Jesse, the events director at el PRADO, is exceptionally diligent, responsive, organized, and kind! We are only at the early stages of wedding planning (we'll update this review later), but we wanted to write a review just to emphasize how meaningful it is to us to have someone like Jesse on our team. We've learned that the role of the events lead at one's wedding venue is critical from the very beginning – Jesse never made us feel rushed during our walk-through, sent a simple sample quote in a clean and easy to adjust Excel sheet so we could estimate costs quickly, compartmentalized the steps of venue planning so we could focus on what matters at the initial contract stage, and was flexible with us to ensure we had everything we needed.

El Prado Hotel is absolutely beautiful. We were set on an outdoor wedding from the beginning of our engagement- thinking that was the only way to include our dogs in the ceremony.. but I was wrong. El Prado is hugely dog-friendly! To be honest, my then-fiance didn't even want to look at el prado it wasn't what we originally envisioned for our day but once we stepped on the property and saw how beautiful the hotel was- the small, intimate vibe, the aesthetics, the colors, the choices in furniture and everything- we just fell in love with the venue. Our original plan was to get married in March (off-season.. cheaper) but we learned that el prado doesn't have different prices for different months or days of the week! WHAT?! We were soo excited to hear that! They only have a minimum food & beverage cost. SOLD. We get a beautiful venue, in July, on a Saturday evening for nothing extra.

The team at el Prado, especially Jesse, were our heroes! Jesse answers all emails quickly, promptly, and with humor. He went above and beyond ensuring our wedding day went smoothly- coordinating with all the vendors, and making sure the things I prepared are placed and prepped in the correct areas. Our guests were so impressed by the service of everyone. And these family members go to A LOT of weddings and they help out at pretty much all of them so it's with HIGH praise when they were impressed with the level of service and competencies of everyone at el prado.

It's not the cheapest out there but I'd pay for quality and the peace of mind that everyone is working to ensure we have the best day possible. And it was absolutely perfect. I mean don't all brides and grooms think their day is perfect? But ours was perfect, not just to us but to so many of our guests who came gushing about our day. Some even said it was better than their own wedding. *beams* it's everyone working together to make our vision come to life.

We found el PRADO Hotel through WeddingWire in the summer of 2021 when we first got engaged; they were going through a remodeling and let us stop by for a quick tour even before they were reopened. We had already toured other wedding venues but we were pretty impressed by the layout of the boutique hotel and fell in love with the architecture and all the little cute nooks that we knew would be absolutely fantastic for photographs. When they had a soft reopening later that year in the fall, we visited again for another tour just to see how things had been updated and heard about all the plans.

The Director of Events, Jesse Bresnahan, has been such a key player in our decision to book our wedding at el PRADO. el PRADO was probably the 6th or 7th venue we had toured and we hadn’t really been to one that we really walked in and felt comfortable saying yes to right away. el PRADO was exactly that. The combination of a super sweet staff and lovely setup and environment of the hotel even before setting up any wedding decor really vibed with us. We were pretty set on booking el PRADO after visiting a couple times and speaking with Jesse. Jesse has been extremely patient with our millions of questions (we have email threads of 40-50+ emails back and forth with him about wedding planning), is always professional about everything, was such a positive force during our planning, and guided us through a lot of decisions we had to make for our wedding.

We were able to start drafting a contract for our wedding to book our date (well in advance) by December 2021 and just had to wait on a couple things before signing it, but Jesse made sure that all of our concerns and questions were addressed and worked with us over email and phone calls to get our contract just how we needed it; we booked el PRADO 12 months in advance of our wedding and felt so comfortable and excited about our decision!

Sarah Rennert also started helping us with rooming blocks and wedding planning questions mid-2022 in the midst of all of our planning. Both her and Jesse were just phenomenal pillars of support for us. It was so great to meet her on our wedding weekend and she helped us get what we needed whenever we needed it.

el PRADO as a wedding venue is an absolute dream! The entire staff was extremely hospitable, everyone we encountered was so warm and welcoming and always put a smile on our faces. They let us set up for our wedding ahead of time (we did a lot of DIY decor since our wedding was so specifically themed to a particular video game) and went above and beyond for us from setting up some decor day of for us, plating our dessert donuts (which we were totally just planning to have in the boxes they came in with labels from our vendor), cleaning up our room (the bridal party got ready and made an absolute mess in the Penthouse and by the night of the wedding they had cleaned up the bedroom area and sprinkled a bunch of rose petals on the bed and in the shape of a heart!), and helping us clean up and pack things away after the reception ended.

Jesse kept checking in on me and my partner whatever floor we were on (1st floor lobby/reception, 2nd floor bar area or Biblioteca, 4th floor Penthouse, etc.), made sure we were fed and hydrated, and kept the event going and kept us aware of timing (when to come down for the processional, when to get ready for the reception grand entrance, when do start going around making toasts at all the tables, etc.). Seriously could not have appreciated him more!

During and after our wedding, our guests were just gushing about the venue, staff, and food. We’ve heard from multiple guests that the food for dinner was some of the best, if not the best, food they’d had at a wedding, and they loved how the venue looked!

We had our rehearsal dinner, wedding, and weekend stay at the hotel. If we ever need to hold another big event for whatever reason, we would definitely do it at el PRADO, and we’d absolutely try to find a reason (perhaps an anniversary) to stay at el PRADO again. The Penthouse is gorgeous with its outdoor patio (where we did our first look photos) and has such a lovely bathroom with a rainfall showerhead and a deep soaking tub.

After we booked for our wedding, they opened a Tapas Bar on the 2nd floor and we visited frequently in the months leading up to our wedding. The drinks and bites available daily are delicious!

Highly recommend el PRADO as a place to check out, have an event, do a weekend getaway, grab some drinks, or all of the above! Literally cannot stop thinking about everything, it was everything we could’ve asked for and more!