Though the venue is beautiful, the venue owner, Robin, was extremely difficult to work with from…read morethe start. As the bride, getting the venue booked with Robin was my greatest stressor, and she only caused more stress from there.
I first was interested in Bella Sera because of how beautiful it looked on Instagram. I looked up the Google reviews, and they were mostly positive. The few negative ones I saw, I laughed at her "clap backs" and assumed that they were from the occasional unreasonable guest that the service industry sees now and then. I wish I had read Yelp reviews as well, or asked on Facebook groups, because now I know that Robin is completely unpredictable and you have no idea if you'll get the Robin who wants to make your day special, or the Robin who won't respond to your messages and raises her voice at your family.
She was terrible at communicating promptly, and often had to be called or texted multiple times for an answer to one question. Vendors were waiting on the information I needed from her, but a quick response time from her was one week. I've attached message screenshots showing the reply gaps.
I messaged Robin on April 14th, the day after I got engaged, to confirm that I wanted to book. Because of her delays in communication, she did not send the contract to me until June 2nd. For a month and a half, I texted and called and asked questions, and tried to get a contract, because I wasn't comfortable with being "pencilled in".
We were allowed, by contract, two hours the day before to rehearse and set up the reception. Robin scheduled a tour for another bride during our rehearsal. She became agitated when we approached her and asked about venue decorations that she had offered us the use of months before. When we had questions about the set up and availability of the items, she snapped at my family and friends in front of the touring bride and said that we worried too much.
While getting ready the morning of the wedding, the bridesmaids, mothers, and I were freezing. We had our hair and makeup done in our coats. I texted Robin and asked for her to turn the heat up, and she never answered me. There was a case over the thermostat.
During the post ceremony photos, the photographers would arrange my dress and position a certain way, and Robin would come up and adjust it to her own wishes so she could take pictures on her phone. She also was obtrusive in photos of our dance. In a response to the review my mom posted, she said it was fine that she was in the way because "any professional photographer is highly capable to photoshop a staff member...." I had assumed that in the contract where she said that she would be allowed to photograph for her own advertising purposes, that she would be a background figure and not hamper my own photographers' work. We were on an especially tight schedule post-ceremony because of the sun setting and the photographers had to take extra time to undo the adjustments she unnecessarily made.
Robin also responded to my mom's review accusing us of being late with making payments. In fact, she did not send us the final invoice until the night before the wedding, requiring me to pay it while getting ready the morning of my wedding day. I've attached a screenshot of the email sent on 11/10.
This venue photographed very well, but the stress that it took to book it, the unavailability of the venue owner, and the shadow she cast over the celebrations were very unfortunate. If I had it to do over again, I would choose another venue where I felt valued and treated like someone who spent thousands of dollars to be there.
