Great Oak Manor

The absolute perfect location for our elopement during Covid! Joe and the rest of the staff were amazing - and helped us plan our intimate family wedding in less than a month. The manor itself is breathtaking - we chose the library for in front of the fireplace for a small ceremony with our parents and family. Afterwards the manor staff prepared a beautiful and delicious dinner. Most of all we enjoyed spending the weekend with our families for the weekend, the grounds are beautiful, so well maintained and sitting at the fire pit at sunset overlooking the water was magical. We so appreciated the staff’s attention to detail, especially Joe! We had the most special weekend, and couldn’t be more grateful to Great Oak Manor.

In early July 2020 my fiance and I drove out to the Eastern Shore to tour wedding venues. We saw several but fell in love with Great Oak Manor ("GOM"). The manor and grounds are absolutely beautiful! Also, GOM allows pets and we have two pups that absolutely have to be a part of our special day. I was soooo relieved to have found our venue and we provided GOM with a $500 deposit to reserve our date. Holly, the innkeeper, emailed us the contract about a week or two later. The contract didn't have a force majeure clause (a clause that excuses performance of the contract for both parties if there is a pandemic/act of god/fire, etc.) or a rescheduling provision - so we asked Holly for GOM to supplement the contract with language they had used in the past. She requested that we draft language that we thought was "reasonable," so we did (we are both attorneys). We submitted the draft language to her within a week and waited OVER A MONTH for GOM's attorney to review the language and submit his or her suggested edits. The attorney completely deleted the language we drafted and included a force majeure clause that only benefited GOM (i.e., did not excuse performance for us - the client - if this pandemic is still ongoing) and permitted rescheduling (with a sizeable fee) only if the pandemic is the reason for the rescheduling. Also, GOM even RAISED the prices/fees for several items in the contract and required payment in full (we are talking close to 20k) 9 MONTHS BEFORE THE WEDDING DATE with no chance of a refund FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER. We were baffled and totally turned off to say the least. Not to mention, the delay in getting the revised contract caused a great strain on our ability to solidify our plans. When we attempted to further negotiate with GOM in good faith, we were basically told "this is our contract now - take it or leave it.". Well, we left it and are now in a terrible position of trying to find a new venue for June 2021. As all of us brides know, planning a wedding is an emotional journey. Unfortunately, GOM's actions (or more like inactions) caused us great anguish and disappointment in what should be a joyous time preparing for our special day.