I would like to start by sharing the highlights of this venue, as I do think it has the potential to be an excellent wedding spot. The rental fee was affordable, the food was excellent, the staff was as absolutely phenomenal in setting up our w...elcome table and centerpieces, and the grounds and ceremony spot was lovely.
We worked with Tara from our time of booking up until shortly before the wedding and she was great—very attentive and accommodating. In early May 2022 (wedding in June 2022), I reached out to ask: 1. about scheduling the rehearsal, and 2. about renting the venue’s farmhouse for the wedding weekend. Tara said she would check and get back to me. Over the next 5 weeks, I was unable to get in contact with anyone at the venue at all. A phone calls, emails, voicemails, and texts went unanswered. Finally, 5 days before the wedding, after speaking with 3 different people at the restaurant next door, I found out Tara was on medical leave. Nobody at the venue reached out to couples with upcoming weddings to let them know our point of contact had changed. Nobody would have reached out to me at all if I didn’t keep calling, and I would have had no rehearsal, they wouldn’t have known my menu counts and choices, or appetizer choices (since nobody acknowledged those emails). I was finally able to talk to the backup wedding coordinator 4 days before the weeding to finalize everything and ask all of the questions I had been trying to ask for almost 6 weeks. Needless to say, we never heard back about renting the farmhouse and missed out on that.
When scheduling the rehearsal, the backup coordinator assured me he would work with the restaurant next door (part of the venue) to get my rehearsal party a reservation. There was no reservation when we arrived. He also confirmed we could arrive at 9:30 am the morning of the wedding to start hair/makeup. We showed up and the groundskeeper had no idea why we were there and was not ready for us.
The day itself also had a couple of hiccups. We secured certified gluten free desserts for a guest with a serious allergy and gave specific instructions to keep them separate and not even remove them from the box. They were placed on a tray with all of the regular desserts and contaminated, ruined for our guest. Additionally, the set up all of the desserts (donuts) uncovered before dinner was even served. Naturally, people went up and helped themselves, so by the time guests received their main courses, they had already filled up on donuts and a large portion were missing before we even cut the cake.
Nothing exceptionally horrible happened, but I felt like we were cast aside and like we really fell through the cracks. Nobody should feel like that on a day they spent 18 months planning and tens of thousands of dollars on. I also had to worry about things the venue should have taken care of (e.g., separating the desserts). Overall, I think it was basically a case of bad timing and scrambling by the venue to stay afloat with their main coordinator out; however, no couple should be ignored like that for so long and so close to the wedding they booked, and shouldn't feel so overlooked. Nobody should experience that on their wedding day.
The venue did provide us with a complimentary photobooth, which was a hit.