The Berkeley Church

We got married in the Field House in September. It was the most amazing experience. At first our mothers were a bit leery of our venue selection due to it's unconventional atmosphere but we received so many compliments from our guests. Here are some key points:
Venue - It has a wonderful outdoor and indoor space. This worked out so well because people who wanted to get some air were not separated from the party they were able to stand outside, mingle and still watch people on the dance floor. It really kept things together - great flow.
Food/drinks - The food was amazing. They venue served flavoured water to our guests upon their arrival prior to the ceremony and they had our signature drinks out and ready the minute the ceremony was over. I was so pleased.
Service - The venue made a few renovations a month before our wedding. One of the renovations included a new deck which looked great except they dismantled the ceremony trellis in the process. I was very upset because I had DIY'ed the decorations specifically for this trellis. The venue went above and beyond to correct the situation. They built a new trellis to the exact specs of the old one within a few weeks. I was very pleased at their responsiveness and understanding.

Kathy was our coordinator. She was amazing. I can see why people say she doesn't respond to emails very quickly but she is very busy and in the weeks leading up to the wedding she was completely available (aka the most important time). She really understood our vision and gave great advice.

The only downside I would say are the bathrooms. Only one stall for the men and three for the women. I have a feeling this will be the venue's next renovation.

Great venue. Very accommodating!

I work with a team of event professionals who have done events recently at Berkeley (6 since January 2011)

The Venue is currently under new management. There is still existing members from the old team (the best ones I assume) but there is a new executive director as I heard the previous one had to leave due to family circumstances.

This change has proved to be very positive. The venue has been host to amazing events in the past 10 years however we too have noticed on multiple web reviewer sites negative responses about the customer service and quality of the space and other related circumstances. Most of them if not all prior to 2011.

Not every event is going to be perfect but our 6 either nearly or completely were. Best quality of food and customer service from beginning to night of we have experienced in any venue in Toronto after 20 years of producing events.

Specific details I have learned through the grapevine is:
Renovated stage
Re-engineered air quality control in the large church venue
quality decore installations and upgrades in the smaller venue
New inhouse high quality staffing company and event management
New inhouse high quality florist who also does wonders to their garden spaces
New inhouse and complimentry furniture
Kitchen expansions
New Venues up and coming

Very impressive organization and if you actually do your research, they have recieved some of the fewest bad reviews in the industry compared to other venues of their type and level.

Hope this helps industry players and potential takers of that space. Want to keep Toronto as a great destination spot and this venue has sent our clients back to their countries saying Toronto is the place to be.

I also have heard that that they have over 300 events booked this year, more than any other event venue, even after separating the two onsite. So I guess the nay-sayers are not affecting the popularity of this star space.

Beautiful Venue and great service! Do not look elsewhere if you are having a wedding in Toronto!

The Berkeley Field house is the venue next door to the Berkeley Church and it is run by the same people so you should definitely check out the Church's reviews as well.

I found the Field House to be overall a pleasant experience. The big advantages of getting married here are

1) the venue itself is just really cool and eclectic. A great garden with a little stream, different gazebos to hang out in, a two-story treehouse (with AC!), a tent for the ceremony, a large ballroom with glass doors leading outside, a romantic bridal suite. It's just a really gorgeous place.

2) the venue is unlicensed, so you can bring in your own booze with your own liquor permit, which can reduce your alcohol bill from $40/person (the price for some caterers) down to $20 or less/person for open a bar and they don't charge corkage. That being said, my venue costs were still around $120/person so I definitely absorbed costs elsewhere. As other have noted, they also say they do not accept gratuities and it's not included in your bill, though certainly the staff charges seemed really high.

2) The food is absolutely OUTSTANDING and they can make anything you want. They'll sit down with you and talk about where you're from and what your favourite foods are, it's really fun. They have standard menu options but we talked with the chef about wanting something more exotic so we had some ethnic food as well as more standard fare. The guests absolutely RAVED about the food and several told me it was the best food they'd ever had at a wedding. They were also okay with me bringing in my own cake (probably because we had them do a dessert anyway) and don't charge cake-cutting fees.

3) The service the night of was excellent. The staff are very friendly, a specific server introduced herself to us and told us she was there to make our night great and we should let her know if we needed anything at all.

A few disadvantages
1) I liked my wedding co-ordinator Kathy, but she wasn't great at responding to emails, which was frustrating. She was always organized when I saw her in person, or got her on the phone, and she was on top of things for the day of, but I would have liked to not have the stress of unanswered emails. All costs are broken down on a spreadsheet, which is really transparent, and you know exactly what you're paying for, but multiple times there were miscalculations and errors on the sheet, and a few times I had to clarify and negotiate over additions to the bill that cropped up when we were transferred from Andrew (our initial contact) to Kathy and as we finalized numbers and figured out the layout and tables.

2) The Field House relies a bit too much on it's shabby chic feel and doesn't do basic things to actually make the venue look nice. I was terrified when I was there a few days before the wedding and saw the dining chairs had peeling paint, the gazebo where you do the ceremony was crooked and also peeling paint, the treehouse was unswept and had bird poo on it, the outdoor party lights on the tree didn't work, and the garden was an absolute mess. Obviously it's a wild flower garden and isn't supposed to be perfectly groomed, but when there's gross weeds everywhere and it looks unkempt even to my untrained non-gardener eye, you know there's a problem. Because I was so stressed about it, and the venue hadn't done anything by the day before the wedding (although we had asked them to), my fiance actually went out and bought mulch to cover up the weeds and was going to spread it around himself the day of the wedding, but the staff agreed to do it. We were able to get nicer chairs that they had on hand, and I tried not to think about the other 'unfinished' touches, certainly the guests didn't seem to notice, but given they have a bunch of wedding there and you're spending thousands of dollars with them, you'd think it wouldn't be a big deal to put some paint on the gazebo.

The Berkeley Church - I believe it is the most unique venue in downtown Toronto! It could be maintained better, but it all about the character.

The food - Awesome! Many people came up to us after dinner to tell us just how much they loved their meals. We had a customized menu and the chef even learned how to make my husband's mom's special potatoes!

The service - On the day everything was perfect. The staff at the church were great. I had the best wedding planner in Toronto (Toni Ronayne) on my side, and she made sure everything went seamlessly.

Organization - The church has a very chill atmosphere and with that comes some disorganization. You will need to triple check your quotes and make sure you get things in writing. We were given the wrong couples quote on more then one occasion. I had to chase them several times before they would respond to some of my emails.

Value - The fact that we could bring in our own booze was a plus! The per person cost did seam a bit high but tips are included and the food really was to die for!

Overall I am so happy that we picked the Berkeley Church to have our wedding! It suited us perfectly and despite the hiccups along the way it was a fabulous place to say I DO!

We had our wedding at The Berkeley and it was absolutely wonderful! Our planner (Kathy) was amazing...very detailed-oriented and easy-to-get-along with! She was very attentive to our inquiries and helpful with organizing every last detail leading up to the day (i.e. decor, deliveries, etc.). She was also there on the day of the wedding to make sure that no one bugged me with minute details.

Our wedding day went off without a hitch. Many thanks to our host (Andrew) who made us feel well-taken care of and very comfortable at the venue....we are now a part of The Berkeley family! The best part is that they still continue to invite us to exclusive events (wine tastings, concerts, etc.)

The food was absolutely delicious! Great presentation! The chef was very accommodating to our guests. My grandfather has a severe gluten allergy. We asked if we could bring in a meal that he would be able to eat. Our planner was very accommodating and offered a delicious meal for him, no problem. This was a pleasant surprise, as that was not the case at my sister's wedding! They fed him a disgusting meal that resembled airplane food.

The venue was very straight-forward with the costs (right from the beginning) which I did not find with other venues that we researched. Other venues had add-on, after add-on, after add-on! One of the main reasons why we booked at The Berkeley is because of the customer service that we received right from the beginning, our sales person was prompt in responding to our many emails, inquiring about different dates, costs, menus, etc., etc. The venue does not charge gratuity, but the service was amazing so we choose to provide a gratuity anyways, because the service staff really deserved it! This venue is amazing; I would recommend it to anyone who is NOT into a stuffy, cookie-cutter banquet hall with chair covers. I would recommend this unique venue to a bride/ groom who is into great food, wine and atmosphere!

A beautiful, unique venue - a rare find in Toronto - but you need to be extremely organized. There is a consistent lack of communication and record keeping between staff members, and you'll need to remind staff about all of your details and go through your estimate very carefully.

Everyone was great on the day, and the venue is amazing, but don't expect impeccable service.

Very good customer service. Friendly ppl.

We booked the Field House at the Berkeley Church for our ceremony and reception. We started off with Liz as our coordinator and then were swithced to Kristin. Kristin was absolutely amazing. I was stressed about decorations and how we were going to pull everything together and she totally stepped in and supported us with great ideas and a very calm demeanor. Everything was perfect and the staff were unbelieveably friendly. We were able to bring our own alcohol so we saved on that. The food was absolutely amazing and all of our guests were dancing straight through to 2a.m.

- We attended the wedding of our friends at the Berkeley Church back in 2007. That night, before the ceremony even started, we realized this was where we would be getting married. The day after we got engaged, we picked a date and put down the deposit. There was no other venue we were going to get married at so there was no point looking. THIS WAS THE FIRST THING WE DID. We didn't have a ring OR tell our parents we were getting married. We wanted this venue.

Leading up to the wedding:
- My day-to-day vendor coordinator was Liz and she was a dream. Organized, friendly, and very accomodating to my nit-picking ways :)
- We had an incident where I screwed up our tasting date. It was that night Berkeley showed how professional they are. (Read here).
- They allowed us to leave some stuff and set up the PA the night before the wedding. They also allowed us to come back the day after the wedding to pick up the rest of the stuff. All without an extra charge.

The Wedding Day:
- Andrew was our coordinator for the ceremony. It was great having him there telling me to just relax and enjoy. That and he was there to flag down our sound guy who didn't know to turn off the music (another post for another day).
- The day of the wedding there were both Liz and Alison (night coordinator) and Andrew, artistic director to make sure our party went smooth.
- Tables, chairs, candles, couches, staff, GRATUITIES, plus many other things I know I'm forgeting were included in the venue cost. We only needed to pay for linens, flatware/glassware and extra cruiser tables.
- Catering is in house. We opted for stationed dinner and had Italian, Sushi and Carving. Everyone we've talked to raved about how great the food was.
- Greatest part, was how the staff were amazing hosts to our guests. Whether it was food, cake or a beer, they always made sure our guests, hubby and I were well taken care of. And we were treated like royalty by everyone at Berkeley. "Alison, here's a beer ... but this one is half full ... you've been drinking it too long" .. hahaha
- Over all we are thrilled we went with our gut and went with Berkeley. My guests were in love with the venue and it's uber coolness and still talk about how awesome our wedding was. There is no way our wedding would have been right if it wasn't for Berkeley.

Don't waste your energy seeking out venues. Call Berkeley today and just do it. You'll be sooo glad you did.


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an AMAZING venue with AMAZING staff. Jessica was honest, enthusiastic, organized, detail-oriented...EVERYTHING you would want in an event coordinator. She got along fabulously with our wedding coordinator and did everything to make our day WONDERFUL. the inhouse catering is beyond amazing...not your typical wedding dinner food. the church itself is beautiful!