1888 Wedding Barn and Banquet Hall in Sunday River

ails miserably. So you can enjoy the beautiful barn and catered food if you can handle a manager ruining your special day .

ood provided by Gourmet in a Pinch was absolutely delicious and every staff member on hand was extremely professional. Thank you again for everything.

wrong way. Paul was unprofessional at times. My maid of honor, is also a wedding planner (day of coordinator). She was not working at my wedding. We decided to move things up because we were running ahead of schedule and spoke with the DJ to do the introductions early. Apparently we didn’t tell Paul this information and he yelled at my maid of honor saying “this is your job.” She was not working that day. We had paid for so many people to come. Probably about 10-15 people that said they were coming did not come. I had a friend who went up for seconds at the buffet. And they told her no. They were taking the food out back. We had paid for that food. I was told later on by one of the waitstaff that they bring home the leftovers, which is why they can’t serve seconds. One of the waitstaff told us Paul is not easy to work for. I saw him yelling at some of his waitstaff as well. Like I said, it was still a great day and Paul checked in with us several times throughout the night to make sure things were going okay. Just keep in mind some of these things when booking this venue.

ich is the nicest package. It made the most sense to us because we wanted the upgrades it allowed such as the nicer chairs, colored linens, additional sky lanterns and additional menu options. The contract is very detailed and needs to be read over carefully and thoroughly. You have certain responsibilities and deadlines to uphold just as much as the venue so communication is vital. We spent months working on our day to make sure it went how we wanted it to. Paul was easy to reach via email and very accommodating and open to our ideas. We designed a very unique evening and he helped us pull it off seamlessly. We did not get married at the barn so I cannot comment on that piece but our reception went exactly how we discussed. The food was absolutely excellent! The portions exceeded our expectations and our guests left happy and full. The mini Whoopie pies were delicious and a huge hit with our guests! The sound system is amazing, it provided a fun evening of dancing. My advice to someone thinking of renting this venue is read over your contract ~ know what your package includes, what your responsibilities are, keep all correspondence so you can refer back to it if you have questions, and communicate often and clearly!! Know that you will have a limited set up time so you can plan accordingly. Be organized and ask questions ahead of time. Paul and Chef Charisa are very helpful but they are not mind readers. The absolute best part of the 1888 Wedding Barn is the convenience of having one price for everything. The barn, food, linen, tables, bar, waitstaff, cleaning crew… it’s all taken care of. No running around trying to find all the individual pieces. It made our planning much less stressful.

wedding special. The barn was beautifully decorated and the food was amazing! Chef Charisa is a fantastic chef and all our guests had wonderful things to say about the food. Paul and the team were able to accomodate special requests that we needed for set up timing and were very considerate. Overall, it was a practically perfect day and we had a lovely spot for it!

d was incredibly accommodating on our wedding day! Chef Charisa and the catering team were absolutely phenomenal. Her hospitality was above and beyond, and we were blown away by the quality of her food. She made a special butter cake for us and it was incredible!! We are so glad we booked with the 1888 barn. The venue is absolutely stunning and they truly took every step to make our special day unforgettable. We highly recommend them for your wedding day!

our. Without a backup plan, Paul and the team worked with our Dj and officiant to move the ceremony inside to accommodate guests and our wedding party. The venue was beautifully decorated and set up promptly before we arrived to set up our decorations the day of the wedding for 1 hr as discussed in the timeline set up. There was some difficulty with the final balance at first, but everyone should always double check the math in all circumstances. When I addressed Paul he responded quickly and fixed numbers to the balance and apologized for the mistake. All the guests had a blast using the Photo Booth that is provided with a discount, which was well worth making it apart of our wedding package. The food made by the Gourmet in a Pinch team was outstanding and our guests still rave about how delicious everything was. We also had our cake made at the barn for convenience and it definitely exceeded our expectations, it was classy and delicious! When considering the venue just make sure you discuss the cost of all children and ages because there is a per person fee or meal fee for every age. They do accommodate children with pizza as a food choice which our families loved for those picky eaters. A negative experience my family had which I did not know until after the wedding. My grandmother was very sick and had to leave after the ceremony, but my mother in law had asked Paul if she could take a piece of cake on the way out (one we had catered by Gourmet in a Pinch and paid for). He said "we are a catering company not a restaurant," and would not allow her to have a small foam container unless she were to come back the next morning for pick up with the rest of our stuff. Another kind waitress ended up getting her a piece to go in a container and apologized. If you are looking for a venue that makes your day easier I would definitely recommend the 1888 Wedding Barn. They provide set up and take down (even your own decorations which they gather together for pick up the next day), Gourmet in a Pinch Catering in the barn, a full bar staff included in the package, new and clean bathrooms in the barn, all tables, chairs, silverware, linens, and beautifully finished wood floors! Pictures of the venue by Taylor Kaminsky Photography.

rt of the package makes your life easy and if you want to use the Sunday River Covered Bridge they will bring chairs to the bridge for you for a low cost. The big downside of the venue and why I would probably have not use this place again is the manager of the Barn. He is not well organized and very hard to work with. We would agree on some plan and then he would not remember it the next time we talked. He also does not know how to use modern planning tools such as Google Docs to help in collaboratively planning an event.

ven 1 hr to decorate and then he locked the doors on them. Bad enough but during the reception he locked the doors so any guests outside on the deck could not get back in and it was cold last night. The reception was not even on the last song. He could have damaged the DJ’s equipment as while the last song God Bless America was playing he just went up and pulled the plug on him without warning to be able to shut his computer system down. He flips out and save your money.

as great. All of the service staff were very nice and accommodating. Paul was very responsive to emails leading up to the wedding. There was some confusion about what we wanted for bar and there was initially no hard alcohol available. Within 20 minutes of this being brought to Paul’s attention there was a full bar set up. I would highly recommend this venue!

with numbers and when you ask for a break down of what things costs, he acts like it is the most difficult thing and he does not know what each item should cost. He acted like every change we made was a supreme gift and he was going out of his was to be accommodating, which he was not. The "day of" wedding the timeline says you can start setting up at 9 am however Paul was no where to be found when my now husband and my father had arrived well after 10am, and he was unreachable by phone; unacceptable on your wedding day. Not to mention on his sign out front, instead of saying congratulations like he had done for others in the past as I saw, he had "rent this barn"...tacky!!! Although the venue was beautiful and most guests did not see how Paul was, (except for my father in law who was asked, "were you invited" when we asked for an additional place setting), I would not recommend use of Paul's services. Chef Charissa's food is amazing however Paul has no people skills. Again the food was amazing and my day was perfect, but I do not wish the stress prior to the event, in dealing with Paul, on anyone.

eady paid a deposit so unfortunately never knew anything other than the total. I felt the same way working with Paul, we were not able to have the barn set up the way we wanted and never told why. I requested the chairs to be set up a different way for the ceremony, even though he agreed in the contract, it was done the way he wanted. If you want no say over the set up or flow of anything this might be your place but I would not recommend it to anyone. I did love the food and chef Charissa was great! I think they should go back to just being a catering company.

k with. He is extremely picky in what you can have at his venue and wouldn't even let us have the layout we wanted. He is very unclear about money and what is owed. I called several times and emailed and he never responded to me or took forever to respond with just one email. He made me, the bride, very stressed out and not even excited for my wedding. I don't reccomend this venue!

re great. The food was AMAZING and the service was great. The gourmet in a pinch catering company also catered our rehearsal dinner which was also amazing. Paul and his staff were so helpful and supported through our planning process and during our big weekend. We can't say enough about how wonderful our experience was. We highly recommend!!