Mellwood Art Center Reviews

Thanks for the kind words!

Hi Jessica,

I don't know that we cater to everybody's wants and desires, but we do set up the tables and chairs according to the floor plan we receive from them. We can also adjust the lighting and thermostat during the event. The rest of our offerings are just standard. If you feel like that was catering to your wants and desires, then thanks! :)

Thanks again for the kind words,

Mellwood Art Center

Hi cara,

Thanks for the glowing review! The only time we aren't really flexible is when safety or damage to our property is going to be a concern. Most people wouldn't want us to be any other way, but there's a few who would just so they could do things their own hazardous way.

It's hard to believe by reading the other reviews, but a lot of people come away from Mellwood feeling the way you did. Statistically, the negative reviews only account for less than 1% of the events we've had at Mellwood, even though they account for a good chunk of the reviews we've received overall. But still, only about 4% of all events have given us a review at all, good or bad. So not everyone who comes here is miserable, it seems.

Another sign we're so "bad" is that we were voted #1 in the LEO as being the Best Place to Have a Wedding/Event in 2013. Before that, we consistently made it to the top 3 every year. If so many people are liking us that much, we should have more bad reviews than just less than 1%.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to highlight the positive aspects of having an event here at Mellwood for others.

Thanks again, cara!

Mellwood Art Center

Hi Erin!

Thanks for the good words! You hit the nail on the head as far as what we offer to people who rent from us. I could even quote this and use it as our business description! I'm glad you "got" what we try to offer people. To read the other reviews, it almost seems like it's too much for people to handle when we leave it up to them to dress their event up or down. I'm glad that wasn't the case with you or a lot of the other events that have gone perfectly fine here.

I don't know that I'd say we're flexible with meeting needs and time schedules, but we just try to give you a lot of wiggle room and freedom from the get-go. If all that isn't enough, then you might not agree with us, but nobody could really accommodate you at that point. Really, we don't mind what you do, for the most part. Just as long as it's safe and won't tear up our room! Most people have found that's reasonable and the ones who haven't are some of the ones who have posted their nasty reviews here.

Again, thanks for highlighting the right mentality for renting at Mellwood. This is the exact attitude our best, most legendary events have and they're the ones having the best times here.

Thanks again,

Mellwood Art Center

Hi katie!

You sure can bring your own alcohol and catering. If money changes hands, we need to have a copy of the caterer's/bartender's license and insurance on file. Otherwise, your liability insurance will cover it and family can supply and/or serve both. But you must have the insurance in order to do the event.

Thanks for the kind review!

Mellwood Art Center

Thanks, Alexandra! We're glad that you were able to have the wedding you wanted here. It's exactly what we set out to provide: an easy, DIY wedding with few restrictions.

To address your issues, we sometimes make mistakes in handling the various paperwork associated with an event and that’s what happened with your floor plan. We apologize for that. As for the cooler at the bar, our renters are welcome to check the bar accommodations in the event rooms every day of the week but Sunday prior to their event and they’re also welcome to bring in coolers for the bar to make life easier on their bartenders. We never provide ice, but we also save usable ice left by a previous event to save future events the hassle from having to buy more. This is another thing that renters of our event spaces are welcome to check prior to their event. And, yes, as per the contract, the damage deposit refund from any of our event rooms depends on the renter returning the room to us in good shape by the end of their lease period.

Thanks again!

Hi stephnic,

Unfortunately, you signed a contract that states:

"By signing this agreement, Lessee agrees to hold harmless and indemnify Mellwood Art and Entertainment Center, 1860 Mellwood, LLC and their employees, members and agents against all claims arising from any accident, injury, or damage to any person or property caused by any negligence or willful/gross negligence or intentional acts of Mellwood Art and Entertainment Center, 1860 Mellwood, LLC and their employees, members and agents."

However, the facilitators we've hired within the last year do their best to store any items they find at the end of the lease until someone from the event can come retrieve them. We do that as a courtesy, though, since it's not our obligation. A simple check of the room by the renters before they hand it back to us would insure that nothing is left behind that has a chance of disappearing.

It's a standard practice with most rental leases for any rental property anywhere that any leftover item is forfeited by the renter if it remains in the space once the lease has expired. We don't have that policy with our event spaces (we do for our artist spaces, though, but only enforce it in extreme circumstances). However, items aren't turned in that often, so it's more than possible that other non-Mellwood people are to blame.

Thanks for the good marks otherwise, though.

Mellwood Art Center

Thanks, Jenn!

We know that not every venue will allow events to do that, so we feel it's important to offer that.

Our official policy is that if money changes hands, a caterer and/or bartender must send us proof of their licensing and a copy of their insurance with us named additional insured in order to do operate on the premises.

However, if a friend or family member wants to provide/serve the food or alcohol free of charge, the general liability insurance and host liquor liability that a renter must purchase anyway will cover that.

Thanks again!

Mellwood Art Center

Hi Jennifer,

I apologize that the cleaning of your room was overlooked before your event and that your facilitator wasn't as responsive as he should've been. We've since hired a new batch of facilitators within the past year who are very responsive, courteous, and take a lot of care in making sure we live up to our part of your event going right.

Thanks for the kind words otherwise!

Mellwood Art Center

Hi Anonymous!

Thanks for the kind words! We try not to overwhelm you by watching over your shoulder, but we do keep in contact throughout the day just to let you know that we're here checking on things and that we're available should you need us.

We do regularly call to have that dumpster emptied, but the waste management company seems to be a little slow in responding a lot of times.

We're glad it didn't hamper your event too much and that you were still able to have fun here.

Thanks for the review!

Mellwood Art Center

Hi Anonymous,

We've hired new facilitators recently and other on-site personnel who are here either throughout the day or throughout the event for the whole duration. We won't watch over your shoulder, but our facilitator will check in regularly and they're available should you need anything.

Thanks for the kind review!

Mellwood Art Center

Hi mlswil,

Glad you found the place to be beautiful and were able to enjoy having your favorite foods and alcohol at your event.

I'm not really sure what you mean by saying everything wasn't as 'formal' as you expected. Most people come here because they like the rustic, industrial elements of our rooms. That precludes a lot of formality in itself.

As for your issue with our public viewing hours, I'm not sure what to say since they're pretty normal hours. With any business, it's not really feasible to adjust hours to accommodate individual availabilities. All of our rooms have plenty of windows and you can see inside them from the sidewalk or hallway for after-hour viewing. I'm not sure what more is to be expected from us aside from placing someone on-call to run over and unlock the rooms for the very slim minority of people who can't make it during the day. For us, that's not exactly feasible, either.


Thanks,

Mellwood Art Center

Hi Morgan,

Clean-up after yourself is a policy that is clearly-written in our contract, as it says: "Lessee will clean Ballroom of all rental items in its entirety, including, but not limited to, all decorations, food and drink. Lessee will put all paper trash in the appropriate trash cans by the end of the evening on the day of the Event. Lessee must discard any trash containing food or drink to the dumpster provided on the Premises. Access for loading and unloading is at the back entrance."

On a quick survey of other venues in the area, I found this clean-up policy isn't too uncommon. The venues who WILL clean-up for you will also charge you more, give you a smaller space, and rent you a shorter lease period than our 18 hours between 8 AM and 2 AM...if they even let you go until 2 AM. From what you described, I'm not sure any Louisville venue would've been able to accommodate your preferences. However, you ultimately made the decision to agree to our policies and book Mellwood in favor of other venues that might've suited you better. At that point, we weren't under any obligation to change any of our policies since you signed off on them.

With the amount of events we see each weekend, it's really not feasible for us to store items from events once their lease is up at 2 AM (or before they arrive at 8 AM). The facilitators do their best to return/store what they do find, but it's ultimately not our responsibility to do that. If you just do a simple, final check of the room before you're done with it, that will insure that nothing is left behind. Most times, we find that there aren't many lost items that are still in the room by the time the event's over, unfortunately.

Thanks,

Mellwood Art Center

Hi alix_rob13!

We don't have too many restrictions at Mellwood, but the few that are in place are there typically to keep people safe and to protect the property. Many of them don't originate with Mellwood since they come from state and local fire codes and/or laws. Chances are, if something wasn't illegal, unsafe, destructive, or a potential liability problem, we'd let you do it. As the administrative coordinator, I would say this is a main cause of disagreements between Mellwood's clients and management. None of it's arbitrary, but it's absolutely necessary. We'd rather get a bad review for that than let people blow themselves up or not have a beautiful place to get married. :)

Thanks for recommending us, though!

Mellwood Art Center

Hi Kathleen,

Sorry for your bad experience with our previous staff. We've since hired new facilitators along with other on-site personnel that are now present throughout the day and regularly touch base with you until the end of your event.

To address your issue about how much we provide, it's not uncommon for us to encounter the misconception that we're a full-service facility akin to other venues in the area. In reality, Mellwood is more of a do-it-yourself place. Since we're an art center as well, we provide you with the event space as a "blank canvas" so that you can be as elegant and creative as you want to be. We have only a few safety-related restrictions and guidelines designed to protect you and your guests while you have your event. After that, you're free to do what you like, bringing in any vendor you like that is able to comply our event room policies and guidelines.

Thanks,

Mellwood Art Center

Hi Anonymous,

I'm the administrative coordinator at Mellwood. Scooter was correct, we do not provide ice. However, we keep the usable ice from previous events in the iceboxes to save future events the trouble of having to buy more. We recommend that before an event, someone checks the amount of ice in the boxes so that they can plan accordingly. I apologize for the trouble this caused.

Hi palmtreegirl,

When people rent space from us, it's basically theirs for the day. We just handle the light maintenance matters (restocking bathrooms, adjusting lighting and temperature, etc.) during the event, but that's all. Before their lease expires at 2 AM, it's always a good idea for them to go through the room and do a final inspection to insure the room is in a good shape to be returned to us. We aren't responsible for anything that's left in the room after that. Also, a final check will also alert the renters to any damages done to the room.

Renters are told before they sign the contract that clean-up will be their responsibility. At that point, they still have the opportunity to walk away and find another venue if they're not comfortable renting from us. In your case, you chose to sign and accept that responsibility anyway. I'm not sure how we look bad for that, because we don't hide our policies from plain sight and we certainly don't force you to sign anything against your will.

Most venues in town make you responsible for clean up. Many vendors, however--whether it be caterers or decorators--will clean up for you. Mellwood didn't force you to hire vendors who didn't offer that (we're open to any decorator/caterer), so it's not really fair that we're getting blamed for that.

While there are a lot of negative reviews on Wedding Wire and Google, they represent less than 1% of the events we've actually had here. For every negative review, we have several HUNDRED events that go smoothly enough not to warrant complaints from anybody involved. In fact, on Wedding Wire, we have just as many five-star reviews as one-star reviews. A majority of them give us four stars, though. That doesn't seem to indicate we're a bad business so much as you're one of the few who regrets your decision to rent from us.

Thanks,

Mellwood Art Center

Hi Private User,

As has been noted elsewhere, we've since hired new facilitators and staff who are present throughout the day at Mellwood during events. Since we have geothermal heating/cooling, keeping a comfortable temperature in the room relies on the doors being kept closed at all times except for guests entering/exiting. We have signs posted on every door that they are not to be propped open. However, if they're kept shut, the rooms can stand up to the harshest Kentucky weather--hot or cold.

Thanks,

Mellwood Art Center

Hi Anonymous,

I'm the administrative coordinator at Mellwood and the only time I've known Scooter or Miguel interfere with a wedding is if there's something going on in the room that shouldn't be going on. Neither of them go out of their way to arbitrarily ruin someone's special day.

However, they do get worked up if a renter is doing something unsafe or potentially destructive to our property. Six hours is not a whole lot of turn-around time if there are extenuating maintenance issues that need attention in the middle of the night between event rentals. They head these situations off the first chance they get because it's in the best interests of everybody. It helps you get your damage deposit returned, it keeps the room in good shape for the next event, and it saves us from having to make repairs.

You don't describe what issues you had with Scooter and Miguel, other than they were rude and impossible. For all any of these readers know, you might've been planning to fly Chinese lanterns inside the event room and Miguel was trying to stop you from doing that. What you consider to be 'rude and impossible' might actually be 'firm and responsible.' You might've just found their names on our website, seen the other bad reviews, and added your own just for kicks. Mellwood nor the other readers can even verify you actually had an event with us, so what's to say any of this actually happened?

Until specific details are provided about what went on, I don't know how anyone should take your review seriously.

Hi Gary,

We've had nearly 1700 events since 2010 and, statistically, only about 1 out of every 25 events has left a review of any kind on any website--good or bad.

Between Wedding Wire and Google, we've had a total of 37 reviews, which accounts for a bulk of them. Of those 37 reviews, we've had more four-star reviews than any other. Here's the breakdown:

No stars: 5
1 star: 4
2 stars: 5
3 stars: 7
4 stars: 12
5 stars: 4

If we're the worst place to hold a venue, I would think the no-star reviews and one-star reviews would add up to 37 or that we'd have fewer four-star reviews than we actually do. Also, I don't think we would've been voted Best Place to Hold a Wedding/Event by the 2013 LEO Weekly Reader's Choice if we were the worst, either.

I'll also say that we probably wouldn't earn these four-star ratings or reader's choice awards if we only pretended to care without actually doing so. The facilitators go out of their way many times to help events go better and to insure damage deposits are returned.

Sure, there's other venues of a higher caliber in Louisville, but they cost more, have limited catering options, shorter rental periods, and other restrictions that we don't have. That's why people like coming to us. Quite a few of them have a great time anyway and receive excellent service from us, despite our lower caliber. If you don't believe me, read the good reviews and not just the bad ones.

The only time Mellwood takes people to court is when it’s necessary and we feel we have a solid case. It’s a costly expense if we lose, so we don’t pursue these things frivolously.

As it was told to me, one of your guests opened two boxes of wine, started a conga line with these boxes carried over his shoulder, and let the wine leak all over the floor. Our facilitator recorded two videos’ worth of the aftermath that night. Damages were in the neighborhood of $800 and your damage deposit only covered $500 of that.

You signed a contract that said: “If the amount of the damages exceeds the security deposit, Lessee will pay to Lessor the excess within ten days after Lessor makes written demand. Any legal fees incurred in the collection of these funds will be the responsibility of the Lessee. Please provide this as a separate check, cash or money order payment.”

Since you didn't pay, we felt we had a case that warranted taking legal action and took it to small claims court. As a result, the judge sided with us.

Mellwood did nothing wrong here but enforce the terms of a contract as any good business should. It's not feasible to simply write off $300 just as a courtesy when we have a contract with the responsible party that says they’ll cover it.

Had there been an event the next day, those people would’ve had to use a filthy room, even though you got to use a clean room. Six hours in the middle of the night isn't enough turn-around time for a mess like that.

We have lax policies at Mellwood because we want you to have a great special day for the best value, but we can't excuse people who get drunk and literally bring down our house (not theirs). It’s not good for other events that use the room ahead of them and it’s not good for our property in general. I don't think any of this is unreasonable, but now other readers can decide for themselves since they have both sides of the story.