The property is beautiful and well maintained. This is the main reason I booked the venue and to that end it met my expectations. However, in all other ways, it did not.
I have grown up in the wedding business. My mom is a well-known coordin...ator in the KC area and we have successfully managed hundreds of weddings/events. Based on our experience, I can tell you reception venues have an event manager. They are responsible for following (or setting) a timeline (we provided a very detailed timeline to the owner Kelly and spent two hours during our final meeting reviewing it and doing a property walk through). In addition, the manager makes sure your vendors arrive and things run smoothly. They are responsible for making sure the bride and groom and families are happy and have everything they need. There responsibility is to MANAGE the event. To this end I was EXTREMELY disappointed with Kelly. She promised us she would fulfill certain responsibilities outlined in the timeline (highlighted for her convenience) and would manager the event with an assistant. She was not even at the event.
The only thing I can credit Kelly with is getting tent heaters because it got pretty cold on our wedding day. Now, where to start...
We got ready at the house which was dirty(cobwebs and dead flies in the room).
Kelly also does portrait photography and her ethics are very questionable. We hired an outside photographer (you pay a fee to do this) and we specifically asked Kelly not to take photos but to focus on the event management. Our photographer is one of the best in KC so we didn't need her photos too. Kelly actually had the audacity to ask her "assistant" to follow our photographer so she could copy his photos! We know this because her assistant told us. We had to ask her to kindly stop twice. Then, during the ceremony, Kelly was sneaking around behind us taking photos. Our hired photographer had to go out of his way to make sure she wasn't in the shots (many had to be trashed). Shortly there after, she posted her photos on Facebook taking credit for the event as her own. She had no permission to do so and didn't give credit to our amazing florist or event designer.
After the ceremony, Kelly and her assistant were no where to be found. My friends who actually took over running the event saw her take plates of cookies off our display before we had even cut the cake (or guests had gone through - a huge no no in this business)and retreat into the house. There was no manager working with the catering company to ensure dinner was served on time, no one that checked up on us to see if we needed anything, etc. She never even came into the tent or said congratulations.
Later in the night, I went to the house and I found Kelly entertaining her entire family (who was in town) around the dinner table.
We helped get Kelly's business off the ground initially-we were the second wedding she booked and she asked my mom for her industry experience. My mom spent countless hours planning her Open House, writing her contracts, putting her in touch with vendors, giving advice, etc. We worked professionally with Kelly on her open houses and her ethics were questioned here as well (not giving credit on FB). She cares about bettering herself and she ruined my wedding day. My mom and I were beyond stressed and I am so embarrassed my friends had to work b/c Kelly didn't do her job. Moral of the story if you book here-hire a outside planner!