Foundry Room Event Space Rental and Event Services Edmonton

Part 1:

I had my wedding in September 2023 at the OEX2 location with the foundry. We booked the venue about a year in advance. Overall the planning process was not stressful, as our coordinator Sheal was responsive when we reached out to her with questions. About a month before our wedding, we had finalized the wedding timeline, decor, ceremony and reception layout, bar, and vendors. However, we did not have our consultation for the DJ until two weeks prior to our wedding. We were told by the Foundry that the in house vendors would contact us and arrangements would be made between the Foundry and DJ service. After our consultation with DJ Kwake, all was good for the wedding day. At least we thought it was.

On the day of our rehearsal we arrived at the venue and noticed our original coordinator was not there. We did not receive any call, text, or email from Sheal that she would not be at the rehearsal. So to fill in was Gracie. Before finishing the rehearsal, we asked if Sheal would still be coordinating the wedding for the next day in which Gracie answered yes.

We provided our own alcohol for the wedding and were told to bring it to the venue on the rehearsal day. When we brought our alcohol, we noticed the other groupings of alcohol which belonged to the other weddings for the following days. The Foundry lumped our alcohol with the others and when we asked how they will know whose alcohol belongs to who. Their response was "we'll know". Mind you, none of the alcohol was labeled to identify who it belonged to and all stored together in a room. Not even separated. So that was concerning.

On the day of our wedding I arrived at 8am with my bridal party to get ready. No staff from the Foundry arrived yet which at the moment was okay since our ceremony did not start until 4pm. Noon starts to roll around and still no staff is in the building, which started to stress me out. Closer to 1pm we saw staff arriving and starting to set up the venue. Gracie arrives and tells me that Sheal will not be here to coordinate and she will be taking over for the day. Again, no call, text, or email from Sheal. I am thankful that Gracie was there to take over but she wasn't involved in the planning process, so our wedding day was the first time she had seen any of the planning. I was quite upset because you pay for this wedding package and you are promised that the coordinator will handle the set up of the wedding so you don't have to. But since we didn't have our original coordinator, I was asked multiple times about how the wedding would be set up.

Around 3: 30pm I noticed the chairs for the ceremony were not all placed in the courtyard so guests who were arriving had nowhere to sit. Guests started to come into the reception area even though in the planning we stated we wanted the guests to mingle outside the building before the wedding. And a champagne wall would be set up for the pre ceremony. None of that happened. The wrong chairs were placed at the sweetheart table. The tables and table settings in the reception area were only halfway done. They also ran out of the same coloured linens, so they filled the rest of the tables with a different colour. The DJ didn’t arrive yet, which was concerning since they were playing the music for the ceremony. When I asked when the DJ would arrive, I was told that he was supposed to coordinate the time with me. Which is the complete opposite of what the Foundry told me before. Gracie then called and DJ Kwake was kind enough to come DJ on our wedding day even though he was not supposed to.

I am very impressed with the Foundry Room for a variety of reasons. They're very welcoming and friendly, and their venues are beautiful. I am also thoroughly impressed with their dedication to the community as I have hosted many charitable events with their assistance in using their venues. As Can Man Dan, I owe them a great deal of gratitude for allowing me to help others at the Foundry Room's various locations. They are excellent to deal with and I highly recommend them:).

PART 2 of our review. To tell the whole story in detail, we have exceeded the character limit. For this reason, we had to separate our review into different parts. To read part 1 and 3, find our other reviews.

During the meeting, we told Jody we would be okay with receiving a resolution after our honeymoon, however, not long after the meeting I messaged Adi saying we changed our minds and we'd like to know the resolution ASAP so that we could just enjoy our honeymoon. She said she would pass on the message. 2 days later at the airport, with no response received from Jody, I message Adi again for a follow up for a rough timeline of when we can expect to hear back so we didn't have to constantly check our emails. By the end of the week, I message Adi again confused why we still haven't heard back from Jody, she sent us a screenshot of her many messages to Jody pleading for her to get back to us. This was our first realization that Jody in fact does not care. So, I personally email Jody on Tuesday, Sept 12th, to which she responds the next day telling me she'd get back to me by Friday. Friday rolls around, nothing. On Saturday, we send a long and emotional email expressing how and why we feel neglected. She responds to us 2 days later telling us she didn't neglect us and to not feel that way, then again promises to get back to us by Wednesday, Sept 20th. On Sept 20th, she says that she WILL have a resolution for us by the 21st. This was the last email we ever received from Jody. We email her again to follow up on the 22nd, and haven't heard from her since.
Now we're back from our honeymoon. We thought of FR every night before bed, and every morning when we woke up. Anticipating a reply. Our anxiety was through the roof, and unfortunately FR has not only negativity impacted our memories of our wedding day, but also of our honeymoon.
The "accounting department" emails me on the 26th saying that after a month of deliberation, they thought a fair compensation was to refund us the little sum our gratuity. HOWEVER, we would not receive this for another month (till the end of October), because they are waiting on a business loan.tell me why a company of their size, would require a business loan to return a couple's gratuity. They ended the email with the audacity of saying, "We hoped you would have enjoyed your honeymoon and dealt with this when you got back. " Imagine how we felt reading this. They took us on a never-ending chase, knowing that we were anticipating a resolution, and all we wanted was a timeline OR for Jody to actually get back to us when she promised to! Is that too much to ask for? Accountability, trust, and professionalism?
I asked for a name from whomever I was speaking to representing the "accounting department" in 2 different emails and I was ignored both times. This leads me to believe it was Jody herself or a family/friend of some sort. Oh, and it gets worse.

PART 3 of our review.

We decide to email Tarnish Timber since it's been almost a month since our wedding and we still haven’t had any communication over the refund that was promised by Jody during our videochat. He emails back on Sept 26 stating that it was confirmed that 18 tables were dropped off and picked up. IMAGINE, imagine how we feel at this point realizing that we've been played, a month out from our wedding. We CC both Adi and Jody requesting for them to confirm that in fact, only 16 tables were delivered on our wedding day, not 18. Of course, Jody never responds. Adi does. She promised us that she would always be of help as much as it was in her power to be, and that's exactly what she did. When we were frustrated with Jody or the "accounting department", Adi would apologize on their behalf. Adi, again has been the only person representing FR that ever cared for us.
She responded to our email on Sept 27th, confirming that there were only 16 tables delivered. She ends the email by apologizing again on behalf of FR by saying she thought this error was communicated much earlier and apologized for the delay in rectifying this situation. We never hear back from Tarnish Timber.
The day after, Sept 28th, I get another email from the A. D to let us know that they've let Adi go. They said it was all Adi's fault. That when the "guys" (there was 1 teenager present) came to set up the tables, Adi told them we only needed 14 more tables as there was already 1 set up. (Lie #3) So they're trying to convince me that T. T hauled our 18 tables to the venue, but because the coordinator said we only needed 14 more, they drove back with our 3 tables? Makes no sense.
It takes me a week to respond because of how emotionally, and mentally drained I am. I type another long, emotional email to express how exhausted, disappointed, and surprised at the lengths FR will go to push blame and hold no accountability. Once again, I never get a response back.
OCT 30TH, we get an email saying that there is once again ANOTHER delay, but we should be expecting the funds by the end of the week at the latest and that she would keep us posted if anything changes. A week later, Nov 6, I email to check in as we didn't receive our money, or a follow up.
Now you're caught up to present day, where we still have not heard back. Still waiting. Still disappointed. Fed up. Heartbroken, frustrated, and every other emotion that FR has given us over the past 2 months since our wedding day.

Nice place but zero parking in the immediate area.
Putting a venue here just doesn’t make sense.

My husband and I got married here 2 weeks ago. The wedding day itself was beautifully decorated and everything ran fairly smoothly. We loved that the venue had a rustic, industrial feel as this is the vibe we were going for. We loved the location and that there were things for our guests to do in between the ceremony and reception (Kind Ice Cream, microbrewery, knick knack shops, cafe, etc.) Their in house photographer (Deanna) was amazing to work with. She is so talented! Their in house florist (Kimberly at Best Buds) was also amazing! Both Deanna and Kimberly were excellent in communicating to us and making sure everything came together beautifully!

However, the planning stages were unnecessarily stressful, up to about 1 week before our wedding date. T

Communication is a huge concern for us and was one of the major stressors we encountered.
Upon booking, we were under the impression (as advertised) they were an all-inclusive venue which included in house vendors and a coordinator to work directly with the vendors on our behalf. This was not the case. The coordinator is a day of coordinator, so they only make sure the day of your event runs smoothly. They are not the middle man for you and the vendors to make sure information is communicated.
In addition, when you receive the initial quote for the venue with their recommended in house vendors, they do not let you know that once a vendor has been in touch with you, that the vendor is removed from the invoice. You will receive multiple invoices with different amounts which becomes confusing. Again, we thought that as a package, we would pay The Foundry the total amount and this would be dispersed to the vendors accordingly. We found that there was a lot of surprise charges on top of the initial quote as vendors were being removed from the invoice.
We had also been trying to get in touch with our original coordinator for the month of April and was completely MIA. About a month and a half before our wedding (August) we found out that our coordinator was no longer with the company and we had a new coordinator to work with.
It seemed that we had to be in touch with everyone and asking when vendors were going to be in touch with us (vendors were late in doing so), instead of the coordinator ensuring that we were in contact already.

At time of meeting with someone at The Foundry, remember to ask all the questions even if they are stupid questions to them. We think The Foundry needs to explain everything in plain terms and understand that people booking for weddings need it explained as if they were 5 years old. None of this "basically what is going to happen. " People are only planning on getting married once and it should be treated as exactly that. People planning a wedding do not know what to do or what to expect.

Our other concern was in regards to parking. We understand that there is street parking and an Impark lot about a block or two from the venue, however, we would have appreciated assigned parking for the bride/groom, and perhaps the parents of the bride/groom. The parking lot in the back is available for all the businesses in the area and almost made it difficult to be on time to our own wedding due to parking.

Again, the day of our wedding was beautiful and all we hear back from our guests was how amazing it went and how much fun they all had. We appreciate the work the staff did to make sure the day did go as smoothly as it did.

We recently got married at The Foundry Room OEX and are so happy that we chose the Foundry Room for our special day! Kay and Adi were instrumental in making sure the planning and big day went smoothly. They were very accommodating throughout the whole process and the decor turned out so beautifully! The vendors we worked with through the Foundry Room were also so fantastic! We received many compliments on the catering and florals. We highly recommend the Foundry Room!

We had our wedding ceremony at OEX and our reception at OEX2 and we were blown away with the beautiful job the foundry room group did with everything. The layout of both rooms is great and the small details they’ve added (flowered bar, the incredible chandelier, the wood work wall etc) work perfectly. There were a lot of decor options to choose from (almost overwhelmingly so!) and they all complemented each other well. We bought a few flowers, rose petals, and small signs but otherwise only used their decor. Jody went above and beyond to make sure all of our requests were met leading up to our wedding. It was awesome having her as a go-to person the day of. We were originally supposed to have a different day-of coordinator for our wedding so there were a few small things that weren’t communicated to Jody (like the tables not moving to open up the dance floor) but it didn’t take away from our day at all. We would highly recommend Foundry Room for a wedding/event!

This past weekend I hosted a full weekend dance event at the Foundry OEX. With so many things to plan and worry about I was relieved that the venue was not one of them. The venue is not only beautiful but Jody and her team made sure to help with all of my last minute needs. I would definately reccomend using this venue for your next event!

Thank you for the beautiful event. It had a magical vibe to it and we/our guests had a great time. A highlight of the event was the wonderful staff during the evening. They tried their very best to accommodate, help, support, and make sure our needs were met. A special thank you to them!

Although our event day itself was lovely, our planning process with this venue was quite stressful and did not ease the stress of planning an event as we hoped when we chose this venue in the first place. We are hopeful that with feedback, these things can be changed to make the experience of other couples much better.

1. The communication between the owner and the venue manager (planner) was disappointing and substandard. There was miscommunication with many different parts of the event, and it felt very unprofessional. For example, there was a change in catering companies without us being informed at the time of booking, and there were multiple things that the owner promised that we later found out that the manager was not aware of in the first place, which caused confusion along the way. However, the planner tried to rectify some of that. The communication styles lacked professionalism and accountability at times.

3. Regarding timing, the venue was not ready on time and guests arrived with things not being a 100% complete. This seems to be a consistent issue we have heard from other vendors as well, as it seems that the set up is often started last minute.

4. The front door locks automatically at a certain time in the evening and guests were locked out and unable to enter the building. Although, this was resolved by the staff as they had an extra key.

5. Related to food, the food was quite good and they were accommodating of special dietary needs, which was great! That being said, it arrived late, and the appetizer table was not ready when the first guests came in. The grazing table was not a “grazing table. ” It was a couple of small trays that were definitely not enough for the number of guests we had. This was quite disappointing, especially, as we have asked for photos earlier on what to expect and we were not provided with accurate photos. The supper was good, but again, it felt that the last guests did not have options. The desserts were phenomenal and great, 100% recommend the desserts!

6. The music system was great, and we loved it. However, the mics were not charged, and this caused issues during our event. It truly felt that the venue was under-prepared, and this was disappointing considering the importance of the events they host and the price they charge.

Even though the experience we had behind the scenes was generally not the best, our guests had a great time and the event itself was beautiful, the welcome sign was great, and the building and décor were stunning, so thank you!

I held a wedding and also a corporate event with the foundry room, had an amazing time, incredible service with staff members there, they took care of us and I truly appreciate jody for her incredible service on communicating to make sure everything was the way we wanted it, again I appreciate all the staff for there help and hope to still hold future corporate Buisness with you guys, thank you ️️️

Save yourself the unnecessary stress by not choosing Foundry Room for your wedding. Multiple unfulfilled promises, lack of transparency and accountability, and complete disregard for prioritizing brides. We got married September 2022 and similar to other reviewers, the owner did not think to mention our venue, OEX2, was still under construction only six weeks before our big day. At the time of contract signing, we were promised it would be finished in time because they had weddings booked as early as May 2022.

We discovered for ourselves when we drove by the construction site (picture included). She did not apologize or use the word “sorry” at any point. She arrived late to each of our scheduled appointments and was difficult to get ahold of. We used their recommended vendors and none of them were aware of the venue change. I had to scramble to get all of this confirmed on my own. We did not receive a discount for the significant inconveniences. Please choose a more professional, honest and ethical business that actually cares and understands the importance of your big day.

We held our Christmas Party there and they were fabulous. Easy to work with. Food was great, music was great. We had a great time. Beautiful Venue.

Such a beautiful venue for our big day! While we would recommend finding an outside catering company to work with (which we did), everything else about this venue was amazing. Especially their bartending team (sorry we forgot your names but we LOVED YOU!). The whole space feels so grand and chic and the ceremony arch just made it all feel so magical. There was more than enough space for our wedding (75 guests). It could have easily fit double that. Their coordinator, Kay, was great to work with as well. Was there every step of the way, connected us with great vendors, and made the whole day run smoothly. We have nothing but thanks to The Foundry Room and their entire team for making our dreams come true.

The Foundry Room team were a pleasure to work with! They accommodated our every request, provided guidance and insight when asked, and were available whenever we had questions or an issue. I hope to work with them again in the future.

Most recently, I was at Foundry room (Oliver exchange) for a VERY last minute change of plans for a covid wedding. Working with Sandra was an absolute God send. She was approachable, flexible, accessible, welcoming and thrilled for the couple. She was there with us, pulling off the wedding and offering resources along the way. On the day of she took care of playing the music- which makes me nervous 100% of the time. But Sandra did it seamlessly. Shes very much a "yes and. " person- which makes the world of difference. If you're looking for a one stop shop kinda place, with a great energy and ease of mind- thissss is your place. (tip- get the decor package, its worth its weight on gold)

Where do I even start.
I’m a co-owner of an entertainment business here in Edmonton. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Jody a few times now for weddings, corporate and personal events and I can’t praise her and her team enough!

They’re dedicated to their craft and provide an incredibly unique environment with their new aged taste in design and attention to detail for clients. Every experience has been flawless and we can’t wait for our next event together. I’d recommend Jody and crew to anybody looking for high quality service with a headache free process.

Thanks again Jody for such great Valentine’s Day this year, cheers!

The space was perfect! The details were exactly what we wanted, and everything was taken care of by Jody. Our wedding was the perfect day, stress free, and exactly what we had pictured.
Highly recommend the Foundry for any celebration!

Foundry Room at the Fort: For our son's wedding October 2020. The room was beautifully decorated for both ceremony and reception. The staff was patient, attentive and professional. The day went very smoothly and we appreciated all the effort put into everything to make this wedding day special. We also went with the recommended caterers and the meal was amazing. Would highly recommend to others this venue. Thank you.

I am not sure where even to begin. Our wedding was in October right in the midst of COVID numbers rising yet again.let's get married during a pandemic said no bride ever! Being second marriages for both my husband and I, we just wanted to celebrate with close family and friends with a ceremony, cocktail reception, drinks and dancing. Never did we anticipate that we would need to reduce our numbers at the last minute but with the help of Jody and her team they adjusted everything on a dime and were more than patient with us during these unprecedented times.

From the first meeting with Jody and her staff they heard our wishes and went above and beyond. …they do this day in and day out - this is their specialty.trust them. Our wedding was everything we wanted and more and absolutely stress free. We used their music man (DJ Kwake) who had everyone dancing until the end of the night, their photographer (Deanna), they recommended an officiant (Tammy you were fabulous) and their chef (Praveena). We used their decor and their bartenders and we do not have one complaint. In fact most of our guests say it was the best wedding they have been too!

It was a fabulous evening with awesome appetizers, tons of dancing and the best pictures to remember it all for years. It also does not hurt that the Exchange Building is stunning in the evening for a candlelight ceremony.

Go check it out, we went to one of their open houses, fell in love with the venue and didn't look back and we are so glad we did.

We had our wedding ceremony at the Foundry Room earlier this month and I can't speak highly enough of the whole team there, including the recommended photographer, officiant and florist. The planning and setup of the whole day with Rhea and Jody went so smoothly and they were very responsive if I had any questions. They've also been super accommodating of any covid related changes and have been great about alternative plans. SO grateful for everything, they made our wedding day so beautiful and stress-free!

Very nice place and it has good ambiance if you want to have coffee. Check some of the local store inside as well.

The Foundry Room hosted our wedding this past weekend and everything was perfect! Everything was set up exactly as we had imagined. The space looked beautiful and we’re so glad we chose this venue. We rented all of our decorations right throughout Jody and the Foundry Room and didn’t have to worry about any set up or tear down of the space. Which was so nice not to worry about in the craziness of a wedding weekend! Jody and her team walked us through the rehearsal the night before and made us feel confident that everything would go off without a hitch! Would definitely recommend for other brides looking for a modern, urban space with no hassle!

I celebrated my 50th birthday at this venue on November 24th. Overall the experience was good. I met with the owner several times in order to organize the event well. I personally managed and outsourced my catering and alcohol selection for the event. Unfortunately due to minimal staff at the event (1 bartender and 1 service staff) details were missed. I provided the owner with my feedback and recommended that there be more clarity and honesty in their contracts with their future patrons. I wish the owners well with their future endeavours and new location for their business.