Scotts Family Resort

Scotts Family Resort - Oquaga Lake, NY 

This was our third stop on the first day we went looking for a venue so sadly, the best I can do is link to their website for pictures as I didn't have the forethought to bring a camera with me or use the darn camera on my fancy phone.

Brides, Grooms, interested parties: ALWAYS take a camera. Please learn from my mistake.

This was a place that my dad had actually reached out to and asked me to check out. He was really impressed with their response - they sounded like the would be very accommodating over the phone. They mailed information to the house rather than emailing it which was both really nice and slightly frustrating as I pretty much want to see all the information on the internet right away.

We set up the appointment and off we went.

Sadly, that is kind of where the good stuff ends.

The resort was really dated. Not just in the time capsul-ness of it, but in the rundownedness as well which is a shame as my dad can remember spending summers on the lake when he was a boy and how it was the place to be. My future husband made the quip that if one was doing a Dirty Dancing themed wedding, this place would be ideal.

Despite having explained our wedding date and party size, when we got there we discovered that we would basically have to guarantee a block of rooms (not necessary as 90% of our guests live within driving distance) or we would have to share rooms with guests - neither of which was explained or brought up during the phone call. And that sharing of the space included the reception space. And because it's a running resort, guests would have the priority over space and events - for example, the one room we both liked - their ballroom - we would not be able to use as it would be reserved for guest functions that night.

The outdoor ceremony space at the gazebo was depressing. There was a gazebo, yes, and there were benches for guests (which is more than we can say for some places, so there's that) but not only were they all showing their wear and tear, but it was overgrown and very much an after thought. There was another ceremony site down by the lake which had a slope to it - not terrible but something that should be taken into consideration. This was right off another building where the coordinator suggested we have cocktail hour. It was in better shape than a lot of the other places at the resort, but again, very dated.

The coordinator was really lovely and tried to be helpful, to the point that she and my dad were discussing maybe renting a tent and putting it on the grounds for a party, but by then we were talking rental of the 'venue' without any of the perks, plus renting a tent, plus all the accessories for the tent... and well, you could hear the dollar signs adding up.

To be fair, they had just had a wedding cancel for the 4th of July weekend and they didn't at the time have a good deposit system in place so it sounded like - from what the coordinator explained - that they were at a significant loss for what should have been their opening season. So it is understandable that going through that right before we walk in with our hopes of a July 3/4 wedding, that she'd be trying to cover their bases to make sure that doesn't happen again.

I can't really recommend it for a number of reasons. I didn't get a good sense that they had the ability to handle weddings - their primary function is a family resort, not a wedding venue. I'm sure there are brides and grooms out there who have had nothing but awesome experiences there but from our walk through there was no sense that anything we had discussed prior to arrival was taken into consideration so essentially it was a waste of time for us and them.