Garden Heights West

We got married here on 10/22, my husband and I thought a lot about this review before writing it. Because we understand Laura has a lot going on, but we paid over $6k for the venue, and it was not worth it. The venue is gorgeous and we can’t deny that. First off, we met with Laura a month before the wedding she wrote down our decorations and vendors and said she would reach out to them. Our vendors never heard from her. At the rehearsal, she stated she lost the papers from the meeting and kept saying our wedding was on Monday, when in fact it was the very next day. Secondly, the area where we dreamt about getting married was covered in fire ants. They crawled up my dress and I spent the entire night before my wedding and honeymoon in pain, they developed into blisters. Now I know they can’t control that, but I felt if you’re having an outside wedding venue, I assumed that would’ve been taken care of prior to our rehearsal. I was having to reach out the morning of the wedding to request they get taken care of. Third, Laura stated when we signed contracts, and the meeting before the wedding that they would decorate. All I can say is, that wasn’t true. My husband spent most of the morning at the venue decorating, all they put up was tables, chairs, and the runners for the reception. Luckily the chairs for the ceremony had been set prior to his arrival that morning of our wedding. A majority of the decorations were set up by my husband and one of his brothers. It’s the day of the wedding, and it was supposed to be the happiest day of our lives and it was do to my husband and his brother and from the help Laura’s husband input in setting up the reception tables and such. On top of this my husband had to check where the ceremony would be and had to tell Laura’s husband there was still fire ant piles in that area. Her husband did manage to get the ants under control luckily prior to the ceremony. My husband had to throw in the towel and hope for the best mid afternoon because he still needed to go get ready for our wedding. Which he cut close since he spent a good part of the morning and afternoon setting and decorating for the reception. Fourth, nothing was organized. She helped fluff my dress before I walked down the aisle, but that was it. My husband and I were supposed to have a private dinner to ourselves, because that’s what Laura said she would do for us, and we were having to call our groomsmen and family to bring us food. By the time it came, we only had a few mins before we had to enter for our reception. Also, apparently Laura was not feeling well leading up to the wedding and hired help, who honestly saved the wedding the best they could, but they could only do so much especially if the proper information wasn’t communicated to them. She never communicated to us that she hired help, so the day of, our vendors were calling me looking for Laura and she was nowhere in sight. I ended up leaving wedding items at the our house, because I couldn’t focus on anything. I couldn’t even get dressed immediately because I was putting out fires in the reception area. Even after the wedding, her husband was trying to claim some of our decorations were theirs. Thankfully my husband having decorated and set up a majority of the decorations himself with the help of his brother remembered which decorations were ours. Lastly, we loved the scenic venue but we were disappointed overall with the experience and handling when it came to our wedding.