Maplehurst Farm Reviews
Reviews
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Featured
Stephanie Sent on 09/01/2024Maplehurst was incredible!
Jessie was such an incredible person to work with! We are so blessed to have had our special day at this beautiful venue. All of our guests LOVED this location and many have said they want to get married there next! After shopping around for venues I can assure you Maplehurst was the best! They provide tables, chairs, arbors, decor, yard games, bride and groom suites, kitchen, plates, silverware, kitchen utensils, etc. They have thought of everything to help make your special day go as smoothly as possible. They also have a guest house you can rent over night so you don’t have to drive home! Thank you Maplehurst for having us on our special day! -
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Alicia Sent on 10/12/2024
Best venue ever!
I can’t say enough amazing things about this venue. Everything about it makes it the perfect place to get married. Jessie and her team were absolutely wonderful to work with, there is so much equipment at the venue to utilize, and the breathtaking grounds make an ideal wedding location. The ability to use your own cater, get married anywhere on the property, clean restrooms, huge kitchen, and plenty of parking for guests! Once a month you can stop by and make sure all your details and dreams can be a reality, gives you peace of mind, and I never had a problem getting all my questions answered right away! Highly recommend this venue!! -
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Darius Sent on 09/25/2023perfect for a dance party
As a wedding DJ I see many venues and I love when I get hired to work here. The ceremony garden is cozy and only a short walk. The barn is large with tall ceiling which makes for great sound. I always get the opportunity to provide sparklers for the long driveway which makes for a great photo. I hope to be able to work here again! Groove on Hyde Street wedding DJs https://www.grooveonhydestreet.com/ -
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Joel Sent on 02/22/2023
Couldn’t have asked for or imagined a better venue
Everything about our wedding at Maplehurst was perfect. We were touring multiple venues, but as soon as we made it to this one we knew it was the one. As good as the venue was, working with Jessie was even better. She was always very fast to respond, and was more than willing to assist us in any way she could. Unlike some places we looked at, you can tell that she is passionate about what she does and really cares that each couple has the best day they possibly can. I would say this is hands down the best wedding venue in the Skagit Valley!
(photos courtesy of Ksenia Vasenev Photography) -
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Lisa Sent on 02/18/2023
Perfect PNW Wedding Venue for a Large Wedding
There are so many fabulous and unique things about Maplehurst Farm! The location is gorgeous especially for a summer wedding, it comes 200+ sets of vintage dishes, chairs, tables and twinkly lights. Once thing we especially appreciated, used and were thrilled with was the list of approved vendors. We got our caterer, rental company and wedding planner all from Jessie's list. Jessie and her husband are very responsive and helpful. It really was a wonderful experience for the wedding party and all their family and friends. You are lucky if you have your wedding there! -
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Lee A. Sent on 02/15/2023Great experience, this was an unforgettble day
Maplehurst Farm was the perfect venue for my daughter's wedding. The day was beautiful, the barn was the perfect site for her reception, and the wedding ceremony took place between the gorgeous trees. We could not have asked for a better day. Thank you! -
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Nick Sent on 07/21/2020Top notch venue
Got married here on July 12-2020. Amidst all of the Covid-19 uncertainty, we were able to continue with our wedding, safely and legally. The venue is so vast with so many great locations for all of the wedding day events, we were able to have our day 100% outdoors to help guests feel comfortable. Jessie has done an incredible job with her venue, even supplying many items so you don’t have to rent them; like tables, chairs, plates, glassware, silverware, etc. Pictures online don’t really do this venue justice, so do yourself a favor and give this venue an in-person visit! -
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Jess Sent on 10/23/2019Jessie is the best!
Working with Jessie was such a joy for us. She genuinely cares about your wedding day and is so so excited for you. She’s such a lovely and accommodating person to work with. She’s so encouraging and made us feel so great about our set up. She was so helpful and communication was great through the whole thing. She’s such a ball of sunshine and Maplehurst is a beautiful venue to have a wedding at! Our original plan was an outdoor wedding but in washington plans change and the venue was perfect for those accommodations! -
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Wind Sent on 02/14/2023Couldn't of asked for a better venue
Jessie is the best ! Professional, friendly and responded to any questions we had leading up to our wedding in a timely manner. This venue is beautiful with a lot of different options as to where you can set up your ceremony space and make it your own ! Tons of space and decor provided to use as well as dishes and utensils ! We would highly recommend this venue for your wedding day ! -
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Sophia Sent on 02/14/2023
Venue of my dreams
My husband and I got married here in August of 2022, truly a perfect day at this beautiful, effortless, open venue. We were able to have all 200 of our family and friends comfortably. Malpehurst was an amazing host and communicator. -
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User2373838 Sent on 10/18/2015Maplehurst was a great overall experience. We were really pleased with how welcoming and flexible Jessie was at every stage of the process, and how inclusive the price we paid was. She has tons of stuff on site for people to use: dishes, cups, chairs, fire-pits, heat lamps, and tons more, all of which can be used for no extra charge.
The space itself is amazing. Lots of great options for ceremonies of different sizes, great bridal suite and groom's cottage, and even a playhouse for younger guests. There were lots of great spaces for guests to congregate, and for us, a really nice mix of indoor and outdoor dancing and reception space.
We got tons of compliments from our guests about the venue space, and they also worked with us when a car accident on I-5 the afternoon of our rehearsal made everyone run more than an hour late. That really put us at ease, and we appreciated the flexibility.
It was a bit hard to find hotel space nearby for a wedding as large as ours (175 guests, many from out of town) but that's obviously not the fault of the venue. Just something to keep in mind.
Ultimately, this place was exactly what we wanted from a farm venue that wasn't impossible for our family in Seattle to reach. -
Heather Sent on 11/23/2024
September Wedding
We highly recommend the venue. From the moment we stepped out of the car at the venue tour, Maplehurst was our number one choice. The farm is so beautiful and offers many options for both ceremony and reception locations. We were very impressed by how organized and dialed-in the management is. Due to how popular the venue is, response times were a bit longer during the peak wedding season. However, overall, they were very accommodating and a pleasure to work with. -
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Heidi Sent on 02/22/2023Wonderful Venue
Stunning venue. Fell in love with it very quickly. Really nice to have all the extra items to use if you choose too. (plates, silverware glass wear, cake/cup cake holders, decorations) Jessie was great to work with, super helpful and laid back. -
User5596459 Sent on 10/05/2017The venue is beautiful and so kid and lawn game friendly. Items such as china, teacups, chairs, tables, fire pit, etc. are included with the venue which is amazing. The maple tree-lined driveway provides a gorgeous setting for the ceremony. Overall, the owners are friendly and responsive, the grounds are well-kept, and guests of all ages had a great time at our wedding. A couple things I was not 100% happy about: 1. I wish the bridal suite is a little bit more secluded/it was made more clear that it can be locked. Numerous people (NOT the bridal party) were going in and out of the bridal suite all morning and the last straw was when my cousin-in-law brought in drama which caused unnecessary stress on the wedding day. 2. They make you use their bartenders, which is usually the owner/husband and other family friends which is fine. However, for the cost they don't do any of the set up/clean up. What I found most odd is I've heard from guests that they had a tip jar. In the communication with the venue, they ask tip to be included which we accounted for the payment on the wedding day. If that is the case, they should not put out a tip jar, making guests feel uncomfortable. -
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Nicholas Sent on 11/26/2019Beautiful venue, room for improvement
Overall, Maplehurst Farm was a beautiful venue for our wedding. We were able to take advantage of the wide variety of places for photos, fun furniture, décor and mismatched china to make our day truly unique. The space provides plenty of opportunities to personalize your day. For 150 people, the ceremony and reception spaces were a perfect fit. We did have some challenges with communication with the venue; delayed response times, vague answers, misinformation or sometimes no answer at all.
Additionally, if you plan on having your ceremony on the grass lawn, do take the time of year into consideration. There is no guarantee that the grass at and around the ceremony space will be green for a late summer/early fall wedding, and the dead grass is noticeable in photos. We felt that Maplehurst Farm was a beautiful venue however there is room to improve in communicating with couples and maintaining the lawn of the main ceremony space. -
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Brian Sent on 09/22/2020Encouraged weddings during COVID 19
"We can't postpone your wedding because of some germs." That is what we were told when we asked to reschedule our September 2020 wedding in June of 2020. More on that in a moment. Here is my reasoning for why the owners of Maplehurst Farm have no business being in the wedding industry. A. Zero empathy. B. Terrible communications. C. Continued to encourage couples to have their weddings at their property despite state recommendations against it during the COVID-19 pandemic. D. Lied about their ability to hold gatherings and have food served during the pandemic. E. Showed a disregard for the safety of guests to their property. F. Had no plan for dealing with the pandemic causing couples to change their own plans almost daily. G. Didn’t know their own payment deadlines, asked for money early. H. Took up hours (literally months) of our time trying to ensure we could have a safe wedding. I. Forced us to hire a lawyer to receive a refund. Each of these points is further explained in the following lengthy and completely true review. In short, I’d rather get married in the middle of a busy freeway than ever have to deal with the owners of this venue.
In December 2019 my fiancée and I placed a deposit to have our wedding on September 19, 2020 at Maplehurst Farm Wedding venue in Mount Vernon, WA. We paid in full at the beginning of March. As the Coronavirus pandemic broke it became apparent that our wedding would likely not be able to go on as planned, especially with guests traveling from Europe, Asia and across the US. In spring we sent an email asking what their plan was. At that time they simply told us not to worry and that they were confident they could hold our wedding safely. As the pandemic grew, we followed up again in June 2020. We sent an email asking to move our wedding to a future date due to COVID-19 so as not to put our family and friends at risk. At the time, Skagit County, Washington and the US were in a State of Emergency. We heard nothing back from the venue after about a week. We called once a day for four days until they finally responded via email and scheduled a call for the next day. We spent about 30 minutes explaining why it would be dangerous to have the wedding and that we’d like to move it to a future date out of an abundance of caution, so as to ensure nobody, including my 90 year old grandma, even had a chance of getting sick. Our request was denied because, as Jesse the owner said, "We can't postpone your wedding because of some germs."
In a follow up email, the venue offered alternative dates that were not financially equal to the amount we had paid or they provided for more uncertainty amid the pandemic. These options included a later date in 2020, which even in June was obvious would not be possible to hold safely. They offered any Friday or Sunday through April 2021, still too early to safely have a wedding with approximately 200 people. They also offered any Monday-Wednesday in Summer 2021. These dates costs much less than what we paid (summer Saturday date), but we were open to the opportunity for moving our wedding should we be refunded the difference. To us, COVID was an emergency issue that we should not be penalized for, and our contract had an emergency clause in it. They still denied our request for any refund to make the change of date financially fair.
At this point we requested a full refund, again citing the clause in our wedding venue contract that states we are entitled to a full refund in the event of an emergency. Seeing as Skagit County, Washington State and the United States were in a declared state of emergency as of our June request due to the global COVID-19 pandemic there was no reason for this clause to not apply. They again denied. At this point we contacted a lawyer to begin communications with the venue to recover our money. They continued to deny any refund, then slowly began offering some of our money back. However they insisted on keeping large portions of it even though they had done literally nothing to earn it.
It is important to note our contract with the venue states that it can host 225 people. While they had been operating continuously since the onset of the pandemic under the religious rules, that would have only allowed them to host ~100 people. Less than half of what our contract allowed. Then around the end of July the governor issued regulations limiting weddings to 30 guests and prohibiting receptions. At this point they could absolutely no longer honor their contractual obligations due to state regulations in the fight against COVID-19. Despite this, they still refused a refund of any substantial amount, insisting they could still host events at their venue despite the new regulations and spiking case counts.
We knew of a few other couples planning to have their weddings at Maplehurst later in the summer also. In communicating with them we learned that the venue was in support of people maintaining their current wedding dates, despite the new regulations. The email they sent to at least one other couple with a scheduled August wedding that was to take place after the new regulations go into effect, stated, ”Skagit County has approved that wedding ceremonies with food and beverage service will continue to be permitted. Maplehurst Farm will continue to host wedding ceremonies, with food, beverage service and celebrating at our venue through the 2020 wedding season.” I contacted Skagit County Health Department and nobody could confirm this. Furthermore, in contacting the Washington state COVID hotline I was informed any food that was offered at such an event would need to be individually prepackaged snacks.
To be clear, my fiancée and I never received the aforementioned letter from the end of July, which also offered to reschedule to any future date. At least one of the other couples we had spoken with at this point also asked for a refund and heard no response from the venue. The one thing all the couples we have communicated with have in common is that we are all terribly burdened by the venue’s inability to properly respond to a global crisis on a local level. Within one month of another couples’ wedding, the venue owners were unresponsive and offered no guidance on how to move forward with having or not having a ceremony, again illustrating complete disorganization and an inability to react appropriately to the situation. The stress they caused us and these other couples is undeniable. Planning a wedding takes months or years, and they could not offer more than a few weeks to consider changing these plans.
The above mentioned letter also illustrates a complete disregard for the safety of their guests and felt no concern about the possibility that their events would result in massive spread throughout the region. Instead of showing compassion, as you’d expect a wedding venue owner to do when someone’s wedding can’t be held (it’s your big day, right?), they ultimately just pushed for people to move forward despite the potential illness and death that could occur.
Simply, this venue could not execute the contract we signed and refused to provide any financially equal alternative in the face of health concerns affecting the entire world. It should be further noted that we contacted three other venues in the area and all of them informed us they were providing their contracted couples with full refunds. Our caterer and other vendors also provided a full refund. The owners of Maplehurst simply refused to acknowledge the ongoing pandemic and more or less disregarded any regulations that were put in place to help slow the spread. Against recommendations from the State and County officials, the venue continued hosting large events. As of the beginning of August, per witness testimony and recent public photographs posted on social media (just look up photos tagged at the venue, etc) that show a lack of social distancing or masking, many people were gathering at this venue against all regulations.
Ultimately we were able to recover everything except our $1,500 deposit and half of the payment we made to reserve the onsite guesthouse, an additional $330 (though they kept asking us to pay the remainder all the way through June even after we asked for a refund/reschedule) The venue owner's deadlines for these payments changed on multiple occasions. The only reason we did not decide to file a lawsuit to recover all of our money and perhaps additional damages was because we live out of state (I am from the area and we intended on getting married in my home area where my family resides). With traveling safely being nearly impossible, we decided to take the settlement. I wish with all my heart that we gave them nothing.
To be clear, I fully understand they are a small business and that this year is insanely difficult for many people. Had they offered any sort of sympathy, provided a clear plan or even answered the phone to discuss our concerns, I would have been completely fine with the idea of canceling and them keeping the deposit three or more months ago when all this started. Instead they decided to push back, drag it out, encourage gatherings and cause us and other couples to have to plan weddings moment by moment. It is as if they have no idea how much effort it takes to plan a wedding. I too am a sole proprietor was adversely affected by this pandemic, losing tens of thousands of dollars in contracts. However, there are grants and other resources available for businesses, but individuals will not receive the same options from the state and local government for funds paid to those businesses.
Our desire to postpone our wedding was out of pure necessity in an effort to prevent the possibility of our loved ones getting sick and possibly dying, something they seemed to not care about. In conclusion, there are much better people in the wedding and hospitality business throughout Skagit, Snohomish and Whatcom County. I fully recommend you use any of them.
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