Town Manor on the Lake in Auburndale, FL

jenbingle · December 2009

Does anyone have any information about Town Manor on the Lake Bed and Breakfast in Auburndale, FL? My boyfriend and I are considering this venue for our wedding. I've been reading reviews online and it seems like people either had an amazing experience or "the worst." We have an appointment to go check it out in a couple weeks and any info would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

SarahSmile23 · December 2009

it was our wedding venue. it was very pretty. good luck!

SarahSmile23 · December 2009

ps. tons of pics in my married bio, for reference.

as a heads up, the venue is very...picky. you have to do things their way. if you aren't a DIY bride and don't want to obsess over details, it's a great venue for you. almost everything is included, and the vendors they use are seriously great. the food and cake were so yummy!

ChelC24 · December 2009

Sarah's wedding there was BEAUTIFUL

. I think you'll find the place really pretty.

SarahSmile23 · December 2009

aww thank you chelsea! i'm so glad you were able to be there!

jenbingle · December 2009

Thanks so much for sharing your pictures and advice! I'm just hoping it's within our price range...

SarahSmile23 · December 2009

it's more expensive than a lot of other venues, but you have to remember that almost everything you need is included! linens, tables, china, food, cake, master of ceremonies, non-floral centerpieces...and you still get to pick out what you want.

keep us posted!

ChelC24 · December 2009

I'm so glad we were able to come Sarah!

I can't wait for my wedding so I can see you at mine

Happily Married7 · January 2010

I would be VERY careful when using them. We recently had our wedding there and also found them to be very picky, and not in a "we want this to be perfect for YOU" kind of way. Nandy has her mind set on how things should be, and in spirt of the fact that it's not her wedding, she doesn't really care. We ended up doing the table decorations ourselves because what Nandy showed us in pictures wasn't even done by her (which we found out later). She also tried talking us out of decorations we wanted (which ended up being between us and the florist). The chair ties were done sloppily and most fell down. The DJ refused to play music above a whisper, the staff was rude and insulted a family member of mine, the security uses an antiquated hand clicker to keep count, which caused us to be overcharged, and my one request which I wanted more than anything, bubbles at the departure, wasn't even followed (I figure it's because they would have had to provide them and it would cost them money). They ended up giving our guests left over flower petals that we had provided for our tables. Nandy lies about how things happen. The staff cleans up at the end of the night while guests are still there, before the bride/groom departure even finishes happening, which looked extremely tacky. If you have not already booked your wedding there, save yourself the time and the hassle. There are other, all inclusive places that will be much more worth your money. We signed up for a $10,000+ wedding and ended up paying OVER $15,000 (once you add up all the hidden fees and 'extras'). It a classless place and I would never send anyone there.

SarahSmile23 · January 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_florida-central-florida_town-manor-lake-auburndale-fl?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:66Discussion:a43b5cd1-99ce-40f4-9b87-bdb5287b1866Post:e552f1f7-d335-46e6-99e0-11b8b40abc46">Re: Town Manor on the Lake in Auburndale, FL</a>:
[QUOTE]I would be VERY careful when using them. We recently had our wedding there and also found them to be very picky, and not in a "we want this to be perfect for YOU" kind of way. Nandy has her mind set on how things should be, and in spirt of the fact that it's not her wedding, she doesn't really care. We ended up doing the table decorations ourselves because what Nandy showed us in pictures wasn't even done by her (which we found out later). She also tried talking us out of decorations we wanted (which ended up being between us and the florist). The chair ties were done sloppily and most fell down. The DJ refused to play music above a whisper, the staff was rude and insulted a family member of mine, the security uses an antiquated hand clicker to keep count, which caused us to be overcharged, and my one request which I wanted more than anything, bubbles at the departure, wasn't even followed (I figure it's because they would have had to provide them and it would cost them money). They ended up giving our guests left over flower petals that we had provided for our tables. Nandy lies about how things happen. The staff cleans up at the end of the night while guests are still there, before the bride/groom departure even finishes happening, which looked extremely tacky. If you have not already booked your wedding there, save yourself the time and the hassle. There are other, all inclusive places that will be much more worth your money. We signed up for a $10,000+ wedding and ended up paying OVER $15,000 (once you add up all the hidden fees and 'extras'). It a classless place and I would never send anyone there.
Posted by Happily Married7[/QUOTE]

Also, on another negative note, they absolutely refused to allow us to have a signature drink...even a champagne based one...but i found out months later that they were allowing another bride to have a vodka-based signature drink. Nandy knew how bummed we ended up being that they have a no liquor policy, so it's sketchy to me that they completely broke the rules for someone else but would not allow us to have mimosas.

Lastly, I felt a bit rushed. I had to snap at Nandy in front of my groom and bridal party--my ONLY "bridezilla" moment--because we were taking formal photos and she told us we had to go inside immediately for the first dance. Sorry, but you are only giving us the venue for 3.5 hours from the time the gates open...I need to squeeze in our photos at some point! I need more than 15--20 mins for that!

I know every venue has issues, but those were my issues with Town Manor.

(And pp...good call on changing usernames for this post to make it anonymous. I'm obviously not able to do that, but I noticed you did.)

JenniferB27 · January 2010

OMG, wow... that's horrible! I was super excited about our appointment tomorrow morning but now I don't know! Happily Married7, how many guests were at your wedding? I'm thinking now that maybe this place isn't even anywhere near our price range. Nandy asked me over the phone what my wedding budget is... when I told her 8,000 (for the entire thing...) I thought I heard a smidge of disappointment in her voice. We'll see how things go tomorrow. Thanks for the advice!

SarahSmile23 · January 2010

i know you didn't ask me, but we probably paid TM 12k for 80 people. plus all of our other expenses. they are probably hurting for business now, though, so maybe they will cut you some deals.

JenniferB27 · January 2010

Well, we visited Town Manor today. It was absolutely beautiful, but we really experienced some sticker shock when we saw the prices! They said it would be $5850 plus the cost of food ($45 per person for a buffet) and bar. I could tell that Nandy wasn't too excited about our budget and kept saying she would have to "get creative" and asked a handful of times if we were ready to put down a deposit. We asked how much it would be for just a ceremony and they said $4500! If we do end up choosing this place, we would have to save for a long time to be abe to afford it...

ps: the italics won't turn off lol

[Deleted User] · April 2011

I made plans to get married at Town Manor in April 2011. I did a payment plan sometime last year and they were so quick to call and get their money every month. I paid the whole wedding off and a couple months before the wedding I contacted Nandy to advise her that I needed to cancel the wedding due to some unfortunate circumstances. Nandy advised me that I needed to deal with it and hopes I will still go through with the wedding. I told her the wedding was canceled and I would like a refund, I advised her that she could keep the deposit but I wanted the rest of my money back. She told me no, there are no refunds. I advised her that nothing was prepared for my wedding and I wanted a refund. I then filed a report with the BBB and after the investigation, Town Manor never responded. They now have a rating of an "F". This is a money making business and they do not care for their customers Everytime they have responded to a complaint they always blame the customer and take no fault.

[Deleted User] · April 2011

I made plans to get married at Town Manor in April 2011. I did a payment plan sometime last year and they were so quick to call and get their money every month. I paid the whole wedding off and a couple months before the wedding I contacted Nandy to advise her that I needed to cancel the wedding due to some unfortunate circumstances. Nandy advised me that I needed to deal with it and hopes I will still go through with the wedding. I told her the wedding was canceled and I would like a refund, I advised her that she could keep the deposit but I wanted the rest of my money back. She told me no, there are no refunds. I advised her that nothing was prepared for my wedding and I wanted a refund. I then filed a report with the BBB and after the investigation, Town Manor never responded. They now have a rating of an "F". This is a money making business and they do not care for their customers Everytime they have responded to a complaint they always blame the customer and take no fault.

betsy7 · May 2011

Brides beware! This place sounds great on paper and on the website, but it's a rip-off. Read on....

My fiance and I considered the town manor for our ceremony and reception site. Although the grounds were certainly beautiful, we were not impressed by the standard of professionalism or customer service. In fact, we left very uncomfortable with the way we had been treated.

We had gone in expecting to see specific pricing along the lines of what was sent by email (which were reasonably priced around 3 to 5 grand for packages) but when we sat down with the owner to discuss a package, he immediately came at us with a price that was MORE THAN DOUBLE their highest package, simply because it was a unique date and claimed he could sell it to anyone else for that price. (Note: this place is simply NOT worth 10-12 thousand dollars, no matter what date of the year!!! If it was, someone would have booked it already well in advance!) This was just bad business, since we had not been able to ask any specific questions about what was included. Good customer service would have waited until we had asked all of our questions and negotiated a price that worked for both of us! (It's just common sense.)

Despite our shock at his ridiculous price point, we decided to stay and ask questions about the ceremony site, reception site, the cake, DJ, coordination of the wedding day, lodging and other general questions. The owner seemed very impatient with me, even rolling his eyes when he saw my list of my questions, but he finally realized that I was not going anywhere until my questions were answered. Even so, he was very vague on the details and I was not comfortable with his verbal "assurances" that everything would be covered. I would like to warn brides about this venue because although the entire property is "all inclusive," they refused to give me any kind of specific price breakdown. In other words, you will not get anything in writing about what is included or what they will do for you. To them, "all inclusive" does NOT mean things are optional or customizable, either; you MUST go with all of their "provided" services, including the food and cake (which you can't try until AFTER you book!) and their "DJ" (the owner himself, with low-quality equipment). Also, their "complimentary" linens and centerpieces were not all that impressive. There is no negotiation whatsoever with this venue. There is no reason why a wedding for 30 people should cost the same as a wedding for 70, and why a meal that is in season (chicken and veggies?!) should cost the same as steak with non-seasonal items. I really doubt that the "inclusiveness" of this venue is going to save anyone any money.

Finally, the irony of all of this is that they claim in their advertising that they are NOT a "cookie cutter" or "wedding in a box" venue... when in reality, that's exactly what they are! With no customization, you would be stuck doing things exactly their way and nothing else.

Hope this review saves brides time and money-- instead of going all the way out there to discover this scam yourself.

EddiVer · July 2011

In Response to <a href="http://orlando.weddings.com/Sites/Weddings/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_florida-central-florida_town-manor-lake-auburndale-fl?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:66Discussion:a43b5cd1-99ce-40f4-9b87-bdb5287b1866Post:99ccde0b-632b-42d0-8863-b6bd409e99b9">Re: Town Manor on the Lake in Auburndale, FL</a>:
[QUOTE]Well, we visited Town Manor today. It was absolutely beautiful, but we really experienced some sticker shock when we saw the prices! They said it would be $5850 plus the cost of food ($45 per person for a buffet) and bar. I could tell that Nandy wasn't too excited about our budget and kept saying she would have to "get creative" and asked a handful of times if we were ready to put down a deposit. We asked how much it would be for just a ceremony and they said $4500! If we do end up choosing this place, we would have to save for a long time to be abe to afford it... ps: the italics won't turn off lol
Posted by JenniferB27[/QUOTE]

Did you end up having your wedding at this location or somewhere different?

Town Manor on the Lake in Auburndale, FL

Re: Town Manor on the Lake in Auburndale, FL

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