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 nic...e 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.