Arabella Farm Reviews
Reviews
We're all about trust. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.
4.8 out of 5 rating
4.8 out of 5 rating
10 Reviews
96% recommend it
-
Featured
![Melanie]()
Melanie Sent on 05/09/2022Beautiful location
We had our wedding at Arabella Farm on 4/30/22 and it was incredible! Yarhiel was such a great help with getting everything organized before and on our wedding day. -
-
![Angel]()
Angel C. Sent on 09/28/2021Arabella Farm
Ken the owner is amazing. His thought process about the venue and why he did certain things is awesome. He goes above and beyond the show you what they offer and why they are the best. On top of that the venue is gorgeous!!! We had the best time and his assistant Yarhiel was always a pleasure to work with. It was the best day ever!!! -
-
![Tori]()
Tori Sent on 10/16/2018Brothers Wedding
My brothers wedding was here! It was absolutely perfect. Everyone was sweet and made sure we were all okay. This place is absolutely gorgeous. Hands down the best wedding venue I’ve ever been too! -
![Lorey]()
Lorey B. Sent on 06/10/2021Beautiful Venue with tons of potential, but appears to have had miscommunication issues due to the possibility of staff turnover?
Disclaimer: My husband and I won the use of this venue space (Up to a $3800 value) in a drawing they did in 2019. We paid $1000 to have our wedding on a Saturday (originally priced at $4800) and negotiated a price with Heather to extend the Saturday rental to 12 hours (11 AM to 11 PM) for an additional $500. We paid $1500 in total for the use of the venue on Saturday, plus an additional $500 for the use of the venue Friday evening for a rehearsal. We signed paperwork to allow the venue use of our wedding photos and likeness to promote the venue.
When we first looked at Arabella Farms, it seemed like the perfect venue for us. It's a beautiful location that has a lot of potential and we are very grateful to have won the use of the venue space for our 2020 wedding.
I've struggled a lot writing this review, as I've always felt like the issues that arose with our wedding planning may have been based on a staffing issue with the venue. Six months post-wedding, it appears as though my suspicions may have been correct, as the original employee I had the majority of my communication with (Heather) has been replaced by someone else on their venue website. I had relatively frequent communication with Heather from March 2019 to July 2020. In August 2020, Ken began responding to emails with no further explanation than "pinch hitting for Heather for a while.”
I spoke with Heather again, but for the last time, on August 24, 2020 where we confirmed my bridal portrait time block for September 18th around 5 or 5:30 pm. I was told it was available and that I just needed to call the day before for confirmation. I called on September 17th and left a voicemail, as well as emailed the venue that day to confirm. I did not receive an email back until nearly 9 AM on September 18th (from Ken) stating 6PM would be fine because of another bride having pictures done at 7pm. My appointment had been made and scheduled with my photographer for 5PM as previously discussed with Heather. I was then told that there was another bride doing pictures at 6PM, so I could come an hour earlier (presumably 5PM as originally scheduled with Heather, that I had attempted to confirm the day before via phone call, voicemail, and email). This was frustrating, but ultimately worked out.
We also scheduled to have a time block at the venue for a rehearsal dinner the evening before our wedding, priced at $500. My husband sent the check and noticed it was cashed on September 4th, but I received an invoice that included the $1500 owed + the $500 for the rehearsal on September 8th. This was fixed after I explained that the check had been sent (and cashed) but we were still confused when I was told they received the check and cashed it, but didn't know who’s event it was for. The check did have my husband's name on it, which was also on the various paperwork and emails I had exchanged with Heather previously, though she appeared to no longer be the one assisting us with venue details for our wedding.
Another conversation that I had with Heather previously was that we would be able to give her our $500 refundable security deposit check the evening of our rehearsal or morning of our wedding, to be given back to us at the end of the event if no damages were assessed. This too appeared to be lost in transition when Heather stopped assisting us and other staff took over, as I was asked several times to pay the security deposit via an online invoicing system, but had previously agreed on writing a check the day before or the day of. While it was a minor inconvenience, it contributed to the stacking issues of communication breakdowns due to this (apparent?) abrupt change in staff.
The most frustrating issue I had, which I will once again attribute to staffing changes and communication issues, is for the day of our wedding. As I previously explained, I negotiated a price with Heather to have a full 12 hour rental on Saturday (11 AM to 11 PM) for an additional $500 that I paid to the venue (creating the $1500 total paid for Saturday). We had to significantly downsize our guest list, first due to the general COVID-19 pandemic and then again due to a COVID-19 related family issue the week of our wedding, but we opted to keep the 12 hour rental, even with our vendors closing out around 8PM. As the night began to wind down and my family and friends were assisting in packing things up, I had several people, including my husband and my mom, tell me they heard someone on the Arabella Staff walk into the groom's suite and proclaim, "There's still floor to ceiling s**t in here!.” The overall feeling of packing up was VERY rushed by staff...even though I paid extra money to be allowed in the building until 11 PM (with the understanding that the event needed to be over by 10 PM). I feel as though this too was another example of poor communication as our wedding file had abruptly exchanged hands from Heather to other staff.
The venue and location are both beautiful and Ken was very friendly while assisting us, but again, so many of our frustrations lie within the communication issues that appeared to be between the transition of our wedding file and wedding communications as they were exchanged from Heather to Ken. We felt when Heather was no longer present that something was happening internally, but nonetheless, had hoped everything could be as she had originally helped us plan for.
I also felt as though the wedding coordinator that had been suggested to me by the venue was a suggestion based more-so on personal relationship and less as a professional recommendation.
I would like to feel as though things could have been less confusing and less frustrating had there not have been a presumed staffing change to contribute to communication issues on top of a global pandemic. I chose not to immediately write my review of the venue after our wedding to ensure I was not clouded by any amount of emotion to be associated with such an event or such frustrations. I hope that for others in the future, stability within the venue will allow them to have the wedding they originally planned with consistent communication and understanding. There is certainly a lot of potential to have a dream wedding there (and they're dog friendly)!
For clarification, our wedding images and/or likeness have not been requested for promotional use by Arabella Farms, though we did previously give written consent for them to do so.
