Sepia Chapel Reviews
Reviews
4.9 out of 5 rating
4.9 out of 5 rating
120 Reviews
97% recommend it
Awards
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Featured
![Karissa]()
Karissa D. Sent on 11/07/2023So happy we chose sepia!
To this day, we adore Sepia and are so happy we chose it as our wedding venue!
To give context and higher praise as to why we love the new owners, the Meolas:
When we originally signed our contracts April 2022, the venue was entirely owned by another family. A very close friend of mine strongly encouraged me to find another venue, and warned me of shady and unprofessional behavior that happened to them during COVID.
The person who gave my family a tour of the venue (and eventually was fired) had no idea what was going on. She made many false promises, including telling us she put our date on hold and was writing a contract, only to find out she never did when I checked up on our previous interaction. As well as promised that a new bride and groom suite would be fully completed and available by our wedding in October 2023. The previous general manager was slow to reply, passive aggressive and extremely disorganized. I had begun to realize that I had likely made a poor decision to hire Sepia as our venue because the people treated us horribly.
THIS IS WHERE IT GETS BETTER!! :)
In early 2023, Sepia was purchased by the Meola family. Transparently, as a Bride that was halfway through the wedding planning process with nearly all of my vendors signed, I was very nervous what this new transition of ownership would mean for our wedding, and if they would uphold the contract.
The Meola's were not only extremely understanding of the situation, but they were professional, quick to answer any questions and concerns, and went above and beyond to make sure the transition of ownership and already decided wedding day decisions were communicated and transferred over. The Meola's not only upheld our contract, but modernized and better many things within and outside of Sepia. Without a doubt, with the new ownership, Sepia's appearance improved and communication flourished.
One thing that was a let down for us were the bride & groom suites (that we were originally promised by the old owners). Due to things previously not done correctly, unfortunately having the brand new bridal and groom suite was not available to us on our wedding day. My groom and his groomsmen were not able to get ready at the venue, and we had to find a different location. However, the girls did get ready on the newly modernized upper level. To make up for the unfinished basement suites, Sepia did invest in modernizing the upper level bridal suite, added comfy couches and spaces to sit, new lighting in hair and makeup rooms, new paint and new decor. Although it was not exactly what we were promised when we originally signed the contract, as always the Meola's did the best they could to make up for the disappointments of the previous owners.
Our experience was 100x better working with the general manager, Caitlyn Meola, who was also a bride at Sepia in 2022. She not only understood what it was like to recently be a bride, she knew the venue like the back of her hand, and genuinely showed interest in making sure our wedding day vision was achieved. Transparently, Caitlyn and I exchanged countless texts, calls and emails, but she handled it all with grace. Caitlyn was detail oriented, organized, and extremely thorough. Her passion for people and weddings undoubtedly shined brightly on our big day. I truly believe Caitlyn's hard work is one of the reasons our day went as smoothly and beautifully as it did. One of the biggest perks of Sepia was all the included decor. It is not tacky or outdated, but rather tasteful, elegant and modern. I was planning my wedding from cross-country and I was not able to be super DIY.
I can only imagine that as time passes, the Meola's will continue to better Sepia, their impact is already noticeable. Caitlyn has already done a marvelous job creating social media accounts to give an example of what getting married at Sepia would be like!
We adore the venue! The staff was kind to our guests, the prices were affordable, and the venue perfectly fit out 140 guest wedding. -
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![Brittany]()
Brittany Sent on 06/05/2019I cannot say enough good things about Sepia Chapel
What a lovely place to have a ceremony. I cannot say enough good things about Sepia Chapel, for real. I mean, you get married while standing on top of water—come on, that’s cool.
I mostly emailed with Barry, one of the owners. He was great with keeping us updated and on track, as well as answering any questions I had.
The chapel itself is amazing and beautiful and everything you could ever hope for in a ceremony location. Seriously—you won’t be disappointed. I’ve been to a few weddings there now and it’s always pretty and well done, even with minimal added decor.
We worked with Hanna for our rehearsal and our day-of coordinating. She was seriously amazing and worked with us and made sure everything went smoothly and flawlessly. She even went out of her way and showed up at the chapel early so my dad could drop off my wedding dress. She also fixed my train and coordinated the timings of walking out along with our music just perfectly. She’s a complete sweetheart and I’m so grateful for her.
A++++++ Sepia Chapel. HIGHLY recommend. -
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![Melissa]()
Melissa Sent on 11/16/2018Naturally beautiful venue, incredibly hardworking and friendly staff, Sepia is THE place to have your wedding!
Where to even begin. Barry and his team were THE BEST thing we could have ever done to help our wedding dreams come true. From start to finish he helped guide us with suggestions when we asked/needed, he was able to help us plan the PERFECT day. We had a lot of 'weird' things we did at the wedding including having a donut wall instead of cake, planted a tree for our unity ceremony, we had a pizza buffet instead of a sit down meal, etc. Barry accommodated all of our crazy ideas and helped make them work together seamlessly. He was a huge help especially the night before and the day of. We were running around like headless chickens and he and his angel of a wedding coordinator Heidi were able to reign in the crazy and get us where we needed to be. They were responsive to emails when we had questions, and the day of they helped keep us in the loop when things inevitably didn't go quite as planned (Wisconsin weather, I tell ya). We chose this venue originally because a) IT IS STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL I CANNOT EVEN TELL YOU. The wood is stunning and the tables Barry made were so pretty we didn't even put table clothes on them, the place speaks for itself it just is not your typical "conference room/ballroom" type venue b) they have decor to rent which makes life WAY easy c) they help set up things for you so the day of you're not trying to decorate an entire building and d) because we could have the ceremony and reception at the same place. The fact that we could also have a makeup artist, pianist/harpist, and a bar staff/a full bar at the ready included too (three less things to think about yall!) was a super nice surprise too. I cannot say enough good things about this experience. Nice people, they try their darn-dest to make your dreams come to life, they don't mind if you accidentally get some dirt on the altar (sorry guys), they truly will go above and beyond to get everything to go smoothly. The fact that I could email a few forms to the wedding coordinator/Barry, and have the wedding ceremony/reception venue, bar stuff, decor items (mostly) there and ready that I don't have to set up, even things like chair sashes and table clothes/napkins/charger plates are there, ceremony music, and schedule of the day done, made for one happy low key bride. Truly there were very few things we would change about our day, and none of them were due to Sepia or others' fault, just things we had that didn't quite work how we thought (like forgetting a packer suit for our grand march, really little things LOL). Thank you to Heidi, Barry, and the entire Sepia Chapel staff for making our day truly perfect.Sepia Chapel's reply:
Melissa, Thank you so much for your kind review. It is weddings like yours that we live for. Thank you for sharing your experience, and for appreciating all the little extra things. You are truly special and we wish you all the best! -
![Shannon]()
Shannon Sent on 02/06/2019Beautiful Venue
We loved our experience with Sepia Chapel. It was a beautiful venue and we received many compliments on how beautiful the location was. The team at Sepia was very kind and helpful; they explained the process well and provided us with water day of in the loft. We took the package that included chair sashes, an officiant, and the pianist. The chair sashes looked great and we loved our officiant and pianist. I can't imagine having our ceremony anywhere else. -
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Sue Sent on 06/30/2018Our daughter’s wedding was last weekend at Sepia Chapel. What am amazing venue to have a wedding! The chapel is a beautifully renovated church that provided both elegance and class for both the ceremony and the reception. Barry and Gina were with our daughter and her fiancé (and us) through every step of the planning process. They gave them opportunity to plan the wedding of their dreams. From working closely with the caterer, florist, bakery and DJ to offering suggestions regarding decorations and being extremely flexible with their choices. They also now offer an area upstairs behind the altar for the bride and bridesmaids to get ready. This area has a large bathroom which is where the people we brought in to do hair and makeup for the girls setup. It was easily large enough for two of them to both work in.
The day of the wedding, Barry and Gina were both there beforehand to guide all of the vendors, bridal party and guests during setup and preparation. Barry remained on site throughout the duration of the day behind the scenes making sure everyone and everything ran le clockwork. We cannot say enough about the pure professionalism of the entire staff at Sepia Chapel. -
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![Nicole]()
Nicole Sent on 07/01/2017Great find! Met Barry at a wedding show and got a coupon for a small discount. The minute I went to see the chapel I was in love. The pricing pre-discount was comparable to other ceremony locations I considered and Barry still had one opening for the date I had in mind. Throughout my experience Barry was helpful and flexible and even the day of the wedding he was around if we needed anything. And all my family and friends are raving about how beautiful the chapel is.
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