Millbrook Vineyards

jdh2155 · August 2010

Has anyone planned or attended a wedding at Millbrook??

I love the space, but I'm feeling overwhelmed by the logistics of it all! I'd love to hear from people who have experienced a wedding there

woodfrogs · August 2010

Just went to a wine tasting there on Monday, what a great space to have a wedding! Sorry, I haven't actually been to a wedding there.

TerriandJoe · August 2010

The place is beautiful! And I love to give their wine as Christmas gifts! But when we looked, it was way too far (over an hour) from my church which was where our ceremony was.

But it looks like an amazing place to have a wedding. Very unique!

jdh2155 · August 2010

Like I said, the logistics are a nightmare

I want to do my ceremony there, but their rental fee only includes 6 hours for EVERYTHING including set-up and clean-up. Of course you can pay for extra hours, but I want to stick to the budget.

It seems like they do a fair number of weddings, but I haven't found anybody who's actually been married there!

TerriandJoe · August 2010

If you love it. Pay for the extra time.

You really only need an hour for set up and an hour for cleanup. And, if your DJ needs more time to set the room up - see if he use the set up hour plus part of your ceremony time.

And six hours should be more than enough for the wedding stuff. If your ceremony takes 45 minutes. And you have an hour cocktail hour. You can have a four hour and 15 minute reception and that would be six hours. So you'd have to pay for set-up and clean up. BUT if you let your dinner part be 3 hours and 45 minutes (only 15 minutes shorter than the normal 4 hours) you'd have a "bonus" half hour in your original six that could be applied towards clean-up time.

Find out what they charge for the additional hours. Can you cut something out of the package (a passed appetizer maybe?) that would allow you more money to apply towards their site rental (the extra hours you would need). What do they provide for you and what do you need to do yourself?

LIke the tables, chairs, place settings, etc, do they do all that. If so, they can probably tell you how long they would need to set the room for an event your size.

It doesn't hurt to ask.

If you find a place (or a dress) you LOVE, you should try to rework the budget so you can get the venue (or dress) that you want, because you will continue to think about it if you decide to go elsewhere.

They have done this before and can probably give you pointers on how to maximize your time.

Good luck!

jdh2155 · August 2010

Thanks for the advice! I know myself and you are right, if I find something that I like, it's all I think about whenever I see something else. It's a curse!

This place actually includes NOTHING. It is a blank slate. All catering and rentals are separate, and caterers have been telling me that set-up time can be 2-3 hours. It's sounding like we'll need 8 all together to be realistic.

The good thing about this is that the catering packages are completely customizable, so we can mold the menu around the budget (and still hopefully keep the food nice!)

Another "pro" is that the cost will be the same at this place regardless of the day of the week, so we could end up doing a Saturday, whereas we've only been considering Fridays and Sundays at more "all inclusive" venues.

My worry about spending a little more than we want to at the very beginning is that it will leave us less wiggle room later on as things come up that we never expected. This will be the first thing we are commiting too, and I don't want to start off by overshooting!

I'm just thinking out loud here

cherryblossom80 · August 2010

We're having a post-wedding party next weekend at Millbrook in the small tent area. I think it's a gorgeous venue! We are also having our reception catered someplace that does not have an on-site caterer and everything has to be brought in down to the kitchen... It becomes extremely expensive all the little details. Just remember though that weather will play a big part in your wedding since it's all outdoors... we are having our ceremony and cocktail hour outdoors and I have been a complete a wreck over it!!!

pabbie33 · March 2012

THE NIGHTMARE WEDDING EXPERIENCE: we will say that this vineyard is a gorgeous venue for a wedding if it only weren't for their rude and unprofessional staff. 8 months after our initial consultation and agreement, Millbrook Winery managers went back on the agreement laid before us during our initial conversations. Their wedding contract to begin with is super vague and does not cover most their supposed word of mouth policies.

To make a long story short, 1 month before our wedding the hours of operation changed for the day of the wedding without informing us and we had to change our hours after having sent out invitations. They made us change the location on the property where our ceremony and reception were going to take place because of an event that they were holding that day that we were also not told about. We had to drive up there during a work week to settle this and made it work, but the managers were not at all concerned or sympathetic to the amount of stress they caused us. The day of the wedding, they argued with our caterers over prearranged arrangements made with their manager. A manager was on site all day and at the end of the night, the manager dismissed the caterers as soon as the site was cleaned and met their standards. We went off on our honeymoon only to receive emails with pictures of garbage strewn about their vineyard. They complained that the caterers left without cleaning. I called my caterers and we reiterated that a manager was on site the day of and the site was not left like this. They disregarded my statements and emailed me back that the caterers had 2 days to come and clean. They would not answer or return phone calls. Mind you, we were on our honeymoon. I put a stop payment on the deposit because this was not being resolved in a civil fashion by getting to the bottom of what exactly happened that night through conversation. IT seemed as though they were messing with us. Without saying, they attempted to take the security deposit 1 day later and stated in an email that they got tired of seeing the mess and cleaned it up themselves even though they gave us 2 days to get it cleaned. So this was an obvious game they played to hassle us. The stop payment was made in Mexico and went through in time. I never heard back from them. Good riddance to the folks at Millbrook Winery.

Millbrook Vineyards

Re: Millbrook Vineyards

Choose Another Board

Search Boards