The Barn at Holly Farm Reviews

Although we did not go with Holly Farms as our wedding venue, it was within our top 2 choices. Karmel was amazing and so informative and thoughtful during the entire process. The barn is amazing and the amenities they offers are awesome. I would highly recommend this venue to anyone interested in a rustic/barn feel for a wedding or event. It is a beautiful space operated by wonderful people!

Went to an open house in February. Lovely location. A must see if you'd like a rustic but classy venue.

The Barn at Holly Farms was the perfect spot for our wedding reception! We loved that there were different spaces that people could use and enjoy (the firepit, the lawn, etc.) The staff were so willing to work with us on what we needed and working with our schedule. I loved that they also had decorations we could borrow/rent. It's a beautiful spot with great staff!

Had my winter wedding here and it was perfect! Great venue with all the rustic charm you could imagine. The high ceilings and lights were beautiful. Had a perfect background for a ceremony. Tons of tables and chairs available. Karmel was wonderful to work with and very flexible. My wedding was even prettier than I imagined here. All my visions came to life. Thanks Karmel!

I highly recommend this venue! I had my wedding on April 13th, 2019 with 64 people and it couldn't have been any better! It was raining and it was a little cold outside. The barn is almost 100 years old and the space that you have access, you just cannot beat it. An unfortunate event happened two days before our wedding date with another venue and we had only one day to look for another venue to have our wedding. Karmel and her team came to our rescue! She was so helpful and so willing to make this the best day of our lives. She gave helpful suggestions and her spirit helped ease my mind.. She was full of joy, hope.. such an angel. It was the best day of my life with the help of her team and my family coming together. I've never felt so stressed/so blessed in my life!

The Barn is so beautiful. There is a bridal suite that my girls loved being in! There are options for the men to be in their room as well. Upstairs is where we had our reception and ceremony. She did mention that because we only found her within one day of our wedding day that heating might be an issue. The barns heaters and her additional heaters helped kept us warm but the overall barn was a little bit cold. This is something that can be fixed with the right amount of time given to prepare the venue for a wedding. Again, we found Karmel on a thursday night pretty much and had the wedding on saturday. No complaints there! Just wanted to let you know to keep in mind which she also informed us before booking.

This venue worked with us and our situation. We were so blessed to have such excellent customer service. Thank you Barn at Holly Farm for allowing us to have our wedding here. You felt like family to us. We so appreciate you.

This review is overdue but I'm glad I finally get to tell the world about how great The Barn at Holly Farm is! Even more importantly, how great the woman behind all of greatness is: Karmel! Everyone knows how stressful weddings are. Doesn't matter if you've had ages to plan, or have all the funds you need. Weddings. Are. Stressful.
BUT- Karmel turns that stereotype into a something that is fun, and thoughtful and really meaningful like you dream it to be. She is always there to answer any question you have, and doesn't make you feel burdensome for asking what seems like so many small detail questions! She is thoughtful about each persons specific situation and really truly cares about any bride that comes her way and her beautiful barn! She wants to make sure that your day is just as you had dreamed it and makes sure that your voice is heard (cause c'mon...family can be a little...you know...)! We love and can't thank Karmel enough for everything she did for us. And now lets take a second and talk about THE BARN! Holy smokes.... its rustic and unique and has so much character. If you want to deck it out in décor...awesome. If you want to play it simple and let the barn do its work of providing a gorgeous and cozy atmosphere...awesome again! You can't go wrong with whichever way you want to go. And you definitely can't go wrong with choosing this venue to start out your new forever:)

We have shot so many events at the Barn at Holly Farm every event has been beautiful and flawless. We always have the best time working with the staff they are friendly and professional and so easy to work with. We always enjoy getting asked to work at this amazing 100-year-old barn.

Unique venue with a thoroughly professional and attentive staff. This is a very memorable backdrop for any event or special occasion! Karmel is creative and takes special care of you. She makes you feel like your event is the MOST important one...and she does that for all her guests! :) I especially love their sustainable practices, and support the amazing horse therapy program of Holly Farm.

The Barn at Holly Farms was a sweet barn to host our wedding! Karmel was very hands on and made sure all the details were thought of.

I loved the getting ready suite and my husband and his 10 groomsman enjoyed the grooms room! I would love to have another event at this location again!

Photos included are by With Grace Photography

We have had the pleasure to cater a few events at the Barn at Holly Farms. Karmel is a gem to work with who will go to tremendous lengths to make sure we from a vendor side have all that we need to be successful. We love that is the barn setting that is just off the hustle and bustle of Bothell-Everett hwy, which makes it easy to get to but still quiet and peaceful. For anyone who loves the intimacy and sheer beauty of a barn event they should check out the Barn at Holly Farms!

Our wedding reception at The Barn at Holly Farm was wonderful! The venue is beautiful, but the staff and personal attention at The Barn are truly what set them apart. Karmel was a dream to work with! She was professional and had a wealth of knowledge. She thought of things that would have otherwise been forgotten and went the extra mile at every turn to make our day truly special.

We held our wedding at The Barn at Holly Farm in April of 2018. It was beautiful! The setting is lovely! The soaring ceilings and rustic elegance were perfect. The staff was very attentive to our every need. The vendors that were were referred to were fabulous--creative and leaving no detail undone. I can't recommend The Barn at Holly Farm enough!! It was a delightful experience! We will definitely be hosting another family gathering there in the future.

We held our daughter's 10th birthday party here...she was on cloud 9 the entire time! We had a beautiful (warm!) converted stall room for her birthday party (cake, pizza and gift opening.) It even included the cowgirl themed décor on the table! We were then treated to petting the farm animals (llamas, sheep, goats, chickens, alpacas) and learning all about the Egg Song chickens and their natural, open environment. If you want a clean, fun location along with some good 'ole farm life experience, this is the place for the party! Loved it!

The first time we saw this venue, we couldn't stop talking about it, so we knew we had to book it. It is gorgeous.

Pros: The venue included all their tables chairs so we didn't have to rent more, as well as a decor store that we were able to use, without an additional charge. There are multiple outdoor places to take pictures, a fire pit, a balcony overlooking the outdoor patio, and beautiful maple tree. There is so much flexibility with the vendor selection but the venue has some preferred vendors.

Cons: There is only 1 bathroom. You'll likely want to rent one if you have more than 100 people. With a winter wedding, the barn never really got warm enough for our guests to take off their coats. You'll likely need to rent uplights as there isn't much natural light that comes through. They don't actually have a kitchen so our caterer cooked everything off-site and brought it in. We rented an industrial hot water dispenser but Karmel said it would short the electrical so she replaced it with a smaller more high maintenance one.

Karmel and Deanne were very sweet but there were some last minute details that made it a little touch and go, and brought me to tears, just 4 days before the wedding. Our wedding planner was able to triage all of the details but we ended up paying an additional $300 for more insurance after we already secured event insurance.

Photo credit: Alex Shiu at Alex Studio
Wedding planner: Karie Greiner at Unforgettable Wedding & Events

In short, three months after signing with The Barn at Holly Farm we were told management would rather start a year of self-initiated renovations than honor their contract with us. Their decision not only affected us, but at least nine other couples who had booked weddings there too.

For my fiancé and me, this left us with less than 7 months before the wedding date to find a new venue and re-plan our entire event. It took over a month for us to find a new space that could accommodate our wedding size indoors. To receive a full refund, we were expected to sign a document that stated we wouldn't make any comments which "may, directly or indirectly, disparage" The Barn at Holly Farm (obviously we did not accept those terms). It then took over a month to receive the funds for The Barn's breach of contract.

I hope no other couple has to experience The Barn at Holly Farm's mismanagement and the nightmare experience they caused at least 10 couples in 2021!

Here is my brutally honest and painful review. The Barn at Holly Farm is such a beautiful venue, it’s too bad that it is run by someone who is so unprofessional and unorganized. We booked the barn in April of this year for our wedding on 09/07/2019. We put down our deposit of 2400.00 that same day, because we just fell in love with the barn. Overall we paid 4800.00 for just over 100 people, a 750.00 clean up fee, 1000.00 deposit and a 210.00 “cleanup fee.” Just two weeks later, I was kicking myself for not doing more research, not talking to people who’ve used the venue and not looking at other locations to have our special day. We tried so hard to have efficient communication and a good business relationship with Karmel ( the director of the barn) but unfortunately that didn’t happen. I am so glad I decided to start taking notes, and saving emails and text messages.
While trying to get our layout worked out with Karmel I had taken time off of work to meet with her twice and she was a no show, (a loss of around 175.00 per day.) Our check we wrote for our final payment due 90 days prior to our wedding date was deposited to her bank a week before the date written on the check and the due date for the final payment (that was fun working with the bank and getting several overdraft fees reversed.) We were quoted double the amount of money for labor, I had to screenshot emails to her where she quoted me the original price. We paid $210.00 for three people to help flip our room after our ceremony to our reception. There weren’t three people…. it was just Karmel and her assistant. The was misinformation of our vendors ( we were told our caterer would be doing all the flip of the room after the ceremony, and when I called I was told they would be contacting Karmel to let her know to stop telling people of services that they provide when indeed they do not.) Our bartender who was referred to us thru Karmel, never even had done an event at the barn. We paid a $750.00 clean up fee and that was for her and her “staff” (remember there was just one other person) to clean up after the wedding and have all of our things packed for us so it would be stress free and we could just be on our way, otherwise we would be charged 50.00 per wrapper found on the ground, not 0.50…50.00! Well that didn’t work out as it should have, I spent the last two hours of our wedding reception packing things myself so we could get out of there before 11pm or else we’d be charged some ridiculous amount of 250.00 an hour. We decided that we were not going to rent items from her décor store, since we had such a hard time communicating with her and it just didn’t seem like a good idea, so instead we decided that we would use a wonderful rental company and bring some of our own things that we had gathered for our big day. Unfortunately, even with a detailed list a lot of my items went “missing” my mom’s antique glass coffee can, our RINGBOX (we didn’t even get to use it for our ceremony) our lights for our head table were NOT returned, but instead offered to another bride!!! My grandmother’s antique lace table runner that sat under our cake? That mysteriously disappeared only to be found again in her décor store. We had a beautiful horned decorated cow skull that hung above us during the ceremony; I had to ask for that back. I had went into her kitchen and found all of our left over beverages in her refrigerator and I asked her why she thought she could keep them? She stated I could pack them myself if I wanted them. Several items from the rental company, a white chiffon sash and some of their flower vases. Fortunately for me and not for them the rental company I had used had prior experience with the venue and just the month before the bride had the same problem with Karmel not providing the clean up that they paid for and when the rental agency went to pick everything up, nothing was packed. The last I heard was the bride and groom is still fighting to get their money back. Thankfully I had heard of a few problems with having a “peeping Tom” (Karmel) from that same couple, the groom reported seeing her peep thru the circle windows from the outside to see if they were drinking alcohol! We made sure to cover the windows so that didn’t happen to us. I also requested a code to the door for the bridal room so we could lock our purses in there, I was told the lock didn’t work so we had to put all of our belongings in my car to make sure they were safe.
When I requested my missing things back and my deposit Karmel said she couldn’t find my check for the labor fee that I had wrote so she was going to deduct that from my deposit as well as a fee for a few of our guest smoking within the 25 feet of the barn. That night there was a MAJOR rain and lightning storm and she herself had told some of my guests that they could smoke under the umbrellas on the back patio since there was not another covered smoking location. We paid almost $7000.00 to have our wedding at her venue, and the way we were treated was awful. I can’t remember the amount of times throughout our planning that I had to tell her my name (she kept referring to me as Nicole) and reminder her of our wedding date.
Karmel surely can take pride in knowing that she could have ruined the best day of my life, if I would have not been able to look at the bigger picture. No one should have had to deal with the type of things that we had to. I wish there were more honest reviews, and people were not so hesitant on sharing their experiences. If I had known what I was in store for I would have taken my business somewhere else. I truly hope that Karmel can develop some sort of accountability in her life, and realize that she is “helping” people plan the biggest day of their lives, a day that no one can ever get back or redo, and that she doesn’t do what she has done to us to anyone else. There are something’s I can never get back, belongings from family members who’ve past away and memories that should have been cherished. At least this chapter is closed, and we can move on!

The honest review I wish I would have seen before booking this venue.

Absolutely stunning venue. The barn is wonderful and so many stunning spots for pictures. Ray and Deanna were so kind and helpful during the process.

Too bad the venue is run by someone who has no problem being unprofessional and down right awful. Karmel had no problem promising one thing while doing another, being 45+ minutes late to appointments, and causing undo drama AT the wedding.

We will start from the beginning. When first toured the venue she was great, she seemed to really care about making our wedding perfect. When signing the contract there were a lot of “TBDS” on the contract because it was too far out. She offered extra services at an extra charge and we decided to go with one of the options. These services were the venues “staff” was to set up of the venue (that was technically already included in the contract), flipping the space from ceremony to reception, clean up, and a day of coordinator. Karmel made it seem like they had a day of coordinator, which later turned out to be herself, which we at the time thought would be fine.

We later set a time to meet with her to go over little details, we showed up, and 45 minutes later, Karmel was still no where to be found. I texted her, emailed her and finally called her. When She finally arrived, we let her know we would like to use the outdoor space for our ceremony. she then let us know that if we wanted to use the chairs they offered, our family or wedding party would be responsible for setting them up and taking them upstairs after the ceremony for the reception or she had benches we could rent for $30 a bench. We asked that since we paid a fee for the room to flipped, if they could take the chairs up for us since the flipping of the room was no longer needed. She stated they would not do that because that was too much work for her “staff.” We ended up having to rent extra chairs. Our groomsmen ended up taking some the chairs up to the loft during the cocktail hour on the day of.

After going back on some of the things she said and her being late, we decided to get our own day of coordinator. We let her know in advance that we would be having someone else do our day of coordinating.

Weeks leading up the wedding, I asked multiple times for an updated contract since ours said “TBD” in many places. I asked 3 separate times and never received an updated contract.

The night before the wedding, we had the opportunity to set up. We paid an extra free for them to set up the venue, in the contract it included, tables, chairs and table settings/ table top decorations. We had many family members there to help, Karmel was there, no staff in sight, and then told us there were too many people helping. After sending some family to do other stuff, Karmel seemed to disappear as well. Leaving my day of coordinator, maid of honors and myself, to set up everything. She also stated it was an extra charge to use some of the tables that was listed on the contract as “included in the rental of the venue”

Now to the wedding day itself;
She came into the bridesmaid rooms several times on the day of the wedding to ask my mom and myself questions, we directed her to the day of coordinator each time even though we had asked that the day of coordinator be the main point of contact on the day of the wedding.

During the wedding she walked around with a bull horn ordering guests around. Many guests made comments after the fact about how odd and unprofessional it was. During the cocktail hour she chastised a friend in front of myself and other guest, because that friend had given me a wine cooler (who he got from the bartender) stating she “didn’t know how well I could hold my alcohol.” The best man spoke with Karmel and said if there were any problems to go to the day of coordinator, or himself rather than guests, and they would take care of it. She told the best man to go away because she didn’t want to talk to him.

My dad asked her if she had seen a cooler with all the wine in it because the bartenders needed it and it wasn’t with the other alcohol. She stated she didn’t know where it was, and kept denying she knew where it was. My dad found it tucked into her decor shop behind some things.

Many of our wedding party members and family members caught her searching our bags during the wedding. She confiscated alcohol that was in private bags for after the wedding and threw them away (the alcohol was going to be moved to a private vehicle one that vehicle had arrived) She later threw our caterer under the bus stating they were the ones that searched our bags. My father, uncle, maid of honor, best man and day of coordinator spent over an hour of their night discussing that she threw away personal belongings that were enclosed in private bags and how that is illegal. (She told us alcohol was allowed in the bride and groom room prior to the wedding as long as a licensed Bartender was on site, but later retracted this).

At the end of the night, again we paid that fee r for the “free me up from clean up.” My parents and bridal party were stuck cleaning up and packing up everything. When the rental company came to pick up at the end of the night, nothing that she was responsible for (decorations, table cloths, etc) were not ready to go, causing their staff to run around and find those items. She stated that was not something she was responsible for even though it was in the contract. She then stated it was because there was not a list of the rented items for them to know what was needed to be packed. There was a list of all my items sent to her prior to the wedding. Then stated things weren’t done because the wedding went “late”. The contract stated we had the venue until 11pm, we left the reception at 10:15pm.

We argued for weeks asking for a partial refund on the extra services we paid for. She said these fees were nonrefundable, we said we would understand it being nonrefundable if we had received those services, but we never received them! She had absolutely no problem, keeping a payment for services she did not provide.

Overall, beautiful venue. But in the end, we paid a large sum in extra services that we never actually received, had extra unnecessary stress, and personal belongs searched/ taken.