Clifton Park Elks Lodge Wedding VENUE REVIEW

- Wedding Venue Review

Last weekend, I had the great pleasure of being the disc jockey at The Clifton Park Elk's Lodge. Two things that I always look forward to when doing a gig at The Elks is some really great cooking, and the fact that the people are very easy to work with.

At the Elk's, they provide a quality venue at reasonable pricing. They also allow quite a bit of freedom to the bride and groom to customize outline of the night's events and how they will unfold. In today's wedding industry, this is not always so.

VENUE - According to their web site, The Lodge's facilities at the Clifton Park Elks are said to be, "a great place to have the wedding of your dreams or enjoy a great barbecue." This is true. Know this. Guests there can choose from their indoor facilities with 2 connecting rooms, dance floor and complete bar, or their out-door pavilion with a large grill and on-site sporting games. The Elks Lodge can also custom create a combination package of both upon guest request.

FOOD - The food really is great considering they cook all their own food without a cateror. It has a more homey-like feel to it, rather than the mass-produced feel that some of the bigger venues have, and I think that the guests appreciate that.

SERVICE - They do serve their guests the buffet food portions which slows down their buffet line to some degree. However, the hand-carved prime rib was high quality and great for a smaller-to-medium sized venue. The sides were really good, as well, and they even featured their own home-made sauces, like a great bistro horse-radish for the beef.

One more thing I really like is that they are super easy to work with. For example, the lodge doesn't force the cake, or toast on you. Wedding halls and catering venues sometimes push to have the cake cutting activity happen very soon after the dinner. This push for early dessert helps them organize the employees' duties in the back and an early cake activity can actually maximize employee potential and save the hall money.

However, an early cake is not always the best for the party, as many people leave right after the cake, and the activity can really slow down the fun. At the lodge, they are really cool with letting it happen later. I also don't think they try and soak the bride and groom with a cutting fee.

If I could change one thing, I would probably change the buffet line up to both sides of the table to speed up the actual serving, and set up a separate food station for the hand-carving roasts. However, because it is a smaller venue, maybe 80-120 guests in full capacity for the dinning room, it is possible that space is an issue.

BAR - There is a cool little bar in a separate room for the drinking enthusists, as well as a small bar in the large extended dining room.


LOCATION - The lodge is conveniently located at 695 Macelroy Road in Ballston Lake NY. This site is right on the border of Clifton Park and is an easy place to get to. It is still far enough away from the commericialism right off of the 87 exit.

If you need to book your small to medium sized wedding and are now thinking about the Elks as an option, the phone number is (518) 877-5200.