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The Castle At Ashley Manor

MGlasslvrMGlasslvr member
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in Arizona-Phoenix
Hi there! I've been on TK since March when I got engaged, but have only really been on the November 2011 board. So "Hi!" my fellow Arizonians!
I've searched back quite a few pages looking for posts about The Castle At Ashley Manor and haven't seen anything. So I am sorry if I have over looked it.
My fiance, Michael and I are very interested in it (maybe my name being Ashley is fate ; ] ). I was just wondering if anyone here has had a wedding there, booked it or considered it. We've been to the open house and just fell in love, just not sure if the price is going to be ok. So if anyone has any information or anything to say, I'd love to hear about it!

Thank you! And I am looking forward to being apart of this board.
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Re: The Castle At Ashley Manor

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    nicolemerrill11nicolemerrill11 member
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    edited December 2011
    Hi Ashley! Welcome to the board.  I actually have not heard about it... but good luck and congratulations!
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    twoitalianstwoitalians
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    edited December 2011
    Hi!
    I'm actually not having my wedding at the Castle, but at Ashley Manor itself. I think the Castle is beautiful (the back courtyard especially), but definitely not my style. I only just booked about a week ago, so I haven't really had much experience with the planning yet, but my initial feeling of the Jessicas that are the wedding coordinators over there, is that they will be extremely helpful. They both seemed so excited and upbeat when I met them so I think they're going to be great. I'm sure you probably saw some of that during the open house??? I'm having my first meeting with them in a few Saturdays so if you want me to come back with some feedback about how they are to work with I can do that.

    BTW... we are doing one of their inclusive packages for Ashley Manor, I believe the Castle is something similar. If you really like the venue, I'm sure there are ways you could save money by not doing an inclusive package, I just wanted less headache in finding all my vendors and a little help from a wedding coordinator.

    Good luck in your search!
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    NillaWafer10NillaWafer10 member
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    edited December 2011
    The only bad thing I have heard about it the farm smell.  There aren't as many farms around as there used to be, so it's probably not even noticeable.

    If you liked Ashley Manor, you might also want to check out the Wright House.  It's a similar venue.
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    NillaWafer10NillaWafer10 member
    5 Love Its First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Sorry and welcome to the board!
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    FutureMrsL.R.AllenFutureMrsL.R.Allen
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    edited December 2011
    I went to an event at the Castle once and it was so pretty!  It was not a wedding, it was a corporate thing, but I really liked it.  I could not smell any farms either, and this was about 2 years ago, so there are probably even less farms now.
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    FlowerMavenFlowerMaven member
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    edited December 2011
    Hi, I am a florist and read the board to see what you brides are saying. I have provided flowers for weddings at The Castle and Ashley Manor. They are both beatufiul venues, and as fas as I know my brides have been happy. The staff were  pleasant to work with. Do read the package information carefully as there are limited vendor options, and if you are considering having their florist create your flowers, make sure to see pictures of the recent work. From what I know it's an in-house person who started a few years ago. I don't know if it's the same person now and if her skill level has improved. The last few weddings I did there were brides who were concerned about the quality for their wedding flowers. So I know they do an all-inclusive package and have other packages where you can select your own vendors.

    Happy wedding planning!
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    HecateAZHecateAZ
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    edited December 2011
    The castle and Ashley Manor look beautiful to me. We never went to go visit open house because it was way out of our budget. Someone mentioned the Wright House. I've been there for open house and also for a friend's wedding. I really liked that venue. The packages there seemed more reasonable to me.
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    twoitalianstwoitalians
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    edited December 2011
    i looked at the wright house too and really liked it, the only thing that i didn't like was that they don't allow hard liquor, just beer and wine. i myself am a rum drinker so that kinda put me off. however, if you don't drink or don't care if you can only drink beer and wine, then the wright house is a pretty good venue.
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    MGlasslvrMGlasslvr member
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    edited December 2011

    WOW!!! Thank you all for you amazing input. You have helped me so much!
    They seemed a little off, they never answer the phone when I have called so I was a little iffy, but thank you all for everything. I am going to try and set up an appointment with them. I'll also check out the Wright House too.

    And twoitalians I would love if you gave me some feedback. If you do not mind.


    Thank you again everyone.

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    ibstephiibstephi member
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    edited December 2011
    Hire your own day of coordinator at the Castle or Ashley Manor !  My only suggestion from a friend of mine who had a wedding there a few years back !

    They did not have enough tables for the group when the people came in for dinner and it was a mess and it took awile for them to get it together !
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    twoitalianstwoitalians
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    edited December 2011
    hi! so i had my welcome meeting with ashley manor today. it went fine except for they were running a little behind because they were still meeting with another couple ahead of us and i was tired and grouchy because i don't like the heat here in phoenix (it's a wonder i still live here after growing up here lol), but the lateness of the meeting didnt bother me because i had time to go around and take extra pictures of the grounds.

    we met with Isabelle, who was actually very nice and helped give me some ideas for flowers and tips for what kinda favors to do. we set up tastings for the meals. if you do go with ashley manor or the castle, i'd ask for a catering menu from them when you sign your contract so that you can pick out some dishes that you want to taste so you can make your appointments during your first meeting. they only do tastings on certain wednesdays of the month and they are only a few dishes at a time. for my january wedding the tastings aren't until september and october, which seems a long way off, but i suppose i don't really need to know my catering right now anyway. make sure to have questions ready for them, like what are upgrades to the package and whatnot because i didn't ask that, and in hindsight i would have liked to know what the upgraded flowers are so i can plan around that with my budget.

    some pleasing things to know were that the cake bakeries ashley manor properties is contracted with, all you have to do is call them to set up tastings and let them know you are booked with ashley manor. also, the staff already booked the dj for us. yay! stress relief for me :)

    overall, still a good experience.
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    jabecknerjabeckner member
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    edited December 2011
    The castle was my initial dream venue, until I really started to look at it. I went to the open house and thought it was great, but then when I actually met with the coordinators I got a different feeling about it. For starters the people I was meeting with were no where to be found I had to rome the area looking for them, and then finally flagged down some other workers who was able to track them down for me. When we sat down to look at pricing they sat me down at a table cluttered with loose flowers, and fabirics, not too professional.

     For a Saturday wedding you can only do their all inclusive package, which I didn't like,  but others might. However for the 25,000 price tag for 100 guest I expect to have more say in my wedding then they were going to give me. I have also heard mixed reviews on the coordinators there from other sites like weddingwire.com. So I would say check it out yourself, you may love it the scenery is amazing, but I just got a bad vibe from the staff there.
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    ibstephiibstephi member
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    edited December 2011
    Yes I would read the reviews they have on wedding wire !   Mixed reviews are out there wuite a bit !
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