Thoughts on Antrim?

nancyrn526

Just wondering if anyone has been to a wedding at Antrim 1844 in Taneytown or has booked their wedding here???

rands09

Hi! I had my wedding there this past April 24th!

Overall, we were very pleased with the Antrim. The coordinator, Michael, was a bit of an aquired taste for me, because I felt that  he had a formal, sometimes distant way about him, which at times I found a little off-putting. However, he was very pleasant, and I could sense that he really wanted my wedding to be a success.He really came through on our wedding day, was very helpful, and was right there whenever I needed something, often before I even got a chance to ask for it :-)

The venue was beautiful, and  the grounds and mansion are visually stunning. The food was simply amazing (it is one of the things that they are well known for), and many of our guests told us that it was one of the best meals they had ever had, which was a huge compliment - Chef Gettier was a treat to work with!

I would absolutely recommend this venue...we are very pleased that we selected to have our wedding/reception there! Once our pro pics are in, I'll be sure to post a  few so that you can see how beautifully the venue photograhed as well.  My siggy picture was  taken by a friend in the drawing room of the mansion. The pro version of this pic is even better...Hope this helps! GL :-)

Please feel free to email me if you'd like more specific details:

mustlovedogskt@live.com

nancyrn526

Thank you so much! Any pics would be great so I can get an idea of how to set up the recpetion! Appreciate the feedback

rands09

Will do! We should have our dvd with rights in a few weeks, and I'll post a link to the pics. The ballroom is really lovely. If you want some ideas in the meantime, visit the following photographer's sites, and look up weddings shot at the Antrim. I found doing this very helpful!

Bradley Images
Sachs Photography
Romance of Flowers (on their FB page, they have pics of a couple weddings they did at Antrim - very beautiful)

Kitcat106

I had my wedding at the Antrim in March. I agree with everything Rands mentioned. The food was very good, which is one reason why we chose teh venue. Working with Chef Gettier was 1 of the most fun parts of wedding planning for us.

I was not 100% happy with Mike, the event coordinator. We had some problems on the day of the event, which unfortunately were noticed by a lot of our guests and members of the bridal party. I heard a lot of comments afterwards that "Mike definitely dropped the ball". I did complain to the owner after the wedding, so hopefully none of these issues occur in the future.

It's a beautiful spot for a wedding!

nancyrn526

thanks girls! I hope Mike gets his act together.  He seemed a little weird when we met him...showed up 30 min late to our meeting and then rushed through it.  Then he messed up our contract twice.  He's definitely sketchy but hopefully everything goes ok

rands09

And yes, about Mike - Don't assume anything, relate every detail as specific as you can, to make sure that you don't have any wedding day surprises, as KitCat mentioned.

While in the end,  I gave him the benefit of the doubt, it was apparent to my husband and I that maybe he was in a little over his head at Antrim. He took over for someone who was AMAZING! If you go to Wedding Wire and look up the Antrim, you'll read dozens of reviews about Keith, whom we met with, and fell in love with - but he left 3 months before my wedding, and Mike took over.

We had our issues, and I've shared a few of those on the board during my engagement (won't get into that now!), but I could tell that he seemed to want to do well, and was trying, but often our interactions did seem rushed, like he never quite got his footing in his new job.

If you're interested, I'd be more than happy to share a few insights into areas that you may want to stay on top of with him - just email me.

I also agree with KitCat (Hey girlie! Good to hear from you again :-), in that I'd like to think that with each wedding he is getting more comfortable and doing better. But while he wasn't Keith, he wasn't awful either, but you will need to follow up with him - he tended to get a little long winded returning correspondance at times.

But that aside, you will love the Antrim! Our guests are still telling us what a beautiful event it was, and many have said it was one of their best weddings that they've attended. Yeah, a lot of that was my awesome planning...lol (totally tongue in cheek!), but the Antrim did a fantastic job of making our guests feel special. Have fun!!

Kitcat106

Hi Rands! Once again, I agree with everything you've said!

I would recommend The Antrim to other brides. You just have to be on top of Mike, and do not assume anything--that he got your e-mails, phone message, etc.--that is a mistake I made few days before the wedding.

The staff was really nice and treated our guests very well. They didn't rush us or our guests who spent the night to check out the next day. And I am still dreaming about our wonderful meal and fantastic cake!

We received a lot of compliments about the venue, too, and some guests told us it was the best wedding they had ever attended, and the best wedding reception food they had ever eaten.

I used 3 of the vendors the Antrim recommended--DJ Delights, Every Bloomin' Thing and Karen Rodkey Cakes (the woman makes amazing cakes--my goodness!)--so I can give you reviews of them if you are interested.

nancyrn526

Any reviews would be awesome! I'll take and help/suggestions I can get!

Kitcat106

I just sent them to you in a private message, Nancy. LMK if you didn't get it.

dkgilly

I went to a wedding at the Antrim in January and I thought it was beautiful and the food was fantastic.  I obvi can't give an opinion on the event coordinator, Mike, but I can say that as a guest, I thought it was very nice.

rands09

By the way, I found out today that Michael is no longer with the Antrim ( I wonder why???)...so future brides moving forth should not experience any of the issues that KitCat, Dawn and other Spring '10 Antrim brides had with the post Keith experiment called "project Michael"...LOL

jules0322

I am currently in the process of working with Daniel at the Antrim. The previously mentioned Mike is no longer there. We met with him initially, but apparently he just didn't show up one day and they never heard from him again.  I've had a hard time getting Daniel to get back to me in a timely fashion, but my fiance and I have had AMAZING experiences there in the past so I'm hoping all will go well with our wedding there. 

Good luck to you!

rands09

Jules - I can assure you - your wedding will be lovely! I can say again - Mike was always a little "off", but he wasn't horrible enough to ruin our Wedding day :-) We have nothing but fond memories of our day at Antrim, and I do suggest that with Daniel, or anyone really, stay on top of them in reference to your communications, and you should be fine.

Have fun planning your wedding! I'm sure it's gonna be beautiful!!

tarapitt8503

I have booked my wedding at the Antrim for October 2011. I LOVED the place when we meet with Keith. It is everything I have ever dreamed of when it come to a Wedding location but I am getting nervious because since we first saw the place I have delt with 3 different wedding cordinaters ( Keith, MIke, and now Daniel). I have had the same problem as far as getting ahold of Daniel, but when I finally did get a hold of him he was very apologetic, I think he had alot on his plate because Mike decided not to come to work one day. The week I had talked to him he had something like 15 wedding in the past two weeks. Since then I have had not any problems getting ahold of him. I meet with him for the first time Oct 31st, so I will be going over the contract a hopefully he can settle my nerves!!!!!

jules0322

Tara,

I was just wondering how your wedding planning is going with the Antrim.  We have had non stop issues with our guests booking rooms. There is constant confusion.  I still have high hopes that the wedding will turn out beautifully and I now the chef Micheal will not dissapoint, but I'm really frustrated with their front desk staff. Daniel always respondes back to me after John, the general manager has responded even though John always cc's Daniel on his emails to me. 

I'm hoping its just a fluke that our room reservations keep getting messed up. Hopefully all is going well for you!

Julie

tarapitt8503

Just wanted to keep everyone posted on my dealings with the Antrim. I went to meet with Daniel in October and he decided not to show up to our meeting he was " Stuck in traffic" for two hours ( give me a break ). Anyways lets just say I was not happy and sent a not very happy letter to the owner because up until now I have had nothing but problem after problem. Well lets just say Daniel is no longer their, I meet with the owner and the new wedding corrdinator Elizabeth. Elizabeth is GREAT she comes from the Marriott in Purto Rico and was previously the wedding corrdinatior their. She is a breath of fresh air compared to who I have had to deal with. We have had one problems with room. On the night of my wedding October 7th the rooms are suppose to be saved for me and my guest until June 7th when they will open them up to the public. However Michael promised the October 8th bride rooms the night before her wedding. I was not happy but they gave me a free room and upgraded me. I could have said no but I felt bad for the Saturday night bride because I know dealing with all these different people has been a pain and I was promised things that shouldn't have been promised. Things are looking up so I hope it only gets better, I have to say every time I am their I fall in love with the place all over again.

rands09

My goodness - another one gone? Sheesh!!!

But I am happy that at least it sounds as though they have someone there who finally has a handle on how to do things! The venue was really beautiful, as I said earlier, and we really were happy that we had our wedding there. It just sucked that we had to deal with Michael, who clearly had no business in a coordinator's job.

We are looking forward to celebrating our one year anniversary in just under a month, and Michael notwithstanding, have only fond memories of our wonderful wedding weekend at Antrim. I  wish you the best of luck, and look forward to seeing pictures of your beautiful wedding :-)

jules0322

No way! Daniel is gone?!?! He actually was there for my February 27th wedding. Everyone checked into their rooms without a problem and our food was amazing. They actually went above and beyond and pureed food for my Grandmother who has cancer.

We only had one minor mishap which some brides would have FREAKED about but I just let it go and it was mostly Daniels fault.  (We did NOT do a rehearsal however bc it was a very casual, small 50 person wedding.) Daniel gave the cue for my piano player to start playing "here comes the bride" when my sister, the MOH came down the aisle. I couldn't hear the music so I would have had no idea, but my sis felt awkward and the piano player was my best friends husband and he was so flustered. I would have never known but my friends hubs was SO upset! Another of my friends said they saw Daniel give a very dilerate nod to start the music.

Oh well, all in all, it was a perfect day, and ALL of my guests said it was such a great location and a unique wedding! Hang in there!

ljl3469

Is the Antrim an expensive venue?

Thanks!

rands09

It depends on what your particular arrangements are. Unless it has changed, we paid $500 for the ceremony portion, and our PP charge, based on what we had served, including gratuity & tax worked out to $160. That fit into our budget, but could have been considered expensive...it just depends.

That being said, one could have a wedding without any extras and I believe their PP charge for the time of year that we held our event (it varies based on the season) was like $115 PP. Hope this helps!

ETA: I also wanted to add that our bridal suite was included in the ceremony cost...so that was nice!