The Sheraton staff were incredibly attentive throughout the wedding planning process and the wedding day. The staff make our wedding day so incredibly special. I could not have asked for a better venue. Their attention to detail and willingness to accommodate our needs was outstanding. I would highly recommend the Sheraton Hartford South as your wedding venue.

My husband and I got married at the Glastonbury Hills Country Club (GHCC) on Saturday 8/24/19. Although the hotel was a little farther away than other hotel options in the area, we felt the amenities and hotel layout were worth the little bit of extra time. Little did we know how much more worth it the decision was than we thought! We offered only 1 hotel option for the wedding so my husband and I along with 100 of our guests stayed at this hotel and I couldn't have been happier. Over the course of 8 months of planning and right through the ‘big day’, the hotel staff impressed us all with their deep commitment to superior customer service. The two phrases that come to mind are: 1) extremely responsive and 2) very accommodating.

The Sales Managers (Juliet Wong and previously, Pamela Moan) were extremely responsive and thoughtful, helping me to price out and explore ideas like having the ceremony in the hotel courtyard, planning a brunch for the next morning or a coffee bar, as well as preparing the bridal suite with amenities like stools for the stylists, champagne glasses, a mini fridge, and microwave. We were able to drop off welcome bags at the front desk that they handed out as well as leave a printed sign at the front desk outlining our transportation details. The Convention Services Manager, Melloni Haynes, gathered photos of my husband and I to create a slideshow and displayed on screens in the hotel lobby. Leading up to the wedding, the Sales Coordinator, Diana Hartington, emailed us a rooming list weekly for us to review.

Top qualities: bridal suite that comfortably fit 15 women (stylists + bridal party) with plenty of sunlight for photographers and videographers, awesome wraparound bar for post-wedding drinks (we took over the bar at the end of the night), outdoor courtyard for lounging post-wedding (we had guests enjoying the summer air into the wee hours of the morning), and the option for breakfast on-site (we ultimately decided not to offer a formal brunch but guests could swing by the restaurant in the morning to say goodbye or choose to sit for breakfast -- $17 pp for full buffet). Although the breakfast was a little pricey, it was delicious and worth not having to coordinate another location. The hotel itself was affordable at $114/night for the block rate (at the time) so it all balanced out.

I would stay here again and highly recommend this hotel to any brides!!

HOTEL BOOKING NOTE TO ENGAGED COUPLES: With hotels, generally speaking, you contract for either A) a predetermined block with an attrition clause so you are responsible for paying xx number of rooms (it's based on a %) regardless of how many people book a room so, there is a risk that you come out of pocket at the end of the night if not enough rooms are booked or, B) you can book 10 rooms initially with no attrition clause and keep adding on 10 rooms at a time as things get booked up but you risk other events in the hotel happening and not being able to add more rooms at some point and not have enough rooms for guests. At the time, we decided to go with option b but the challenge we ran into is that after invitations went out, there was a rush to book rooms and the hotel staff, despite their best efforts, couldn't keep up with the demand and need for more rooms to be added. So, we got a lot of calls from guests advising that the wedding block was booked up, even though it wasn't. This kept happening right up until weeks before the wedding and created a burden for me to maintain and constantly be in touch with the Sales Manager about adding more rooms.

Logistically, we sent guests physical paper invitations with the ask for online RSVPs through Zola. Using that system, were able to include an RSVP question around hotel bookings, so we had a pretty good sense for how many people were going to book a room. With rooming challenges in mind, I decided to reconcile my Zola RSVP list with the hotel rooming list and started personally following up with individual guests about hotel bookings. Due to the lag in adding rooms, however, I had a VIP guest book at another hotel because they thought there was no room. The guest was able to switch hotels last minute but the issue was only surfaced because of my last ditch effort to try to ensure everyone was all set.

With that in mind, I wish we had initially contracted with a conservative attrition clause and used the 10-room increment concept at the end for anything above the initial contract. This issue can be mitigated through initial strategy and planning and is not a reason to veer away from this hotel but is worth mentioning for general hotel booking awareness for couples planning a wedding. As I said before, the service to guests and attention to wedding needs at-large were phenomenal with this staff!

The staff was very helpful and responsive. The whole weekend we had no issues with the hotel.