The Estate at Florentine Gardens

Smaller than other caterers and out of the way, but very nice. I went to a party here on Super Bowl Sunday. It happened to be open bar, and I happened to get quite drunk. The drinks were well made, the staff was quick and courteous in taking finished drinks and plates.
I walked around a little bit before the game, it’s nice. I’m sure the outdoor gardens are much more comfortable in the spring.

To sum up my experience with the Florentine Gardens, this venue is not only beautiful and well-​designed from parking lots, gardens and outdoor patio to the interior deco, but the whole working crew is courteous and professional. They made us feel comfortable and special and we appreciate them for their care.
We had a Saturday morning wedding in November 2015. Even though we were a little worried about the weather being too cold in November, we were blessed with beautiful sunny fall weather. All of our wedding guests that we have talked to complemented on the beautiful ceremony, very tasteful cocktail food and main course meal, fun and entertaining reception hour and beautiful and spacious venue.
First of all, our wedding coordinator, Michael Huxtable, was very professional and always pleasant to talk to from the moment we first contacted him to inquire about the venue till our Big Day.
Sal did an amazing job DJ’ing our reception hour with great entertainment and music. My husband and I have been the venue previously for some of our friends’ weddings, and we noticed that Sal always did a flawless job. So we had no doubt that he would do such a great job for our wedding as well.
We were also provided with another gentleman from the venue on our wedding day to guide our bridal party for our entrances to the ceremony and the reception hours. He explained to us each time and told us when to go into the rooms exactly.
I was provided with a bridal attendant, Kerry, that was with me all day. I got to the venue at 6AM and she was already waiting for me when I got there to do hair and make-​up with my bridesmaids. The venue had provided breakfast food with very tasty muffins, cupcakes, fruits and drinks. My attendant was so sweet and professional all day and was so helpful to get anything I needed. I was not used to having someone next to me to assist me in everything, but I soon realized that she was huge help from the moment I got to the venue till the end of my day when I got to my car. She had also nicely put all of my belongings as well as any missing items of my friends at the wedding into a box. I shared with my husband that my attendant is a treasure employee that the venue has.
Thanks to the entire team at the Florentine Gardens, our wedding was nothing but positive and joyful. We are really thankful to them for making the day so memorable and beautiful. We highly recommend this place!

I’ve been to many weddings in my life. Some receptions were, «painfully ordinary,» to outright bad. The Estate however stood out as outstanding!
First off, the place is beautiful. I’ve seen complaints of it being too, «out of the way.» Personally I don’t see that as a bad thing. If you have a navigator in your car or on your phone, you’ll find it, trust me.
EVERYONE on the wait staff was very friendly and accommodating and most importantly, efficient.
The food never seemed to stop! I’ve seen reviews complaining about that and again, I don’t see that as a bad thing. There were so many stations during the cocktail hour, I had a hard time getting to and trying them all! Everything I ate was delicious.
Then for the main meal in the dining room. Normally you get two choices, meat or fish. Here we had three and they were all very good. Chateaubriand, chicken breast stuffed with spinach and fontina cheese, and sea bass. All were served with whipped potatoes and roasted veggies. The chicken breast was delicious as well as the Chateaubriand. I didn’t try the sea bass but was told that it was very good.
My ONLY complaint is that it was a very long reception. By 11PM we had it and were tired so we departed before the dessert was served. :(Of course the pace is usually set by the bride and groom so it’s not the fault of the venue.
I hope that I get to go back some day for another wedding!

They are professionals at the Florentine Gardens. Whether a moderate fundraiser, local function or a phenomenal affair, The Florentine Gardens always delivers. They pay attention to detail in everything they do. Parking is great. Staff is very helpful. The facility is lovely. And the amenities are state of the art. Excellent place for a grand celebration.

A beautiful place for a wedding. The ceremony room was beautiful with large windows that allowed the sun rays to shine in perfectly. The staff was amazing and very attentive. Cocktail room and hour was phenomenal and was ultimately the best part of the day. The charcuterie and cheese section had a numerous amount of choices. Raw bar consisted of shrimp cocktail, oysters, and clams. All fresh. Lamb chops a la carte was the highlight. They were very tender and flavor full. Beside the full bar they also had a mojito bar that served special flavored monitor which were great.
This place lost a star during the reception. The full bar did not offer the flavored mojitos anymore although it was supposed to be top shelf open bar. The entrée choices were the steak château briand, stuffed chicken and Chilean seabass. The seabass was first ordered and came out was mush. It literally looked and had the texture of mashed potatoes. We expressed our disgust and was offered another meal of the steak or chicken. We received the steak and it was an end piece which happened to be well done. Overall, the venue is beautiful, staff is amazing, and house band was awesome. Kept us dancing the whole night.

Maria, Maria, Maria!!!
She absolutely was OUTSTANDING from Day 1. We booked our appointment, spoke with her and canceled our 4 other appointments because of the professionalism and politeness of the way we were greeted.
it was an absolute pleasure to have our wedding here. They made our day the most perfect day and exactly how we wanted!!!
Maria and her crew were so on point that we had guests calling us and thanking us on how amazing the food was and how full they were when they left. (Stuffed Chicken, Château, and SeaBass (yes! SeaBass that everyone LOVED) once they served dinner her crew went around offering people a taste of the other choices! That was a crowd pleaser… Seriously I’ve been to a lot of weddings and never have I seen that once. We did not worry about 1 thing that day because it was ALL taken care of… And as for Jason (Maitre D’) he was at every corner and sometimes I felt like there was 2 of him!
My Wife’s bridal assistant… I know they are trained but this was a whole new level, she was everywhereeeee. We did not have to raise a hand. We needed a drink she got them. We wanted something to eat she brought it. We needed someone to talk to she would bring that person to us. I CANNOT thank this crew enough and this review does not thank them enough…
THE BEST and MOST MEMORABLE day of our lives!!!
They really made it happen! NOT 1 flaw…
I also Booked Sal he is the «entertainment» his DJ His Lighting, his Video … His show… LET HIM RUN IT. It was PERFECT! Every suggestion and every song they played. I did not give him 1 input, I just let him do his thing. He had my guests entertained and dancing allllllll night. That is very hard to do with a Half Armenian Crowd.
His Video Crew, from the Angles and the professionalism they were on point! They had a FREAKEN drone at the church to capture us coming out! How cool is that… The reason I know this is because they gave an edited Video THAT night 2 copies for our parents and 1 for us! Amazing Amazing job…
Thank You Sal!!! It was Memorable!

We got married Sunday, May 31. 2015.
There was rain. No, not just rain. Torrential downpour and flooding in several parts of New Jersey. I was expecting it to rain and prepared myself for it so I didn’t stress about mother nature because I knew we would all be fine inside the stunning Florentine Gardens.
Here’s how a day that could have gone terribly wrong, didn’t, because of the complete professionalism and expertise of the staff at The Estate.
We worked with Jason Gentile. When we arrived, Jason brought us and our bridal party (20 people including parents) directly upstairs to a conference room.
Maria Daidone immediately found my husband and I and brought us to her office. She was very straightforward and told us the rain had come down so fast and hard, that the pipes could not handle draining the water from the cocktail hour roof. Two feet of water had collected there. The Fire Marshall informed the Estate that it would be unsafe to have anyone in the room but Maria told us not to worry.
Fortunately, our food was not affected and the staff began immediately setting up stations in the entrance and hallway. Luckily, it was such a big space, our 200 guests fit just fine. It was all set up in time for everyone’s arrival and no one knew the difference.
Our Bridal Party also had to stay in the conference room because some water had seeped into the lower level where our original Bridal Suite was. Even though the room was small for us, it all worked out. We had music blasting, food stations brought up and a constant flow of drinks being brought to us. The staff did everything they could to accommodate every one of our requests.
We ended up taking our pictures in the room and believe it or not, they came out beautiful– cozy and almost godfather-​esque due to all the mahogany furniture and leather couches.
Since, we also chose to have an after party in the cocktail room our time in the ballroom was extended instead. I think in the end it turned out better than if we had been moved to the cocktail room because the ceilings were so high and with the lighting, it really gave a nightclub feel. Also, the chicken wings and sliders were amazing!
Most of our 200 guests we have spoken to since the wedding have not stopped raving about the endless food (cocktail hour, entrees, a second round of entrees, the four mini plated desserts, after party snack foods) then of course, the stunning chandeliers, top shelf open bar and the great music.
Sal Travis was wonderful to work with. He was in constant communication with us, answered every question through e-​mail quickly and even threw in an edited DVD that night of our wedding because of all the rain.
The day could have been a disaster. I am sure that if we had chosen another venue, they would not have been prepared enough to control the situation and make it seem like everything was going according to plan.
To top it all off, the owner was generous enough to reimburse us some money for any complications the weather may have caused us.
We are so thankful to everyone at the Estate, Jason, Sal, Maria but more so, the staff behind the scenes.
If we had to do it all over again, under the same circumstances, we would still pick The Estate at Florentine Gardens. It’s such a classy and elegant venue with the business know-​how to back it up. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for giving us the day we had been planning and waiting so long for!
Karen & James

I had a wedding here the other day and I have to say, I was VERY impressed with this place! The cocktail hour was spectacular. One of my favorite things was the wine and cheese bar, they had about 5 – 6 different types of red and white wine and 6+ different types of cheese. They also had a table with a variety of cold and hot appetizers, a mashed potato bar, pastas, and fresh meats. They had at least 5 different tables of food, and everything was delicious. I never had an issue getting a drink at the bar as the bar was never super crowded, which was nice.
After an hour or so, we were lead into the hall where they band was playing. Five hours went by, and I didn’t even realize it. The band was awesome and they had everyone up and dancing the entire time. I was told by the bride that when you book the Estate for a wedding, they offer the band to you, I’m glad my gf said yes. I have never been at a wedding where every single person was dancing the entire time! For dinner they give you a salad, which was okay, nothing to rave about, and a choice of chicken, lamb or halibut (from what I recall). I had the halibut, which I thought was really good, especially for a wedding. It was a delicious crunchy piece of fish that came with some fingerling potatoes. The service was great. The waiter, Gerard, definitely took care of me. He kept asking me if I needed anything. For desert, they came by with a plate of 4 different mini desert, and some of the wedding cake. I also asked for a cappuccino, which he quickly brought for me.
I went for a day wedding, so when we walked in we saw the huge beautiful windows and the beautifully manicured lawns, when we walked in, then they shut the blinds after a few minutes, and let the party get going! I missed the reception, which was a bit of a bummer as the landscaping is beautiful here.
My only minor gripe with this place is that no one offered to valet my car, maybe because it was a day wedding, and there weren’t too many cars there.
In any case, this is one of my favorite wedding halls to date. It’s a bummer the closest hotels are 15 – 20 minutes away, but it is in Upper Bergen County. In any case, I would highly recommend this place.

Came here as a wedding guest.
The floor plan flow for cocktail hour then dinner was perfect. Ample space for this 200 ppl event. Indoor/​outdoor option worked extremely well.
Food was sensational and the staff was formal yet personable.
Dinner and dancing was held in a beautiful ballroom which was contrasted by nightclub lighting, wall projections and top 40 club tunes.
Transport could be an issue (don’t drink and drive!) but the wedding couple thought of that.

I was here May 29^th 2015 for a friend’s wedding, and it was a wonderful experience! The place is HUGE, and absolutely gorgeous, inside and out. The staff, from the valet to the waiters, were very attentive, courteous, and friendly. And the food… Just wow. The cocktail hour alone was incredible. I had the beef for dinner, which was tender and huge. They also had a very talented house band which is something you don’t see very often at weddings anymore, and they were incredible. Everything went off without a hitch. I would recommend this venue for a friend’s wedding, and I will be calling them when the time comes for me to start planning!

My husband and I had our wedding reception at the Estate at Florentine Gardens on April 24, 2015 and it was absolutely PERFECT. Our family and friends also cannot say enough good things about our wedding, the food, and service at the estate. My husband and I are in our 30’s and wanted to pick a venue that was different, elegant, and would knock everyone’s socks off… and we definitely succeeded.
Maria Daidone, the GM at Florentine Gardens, was so wonderful to work with. From our first meeting, we got along so well. She responded to all of my emails (and there were a lot of them!) so promptly and she was always a pleasure to work with. Maria made the wedding planning process so easy, effortless and even FUN at times.
My bridal attendant, Lauren, was seriously SUPER WOMAN! This girl ran laps around the estate, fed me, helped me go to the bathroom, fixed my hair, bustled my dress, and actually spent 20 minutes cleaning up the train on my dress after we took pictures outside. The staff was beyond accommodating. They servers even came around to our guests and offered additional dinner menu selections. The day after our wedding, we even went home with 15 trays of food!!! Days after our wedding, our guests are still RAVING about the abundance of food at the cocktail hour and during the Viennese dessert display.
We used Soloff films (Sal Travis Entertainment) for our wrap up video and it was truly incredible and impressed everyone. Sal Travis Entertainment also provided the gorgeous pink uplighting and smoke during our first dance. The night was truly magical and it was like we were dancing on clouds. I highly recommend the lighting, smoke and wrap up video services as our guests were honestly amazed.
Brian and I thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for making the most important day of our lives the absolute best we could have ever wanted!!! It was seriously a dream come true. We feel like the staff is part of our family now! Danielle & Brian

The Estate at Florentine Gardens did an amazing job hosting my daughter’s Bat Mitzvah a few weeks ago. Jason Gentile was our coordinator and took great care of us. His attention to detail and hospitality were superb. The food was amazing, the entire staff was very helpful, and F.G. made the celebration that much better. I highly recommend the F.G. for your event.

The Estate at Florentine Gardens was absolutely amazing in every way for my wedding on September 18, 2014.
I live in Los Angeles and planning my wedding from a distance would have been impossible if it wasn’t for Maria!
Maria Daidone was our coordinator for the wedding and I can’t express enough how amazing, helpful, kind, patient, and flexible she was as we were planning the wedding! She was always available to answer any questions or concerns I had. Sometimes, she even acted as a therapist — as we all know how crazy wedding planning can be! :) Maria gave us some amazing suggestions for the other vendors, and she went above and beyond my expectations. The level of service was exceptional from Maria and all of the staff as well! (and a special shout out to my bridal attendant, Brooke!)
The Estate at Florentine Gardens is beautiful. I was a very picky bride when it came to venue — I wanted an extremely fancy yet classy place, and an outdoor area for the ceremony, and the Florentine Gardens was perfect. What sold me were the gardens and the stunning ballroom with its high ceilings and sparkling chandeliers.
As for my wedding day — it was perfect! The food was amazing and the day went perfectly smooth! All my guests guessed that I had spent triple the money than I actually had — which is a testament to the value! I would recommend the Florentine Gardens to anyone for their wedding!
Thank you Maria and the Florentine Gardens for making my wedding day the most special, beautiful, and amazing day of my life!

My fiancé and I visited The Estate at Florentine Gardens when searching for our wedding venue. The facilities were gorgeous and I especially loved the open floor to ceiling windows in the grand ballroom. The space was tastefully decadent and simultaneously intimate, but spacious.
Apart from the beautiful venue, we were really impressed by the staff. Whenever we visited the grounds, the valet would politely ask us to wait outside until an attendant could come by to escort us. We didn’t see this at other venues and I appreciated that they were so conscious of making sure that their visitors didn’t interrupt ongoing events. They also asked us to dress up, again in respect to the ongoing events. This spoke volumes to me, because I’ve seen so many other weddings where the management would be showing other people the space during the event, more conscious of making a sale than creating the perfect environment for the wedding.
Maria Daidone was especially wonderful to work with. Compared to those at other venues, she stood out as being super friendly and accommodating, but also very professional and efficient.

Florentine Gardens may be a bit over the top and decadent, but that’s kind of the point for a wedding reception. The space is very nice and open, though the hallway where cocktail hour is held, then moved into the reception hall was a bit crowded. The staff was good and came around often, though the hors d’oeuvres didn’t make it into the reception hall where we were told to move about halfway through the cocktail hour. I also got chided for going into the balcony over the dance floor, which they totally shouldn’t have if you don’t want random guests stumbling in there. The reception hall is very spacious and pretty without being overly gilded or gaudy. A very nice place for a reception.

My husband and I had our wedding reception at the Estate of Florentine Gardens, and it was absolutely amazing. From the first day we walked in, to our wedding day, everything was perfect.
Maria Daidone is a god send. She is sweet, professional and willing to bend over backwards for you. She always returned my emails and phone calls promptly, and she made sure that our day was everything we had imagined it would be!
The food and staff, impeccable! Our guests can not stop talking about our cocktail hour, the food, the gardens, the dessert hour and the amazing staff! They were on top of their game!
We used Sal Travis and his entertainment team as well! Such a great dj! He made sure everyone was up and dancing, got our guests pumped! Everyone had a great time! His videographers, AMAZING!!! They put together the best wrap up video. Being able to re live the whole day, before the day is even over, well that’s just wonderful! Evan, was very sweet, not intrusive and the video he put together, I can’t stop talking about it!‘
Natalie, my bridal attendant, WONDERFUL! Anything I needed she made sure I got! She even stitched my dress when my bustle broke!
All in all they do an amazing job! They made my husband and I feel like the king and the queen for the day! We were so happy and would do it over again in a heart beat!!!
If you’re looking for a venue to have your wedding, stop looking and go speak to Maria! If you’re attending a wedding here, make sure you don’t eat for a few days leading up to the wedding, trust me!

For whatever reason, I go to about 4 – 5 weddings a year, no joke. This is one of my favorite halls. Everything from the grounds to the food and staff is wonderful.
Their cocktail hour is absolutely delicious. Sushi, oysters, clams, Brie, pasta, you name it they can provide it and it is all so well prepared.
The actual courses were okay… Crab cakes were a little fishy and salad was extremely dry. Salmon was good and the stuffed chicken was pretty good as well. I did hear someone say that their steak was dry. They also came around asking if anyone wanted seconds (second time I’ve been here and they asked that, which I think is great).
The grounds are stunning. Beautiful windows across the entire hall, water fountain in the back, stunning lights everywhere. And at the end of each wedding the florentine puts together a slide show of the entire day for the bride and groom and is shown to everyone as the last thing of the night.
Beautiful!

fortunately, or unfortunately, I go to many weddings. And in my culture, weddings are lavish affairs.
My comments, then, are based on a wedding I recently attended. the couple may have purchased a platinum package (if there is such a thing), because the food was absolutely phenomenal. Everything during the cocktail hour was exquisite, and the meal itself was fantastic.
I will have to knock it down one star because the wait staff was not the best. Coffee/​tea service was missing, and quite frankly, they were a bit rude.

My family and I went to The Estate at Florentine Gardens for a wedding we attended, and overall, I felt it was a very pretty venue, but forgettable.
As the reception was held here, there was a lot of progression from room to room. The champagne cocktail hour was a bit cramped and there weren’t enough servers for demand, but it was a good way to arrive.
The cocktail hour itself was sumptuous and completely overdone, but that was a reflection on the wedding couple and not really of The Estate at Florentine Gardens. The event space for that cocktail hour was adequate, especially for how much food there was.
The actual event space was very ornate and luxurious. However, my table was right next to the band area, and so the positioning of the speaker system literally rattled my head and I had to switch my seat because I couldn’t even hear my own thoughts. I feel that’s a problem with this event space, because it wasn’t jampacked with tables, but the space couldn’t adequately handle tables next to the band area. It’s assumed that there’s a band at any wedding, so that is an issue with this place.
The after party was kind of lame. The dance space was very small, and the dance floor somewhat came apart. Not great.
Another random issue I have this place is it is in the middle of nowhere. Still now, I have no idea what city I was in. I was put on shuttle from the hotel driven here and driven back. So really, I don’t know why I would «choose» this place for a wedding place, because I cannot differentiate it from any other random ballroom. That’s why I said earlier that displaces forgettable, because all I knew was that I was in northern New Jersey at an event space. There are tons of those, and so I don’t really see the point of this place over any other place closer to an actual city. This place is far in the middle of nowhere.

Very beautiful and spacious special events venue with SO much to offer in terms of food, packages, rooms, etc. I came as a guest and not a planner so I cannot comment about the interaction and planning process, but the event execution was very nicely done.
Cocktail hour had about 10 different food stations set up (both hot and cold): raw bar, pasta, carved meats, sushi and sashimis, etc. On top of that, there were also the passed hors d’eurves (I’d recommend saving your appetite for these instead because they’re fresher). The coconut shrimps were so crunchy and perfectly spiced with the pineapple dipping.
Reception dinner was pretty good. We had kale soup, mushroom cucumber salad, Chilean sea bass (my choice, you could’ve also chosen from beef, chicken and a vegetarian meatloaf option). The kale soup was pretty good — not a creamy base, but a liquified potato texture. Mushroom cucumber salad was VERY refreshing and a perfect supplement before your main dish. The Chilean sea bass cut like butter and was the absolute highlight of my night. By this point, I had already eaten enough for about 5 grown adults, but I made room for this piece of fish because it was just. that. good.
Now onto desserts … holey-​moley, they should not have named it Viennese hour, but World of Heavenly Sweets instead. Portuguese natas, cannolis, crepes, bananas foster, brownies, cookies, tarts, fresh fruits … I got a real sugar high just from looking at the options. You have to leave some sort of room for their dessert hour. You’d be doing yourself an injustice if you didn’t at least leave room for a few bites. My favorite part of dessert was the crepes with Nutella and then topped with bananas foster (yeah, that’s right — I know how to eat). The crepes are made in a pan versus that flat surface you normally see, but it tastes just as darn good and they are very generous with the Nutella and toppings.
Well, there you have it folks. Florentine Gardens in a nutshell is just awesome :).