The grounds, location, parking, building internals, etc.. for the event were all lovely, fulfilling our expectations. However, what really impressed about the venue, was the food (for the price of the catering, it was fantastic and with an exc...ellent selection) and the professionalism of the staff and Cindy, the site manager and chef.
Though sometimes a bit disoriented via email (as the past review mentioned-however, I only had to worry about one wedding, while she had a host of different events on her mind) she was willing to work with us and our budget. Additionally, though 'venue manager' may be her official title, I believe cooking is her passion. We were surprised and delighted with the quality and selection of the food at the price we paid. This is especially true, as we opted for the buffet style set-up; usually a somewhat dangerous arrangement. However, the food we sampled at the tasting (she was generous with the portions and we sampled almost every item to be served) was an accurate representation of that served at the venue and the appetizers walked around by the servers was an additional nice touch.
If possible, I would give the venue a 4.5. The downsides were: sometimes the communication or organization (though, the majority of this was accomplished long distance via email. Everything was vastly improved in person and Cindy had an answer for each of our questions) and some of the venue details (the venue was beautiful, though not 'the best ever', which is the five star definition). However, these negatives were more than made up for by the positives: based on the many locations I investigated you'd be very hard-pressed to find a more inclusive package (catering, bar-tender, set-up, take-down, most cleaning, serving, time to decorate before the event, venue, and almost every necessary rental item minus linens: chairs, tables, cutlery, dishes, glasses, etc...) at a price better than provided by French Creek Manor. The staff was professional and polite, as well-all we could have asked for.
Thank you to all at French Creek Manor.