The good: The venue and property was beautiful. The venue owner, Lori was very responsive via email and answered all of our questions throughout the planning process. Jimmy, who I ...believe represented both P.I.G.S BBQ and the venue was AMAZING to work with. He seemed to have thought of every little detail and was extremely attentive throughout the night. Gus, the horse, was such a fun and unique touch and the guests absolutely loved him!
The bad: Before initial booking, I was verbally informed of the venue being dog-friendly (I spoke to Lori directly on this). This was important as it was one of the only criteria for our wedding venue and so much planning and preparation went into including our dog on our big day.
I coordinated the transportation and arrangements for my extremely well-behaved golden retriever to be fed during his dinner time, remain on a leash inside during the reception and be taken home at 11pm in a pet-friendly vehicle with a trustworthy sitter. The day of my wedding, Lori confronted me and informed me that their pet policy was actually “ceremony-only,” and that my dog was not welcome during the reception (although this “pet policy” is not located anywhere in their contract). After contacting my day-of coordinator and reviewing my contract to confirm there was no mention of this pet-policy, Lori reluctantly allowed him to stay, with the condition that he remains outside during the reception, which I had no choice but to agree to, as we had no other accommodations prepared.
While we were getting ready in the bridal suite, I did not have the dog on a leash as we were in a small, closed-off area of the venue. Lori was walking through and let the dog outside with no leash and/or person to keep an eye on him and did not communicate to anyone that she let him outside. Fortunately, I was watching at the exact moment this happened and we brought him back inside immediately, however, I felt this was done intentionally. I understand it wasn’t Shadow Creek’s responsibility to be responsible for him, however, common courtesy should dictate not risking a bride’s beloved pet potentially running away hours before her wedding.
In the weeks following, I have had family and friends inform me of how unprofessional and unpleasant the venue’s management, specifically Veronica, was to deal with as they were approached several times throughout the night with emerging questions and concerns regarding the dog. This supposedly continued well after he was taken outside, remaining there throughout the night. They described Veronica’s behavior as harassment and also informed me of several not-so-subtle negative remarks about the dog. One guest, a professional event coordinator in her personal life, supposedly asked Veronica for a copy of their contract to review the pet-policy, to which she “huffed, rolled her eyes, and walked away.”
During the event, they requested to keep my flowers for a personal affair for Veronica. This late-breaking request caught me by surprise and I felt pressured to say yes. With Shadow Creek’s experience in hosting events, they should understand that a bride would reasonably request advance notice to keep their florals and/or have offered compensation for them. It was inappropriate and distasteful to ask someone, the day-of their wedding, to keep florals that did not belong to them.