I spoke with the owner of the property at length about their event policies and required minimum accommodation and beverage spends. She was initially very friendly and informative and I was excited to work with her. Because I am very conscious ...of my wedding budget, I specifically asked if there was a venue rental fee for the common areas in addition to the required buyout rental of a block of guest rooms on the property. I was expressly told that there was no venue fee. I selected a date to put on hold and asked to be sent a contract for review so that I could book my date.
Despite following up via phone and e-mail 10+ times, I did not receive any documentation from this vendor for more than six weeks. I had concerns about this lack of communication, but I gave the vendor the benefit of the doubt because fall can be a busy season for wedding vendors. When I finally received the written cost estimate from an events coordinator, there was an additional fee that was alone more than DOUBLE the cost of the half-property accommodation buyout. Thus, the cost for the venue alone was TRIPLE what the owner of the property had told me during our call. The cost estimate also stated that the guest room prices for the required accommodation buyout were subject to change with no percentage cap on the potential increase. As an attorney, I interpreted this to mean that the venue would have the ability to significantly increase the room prices before the wedding and we would be contractually obligated to pay whatever price they asked. This could leave us exposed to significant additional expense, on top of the exorbitant additional venue fee. After receiving the estimate, I reached out to the property owner (who I originally spoke with) multiple times over several weeks to get clarification on the significant additional venue fee since she had told me that there was no such fee. I thought that maybe there was a miscommunication or that this was a new policy since it had taken 6+ weeks to get the estimate after we spoke on the phone. However, the owner has ignored all of my e-mails. I had my heart set on this venue after originally speaking with the owner, and I am now back to square one and feel like I have wasted months of my limited wedding planning time. I am disappointed and disheartened; my fiancé and I are seriously considering an elopement after this experience. I would not recommend this vendor to anyone.