Business ProfileforManor House Event Center

.Part 1/4: We got married at the end of May 2024 and were thoroughly disappointed in our experience. We originally booked with Shannon who was so upfront, clear, and kind in her communication.“Unfortunately, she ended up leaving the company at the end of July 2023 and almost 3 months later, we were assigned to Carey.  Despite the owner telling us Shannon’s cases would be reassigned by the end of the first week in September, we did not hear from him until the end of October. At that point, our communication with Manor House was fraught with unprofessionalism, contradictory statements, and a general lack of respect. We ended up asking for a new sales rep in January 2024 and received Allison. Allison was very kind and helpful, but we have since discovered that many of our conversations held during the planning process with her were not documented and passed on to the appropriate people for our event.

Part 2/4:Our ceremony occurred at 6:30PM so we had access to our event areas starting at 4:00PM. When the bridal party arrived at 4:30PM, none of our dcor had even started to be set up. In fact, linens and chair covers were not even all correctly placed on the tables/chairs, including cocktail tables, and other vendors like our florist, could not place their items. Of course, our bridal party stepped in to help. At that point, all of the Manor House staff disappeared and it was just our bridal party setting up the reception hall. One of my bridesmaids even found one of the staff kissing another in the hallway, instead of assisting with set-up. When the owner was asked about this, she accused us of not having completed a dcor drop off sheet, of being told that our bridal party was going to do the set-up and would arrive at 4PM, and that they had never told us the reception area would be complete by a certain time just that it would be ready before the reception time. For the record, we had multiple dcor drop off sheets available (which our bridal party was actually using when they were doing the work) and we never stated that our bridal party would be doing the set-up. We were also told there was not a charge for this service, and we were told that the staff engaged in the unprofessional conduct had been reprimanded. We also found out that they had another event in our room all the way up to 4PM, and that they were hosting 15 events that weekend. At the beginning of the ceremony, we clearly heard prolonged music and cheering from another ceremony happening on the property. Our event manager later told our bridal party that another ceremony had started 30 minutes early. When the owner was asked how and why this happened, as Manor House is very strict about their timelines for ceremonies, we never received an answer other than that Manor House holds multiple events in the same evening.

Part 3/4: We had asked Allison about cake services. We had a two-tier cake, in which the bottom layer was supposed to be cut and the top was supposed to be boxed and saved for our 1-year anniversary, per tradition. We received the cake back still fully constructed and haphazardly wrapped, leading it to start to topple over. We confirmed with our baker that a box was provided for the top tier, and regardless, multiple boxes were available (from the various sheet cakes that were also provided) for our two-tier cake to be safely returned back to us. When asked why this did not occur, the owner stated that the bottom tier did not need to be used and they did not have any boxes that would accommodate our cake, saying they did the best they could. We had also asked for gluten-free cake to be delivered to our gluten-free guests at their chairs, which Allison stated was no problem. From our perspective, this did not occur. When the owner was asked, she stated they delivered cake to those guests still at their seats and placed the remaining on the cake display table. I have a sister who has a disability and who is gluten-free. She was at her table and did not receive gluten-free cake. The owner also cited this as a “free service.” We paid for an extra, portable bar to be used outside during our cocktail hour. When purchasing this, we had an entire conversation with Allison where she drew a picture to indicate where the bar would be outside. I also asked about the necessity for signage indicating that another bar was available inside; Allison stated this was not necessary and that staff could let guests know. On the day of the event, the only bar open was the outside bar. They did not have the inside bar open. When the owner was asked about this, she stated that typically when music is outside and there is a portable bar, the only bar that is open is the outside one. She also stated that per Allison, we only wanted the outside bar open, which again, was not true.

Part 4/4: We also purchased a case of champagne for our event, and this was not made available. The owner did apologize and took ownership for this. For all of the above reasons, we asked for a refund totaling about 5.5% of our total costs. Other than the cost of champagne, we did not receive a penny back. In fact, I had to ask more than once for a refund on the champagne, and I attached the receipt twice before actually receiving the partial refund. (We still have not, to this day, received the full refund.) Multiple references to “free services” were given to us as an explanation for why we did not qualify for a refund; since these were all deemed “free services,” we asked what the 22% service fee was for (which was included in our final costs.) We never received an answer. If you are looking to book a wedding/event here, we urge you to really consider all aspects of this review.

I have reached out to this client multiple times and several items they are upset about was no fault of Manor House-The new sales manager-we do have people come and go and she was assigned a new sals manager to work with. Contact is not generally made until 3 months prior to the wedding when planning begins. Set Up-We never promise set up to be completed at a specific time. Set up was completed by the time of the wedding/reception. We are a multi event facility and do day events and sometimes we flip that same room for an evening event. Everything was completed prior to the start of their wedding and reception.Ceremony Noise-We do multiple weddings at the same time and always try and time the weddings to be taking place at different times. This would have happened but the party in question ran about 20 minutes late making the timing be off and they did hear noise from another ceremony.Bar-The client instructed the sales manager and signed the Event order that stated they only wanted the outside bar open during the reception. If we had known they wanted the indoor bar open we would have accommodated them.In the end we refunded the cost of champagne back to the client. We apologized that they were unhappy, but not sure what else we could have done to make this couple happy. We do over 500 events a year and are very professional in all that we do