I recently got married at Ward Manor and wanted to share my
experience for anyone considering this as their wedding venue. This is a very
long and detailed review; however, as a summary I would absolutely not
recommend this venue.
On our first visit with the owner, Michael, he was very nice
and answered our questions, one of which was about guests using the restroom in
the house. He said that would not be a problem as long as we had around 60
guests (we had a little over 50). Also, he told us that if we rented out two of
the guest rooms in the house for two days the rest of the house would not be
rented out to outside guests. He told us about rental items that they kept on
the premises (tables, chairs, dishes/silverware, and tablecloths) and told us
some things that he and his partner could do for the wedding day. He said that
he would help park people and that he would also let the bridal party know when
it was time to walk down the aisle. We were provided with the rental price and
after our visit we made a deposit. We corresponded with Michael some over the
next few months and he continued to tell us to let him know if we needed
anything or had made any choices. On a few occasions, he asked us about things
that I think he may have gotten confused with other weddings, such as the final
catering numbers (we had an outside caterer) and that he ordered napkins for us
(which I never requested as I already had these). We had planned to rent
tables, chairs, dinner plates, cups, and silverware from the venue. Approximately
a month before the wedding, we met with Michael and the pastor at the Manor.
During that visit, he informed us that he had rented a port-a-potty for us. We
told him that we hadn’t anticipated or wanted that, but he said it would be
nice for elderly guests. We decided to think about it. Also, I had brought a
tablecloth that I had purchased to test out on one of the tables. I asked to
put it on the table to see how it would look but he told me that he didn’t
think it would look good and that we needed to rent his tablecloths. He told us
that he starched and pressed these for the rental. My fiancé and I discussed
these unexpected items in terms of our budget over the next few days and let
Michael know that since we hadn’t anticipated having to rent tablecloths and he
was insistent upon them, we no longer needed to rent plates, cups, or
silverware. Michael emailed a bill for the few rental items outstanding (as the
venue and rooms were paid for), and this included a $450 labor fee. We were
shocked to see this, so my fiancé called to discuss this with him as there had
never been a discussion about any sort of fees other than the cost of the
venue, rooms, and rental items. We also gave him the final decision that didn’t
want the port-a-potty rental since having guests use the house restroom was one
of my must-have items when I was searching for a venue, and we had confirmed
with elderly guests (at his suggestion) that they would not use it. He became
angry on the phone and told my fiancé that we should have assumed this cost was
coming, and that the time included consulting fees for time that we had met
with him up to that point and time that he had spent planning for our wedding
(5 hours), as well as for time that he would spend setting up and helping on
our wedding day. He also told my fiancé that he would rent the other rooms out
to outside guests because we hadn’t rented the whole house, which was different
from what I was told multiple times. We informed him that we would set up
everything and manage our day without his help because we hadn’t planned for
this extra money so close to the wedding, and asked how he could charge a
consulting fee without ever letting us know that he was doing so. He wrote me a
very long email with an angry tone that insinuated that I was trashy, and told
me that he wouldn’t respond to me any more until we arrived to set up for our
wedding. He asked if we still wanted to rent tablecloths, but mentioned that in
order to have them ironed there would be an additional fee over the $10 rental
fee. He did let me know that he wouldn’t charge us for the consulting fees and that
he would pay for the port-a-potty since I absolutely didn’t want one, but none of
my guests, with the exception of those staying the night in the house, could
use the restroom in the house. He also told me that he would basically do me a
favor and not rent the other guestrooms out to those not involved with my
wedding, although that had been the agreement all along. The tone of his email
caused me an extreme amount of stress during a time when I was already in a
rush to get everything wrapped up. I believe that he notified us of these
additional charges that had never been discussed previously at this time
because per the contract if we cancelled at that time he would get to keep half
of the rental fee. I wrote back an email trying to discuss the apparent issues
and offered to talk about it on the phone so that we could resolve it before my
wedding day and hopefully reach some kind of compromise. I did remind him that
he had told us on multiple occasions that no port-a-potty rental was needed as my
guests could use the restroom. I didn’t receive a response to my email.
When we arrived at the house to set up on Friday, we found
that there were several large items in the barn area that we had to work
around. Throughout the evening, Michael came to move these, but they did get in
the way as we were setting up. When he was there I did try to discuss the use
of the restroom for my guests. He became very angry and violent and yelled in
my face, with my fiancé having to step between him and me as he started to come
towards me. He told us that he wasn’t making any money off of us and that there
was no way that my guests would use the bathroom, regardless of our original
agreement, since we weren’t paying him for his time to sit in his own house and
make sure that people didn’t wander through the house. I tried to compromise
with him several times, finally just asking if my 89 year old grandmother, who
was flying in from out of state, could go into the house and use the restroom
and he told me absolutely not. During the conversation I remained calm and
tried to discuss the issues in a professional manner but he kept losing his
temper and couldn’t explain the changes he was making to our original agreement.
He said that we should have assumed that he would be charging us for labor, and
that he thought it was perfectly fine to be charging us a consulting fee
without ever mentioning it to us. At one point, he said that he lost money for
10 hours of consulting time (when he previously tried to tell us it was 5), and
said that he had been on the phone for hours with a local rental company
setting up rental items. Since all of the items we had originally planned to
rent were on site, I can only assume that he meant the port-a-potty which I
absolutely did not want in the first place. The conversation ended with him
turning around while I was talking to him and leaving. A bit later, he did hand
my fiancé a bill for the remaining chair and table rentals (which said cash
only, although I had brought a check per an earlier conversation) and told us
that we needed have it to them before morning. There was also a note on the
bottom stating that my guests could use his house bathroom at a cost of $100
per hour, which was ridiculous. As we continued to set up, we found that the
barn had spider webs all over (which several guests commented on the next day),
and that the tables and chairs that we paid to rent were filthy. We had to go
to Walmart to buy cleaning supplies and wipe each one of them down that night,
which put us behind on setup. The next day, about two hours before the start of
the ceremony, Michael went around the barn with a weed eater and sprayed grass
all over my tables, which were completely set up. My fiancé had to clean them
all off. During the entire reception, Michael sat on the porch and watched my
wedding which made my guests (and myself) very uncomfortable, as many of them
knew I was extremely upset due to his actions and temper. Several people told
me that he walked up towards the barn and stared at us while the reception was
going on.
When I think of my wedding day, I will always have to look
back and have the memory of Michael yelling in my face the day before my
wedding, and of knowing that he went out of his way to make me uncomfortable
before and during my wedding. He is a spiteful person with a horrible temper. I
am still extremely upset when I think about the entire situation, and wish
there was anything that I could do to change the memories that I have from a
day that should have been about love and celebration with friends and family. I
will say that the house and property are beautiful, and that Matthew (Michael’s
partner) was very kind and hospitable during our stay. If you do decide to get
married at Ward Manor, I would suggest getting each and every detail in a
signed contract, and discussing the consulting and labor fees on the first
visit. However, I would strongly advise that all brides avoid this venue at all
costs so they do not look back on their wedding day as I do now.