First City Club

I am going to be critical of my experience with the First City Club. We had our wedding, cocktail hour and dinner reception (81 guests) there. First thing first - it was beautiful! The location was spectacular and the food was amazing ! We had so many guests call after to reiterate it was the best wedding reception dinner they had ever had (exactly what I wanted for our guests!) Personally, I think the cost was reasonable and the quality of food outstanding. I need to add notes in here about my overall experience with the club. This was a destination wedding for us and our guests so it was crucial I be on top of things. I live 3.5 hours away and I did travel there frequently to check in on things. From the beginning of my planning to the wedding day I went through four contacts at the First City Club. I understand that turnover is a possibility but unfortunately things went downhill with my experience. I was told from the beginning of planning and booking the club that I would have a contact for the week of the wedding (the most crucial time) to reach someone anytime I had questions. The week of my wedding I sent five emails and called 10 times to reach someone to help me before getting a response. To me that is poor service. On the day of the wedding I had a friend be my wedding planner - who actually had flown in to meet a coordinator at the Frist City Club months before to run through the day of details. Thank God I had my friend there. Turns out - the coordinator at the City Club was a no show! So, all the little details that were discussed and ironed out - and put on paper - were lost. The coordinator at the club did not bother to leave those notes. Luckily my friend had been in on the emails and discussions and had her Blackberry handy so she could get all those little details I dreamed of to come to fruition. Had she not been there I would have been so disappointed when I walked in to the biggest day of my life! My friend has not given me all the details - she just said no instructions were left for the crew. The club manager was there but according to my friend it was a waiter who helped her the most. They overcharged us 1000.00, saying that it was the gratuity. I had all my contracts where our total incuded 22% gratuity so that we had the final number previous to our wedding - knowing what we would spend. It took another three emails to get that resolved but they did credit our account within two weeks. Also, the valet attendants were actually asking our guests for a 3.00 tip. The first coordinator I worked with at the club had said those tips were included with the club rental. Had they not been we would have been happy to pay that for our guests. It was embarrassing to hear after the fact they asked for tips. In addition, when I went to pick up our stuff the day after I was quite surprised to see our rental chairs and rental vases being used - and wedding cake being served. I was upset because it was my credit card associated to those vases and had one broke it would have been 150.00 on my card! Again, the club turned out magnificant and the food extraordinary. I must stress though that if you choose this place it is imperative you plan plan plan and document everything. I suggest if you go with the club you spend the extra money to hire a wedding planner. I was fortunate to have a friend who understands my attention to detail - because I refused to work at my own wedding it was important to have someone there overseeing things. I was disappointed in the overall service and professionalism of the club the closer to the wedding we got but yet it was the best day of my life and when I walked in to the reception it was everything I had dreamed.

We had a 70 person reception with catered dinner and dance at First City Club and a cocktail hour in Johnson Square. The club took care of all of the food and arrangements for the square as well as packaged a food, appetizer and bar menu. The food was not cheap but the presentation and taste were well worth it. The size of our wedding and the venue were a great match and the views from the verandas were amazing for our out of town guests. Because we were planning from out of town we didn't have a lot of time to stop by so we had to be very specific about our wants via phone and email which was tricky. The only cons were that because it is not a restaurant the menu had to be locked in ahead of time and also we had a hard time getting in touch after the wedding to track down a few left behind items.

The First City Club is a beautiful venue located right on the corner of Johnson Square. The dining room is lined with sliding doors that open onto verandas that overlook the square. Our wedding reception looked beautiful! The only thing we added to what was there were pewter floor length linens (which I am super happy I did) and center pieces. We had a seated dinner for 90 and the venue suited it perfectly. The food was AMAZING! Kudos to the Chef-- amazing shrimp and grits, fried green tomatoes, etc.!! Low country cuisine at it's finest! We have had so many people rave about our food! Like the other reviewer, we were also from out of town. Being explicit with any details that are important to you is an understatement. We had several things be overlooked the night of, that while my guests may have never noticed, we would've appreciated if it had ran smoother. If you have in your mind where you would like things to go, etc. be very, very clear... better yet, have someone you trust run over and check out the layout earlier in the day. Overall, we were super pleased with our selection and could not have been happier with the food or the look and location of the club! Remember-- It's your wedding reception... it doesn't matter how things have been done in the past =)