Seven Gables Inn

I want to start by saying the wedding day itself and the entire wedding weekend were absolutely perfect. It was the most beautiful venue and exactly how I wanted it to be. It was so nice to have the ceremony and reception all in one location. The hotel rooms were beautiful. The heated toilet seats were the star of the weekend. Dawn was an absolute joy all weekend. She was so fun, kind, and hilarious. She even danced with us! Jennifer was there making sure everything went perfectly. She was calm and professional and I really appreciated her being there. The waiters and bartenders were wonderful. Everyone was so kind and attentive. The food was also wonderful. The steaks were giant and cooked perfectly. My very picky aunt said it was the first time she ever had a hot meal at a wedding. I know it can be hard when there are so many people but they somehow made sure every meal was hot. Joey did an especially good job attending to our guests’ needs. The day itself was perfect, beautiful, and everything we could have wanted. With that being said, the planning process itself was stressful. We had four different venue coordinators since we booked. I was not notified each time there was a change and only found out I was working with someone new when I reached out myself. There was not a good organizational system in place to make sure we stayed updated when there were changes. I want to give some specifics about my experience with Shaelyn - the most recent coordinator - for future brides. Some of the changes were totally out of her control, which I understand. However, she was not organized or professional in dealing with these challenges. I reached out to Shaelyn about 3 weeks before the event and was told she would “flag” my email because she had four huge events coming up. This made me feel like our wedding wasn’t a priority. She was increasingly unresponsive as the event got closer. I reached out on September 20th to make sure all of the details were in place for our October 1st wedding. They were not. My wedding coordinator had sent several emails to Shaelyn prior to this to set up a meeting but did not get a reply until I reached out on the 20th. During this meeting, Shaelyn was in Mexico on vacation. She was in the lobby of her hotel during our Zoom call. She seemed flustered and told me again during that meeting that they were behind. She did not have a good grasp of what we wanted on that day and told me during the meeting the hand written notes in our file were hard to read. While she later said she was just confirming details, that is not how the meeting seemed. She was asking me questions about details I’d discussed months prior. Not confirming. I left that meeting in tears. Management quickly stepped in when I voiced my concerns to make sure everything was perfect. They also gave me a discount. I appreciate everyone’s efforts and make these comments about my experiences with Shaelyn only so future brides can be aware. We had our own wedding coordinator and I do feel that is essential in working with this venue. There were some growing pains as the Marriott took over. However, almost all of the staff went above and beyond to make sure the day was perfect. It was a beautiful wedding and exactly what we wanted.