Bottom Line: we had an absolutely perfect wedding day, but if we could go back in time, we would have chosen a different venue.
The great things: beauty of the outdoor space, fo...od was amazing, they stocked a specific beer for us! They were great day-of, especially when it came to making last-minute decisions about weather. They prepared a specific meal just for us and they were FANTASTIC about ensuring our event was 1000% nut-free.
The parts of our experience that were not so great and we hope future couples don’t encounter:
Poor communication & organization: We felt like we had to hash out the same details of our wedding day multiple times with the coordinator. It was as if nothing was written down. We booked this venue over a year out from our wedding day and they needed to “firm up” details we had already decided on with them up to 3 days before our big day. One concrete example of this is that we had made a decision about how to operate the bar with a prepaid tab months in advance. Then, the venue owner talked us into doing it a different way, only for the coordinator to tell us they can’t do it that way and treated us as if we were being unreasonable after it was them that suggested it to begin with. Another example came when final payment was due. We had to prompt them for our final invoice, then it was calculated incorrectly which we caught and asked to be corrected, and then they told us we could mail in a personal check only for them to get the check and say they can’t accept it and to bring a bank check. A third example was the morning after the wedding, we had already worked out prior that we would come before noon to collect our items. That morning, the coordinator changed it to between 1pm and 2pm. We got there right at 1pm. No one was there to let us in until 1:30pm and we were stranded outside, just waiting. There are more instances of poor communication and organization, but these were the largest issues. There were multiple occasions where we felt we were treated like a nuisance simply because we advocated for ourselves.
Being nickel and dimed: This venue seemed like such a great value when we first found it! After all was said and done, we ended up paying just as much as the “more expensive” venues. Examples: we paid a venue fee that included a ceremony space, but did not include chairs. We had to pay per chair so our guests had somewhere to sit for our ceremony. The venue builds in a ridiculously high required “service fee” percentage that they told us doesn’t even cover server gratuity. Future couples should be sure to read the fine print and calculate all costs before deciding if this venue is worth it. It left a bad taste in our mouths.
Bar closed early: Our bar closed 1.5 hours before the end of our event. When we asked why it was closing, we were lied to. They told us that the bar closes after 4.5 hours. This time frame went against our contract and we even paid extra to extend our event longer. We had to follow up with them after the wedding to figure out why the bar closed early. They had the right to close our bar early, but they lied to us that night about why and then we had to follow up with them, whereas it should have been the other way around.
All in all, we recommend finding a venue that treats their clients like people planning a really important and wonderful day, and not like paychecks who shouldn’t ask for or question anything.