Festivities Event Center

TL;DR....Beautiful venue but would not recommend mainly due to lack of communication from the owner. My best friend rented this venue for her wedding ceremony in June and although the event space was beautiful, the owner (Rachel) and some of the staff did not meet expectations. I understand that the venue is a historical monument to the city (old post office from 1915), but certain rules made it impossible to efficiently utilize the space. One example is that no large, heavy, or bulky items can enter through the front doors. The front doors are original to the building, and I understand not wanting heavy or bulky items going through them, but we weren't even allowed to bring delicate floral runners through the front doors because Rachel thought they would mess her doors up (see photos for the florals runners). We were instructed to use the rear doors which was not in our favor having to transport items at a further distance in the sweltering summer heat. Rachel also got onto us a few times for leaving her historic doors "open" while going in and out of them for fear of losing AC (more to come on that) even though we were being adamant about closing them. I inspected the doors and realized they were misaligned at the strike plates and hinges (probably because they're 107 year old doors that weren't properly maintained/sustained by the owner) which was causing the doors to constantly be open unless locked from the inside. The inside of the venue was absolutely gorgeous, but again, the rules were such a dampener for arguably one of the most important days of my best friend's life. Brides & Grooms beware, both dressing rooms are upstairs next to each other without any sort of partition so there's very little privacy if you're worried about seeing each other before the ceremony. The owner also does not allow any alcohol upstairs in the dressing rooms unless specifically bought from her, which I felt was one way to nickel-and-dime her bride and groom on their wedding day. There is antique furniture in one of the bedrooms such as a bed, sofa, and dresser, that the owner will not allow you to touch, look at, or even breathe near unless you want to be fined. The AC, or lack thereof, made it extremely uncomfortable getting ready in the upstairs dressing rooms. Rachel told us numerous times to close the blinds upstairs, which we did, but it still didn't help make the rooms any cooler and made it difficult having photos taken without natural lighting. Rachel's staff (specifically bartenders) were late, underdressed, and didn't provide the services that were agreed upon in the contract. The wedding guests were supposed to be served champagne while they were being seated for the ceremony and then served cocktails immediately after the ceremony for cocktail hour. Neither of these agreements were met. Rachel also requires the customer renting out the venue to clean up all trash prior to exiting the space. You read that right - that means all trash from your guests, restrooms, anywhere on the premise, etc must be thrown out by you. This was not previously communicated so I, along with the other bridesmaids, groomsmen, bride, groom, and even their parents were dragging stinky, leaky, trash bags out to dumpsters that were a block away from the venue in our formal attire. My best friend (the Bride) did all of the coordination with Rachel in booking the venue, and from what I heard and saw, it was extremely difficult working with her. There was lack of communication from the very beginning and there were so many other things that weren't specified and that went wrong that she didn't acknowledge. Would not recommend using this space for events larger than 40 people as the staff and management don't seem to be equipped to handle anything larger.

Festivities is a very unique venue where brides can get a lot for quite the reasonable price. I was in a wedding party that made use of all of the venue's features including the outdoor trellis for the ceremony, the get ready rooms upstairs, and the back kitchen. Festivities has been updated from an old post office and has that vintage vibe currently so popular among brides.While it is located in El Reno, the drive is not that far for brides from the city. We had the venue from 10am to midnight. My only complaint is that the get ready room for the bridal party is not very private. There is no bathroom attached to the bridal suite, so you have to go out into the main area to use the bathroom. The women's bathroom only has one functional stall. The other is a urinal. The venue didn't provide any hand towels or paper towels to dry hands in the bathroom. Only one toilet and sink wasn't a problem for us, but larger bridal parties should be aware. The groom's suite is also upstairs and not partitioned from the bridal area, so brides concerned with being seen before the ceremony may want to find another venue, like a nearby hotel for their grooms to get ready.The staff is very friendly, but they are very strict about their rules. For example, you can't use the antique furniture in the rooms or you risk being charged. They also made the party remove the beads that we had placed on the tables for decoration. They are very strict about their liquor license; you can't bring outside liquor upstairs to the get ready room. Even though there are a lot of rules, the staff is still very kind when they enforce them.Overall, this venue is very cool and has a lot of features all in one place. The reasonable cost compensates for the strict rules and the bathroom issue.

My best friend got married here. Although it was beautiful (no thanks to help from the staff) the chairs they offer are cheap plastic and they are filthy. There is no kitchen and they don't allow outside alcohol. The price is high for what they offer. I've done events at more beautiful venues with more helpful staff and all decorations included for half the price of this place. If you plan to have your wedding here in the summer beware, it gets so hot. It's also extremely hard to get a hold of anyone on staff. They don't do anything for you.

This site is absolutely stunning. My niece was married there and from the very beginning, the staff were warm, welcoming and even went above and beyond throughout the entire night. The garden where they were wed was gorgeous and so well kept. The ambiance beginning with the old architecture of the building to the brides dressing room with the historical furniture was absolutely beautiful. Honestly, if I could I would get married all over again and come out to Oklahoma, just to be married at this site. It is beyond words to explain how wonderful this site was for our niece, her husband and our families. I highly recommend this site for your event, or your wedding.

I attended a wedding that was held here, so I can only comment on the look of the event center. The building used to be an old post office and it has that 1910s vibe to it. It is very charming. It is a decent size and fit the approximately 80-person wedding comfortably. The grounds where ceremonies are usually held are also very nice.