The Avacentre ~ Cedar Rapids

We hired Connie for our recent fall wedding. Overall the food was great, but there were a few hiccups along the way that truly added more stress than what should have been, especially on the bride and groom right before the biggest days. We were originally told $15 WOULD be our set price. I thought I was clear in my emails we were establishing a budget. We had minimal communication until two weeks before the wedding. I had requested an invoice 2-3 times before getting one, and Connie had added $1.75 extra PER plate, without letting us know and just presented the bill to us two weeks before the wedding. When I asked her about it, I was "the price of beef really went up!" We were not upset the price went up, we were upset we were not informed and it was almost $400 more than originally planned. Since it was $1.75 per plate, this increase the tip on the bill, sales tax, etc. I had emailed back and told her we have appreciated a heads up with $1.75 extra per plate, and my email was not addressed and was ignored. I was even more disappointed that when this was brought up Ashton Hill Farm, we were told other people had complained about her lack of communication. If you book Connie, be flexible with your budget and expect lack of communication.

The Avacentre was the answer to our prayers. We were looking for a non-church site where we'd be able to have both the ceremony and reception, and were starting to think we'd need to take out a loan in order to pay for everything. The Avacentre was perfect! Gorgeous chapel area for the ceremony, beautiful reception area, and the price was far more reasonable than anywhere else we'd looked in town -- and this was including their on-site catering. Karen was the coordinator we worked with and she was *fantastic* -- always available to answer questions, very flexible in working with us, and utterly invaluable on the day of. I would recommend this venue to anyone -- you will not be disappointed.