I was an all-day participant in a very recent wedding held at Chestnut Hill Estate. From being present at the rehearsal to being involved with the wedding party, from beginning to end, I observed all activity that took place for this event and I can certainly comment on all the details that took place during the two days associated with the wedding.
The estate is beautiful and a great setting for a wedding, having been published in magazines. Parking is very adequate in a large open field, but you're going to have to park a good 100 yards from the house and walk down/up a good sized hill. They do have a golf cart, but it was really only used for elderly or disabled people. For a ceremony taking place outside, weather permitting, they have seating available for about 100 people. Anymore than that will have to stand. If the ceremony were to be moved inside, due to weather, you'd be lucky to get about 50 people inside and able to view the cermony. Same with the reception dinner, there is a limited number of seating available inside, but they do offer tables outside. With tables and seating set up for a reception, space is very cramped to get to the food. Onto my experience...
Things seemed very promising after the rehearsal went on without any issues. At first impression, Tisha was very welcoming and pleasant to work with, although you could tell she was a unique individual with a go-go-go atitude. Her husband did stand out though in his white t-shirt and short runner's shorts, which he continued to wear the entire wedding day, even while serving people their food at the reception. The food they served at the rehearsal was delicious, and the service was really good as far as taking up plates and refilling drinks. So, day 1 (rehearsal) ended fine. Day 2 (the wedding day) was quite different.
The morning of the wedding day, when Tisha had showed up to the estate after her morning workout, she was dressed very unprofessional. She was in tight, low-waisted jeans and had a low-cut mid-rift shirt exposing her "enhancements". She's quite proud and comfortable with her body as we noticed revealing pictures of herself in the rooms there. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I feel as though those should be concealed when you're renting your house to clients. Prior to the wedding day, the bride had been promised food and refreshments throughout the day. However, after several requests for those refreshments and Tisha stating she was "working on getting them", they never delivered and one of the bride's friends had to go out and get food after being there 5 hours. Something as simple as water was requested, but they said they didn't have any available. They did offer wine, but a bride needs more than that on her wedding day to avoid any sort of unfortunate circumstances. In fact, any food and drinks consumed prior to the reception were brought by the party themselves. When the groom and his party arrived, they were not given the room they were promised to get ready in. Instead, they were given a smaller room in which the five of them in total had to find space to move around in. The bride had even paid to have a special food item prepared for her groom, only not to be delivered.
During the time immediately leading up to the ceremony (once the bridal party provided themselves their own food and refreshments) and into the reception, things went smoothly. Tisha finally dressed in a more appropriate attire, although still low-cut. Her husband remained in his white t-shirt and runner's shorts, though he did put on an apron while serving the food at the reception. It was later on in the evening when they begun to show their true colors. Around 9:30pm, the bride was informed that they would need to be packed up and out of the house at 10:30pm. At no time prior to the event were they informed of a time they needed to be finished by, only that they had "all night" to be there. Not that anyone should abuse their time there, but it should be stated in a contract. They continued the hurry everyone out and that was where our experience ended as we didn't want anything else to do with them. read more