Burntshirt Vineyards

We felt very comfortable with their event coordinator, Landon Sellers. He listened to our concerns and kept us informed and on budget. The grounds and gardens were lovely and the cocktail hour was great!

As the bride and groom, we had very mixed feelings about working with BurntShirt Vineyards. Conveniently located in a perfect setting, this vineyard offers a healthy balance of nice but not hoity-toity. We received many compliments about the food and drink and overall, our guests provided us with favorable feedback. However, there was a consistent theme of headaches and frustrations that occurred behind the scenes throughout our 15-month working relationship. - First, they gave away our initial wedding date. Insert the first and only bridezilla moment here. - Second (and most importantly to us), there was an extremely high turn-over rate amongst staff. We worked with five different event coordinators; each new hire was a surprise to us each time we visited the venue. While we understand that a reasonable number of staffing changes can be expected in any business, this was incredibly frustrating- as we were forced to repeat ourselves and reconsider countless “finalized” decisions. Our fourth coordinator blatantly lied to us and “promised” that he would be our last coordinator. In reality, we accidentally learned that his exit strategy was already in the works when we initially met him. Our fifth coordinator was as helpful as possible while being thrust into a new role. However, too many poor impressions had already been made by the time we met him (30 days before our wedding). In total, these multiple and significant staffing changes did not instill confidence that we would have a seamless wedding day experience. - Third, we did not find out until after the wedding that we were entitled to an overnight stay in the vineyard’s cottage, located on site. We unknowingly paid for this accommodation, but it was never communicated (like so many things) that this was available to us. When we learned about this accommodation after the wedding, we respectfully requested an alternative date but this was not granted. - Fourth, we paid a significant amount of money for a beverage package that allowed us to keep the leftover alcohol from our open bar; honoring this agreement was yet another struggle we had with staff. Ultimately, the terms were met after our multiple requests. - Fifth, the sound system did not simultaneously play music indoors/ outdoors, as we were led to believe by all five event coordinators. This resulted in us paying the DJ an unplanned $400 for a speaker on our wedding day, so that he could bypass the vineyard’s incompatible sound system. - Sixth, the venue’s large projector for our picture slideshow was not working. The venue erected a small monitor for our use. However, guests were not able to easily view this major feature we had prepared for them. In the end, we are thankful that our guests enjoyed themselves and seemed oblivious to all of the snafus noted above; however, I would not choose to pay the same bill for the same headaches and frustrations.

Got married June 2024 with 65 guests & booked July of 2023. We met with Taylor, who was the event manager. FH & I said we’d be back in Nov for food tasting & to discuss further details. Sept came and we hadn’t heard from anyone. I reached out to Taylor (a few times before a response) only for her to say she’s not working there anymore. I got in touch with the restaurant and we set up a tasting. There was confusion as if they’d never done a tasting before. I had to be a little forward and show them the options and prices we were given. They did honor the original prices and options. There was still no event manager at this time, no real point of contact. The food tasting was great! The food was so good. We decided on 2 mains and 2sides. We asked the chef if we needed to say beforehand what option guests wanted. He said it would be no problem at all with the small guests count we had (but later at the actual wedding my parents were told we were the biggest event they’ve had there). After MONTHS there was an event manager again. Communication was spotty but things were ok. I did have to reach out multiple times with the same question before getting answers. Most of the time the answers were “I’ll look into that and get back with you” for things that as a wedding venue, should already be known. 2 of the larger issues were that: a planner was required which I was never notified about (I thankfully had a day of) and getting married in the vineyard was an additional $900 when I was originally told everything was included. The cottage is included with the wedding venue for the night before and the night of the wedding. We never could view the inside & I asked the event manager if she could give me any info. She mentioned I should receive an email the day before with info on getting in. We did not stay in the night before and I finally realized on Friday that we had not received any information. I reached out and an email came that was not readable (the format was weird and it was just symbols). I was texted the code to get inside, but I was not told the main gate was locked. So the morning of my wedding we went from gate to gate to get in. Took an extra 20 minutes. While setting up the day before we took a look at the alcohol and realized they shorted us. FH called manager over. They apologized & said they would correct the amount & promised extra alcohol for free bc of the issue. We didn’t get the extra free alcohol, but they at least gave us what we paid for. Thank goodness we checked. For wedding day I was adamant for a short 30minute cocktail hr then for food to be immediately served. My FH & I were then going to make our grand entrance, go right into our first dance & then into reception music since everyone would be gathered outside on the dance floor. The food was over an hour late. We held off long as we could but had to make our entrance INSIDE &dance while people were eating. Half the food was inedible. The risotto was over blasted & bland & potatoes were not done. We almost ordered pizza for the guests. Because the food was late this meant the dj had to extend cocktail hour with songs I didn’t approve/weren’t the vibe, our timeline was messed up and took away an hour of our reception time. I didn’t hear from anyone after the wedding, so I reached out after 4 weeks only for the event manager to say she’s no longer working there and would forward the information. It’s a beautiful place….. but they are not equipped to hold weddings.