TERRIBLE venue management under the guise of a beautiful space In short, three months after signing with The Barn at Holly Farm we were told management would rather start a year of self-initiated renovations than honor their contract with us. Their decision not only affected us, but at least nine other couples who had booked weddings there too. For my fiancé and me, this left us with less than 7 months before the wedding date to find a new venue and re-plan our entire event. It took over a month for us to find a new space that could accommodate our wedding size indoors. To receive a full refund, we were expected to sign a document that stated we wouldn't make any comments which "may, directly or indirectly, disparage" The Barn at Holly Farm (obviously we did not accept those terms). It then took over a month to receive the funds for The Barn's breach of contract. I hope no other couple has to experience The Barn at Holly Farm's mismanagement and the nightmare experience they caused at least 10 couples in 2021! read more

My husband and I were married at the Barn at Holly Farm in May 2019 (I meant to leave a review sooner but life quickly got in the way). We worked with Karmel as well as a flower vendor (Dirty Girl) and photographers (GSquared) whom Karmel recommended. Part of the reason we were drawn to this venue is because of the good works that they do with equine therapy and rescued farm animals. Our experience with the Barn was fantastic. We really hit it off with Karmel and she made planning the wedding fun and low stress. The vendors she recommended also did a great job and at the end of the day, are just good people. I feel like they all connected with us on a personal level. One fun perk this venue offered is for a small fee someone from the Barn takes guests out to meet some of the animals (chickens, goats, llamas, etc.) during the social hour before the reception. This was a lovely and charming way to start the celebration. I think that what we paid was fair for the service we received. The only snafu at the very end was having to pack our own stuff even though we paid extra for the clean-up service, but it was mostly just our personal belongings and it wasn't a big deal. There's always a little wedding drama - in this case our own guests, and the way that Karmel and vendors went about handling it to reduce the stress on us was beautifully done. They were respectful and discreet and we were incredibly grateful for their support. The space itself on the day of the wedding was absolutely stunning and everything was set up exactly as we had planned. It was a truly magical day and I'm so glad we chose the Barn to get married. I'd do it all over again. :) read more

The Barn at Holly Farm - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Bothell, Washington

The location is beautiful but the service is awful. From being extremely rude and unprofessional over the phone to not showing up for a tour of the venue, this place lacks the hospitality that is a must for a wedding venue or any venue. It's unfortunate when a business has so much potential but suffers due to the lack of professionalism of their staff. If I can't trust you to be professional and show up for an appointment or even give a courtesy call/email/text I definitely cannot trust you for the most special day of my life or to recommend you to any future brides or any wedding industry professionals. read more

This place is so cute! We use it for our event space... it's great for small events and BIG events. She has lots of areas to choose from and it's a great set up with plenty of parking. We do a professional meeting there once a month and they are always to helpful. Check this place out for your next event! read more

This venue was absolutely picture perfect for our event. Though we planned to host it outside, the rain came in and the staff quickly adapted and allowed us to use the hay loft upstairs. I would highly encourage you check this barn out. Great location, historic, and friendly staff! read more

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What a beautiful area!! We had our preschool graduation and end of the year festival at the farm and everything was perfection!!! Everything was set up exactly the way we needed and I could not have asked for a better setting to watch our babies graduate! read more

The honest review I wish I would have seen before booking this venue. the venue is run by someone who has no problem being unprofessional and down right awful. Karmel had no problem promising one thing while doing another, being 45+ minutes late to appointments, and causing undo drama AT the wedding. When signing the contract there were a lot of "TBDS" on the contract because it was too far out. She offered extra services at an extra charge and we decided to go with one of the options. These services were the venues "staff" was to set up of the venue (that was technically already included in the contract), flipping the space from ceremony to reception, clean up, and a day of coordinator. Karmel made it seem like they had a day of coordinator, which later turned out to be herself, which we at the time thought would be fine. We later set a time to meet with her to go over little details, we showed up, and 45 minutes later, Karmel was still no where to be found. I texted her, emailed her and finally called her. When She finally arrived, we let her know we would like to use the outdoor space for our ceremony. she then let us know that if we wanted to use the chairs they offered, our family or wedding party would be responsible for setting them up and taking them upstairs after the ceremony for the reception or she had benches we could rent for $30 a bench. We asked that since we paid a fee for the room to flipped, if they could take the chairs up for us since the flipping of the room was no longer needed. She stated they would not do that because that was too much work for her "staff." We ended up having to rent extra chairs. Our groomsmen ended up taking some the chairs up to the loft during the cocktail hour on the day of. After going back on her word and being late, we let her know we'd be having our own day of coordinator. Weeks leading up the wedding, I asked multiple times for an updated contract since ours said "TBD" in many places. I asked 3 separate times and never received an updated contract. The night before the wedding, we had the opportunity to set up. We paid an extra free for them to set up the venue, in the contract it included, tables, chairs and table settings/ table top decorations. We had many family members there to help, Karmel was there, no staff in sight, and then told us there were too many people helping. After sending some family to do other stuff, Karmel seemed to disappear as well. Leaving my day of coordinator, maid of honors and myself, to set up everything. She also stated it was an extra charge to use some of the tables that was listed on the contract as "included in the rental of the venue" Now to the wedding day itself; During the wedding she walked around with a bull horn ordering guests around. During the cocktail hour she chastised a friend in front of myself and other guest, because that friend had given me a wine cooler (who he got from the bartender) stating she "didn't know how well I could hold my alcohol." The best man spoke with Karmel and said if there were any problems to go to the day of coordinator, or himself rather than guests, and they would take care of it. She told the best man to go away because she didn't want to talk to him. Many of our wedding party members caught her searching our bags during the wedding. She confiscated alcohol that was in private bags for after the wedding and threw them away (the alcohol was going to be moved to a private vehicle one that vehicle had arrived) She later threw our caterer under the bus stating they were the ones that searched our bags. My father, uncle, best man and day of coordinator spent over an hour of their night discussing that she threw away personal belongings that were enclosed in private bags and how that is illegal. (She told us alcohol was allowed in the bride and groom room prior to the wedding as long as a licensed Bartender was on site, but later retracted this). At the end of the night, again we paid that fee for the "free me up from clean up." My parents and bridal party were stuck cleaning up and packing up everything. When the rental company came to pick up at the end of the night, nothing that she was responsible for (decorations, table cloths, etc) were not ready to go, causing their staff to run around and find those items. She stated that was not something she was responsible for even though it was in the contract. She then stated it was because there was not a list of the rented items for them to know what was needed to be packed. There was a list of all my items sent to her prior to the wedding. Then stated things weren't done because the wedding went "late". The contract stated we had the venue until 11pm, we left the reception at 10:15pm. We argued for weeks asking for a partial refund on the extra services we paid for. She said these fees were nonrefundable, we said we would understand it being nonrefundable if we had received those services, but we never received them! read more

Karmel and her team have put together a beautiful venue for weddings and special events! Not only is the venue spacious, multi-faceted, and immaculate, but the attention to detail of the entire team is impeccable. As a caterer, we could not have asked for a more gracious or accommodating venue owner and staff. Together, we were able to create a beautiful wedding for our clients! I highly recommend this venue! read more

We recently hosted our Women's Empowerment Event, Wine, Women & Wealth at The Barn at Holly Farm! What a beautiful space! We were thrilled with how accommodating the staff is to work with and enjoyed hosting our event in the Board Room. The Barn is a beautiful venue for Weddings, and also corporate events, women's events and more! Get creative and jump in to hosting your events at the barn! The setting is beautiful and parking is plentiful, you might event be greeted by the local Chickens! We're looking forward to our ongoing events at The Barn, we invite you to do the same! read more

I just attended an event at this beautiful barn! There are so many different events that can be held here. The possibilities are endless. The caterer that fed us provided delicious food. You should come check this place out. read more

I recently got married at the barn and the staff were wonderful. They are very experienced in wedding planning and bring a vast knowledge base with unique ideas to make your big day truly special and how you want it. Deanne was our day of coordinator and knocked it out of the park. We showered her our vision in meetings prior and she owned it and brought it to life on our big day. She communicated well and asked detailed questions to get to know us and what we wanted. I would highly recommend considering the barn if you are looking for a beautiful venue, with great staff to help you plan all the details. read more

Wonderful venue and kind staff that helped make the day a success!

The Barn at Holly Farm accommodated our small group of Illuminating Women for a fun alpaca fiber felting event. Karmel was most gracious, giving us a tour and sharing the mission and passion of this lovely venue for the benefit of helping sustain the purpose of the equine program. We are so excited to have future events here, including lunches and larger annual events. The Barn at Holly Farm provides so much opportunity to make your special events fun and fabulous! read more

We had our wedding at the barn in April of 2018. I couldn't have asked for a more lovely venue for our special day! It is absolutely gorgeous! The staff was amazing and attended to our every need! From beginning to end I felt like they were there to make our wedding all we dreamed of. There is ample space and the brides room is perfect; it accommodated our large wedding party with extended friends and family in and out. The vendors they referred is to were top notch! We were so pleased with everything they offered. We loved it so much we are considering renting it for our annual family holiday gathering. The barn would be stunning decorated for Christmas--Or any event really! I would give The Barn at Holly Farm 10 stars if I could! read more

As soon as we saw the barn we fell in love with it! We knew we had to get married here! The ladies at the barn are AMAZING!!! They went above and beyond in helping with our wedding! Even with all this crazy covid stuff they still managed to help make my wedding beautiful. They followed every rule and regulation and still made it amazing. The barn is a beautiful place to get married and the gals are just as beautiful and amazing!!! read more

Absolutely GORGEOUS event space & property!! I have attended several events here & am always impressed. The staff obviously works very hard to keep the property immaculate. The barn itself is a remarkable structure & has been beautifully preserved. I HIGHLY recommend this venue for any event of any size. read more

The Barn at Holly Farm is beautiful and a great place for any occasion! They have a great store where you can rent any decor for your gathering! read more

The Barn at Holly Farm is such a beautiful venue, it's too bad that it is run by someone who is so unprofessional and unorganized. We booked the barn in April of this year for our wedding on 09/07/2019. We put down our deposit of 2400.00 that same day, because we just fell in love with the barn. Overall we paid 4800.00 for just over 100 people, a 750.00 clean up fee, 1000.00 deposit and a 210.00 "cleanup fee." Just two weeks later, I was kicking myself for not doing more research, not talking to people who've used the venue and not looking at other locations to have our special day. We tried so hard to have efficient communication and a good business relationship with Karmel ( the director of the barn) but unfortunately that didn't happen. I am so glad I decided to start taking notes, and saving emails and text messages.While trying to get our layout worked out with Karmel I had taken time off of work to meet with her twice and she was a no show, (a loss of around 175.00 per day.) Our check we wrote for our final payment due 90 days prior to our wedding date was deposited to her bank a week before the date written on the check and the due date for the final payment (that was fun working with the bank and getting several overdraft fees reversed.) We were quoted double the amount of money for labor, I had to screenshot emails to her where she quoted me the original price. We paid $210.00 for three people to help flip our room after our ceremony to our reception. There weren't three people.... it was just Karmel and her assistant. The was misinformation of our vendors ( we were told our caterer would be doing all the flip of the room after the ceremony, and when I called I was told they would be contacting Karmel to let her know to stop telling people of services that they provide when indeed they do not.) Our bartender who was referred to us thru Karmel, never even had done an event at the barn. We paid a $750.00 clean up fee and that was for her and her "staff" (remember there was just one other person) to clean up after the wedding and have all of our things packed for us so it would be stress free and we could just be on our way, otherwise we would be charged 50.00 per wrapper found on the ground, not 0.50...50.00! Well that didn't work out as it should have, I spent the last two hours of our wedding reception packing things myself so we could get out of there before 11pm or else we'd be charged some ridiculous amount of 250.00 an hour. We decided that we were not going to rent items from her décor store, since we had such a hard time communicating with her and it just didn't seem like a good idea, so instead we decided that we would use a wonderful rental company and bring some of our own things that we had gathered for our big day. Unfortunately, even with a detailed list a lot of my items went "missing" my mom's antique glass coffee can, our RINGBOX (we didn't even get to use it for our ceremony) our lights for our head table were NOT returned, but instead offered to another bride!!! My grandmother's antique lace table runner that sat under our cake? That mysteriously disappeared only to be found again in her décor store. We had a beautiful horned decorated cow skull that hung above us during the ceremony; I had to ask for that back. I had went into her kitchen and found all of our left over beverages in her refrigerator and I asked her why she thought she could keep them? She stated I could pack them myself if I wanted them. Several items from the rental company, a white chiffon sash and some of their flower vases. Fortunately for me and not for them the rental company I had used had prior experience with the venue and just the month before the bride had the same problem with Karmel not providing the clean up that they paid for and when the rental agency went to pick everything up, nothing was packed. The last I heard was the bride and groom is still fighting to get their money back. Thankfully I had heard of a few problems with having a "peeping Tom" (Karmel) from that same couple, the groom reported seeing her peep thru the circle windows from the outside to see if they were drinking alcohol! We made sure to cover the windows so that didn't happen to us. I also requested a code to the door for the bridal room so we could lock our purses in there, I was told the lock didn't work so we had to put all of our belongings in my car to make sure they were safe. When I requested my missing things back and my deposit Karmel said she couldn't find my check for the labor fee that I had wrote so she was going to deduct that from my deposit as well as a fee for a few of our guest smoking within the 25 feet of the barn. That night there was a MAJOR rain and lightning storm and she herself had told some of my guests that they could smoke under the umbrellas on the back patio since there was not another covered smoking location. We paid too much to be treated so poorly. read more

What a cool new venue. Beautiful upstairs loft, well heated, with really romantic lighting. Great spot for a wedding. Downstairs there are also rooms for corporate meetings, rehearsal dinners, and smaller parties. It's really neat that it's a working farm too! Karmel is fun and great to work with. read more

Wow what a venue. Our event went off perfectly. The staff is a pleasure to work with. Karmel Ackerman was great at laying out what to expect and how things would work. She followed up after to make sure we were pleased. Highly recommend read more

As the Chef/Owner of Vineyard Catering, I catered an appetizer buffet for Illuminating Women in July 2018. Karmel could not have been more accommodating. The event space has multiple options for set up. Our event was held both inside the barn and extended to the outside patio. Very authentic barn atmosphere. read more