OHEKA CASTLE Hotel & Estate

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perience and would never do it differently, a few things I do want to note for other brides. One) It is slightly difficult getting a hold of people there who you will be working with. Every time my mother or I called we'd get one answer, then talk to someone else and get a different one. If you are a Type-A bride, this could prove to be frustrating for you. Two) You are guaranteed a "lady in waiting", but she really doesn't do that. What she does is help you run through the day itself but she's not waiting on you as much as directing you. Mine was slightly bossy and it did impact my day a bit. Additionally, she is NOT there to steam any dresses (as we all assumed) so you will need to do this yourselves. We actually didn't have time to steam all of the bridesmaids dresses before my day because of this. Three) If you want to get ready in the gorgeous bridal suite for your wedding, you will either need to get married on an off day or Friday (and rent the room for the night before as well) or start getting ready at 1 pm. I got married on a Friday and had the most dreamy experience getting ready in that suite with all of my girls, but we had the room the next day until 12 (possibly 11?) and all I could think of was that the next day bride wasn't going to have the same experience. Overall, wonderful venue but just some things to keep in mind!

us about. Making sure all my frames, decor, memory table accessories, etc were properly set up and it was PERFECT. The food was AMAZING. The Staff was incredible. My bridal attendant literally was a saint. 1000% worth the money!!! We had a 250 person wedding and I didn't need a party planner because Oheka was essentially our planner! The cake was incredible. Honestly, not a single complaint.

ent side of things and not the castle and ambiance itself. First off, the management staff are quite responsive for as long as they are selling. Once the contract is signed, the story changes. It is extremely hard to get a hold of them, they do not respond to calls easily. Rather frustrating! They promise that they will do their best to make things as beautiful as possible for your wedding. Well, not so much of that is true and here is my story: Due to multiple out of our control glitches we started the ceremony about half an hour later than planned. Our wedding was to end at 12:30 midnight. At about 12:15 I asked the wedding planner if we could extend the wedding for half an hour. She was not very happy with it (somewhat understandably)! She said if she allows us to extend we have to pay $2,470 for the extra half an hour (very different than what's said in the contract language). Worse that that was the way she treated us: she said that we have to give her a credit card right then and there. So here I am in my gown, instead of using the time efficiently, went upstairs to get my credit card, came back (lost about 10 minutes of the half an hour). Later I was thinking, they had at least 3 credit cards from us on their files so to this day I am not sure why she pushed me to do it right then and there. Perhaps she was hoping that I would say forget it, so that she could end the wedding sooner?! Not sure, but very unpleasant! The next day I ran into the gentleman whom we had signed the contract with. In response to his question asking me how the wedding was, i explained the situation. He seemed surprised. He said he will talk to the planner. For a long while we were hoping to get some sort of a refund back for that harsh charge of $2,470/half an hour. But regardless of our multiple attempts in contacting them, no one really got back to us EVER! To date whenever I think of that half an hour extra charge, I get really upset. The way she treated us was not fair, not according to the contract language and inhumane to send the bride after a credit card in the last half an hour of her wedding! Well the bottom line of the story and the reason that I am sharing this is to advise you to do all your negotiations before signing the contract with them! It is a beautiful place and lovely to have a wedding there. But not much flexibility or responsiveness (or kindness) after you are officially the client. I am willing to share documents and more details of the this story and a few other circumstances that happened throughout the day to give you a better and a more accurate sense of the place and its management. I still have all the documents and email exchanges. I do not want any bride to experience what I did and certainly no bride deserves that kind of a behavior. If you are deciding on signing the contract, let me know and I will share with you of all the pros and cons of their system before you sign the contract. It is important to know how to negotiate with them so that you do not get stuck in a situation that I did. Best of luck!