Open Aire Affairs

Wow! Tyler Gardens & the Open Aire Affairs team were wonderful to work with & gave me a great list of recommendations for vendors to help make my entire vision come to life. They were apart of all my planning & even helped with setup day-of. I would recommend having your event at Tyler Gardens if your looking for an amazing backdrop to your day!

My husband and I are extremely disappointed with our experience with Open Aire Affairs. If you expect ANY kind of help, guidance, or communication, RUN now. My first issue was something so simple yet so frustrating and disrespectful. They could NOT spell my name right in our emails - even after I had to correct them 5x. (Not to mention I sign my name in every email lol). Usually I don’t care if someone mispronounces or misspells my name, but they kept spelling it incorrectly on the contracts which was infuriating. It wasn’t until I called and told them how much of a slap in the face it was that they FINALLY corrected it, of course after blaming it on autocorrect - that’s laughable considering I brought it to their attention at least 4 times. Second, expect to pay a LOT for pretty much nothing (our venue was Tyler Gardens). They charge $4,000 JUST for the grounds. On top of that, they charge $38 per person JUST for tables and chairs. So expect to pay over $10k. Everything else is extra - string lights, tent fabric, etc. We were aware of the cost going in, but we expected some sort of help with coordinating things and we got absolutely NO help. Rae, who is in charge of Open Aire Affairs, specifically told us she would be present during our rehearsal at the venue as well as for an hour the day before our wedding but Rae never showed up either day, and when we called - no answer. I finally got in touch with the other coordinator Amanda who said Rae had family coming in from SC so that’s why she probably wasn’t answering me. That’s extremely poor business and NO excuse to completely ignore your clients who are paying you almost $15k for NOTHING. The night before the wedding we dropped off our decorations - like Rae told us to - and the tent didn’t lock. There was not one person from OAA there’s, specifically Rae. There were groups of people trying to get inside (it’s public) with NO kind of security. We had hundreds of dollars worth of decor inside the tent & didn’t feel comfortable leaving it, so we had to run out and buy a bike lock to lock the tent!! What a joke. I emailed both Amanda and Rae to let them know people were trying to get inside the tent and they never responded. All they want is your money and have not a care in the world for their clients. They’re in the wrong business.

Rae and her staff were incredible to work with! Rae was always quick to answer our questions and helped with anything we needed. Highly recommend!

When we first saw Sand Castle Winery, we knew it was exactly where we wanted our reception to be for our June wedding. It was peaceful and majestic overlooking the Delaware River and surrounded by extraordinary vines. It was so convenient working with Erin at Sand Castle and Rae at Open Aire because they were both so knowledgeable in what they did. We felt confident with all of the rental items provided by Open Aire Affairs. The tent was sturdy and attached to the building so it allowed us to have cocktail hour in the castle and our 110 person reception under the tent. We wanted a rustic chic wedding that was simple and focused more on God’s country so we were able to rent bistro lighting that hung above, white chairs and pine rectangular tables for our guests, a wine barrel to hold the cake, and all the dishware needed to make our look complete. It was also very important for us to have a large dance floor because our family loves to dance and have a good time and that was all included with the tent. And of course, the most important part of having a winery venue is having excellent wine! Our family thoroughly enjoyed the wine options we offered at the wedding and many plan on visiting the winery on their own now that they were introduced to it. We cannot say enough positive words about Sand Castle Winery and Open Aire Affairs. We are so grateful that they created the perfect wedding we had ever hoped for. (June 2016 wedding)

Rae Chani Wilson from Open Aire Affairs was with us every step of the way. She handles tons of weddings every year and still made Adam and I feel like we were her only, and favorite, client. She was excited about our chosen wedding theme and instantly began offering ideas for rentals, decor, and things we could include to make things interesting for our guests. Rae graciously offered to show us different potential sites for our wedding at our convenience and reminded us when venues were hosting open houses. Any time I had a question about a site; timing, cost, colors, whatever, Rae got it for me at lightning speed. She coordinated meetings between my vendors and worked with them to arrange whatever rentals or special accommodations they needed. Rae even took the time to walk my photographer around our chosen site and show him all of the best places for beautiful pictures. At the rehearsal and the day of the wedding Rae was our point girl. Corralling and keeping our large wedding party in line and assisting all of us with whatever we needed. Any questions, Rae answered them. Any issues, Rae resolved them. Something or someone missing? Rae found it/them. She was a blast to work with, enthusiastic, tireless, and confident. She was there the instant she was needed while somehow still staying in the shadows, letting everyone enjoy the day. Rae did everything in her power to make things easy and more affordable for us. She even canceled an extra tent we had ordered for the possibility of rain, when the morning of the wedding turned out clear. I cannot thank or recommend her enough. Thank you Rae! You, more than anyone, helped make our day the vision of perfection it was!

We used Open Aire Affairs for our wedding on June 4th at Pearl S Buck. The tent was gorgeous, especially in comparison to some of the others we had looked at. We had so many compliments on the tent liner with the bistro lighting as well as the hand made farm tables and bars. I also liked that the flooring in the tent looked like wood instead of having carpeting and the covered patio area. They have so many options that you can really customize what you want for your reception. Rae was great and easy to work with, and I'm so glad we used Open Aire Affairs- an definitely recommend them!

Open Aire Affairs came with our rental of The Pearl S. Buck Estate. While the setting is ideal for any couple who wants an outdoor wedding, the planning/rental company that is Open Aire Affairs was less than pleasant to work with. Each rental comes with a coordinator, also known as the person who keeps track of your expenses. We went through 3 coordinators with OAA, making it a rather frustrating process for an already stressful time. Our final coordinator came in 6 months before the wedding. We felt like we had to start over with each one-- going through the timeline of our wedding day, our needs and upgrades-- but especially with the last one. Her communication was touch and go, and she never fully answered all of my questions or got her information 100% right. Two weeks before the wedding, we met with her to walk through and finalize our (very!!!) expensive upgrades. Days later, she emailed me the updated invoice-- $3,000 worth of upgrades we did NOT ask for, and not all of the upgrades we DID ask for! We went through about 10 invoices with her before she got it right. She didn't show up to the rehearsal, and don't expect her to actually "coordinate" anything. I only saw her once from a distance the day of the wedding. I haven't heard from her since the day of the rehearsal when we called to see if she was coming. No follow-up email, no thank you for booking with them. She was extremely inconsistent and not very communicative. My advice is to be very detailed with your communication with OAA, pay very close attention to your invoices and ask that they explain everything they're charging you for to ensure you're not paying for something you didn't ask for! It's unfortunate that this company is so difficult to work with because the venues they partner with are beautiful!

Had my daughter's wedding on the grounds of Sand Castle Winery with the reception in an Open Aire Affairs tent (package included tent, all the chairs and tables). Great company. Larry was very helpful throughout the entire process. Definitely recommend.

I went to the open house and I loved the venue but it was too far to ask my guest to travel from West Philadelphia.

They are great to work with and have amazing venues available. I wish they were a little more hands on with the final rentals (as in sit down with you and show you what you have available to rent). I went with the basic package only because I had no idea what else was available. Otherwise, I would recommend them to anyone. They are great at getting back to you in a timely manner and willing to work with budgets

We had our wedding at the Pearl S Buck and dealt with Larry. Great guy, but kept adding on charges without informing us, rarely returned phone calls, and repeatedly had our contract wrong. Pulled through in the end, but caused lots of frustration in the days before the wedding.

The location was just stunning. Our wedding was held during the afternoon on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend and Elm Lowne was the PERFECT place. Everything was so green and all of the flowers were in bloom. Most of our family came in from NYC, and all of them were blown away by the venue. It is truely a unique place. The staff was also wonderful to work with. The day was perfect!