If you are looking for a do-it-yourself venue, but want to pay a full-service price, look no further. If you want a stress free wedding, look somewhere else. Working with this venu...e was nothing short of a nightmare, from the start. My now husband and I were planning a multi-day wedding, with the plans of 2 of the events being held at Olde Homestead. The first employee we worked with, Leah, agreed that 300+ guests could fit in their Carriage House, and stated this on the contract that we all signed. Leah was no longer with the venue a few weeks later, and we were informed that in fact the contract was not accurate and that they could NOT accommodate 300+ people. This sent us back to the drawing board after losing precious time to find a new venue for our second night after we insisted that our contract was voided.
Fast forward to the Spring, where we met with Jill, our event coordinator, to do preliminary planning in April for our October wedding. Only then during this meeting did she begin to shed light on all of the things that the venue would NOT do for us on the day of the wedding, all of which Leah made seem like were included. We were also forced to sign a contract during this meeting that we could not bring in any outside planners or day of coordinators, despite the fact that they would not help with anything besides catering day of the wedding.
Come July, we were informed that Jill quit her position and that we would be assigned a new event coordinator, Jessica. I requested that the manager, Justin, set up a meeting for us with Jessica to discuss our wedding and to get to know her. We arrived early on a Sunday morning to meet Jessica, only to be greeted by Justin who informed us that Jessica would not be meeting with us, rather he would be meeting with us instead, who would not be at the wedding.
We only first met Jessica 3 weeks before our wedding where we reviewed our final plans. It was clear that she was being overworked and did not have the support she needed to properly execute her role. During this meeting we were informed that:
- They would only assist with decor that needed to be hung (after a long back and forth about the hanging of our neon sign with Justin). We were told “The family and bridal party have to do the set up of all decor”
- They would not assist in the clean up of the event decor
- They would not refrigerate our cakes the night prior because “someone may throw it out”
- When asked if we could pick up our cake the next morning after the wedding, the response was “you can carry that on the bus”
- They required us to keep a car on site at the venue for over 48 hours in order to ensure we didn’t inconvenience them by leaving our decor at the venue overnight to be picked up in the morning. ALL decor had to then be loaded into our car immediately after the wedding and parked in the parking lot overnight to be picked up in the morning
- When I asked if the groomsmen could have a few drinks while waiting during our first look the response was “You can open a tab”, when I replied that my husband would not have his wallet on the day of his wedding, I was told “You have apple pay, right? We accept that as well”
The day following our meeting I insisted on speaking with the manager, Justin, to which I expressed all of the above concerns to. His only response was “I understand how you can feel that way, we’ll keep that in mind for the future”. Offering absolutely NO solutions, and it was very obvious that he didn’t care about any of my concerns.
Luckily, we have an amazing support system of friends and family who rallied around us and ensured that everything was set up beautifully. Our family and friends also all assisted in deconstructing the event and packing everything back into our car immediately after the reception. It’s unfortunate because the venue is absolutely beautiful, but until the management gets an overhaul, they will continue to run this place into the ground. Take the lesson learned from my experience, stay far away from this venue if you want a hassle free wedding experience.