Radisson Resort Orlando - Celebration

My daughter and her fiance selected this property to host their wedding ceremony and reception in November 2011. Nancy Thompson, the catering director, worked with the happy couple throughout the year to plan and ensure their wedding event was a success last weekend. Nancy and the Radisson event staff executed and delivered a great performance in catering and atmosphere, and I appreciate the dedication and attention to detail.Several of the wedding party, parents and out-of-town guests stayed at the hotel and enjoyed the ambience and relaxing atmosphere that the resort provided.

We stayed at the radisson celebration in orlando during our honeymoon. This hotel was beautiful!!! From the landscaping outside, all the ponds, the ducks, the pools to the rooms, we couldn't have asked for more! Thank you for making our honeymoon wonderful!

Nancy and everyone at the Radisson were awesome! They were flexible when people that had not RSVP'd showed up they put up another table in the blink of an eye! The food was great, the room was beautiful! All for a reasonable price!

So my March 5th wedding has passed. And oh my God, was it one SNAFU after another.Under normal circumstances, I'd give a narrative account of my experience there. But the Radisson was so inept at simple directions and agreements, I'm going to have to make a numbered list.1. Three hours before our ceremony, our florist's driver delivered flowers and was told to leave them in the lobby. There must have been a breakdown of communication, because the Radisson was told (or should have known) to keep the flowers refrigerated. But that didn't happen until long after the driver had left. The result: WILTED, DROOPY BOUQUETS and boutineers in our ceremony (and of course, the pictures, which will last forever).2. Lack of signs directing the guests to where the wedding ceremony was. My wedding coordinator had to show people from the parking lot to the gazebo for the ceremony. All the while, my guests are complaining to her (because they think she's part of the hotel staff) that the PARKING WAS WAY OUT IN THE BOONIES and there should be signs for which direction to walk towards. I couldn't agree more.3. I'm allergic to nuts. The Banquet Event Order (basically a contract and run-down of scheduled events) stated that I’M ALLERGIC TO NUTS. And what's in the first thing that I'm served from the Executive chef? Some pastry with nuts in it that my wife discovered. Fortunately one of my friends is a nurse, so she watched over me. Our astoundingly great wedding coordinator (who is not affiliated with the Radisson) rushed to the bridal changing room to get an Epipen from my wife's purse. I never envision that my wedding day would involve a hasty trip to the men's room to SHOOT MYSELF IN THE THIGH WITH EPINEPHRINE. But the Radisson made it possible.4. One of my friends is deathly ALLERGIC TO ONIONS. No surprises here; he's served onions. Once again, my wedding coordinator springs into action. She personally switches out his salad and entrée for food that won't cause his untimely death. Allegedly, the kitchen staff was RESISTANT TO AID in a quick and timely manner.5. We agreed to have 3 ballrooms for our 105 guests, but when my decorates etc. came by that early afternoon, the Radisson had only set up chairs for 2 ballrooms. At that point in time, it was supposedly too late to rearrange everything. As a result, our reception was HOT, SWEATY, and CROWDED. Does this sound like your ideal wedding yet? We also suspect that they didn't give us a large enough dance floor for 105 guests, but I don't know for certain.6. Not enough servers. Once again, 105 guests for a plated dinner service. But there were only FIVE SERVERS. The next time you eat out, think about the ratio of servers to table guests. Now think about if that ratio was 1:21. And you can’t give them a lower tip, because you’ve already agreed to give everybody a 22% tip before you want through the door.7. Dinner was 30 minutes late coming out. This may be something forgivable at your average casual dining restaurant. But this wedding was booked 10 months in advance. The DJ, Photographers, and other vendors are on a cue sheet. So 30 minutes of dead time is a HUGE waste of time and money that would otherwise be spent on DJing activities. Originally, we were supposed to do some cool just married games and the whole honeymoon dance and such. But most of that was cut. On the resorts property, the Radisson was having another event with a group that has a five-year contract. I've heard that while the kitchen was supposed to be keeping my guests happy and fed on time, they were tending to the other group instead. I guess my family doesn't make enough money to earn equal service.8. Our guests were to receive sweet/unsweet tea and coffee with dinner as stated on our BEO. After the wedding, my guests told me they only got water.9. Our room had a musty odor.10. We booked the "romance package" that included strawberries and champagne for our first night as newlyweds. The Radisson forgot it. My wife called the front desk where a "old man in flannel" (as my wife describes him) showed up with the most disappointing strawberries and champagne, delivered in the least romantic way possible.11. Remember the nut allergy thing? Well, a few days after our honeymoon, my wife called the Radisson to address the issue. Their defense was that I probably didn't have an allergic reaction to the almond pastry they served me, but from the raspberry-walnut dressing that we supposedly agreed to on the BEO. Being a literate man, I re-read the BEO. It said plain as day "Raspberry Dressing". So just to make it clear: they defended serving me food that I was allergic to by falsely stating that I somehow consented to it. Gimme a break. I can handle their incompetence. But the lie was not necessary.And here’s another fun fact. About a year ago when my then-fiancee` and I were looking at venues, the Executive Chef helped us one day. We’d scheduled to meet with someone in charge of catering, but he begrudgingly helped us out. We could tell that he was flustered, but we didn’t know exactly why. He asked us when we were getting married, and when we told him it would be March of next year, he said, “Whew, good! Everything is kind of a mess now, but we should have everything in order by then.” A few months later, that guy would leave the Radisson, so we had a new Executive Chef working on our wedding. So what’s the moral of the story?Just because a location is old doesn’t mean that the staff is experienced. Just because someone had a job title, it doesn’t make them a professional.A few days ago, I was having a conversation with one of our vendors who has been in the business for over 20 years. I asked, “I know that no wedding is perfect, but have you ever seen on with this many mistakes?”“Never.”

Radisson Resort was the location for my wedding reception. Overall I had a good experience with them. On my wedding day there were some issues but the Radisson did their best to resolve them. At the end of the day I have no regrets and would recommend them. Their staff is wonderful and they helped make my wedding day a very special day.

Planning a wedding in Orlando can be really fun, but also very stressful! We spent weeks calling around to different hotels and venues and finally got in touch with Guest Select Resorts (their website is http://www.orlando.guestselectresorts.com) who book for the Radisson Resort Orlando - Celebration. They were able to work directly with the hotel to offer us a fantastic wedding group rate and help us through all of the details. The hotel is also very family friendly which was great for keeping our out of town relatives' kids happy.

We loved the Radisson and were so happy with our decision to host our wedding there. Our only bump in the road was that in the year since we had signed the contract to our wedding day, we had 3 different planners, and some of the things we had talked about with one we then had to discuss again with our new planner. That being said, everything turned out better then we had imagined. Our Guests were so impressed with everything that we had done and everything that the resort did to make our day beautiful. When I walked into the ballroom i was amazed at how beautiful everything looked. If you are looking for a beautiful and affordable place to hold your wedding, i would recommended this beautiful resort.

We had the reception in the Mandolin Restaurant. It was very classy and elegant. They fired two of the wedding planners while we were in the process of planning the wedding. The last coordinator was very helpful and they were able to get everything to look like the bride imagined.

The location was beautiful and the staff impeccable. Included in our package was our ceremony, our ceremony decorations, our reception hall (we picked the restaurant, but you can choose the restaurant or a banquet hall), our food, our wedding cake, our open bar for four hours, all reception decorations (including centerpieces!) and all setup and breakdown. It also included a bridal changing suite for me and a honeymoon suite for us after the reception. It was the best decsion we made, we showed up, got married, partied, and forgot about the rest. The staff there made it feel completely effortless. I would highly recommend them!

Ceremony: 4 Stars - The gazebo area was perfect for our ceremony and photos. Everything was arranged as promised.

Reception: 3 Stars - We had our reception in Mandolin's Restaurant on the Radisson property. The restaurant is nicely decorated and has an area surrounded by columns which makes a predesignated dance floor.

Caterer: 3 Stars - The food was good, but the selection listed in their wedding brochure is somewhat limited. My husband's groom's cake was never seen again after we dropped it off with the staff the day before the wedding. When we inquired after the wedding we were informed that it had been cut and served, but none of our guests ever reported eating it.

Wedding Planner: 2 Stars - The hotel provides a 'wedding planner' for any weddings booked there. Apparently they have a very high turnover rate for this position because during the course of our planning from February to August we went through 3 different 'planners'. The final planner, Vicky, while she tried to be helpful, caused more confusion than she was worth. She changed the order of events in our reception without consulting me by informing the DJ to move the first dance to immediately after our entry instead of its original place following dinner. I would recommend getting your own planner if you decide to use this venue.

Wedding Night: 3 Stars - The hotel provided a complimentary room with an attached sitting area/extra room for us to get ready in and then stay the night. The extra room was not quite ready when we arrived and we had to do most of our preparations in the bedroom which left a bit of a mess. The room itself was ok, nothing spectacular.


** Overall Rating: 3 Stars

The catering agent was wonderful, attentive and helpful. The room was beautiful, but they forgot to turn on the air conditioning so it got uncomfortably warm toward the end of the reception. The room had a beautiful view and everyone loved the food. It was a great value for the cost. Als they worked very well with our vendors.

I really enjoy working at the Radisson Resort! The weddings are always beautiful, and the gazebo is absolutely lovely. The sales, catering, and banquet staff are all efficient and considerate of guests and wedding vendors. It's a wonderful venue!

This place is a diamond in the ruff. Asbolutely beautiful location, excellent staff, amazing water falls, water slides, great rooms, and great catering. I definitley recommend this place to anyone who is looking for a perfect wedding location.

"Best of Both Worlds" Radisson Resort has a lot of options between Indoor or Outdoor Weddings in the Gazebo, Banquet Rooms, Private Restaurant with an old world appeal & a Pool Terrace area for Cocktails, you won't feel limited in choices. The staff was great & I really appreciated all the prep time I was allowed since I was playing for both the Ceremony & Reception. I know clients & their guest must appreciate the amount of staff they have on hand for events because I just don't see people having to look far for assistance, very attentive. Radisson Resort should be on your short list of places to consider & visit... :-)

Quite near the heart of classic Celebration, Florida, the Radisson Resort offers a great location, friendly staff, nice accommodations and fantastic event space. A place to check out!