The Estate Yountville

ea. Unfortunately, approximately 2-4 weeks before our wedding, I received an email (not a call) stating our reservation had been cancelled and they’d be happy to accommodate us two days later (after the wedding). We chose the venue for a variety of reasons, one of which being to stay on property and not have transportation needs, the proximity to others staying in the area of Yountville, and lastly, the presumed elegance of a 5-star property. The director of sales, Robert, contacted me after my planner graciously stepped in to help me navigate and was terrible. His level of arrogance was ridiculous. While we can understand things happen (they essentially wanted the business from a big banking event and moved everyone who had reservations to accommodate it which is essentially a breach of contract), they lacked so much in communication and concern for the customer. My husband eventually stepped in as I was done dealing with Robert’s chauvinism, and he had the audacity to say to him that he thought they’d addressed everything and “fixed the issue” by delivering $30 bottles of Chandon and comping our stays elsewhere. While we appreciated it, they missed the point that they never asked what WE would have felt might have fixed it. It wasn’t about the money and certainly not for free Chandon (we’re actually cab fans, to try and keep it light). Michelle and Tracey were amazing and really stuck in a terrible situation; they were doing everything to try and accomodate but it was shadowed by Robert and the poor business element of The Estate. Additional poor details are that the Social doesn’t have shades so when the bright sun comes in at sunset, your guests are going to be hot. The a/c went out during the day while getting ready (it was 95 degrees) and we had to ask for fans. We had to do the same at the Social for the reception. The staff at The Vintage House were lazy, on their phones, and just didn’t seem to want to be there. One girl had her feet on the desk. When my stylist was needing to get her things down the stairs, not one of them even tried to assist her. They just kept focusing on the elevator being broken. My Poor photographer who is amazing btw (Willow and Ben) was sweating as he ran around the upstairs of the Vintage house. A few guests came to the Vintage house instead of the vineyard and they didn’t want to use a cart to take them to the ceremony, despite it being 95 degrees outside. It’s just so lacking of the small details that make the experience. Our ceremony was beautiful, our reception was fun (they didn’t save food plates for us despite me not eating it so if you do use them, make sure to ask as an fyi). To top it off, after the wedding, we received a bill for $2300 without any explanation as to what it was. When my husband asked for the invoice, the accountant said they’d made a mistake and we actually only owed $300-something with the invoice attached. It’s just such terrible business. I look back and try not to remember the drama we endured but if I had it to do over again, I would not choose them. And we certainly won’t be back.

ld our event there. Lilly in sales and Michelle, who leads the catering efforts, are true professionals. They also love what they do. This made the whole experience of planning as well as the actual day extra special. Expect detailed budgeting, notes, and close work with your planner (the Estate requires a planner, and this helped us a lot). We hosted our moms for a tasting about 3 months before the wedding. At this event, we were encouraged to be brutally honest to make sure everything would be perfect on the big day. It was amazing to see the "notes" come to life on the day of the wedding. The reviews from family and friends on the food and wine are off the charts. That's what we wanted - to have an event where the focus was on the food and wine. The staff was very gracious, and the number of servers was big. This allowed for service to be done in an elegant, efficient, but also slightly dramatic way, with all guests at big tables being served at exactly the same time given the number of servers. We had the ceremony and the dinner outside, while the dancing was in the Barrel Room, with bars inside and outside. It was the right choice for us so dinner could be finished and then guests could make their way to another place (a few hundred feet) with a completely different feel. We highly recommend the Estate for professionalism, ease, elegance, and perfect execution of our wedding.

h and professional. It was such a great experience having The Estate Yountville, especially The Social, as my wedding venue and would highly recommend it! The

ng on The Estate. I immediately fell in love & my fiance said "well if we're going to do a Napa wedding, might as well do it right and go big." Throughout the entire process, from looking at venues to deciding on menus, figuring out decorations and florals, doing food tastings and discussing the bar situation, and then of course the wedding day--the staff at The Estate were incredibly helpful, knowledgeable, and talkative. Lilly was out wedding site coordinator & her and I probably emailed 200 times between when we selected the venue and the wedding day. Michelle, who was also in charge of helping at the venue and transporting us in golf carts, was so kind and made sure we had absolutely anything we needed. When my husband & his grooms party didn't know where they were getting ready, she immediately found them an area. Joselito, our food captain, was so kind and timely. My husband & I weren't super hungry at the wedding (classic) and he boxed up our meals and had them put in our hotel room for the night. Overall the venue, the food, the drinks, the staff were all amazing and I would get married here over and over and over again.

hing we wanted and it turned out to be the most perfect day we could've imagined. We had quite a few dietary restrictions and Lilly made sure that every single one of our guests had a meal that they could eat. Michelle also made sure to bring us food after the ceremony, drove us around in golf carts so my feet didnt hurt, and just overall made the experience seamless. If I could do every life event at the Estate Yountville I would!