STAY AWAY! We signed with and paid for The Estate at Sunset Farm on January 17th, 2017 for our event June 3, 2017. We were told by owner Steven Gabbard that demolition was nearly complete, and The Estate was well ahead of its scheduled Grand O...pening March 17, 2017. We were also supposed to be emailed a copy of our contract that evening. Things appeared to be on track, and we were excited to find a venue that had our preferred date available. February 24th, I emailed to ask for an update, and received a reply that “…there are no problems on our end. The construction is commencing nicely, although a need for a fire suppression system has pushed us back about a month. Your date of June 3 is firmly secure…”. I had little contact with the venue the rest of the month, and visited on March 18th. I was shocked to find the condition of the renovation appeared further behind schedule than it looked in January. Steven assured me at that time that it was still on schedule to be completed in May, and that I needn’t worry about my date. Steven stated that although he had no doubt The Estate wouldn’t be ready in time, he would provide tents on the lawn as a back-up. He also referred me to Jennifer Stanley at the Honey Farm. We declined to move our event, as family had already booked hotel rooms and invitations had been sent. Steven responded to periodic texts from us throughout the month, continuing to assure us that The Estate was on schedule. I did not get a copy of my full contract until April 20th, after multiple requests for months. May 1, Jennifer informed me she had received a request to use the Honey Farm for my date. We inquired again about the progress of the venue, informing Steve that we intended to say the other bride was welcome to the date at the Honey Farm. I asked my father to call him, and Steven admitted that the venue would likely not be completed in time, but he continued to reassure my fiancé and I it would be. We elected to move our event, and Steven agreed to a full refund. We drove to the Estate on May 6th to collect the refund, and waited over an hour for Steven to arrive with the check. He had also agreed to provide a new contract stating that he would provide linens, tables, restroom trailer, and chairs for our event, but neglected to provide this due to a “wifi issue”. My father called, and Steven reassured him that someone in his office was drafting that contract. May 18th, Steven sent me a 4 line email stating what he would provide.
Steven did provide tables, chairs, and restroom trailer for the event at no cost, but failed multiple times to provide details on the timing of delivery or from where they were being rented. The day before the wedding, table cloths from Steven had still not arrived. He emailed me a termination and mutual release and requested I sign it that day; part of which stated I would not make any statements that would damage the reputation of The Estate. Steven attempted to contact my family multiple times that day to ask us to sign, and left a message saying he would drop off the linens and have us sign during our rehearsal at the Honey Farm. We had already elected to rent tablecloths from another company since we did not receive any delivery information from Steven; I did not sign.
To our knowledge, the venue is still incomplete. We caution any person looking to be involved with Steven Gabbard or The Estate at Sunset Farm, even after its completion.