I originally planned to have my wedding at the Curtis Mansion, but after experiencing multiple…read morelosses in my family, my husband and I decided to elope. The venue meant so much to me that I still wanted to incorporate it into our wedding photographs and preserve a piece of the dream I had originally envisioned.
Unfortunately, I left in tears, feeling humiliated and disrespected by an employee named Debbie.
I had communicated with Debbie beforehand through phone calls and messages about our elopement, our outfit changes, and the vehicle we planned to use for photographs. Yet, from the moment we arrived, after knocking for approximately 10 minutes, I was met with attitude, eye rolls, and judgment. She questioned why I wasn't ready, despite our previous conversations about changing at the venue. I was standing there with my wedding bouquet, and she even asked whether I was getting married, despite my having explained our plans multiple times beforehand. As a client, I expected the person handling our booking to be familiar with the arrangements we had discussed.
I shared something deeply personal with her about losing both my parents and my beloved dog, who I had imagined walking me down the aisle at this very venue. Her dismissive reactions made me feel as though my grief and the significance of the day were an inconvenience. When my photographer asked whether she could hang my wedding dress for flat-lay photographs, Debbie appeared annoyed. Although she eventually permitted it, she then physically removed my dress and placed it on a table. Even these small details became stressful when they should have been part of a beautiful experience.
Things escalated when our rental car arrived earlier than scheduled, without my knowledge. Despite having discussed the vehicle beforehand, Debbie called me a liar multiple times in front of my husband and photographer. When I do have documentation that I did tell her there was a car going to be present. I spent nearly an hour of our reserved photography time trying to resolve the situation. And every time I would leave, Debbie would complain about me to my Photographer making my Photographer extremely uncomfortable. We were also locked outside and left knocking for approximately 15 minutes before our photographer had to find another entrance to let us back in. From outside, I could see Debbie on her phone, knowing we were knocking and ringing doorbell. Throughout the session, she would be unavailable when we needed assistance but would reappear to confront me. For a 4 hour shoot included Mansion staff, which I'm assuming that was her , it was CLEAR that she didn't wanna be there.
Throughout the experience, I felt as though we were walking on eggshells. With the last hour of my shoot I was in my wedding dress Debbie again yelled me again and pointed her finger at me and kept bringing up the car situation when it was resolved an hour before. I had to ask her if she can yell at me after photographs because I didn't want to lose any more of our limited time. She responded that I was "wasting her time!!"
I work in the bridal industry, where I understand how important it is to make couples feel welcomed and supported during such meaningful moments. I would never want another bride to experience the humiliation and distress I experienced that day. She didn't even see us out when we left. I tried to reach out to the original people that I spoke to when I was going to book my wedding at the venue and had a good experience with but it was a very disappointing response!
The mansion itself is beautiful, but unfortunately, the way I was treated overshadowed what should have been a special memory for my husband and me. NO BRIDE should leave her wedding photo shoot in tears because of how she was treated. These photographs were meant to preserve a beautiful chapter of our love story, and it breaks my heart that this experience will always be part of that memory.
