Prior to booking, the owner, Ren, was very accommodating to my smaller wedding plans and charged me…read morea per hour rate to include (and I have in writing) 10 farm tables, 100 guest chairs, cake, gift, and sign-in tables, bridal suite and groom's quarters. I booked online but the invoice was for $50 more than I was quoted. I questioned it and never got an answer from the owner but I didn't argue it for all that I was getting. I scheduled two walkthroughs before the wedding and the above inclusion was also verbal from the owner at my first walkthrough. At the second walkthrough, I was met by Breanna who was so very nice. She was very helpful and said that she would be around the day of my wedding to help with any needs I may have. I let her know that we would need one tall cocktail table for the DJ equipment. Sarah, the Administrative Assistant, followed up with me in an email about my need and I just confirmed that I would need this one table. The week of the wedding came and they realized they didn't have me sign the contract for the wedding. I reviewed the contract and signed it. A smoking section was mentioned and I asked where it was located - Sarah responded in email that the smoking area was the gazebo. All was set for the wedding day.
On the wedding day, I arrived at 2:30. My allotted time was 3-8 but I had verbal permission from the owner to arrive at 2:30 to begin setting up. We were not greeted by or have any staff present to help with a need we may have had as Breanna had told me at my second walkthrough. At 2:51, I arrived at the bridal suite where I heard others upstairs. Understanding I had the facility at 3:00, I announced my arrival and the hairstylist upstairs said she was doing bridal hair for a bridal portrait and asked me to give them 30 minutes. I proceeded to take our stuff upstairs with their permission. There was no urgency on their part and I never gained access to the bridal makeup counter or area until after 3:30 and my wedding was at 4:00. My mom had to change in the bathroom as did others. We used the small rectangle table to the right of the stairs. Our photos were not clean because of all the clutter with limited space sharing with another bride. We rushed to get ready in 15 minutes ... to include dressing myself, my mom and a jr. bridesmaid (hair included.)
Unknowingly to me, my husband and his father entered the groom's quarters and found a huge mess in the facility. My husband had to spend time gathering all the trash in the room from the wedding the night before and pile it up against the wall before photos could be taken with his dad.
As mentioned above, the DJ needed one tall table that was requested more than a week prior to the wedding. I emailed Sarah at 3:14 the day of the wedding requesting this table. It showed up minutes before the wedding started and the DJ had already found something upstairs to accommodate the immediate need.
After the wedding, the family proceeded to the gazebo to have photos taken where we had to clean up cigars and beer cans sitting on the bench. At 6:30, a guy came to empty trash cans. I mentioned the gazebo to him because I didn't want to be charged for someone else's trash, and he informed me there was a large wedding the night before. This guy was not aware we had the venue till 8:00; however, we cleaned up our mess and were gone by 7:30.
On Monday, November 8, I emailed Sarah and Ren regarding the above concerns. To summarize Sarah's email response, it was all a miscommunication and I only had access to the barn, 10 tables and 100 chairs. She says the bridal suite, groom's quarters and gazebo were not included in the hourly rental - but I have the emails that prove differently from the owner. When I asked Sarah about the smoking section at the time of signing the bridal contract, she provided the gazebo location to me and said nothing of it not being available for my hourly rental.
In closing, I sent emails that supported my rental and what it included, a copy of the invoice that was $50 more than I was quoted and also the picture of the trash that had to be cleaned up by my husband. I asked Sarah and Ren for a refund of the extra $50 I paid without argument and have received no response back. I signed a full bridal contract that had nothing to do with my hourly rental.
Thanks to friends and family, I had a very beautiful wedding.
As I told Ren and Sarah I would do, I recommend this barn for a wedding but proceed with caution that whether verbal or written correspondence from them, the miscommunication is among them and they did not, in my situation, stand by their word in all areas.
