Venue 479

great for separate ceremony and reception or for a back up plan. The white walls, exposed brick, & original hardwood floors were a beautiful blank slate for whatever we chose to do, & the updates they told me they were working on (restoring the 125 year old stairs, building a green house, and painting the trim of the house) were all updates that would add to the venue. We toured many times and talked to Courtne monthly. In May 2023, I saw a Facebook update about a modern mural that was being painted on the side of this historic venue. The subject of the mural included brightly painted civil war cannons, a tiger, and square dancing. I was never made aware of these plans and was shocked . I talked to courtne after viewing it in person. She apologized for not telling me earlier & told me to have my photographer edit it out if I didn’t like it. At the rehearsal dinner my MIL reported the venue was dirty when she arrived. There were crumbs on the floor & tables she had to clean before she could set up. There was a dead bird outside. There were littered water bottles thrown under the tree outside. The stairs were never redone as I was told they would be. there were exposed nails on the outside porch & stairs, & the bridal suite floors were disgusting. My dress kept getting stuck on the nails & guests I made comments about how dirty my dress was from the state of the bridal suite. We also learned at our last tour a month before the wedding that there was a young man living off of the apartment leading to the bridal suite. When walking up there stairs there’s a door I thought was the owner’s office. It’s always closed off but after finding clothes, boxes of nicknacks, & fast food wrappers on the stairs & in the bridal suite, we learned it was an apartment being rented to a male tenant by the venue owners. This was alarming to us bc the bridal suite was an open loft off of the stairs with a direct view of his door. What was even worse was showing up to the rehearsal dinner to find a ring door bell camera pointed at the bridal suite from his room. Summary THE GOOD: if an issue was brought up, it was dealt with promptly. We emailed regularly & Courtne was always willing to allow us access to the venue so family or vendors could see it. Day of she and her family helped out a lot & kept things running smoothly. The decor we had pictured turned out as lovely as I hoped day of. The venue was the right size for the amount of people we had. & when extras showed up, Courtney promptly set up an extra table to fit them. THE BAD: Courtne did a good job of resolving issues promptly if we brought them to her attention first, but didn’t asses situations and deal with them before we had to bring them to her (sweeping the venue, littered bottles, dead bird, & the doorbell camera). The big issues, like the tenant and mural, weren’t dealt with until my husband & I discovered it & had to bring it up. My opinion: We don’t regret holding our wedding at this venue & will look back on the day with fondness. With some work and consistency, it will be a wonderful venue for any event. They should stick their focus to one manageable task at a time rather than 3 big projects (stairs, greenhouse, trim) and a side hustle (the apartment). With time and experience it’ll be a great place.