This outdoor venue is beautiful and Christalle is very nice and helpful. We had a wedding for 200 on the grounds--seated dinner,tent,band,ceremony- and she was kind enough to allow us to come a little early to unload, etc. She worked the whole ...time and gave us space to enjoy ourselves. The pictures were gorgeous, our older guests enjoyed being able to come into the beautiful house. Also, plenty of room upstairs for the girls to get ready. I would definitely use this venue, which is lovingly cared for by the Kentucky Garden Club. We are appreciative of their efforts to provide a memorable wedding for our daughter and new son in law.
Now-some recommendations when booking at this lovely venue:
1. clean up is a major issue--you must have caterers/service well-staffed and firmly aware of their duties. This was an issue for us-we used Clay's Downtown Restaurant in Paris,KY-and I would not recommend them at all. Do Not Use. The food was good but service extremely poor. We used them for the bridesmaids' luncheon at The Wallis House and the owner told one of the hostesses to "relax and go smoke some marijuana". He was extremely rude to them, didn't bring pitchers for the bloody marys/mimosas, didn't bring plates,glasses,silverware,napkins.
For the wedding, they provided "servers" who did not bus our tables until I found the owner and told him that we needed to bus tables. (1) person cleared tables and the dishes were not rinsed off but just all stacked in the crates. plates, wine glasses still left in the tent. Bartender did not replenish wine/beer and the coffee bar was essentially non-existent. There was supposed to be coffee for at least 100--they brought (5 home carafes and set them on the table. Of course, by) the end of the meal/cake etc. this was cold and woefully inadequate.
2. I would recommend Gold Shield Transportation for shuttle service to and from Wallis House if you are staying at a Lexington hotel. These people were outstanding, polite, and went out of their way to make sure that everyone who needed to use the shuttle was able to do so
3. Guest accommodations closeby--Marriott Griffin Gate was a very nice place to house the guests and their event coordinator, Leigh Dalton, was outstanding. She held a room block-reasonably priced,especially for the weekend (which coincided w/steeplechase) and didn't release any rooms until the last minute. She was great.