We give this wedding venue two stars, one because the venue itself is beautiful, and another…read morebecause the servers and staff working our wedding day did their best. Otherwise, our experience with the management team leading up to and during our event was extremely disappointing.
We hired a wedding planner after struggling through the initial contracting process with the Stonebreaker team. It became clear early on that communication would be difficult; it often took weeks, and sometimes months, to get answers to simple questions from the Director of Sales and Event Sales Manager. Our planner noted that this was very unusual and unprofessional in the wedding industry.
We were not able to finalize our BEO until one week before the event, and many details still required clarification. For example, at the venue's request, we provided a list of food accommodations required but received no response for nearly two weeks. After following up, we were told one week before the event that not all guests could be accommodated. After considerable back and forth, they agreed to provide two gluten-free meals for guests with severe celiac disease. Those meals were not provided.
The venue also required an event floor plan. When we requested their template, we were told it had been lost during the change in ownership. Since a replacement was never provided, we had to measure the venue ourselves and create our own floor plan.
On the day of our event, none of the team members we had been communicating with were available, and the staff working the event had limited information, much of it outdated or incorrect. The Banquet Captain had an incorrect timeline and attempted to shut the party down an entire hour early.
The venue also appeared severely understaffed. The staff working were clearly overwhelmed and were not adequately prepared or trained. That said, they worked hard to make things right and did their best under difficult circumstances, which is a major reason we are giving two stars rather than one.
For our ceremony, we paid an additional $1,500 to use the grass lawn outside the barn. Day of the event, we discovered that the grass was dead and extremely dry, with hay spread across the lawn for vehicles to drive over the area where we had planned our ceremony.
During our outdoor cocktail hour, in approximately 90-degree weather, the venue ran out of water cups within half an hour and "ran out of" beer and wine several times. Guests were told that the venue was out of drinks rather than that they were being replenished. Additionally, the barn was locked and guests were not permitted to enter. We had elderly guests who needed a break from the heat, and even the parents of the bride and groom were refused entry. We never expected to be unable to enter the barn DURING OUR EVENT.
At dinner, they ran out of chicken and we were told that they had served all of the food we had paid for. More chicken eventually arrived, but by then dinner had concluded. We paid for buffet service and were specifically assured that we would not run out of food. We also had fewer guests than our expected headcount.
The two gluten-free meals that had been guaranteed were also not provided. When our guests asked staff about them, no one appeared to know about the arrangement or was able to provide the meals.
For dessert, we paid a $150 cake-cutting fee for the cake to be cut and plated. Instead, the cake was placed uncut on a table, and we were told to help ourselves.
We were extremely disappointed by the lack of hospitality and professionalism we experienced from a venue that presents itself as a high-end hotel and restaurant.
