towels, she was just there to keep everything clean and in place, which it was.
DINNER:
The ballroom is really pretty. The chandeliers are beautiful as are the windows, but at night, you can't really see out them. It's not really a huge ballroom, and the dance floor seemed kind of small. I honestly felt the other spaces were much more unique than the ballroom, but it's still gorgeous. High ceilings all around.
I was VERY surprised that the champagne was pre-poured. At expensive (or even medium priced) places I expect the champagne to be poured once guests are seated. It was good champagne. They also brought around red and white wine. The table numbers were nice and simple, but I don't know if this was the couple or the place.
We had a salad course, which was an arugula salad with a portobello cap, a brie filled biscuit and too much vinaigrette. It was tasty though. I wish it had a little more texture. it did have potato crisps on top.
For the main course there was lamb, sea bass, and filet. The lamb seemed to be a big hit. I can't comment because I actually have it specifically in my wedding contract that lmab and veal not be served. The presentation was beautiful.
I had the vegetarian dish, which was MUCH better than the vegetarian dish at most places. it was a napolean kind of thing with roasted pepers, mushrooms and bulgur wheat on a portobello cap, with rice. It was served kind of lukewarm, and it was a little bland, but it was good.
The cake was huge, beautiful and delicious. Coconut filling. I don't even like coconut and it was the best wedding cake I've ever had:
I didn't take pics of the dessert cafe, because it was really dark and I didn't want to blind people with my flash, but they seriously had every dessert you can think of and then some. Very little of it was anything to write home about, but it was all very delicious and good. The most impressive to me was that they had ed custard in little gold egg shells. They also had crepes and bananas foster.
A few service notes:
There seemed to be 2 waiters per 2 tables and they were very attentive but there was no bar in the dining room, so all drink orders went through your waiter. I guess you could have gone outside to the bar. I didn't try.
Also, and this bothered me, the only way to get coffee and tea was to walk into the dessert cafe. I really peronally prefer table coffee and tea service. Also, the dessert cafe really did kind of break up the party a lot. The line filled up quickly and then people were mostly wandering, it cut out the last bit of dancing. But it was still awesome.
The wedding was great. They did orange uplighting, which was warm, but didn't necessarily complement the color scheme. Satisfaction Guaranteed was the DJ, and if you want feedback on them I can give a ton of it. One thing is the dance floor looked gorgeous.
HTH! Let me know if you have any other questions.
