WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT GET MARRIED HERE!!!
For your own sanity, run - run far away. I got married here, and it's the only part of my wedding day that I seriously regret. The entire planning experience was painful. I have rarely been so stressed by something. We almost walked away a few times but the options in Hermann are limited so we persisted (to the detriment of our health/sanity/stress-levels). Julee, the manager, is mean and rude and it trickles down to her staff. I do not blame her staff - they tried their best but they are ruled by a tyrant. We literally heard her screaming at her staff on the phone at one point while we were on hold. And that's not to mention she raised her voice at me and my mom. I had never planned a wedding before (shocker), and I didn't have any idea of budget. Julee quickly alerted me that I had "elegant tastes but a cheap budget." "Sure, we have broccoli but you are going to have to cough up more money!" Or something along those lines... Thanks, lady. On that note - the Inn at Hermannhof charges Chicago prices... another reason to look for other options.
They tossed me between event planners and regularly reversed what they had offered. Case in point: I had a minimum of 8 conversations in which I mentioned that I was going to bring pies from Chicago to serve at the wedding. They confirmed dessert was the single item you could bring from an external vendor. I literally said "Do you have room in your fridges for the pies? Can I drop them off early? Can your staff cut the pies" - all to which they provided positive answers. A few months after these conversations (and after I had done a tasting in Chicago, placed my order, and made arrangements for delivery), they came back and said "You can't bring in pies - only cake. Our chef can't accommodate. You are putting him out! If you must have them, there will be an upcharge." And they never admitted to having told me I could bring pies in the first place. It's like their goal is to make me feel like a crazy person who was losing my mind. Exactly what you are looking for while planning an already stressful event... right?!
Julee was so mean to my mom - I can't even get into that.
I also tried terribly hard to find someone higher than Julee to complain to about her lack of customer service but it was impossible! I even called the partner winery in California and they apologized and promised to put me in touch with someone to help me but they never did. I mean - is she related to the owner or something?
Aside from the planning, when it finally came to the day of the wedding, it was as if they had never executed a wedding before. Several of the people that I had been in touch with coordinating ended up working the wedding as bartenders and servers. The execution was unreal. I paid extra for pre-set salads and when we walked in from our cocktail reception, there was nothing on the tables. It took them at least 1.5 hours to serve the salads. The servers were struggling. They would serve salad to half the table, and then return 30 minutes later with dressing and 4 dinner rolls (for a table of 8). Like they just thought they'd wing things that night. The entire point of the pre-set salads was so that things could get moving quickly. The buffet didn't open on time. The pies (which I ended up buying from them) weren't set out. All things we had gone over time and again. My toasts were supposed to happen at 7:15pm but due to their missteps, they happened around 8:30 pm, which gave us about 45 minutes for dancing at the end of the night. NOT what I had envisioned for my wedding reception. Oh, and one of the bartenders was either drunk or it was his first night. They were so slow, my guests were lined up at the bar all night. When I asked for Sauvignon Blanc, I had to repeat it 3 times. Also not what I had envisioned.
The food was pretty good - that's the only saving grace. Thank you, Chefs!!
And I want to reiterate, this wasn't Amy, Sadie, or Vickie's fault. You can only be as strong as your weakest person and Julee's attitude and behavior trickled down to her staff.
So overall, I had an amazing wedding day that I will never forget - every part that I executed went smoothly until we arrived at the Festhalle. That part I'll never forget because I was fuming at how poorly executed this expensive part of the party was.
And in conclusion:
Do.
Not.
Get.
Married.
Here.
Not at Hermannhof, not at the Festhalle, not at any of their many many venues in town. It's all the same staff and you'll be tortured by Julee.
Run! Save yourself!!! read more