Sam’s Chowder House is a business that lacks integrity and should stop advertising itself as a great place to have a wedding. We were originally told by Sam’s Chowder House that 1) 250 people could be accommodated, 2) a seating chart would be provided, 3) the ceremony set-up fees would go towards the minimum, 4) cake cutting fees would be $2 per slice and 5) the start time would be 4:30PM. All of these things were changed on us by Sam’s Chowder House– 250 became 200, a seating chart became too hard to procure or draw, the set-up fees were in addition to the minimum, $2 cake cutting fee became $3. But the straw that finally broke the camel’s back was when Sam’s Chowder House came back and wanted another $30K if we wanted to have a ceremony at 4:30 pm (at this point we were almost ready to sign the contract, luckily we didn’t). No doubt, the food is good and the setting is beautiful, but this is the type of management team you’ll be working with if you decide to have your wedding here. Despite sending me a contract that clearly stated my wedding buy-out would begin at 4:30PM for $25K minimum, Sam’s Chowder House came back 3 days later indicating if I wish to start at 4:30 pm I need to pay $55K or else we can’t start setting up until 6:00 pm (which means ceremony would start at 8:00 pm). This is after 1.5 months of conversations and negotiations. I don’t know who has an extra $30K lying around, but I surely don’t and didn’t anticipate the need to. To be honest, this isn’t really about money or how Sam’s Chowder House’s business practices. This is about me feeling wronged by the management at Sam’s. As a new bride, I was excited and eager to have my wedding at Sam’s and now I feel slighted and scorned. Just as quickly as they had raised my hopes, Sam’s Chowder House dashed them away. I am now left to start my search again after wasting my time. Please heed this warning, Sam’s Chowder House cannot be trusted and has no idea how to handle a complete wedding buy-out.