Member- ericanicole234
- 11 years ago
- Wedding: April 2011
I am writing this because of the lack of information about this venue on the web. My experience working with this venue was not exactly a piece of cake, however I’m sure there have been some people who have used it as a venue and had a wonderful experience.
I am not one of them.
This is kinda lengthy.. so be prepared to read. I feel you need to know the truth about what happened so you don’t make the same mistakes I did.
We visited Eden Try about a month ago and I fell in love with the property and the owner. Linda was extremely sweet and endearing. She offers a 10% discount if you book the venue at the same time you visit. It’s not a HUGE discount, but every bit helps when you are trying to do a wedding on a budget. At the end of our visit, we decided to go with Eden Try because of the price. Linda assured us that we would be able to do the wedding under $6K. She offers “packages” that are all inclusive, w/prices you won’t find anywhere else.
And here is why- it’s TOO cheap. I was a little skeptical about the pricing, but she assured us she had met with the vendors, used them many times and worked out the pricing with them to offer brides a complete break down of the total cost for affordable weddings.
She showed us the breakdowns, and general pricing for tent, tables, chairs, catering, restrooms (yes, you have to rent restrooms), etc. When you get to the contract signing, she tells you that you will sign separate contracts with the venue, caterer and tent vendor.
This should have thrown up a red flag, but I was so in love with the property that I didn’t think about it until afterward… this is not a “package” if it’s all separate. In the contract she also says she is not responsible for any problems that could arise with the caterers or other vendors. So basically, she does not stand behind her choices for preferred vendors.
My problems with planning my wedding began immediately after we booked the venue. I contacted their main preferred caterer: TJ’s Catering in Fredericksburg, VA the following Monday to get information from them about having them cater the wedding. I called in the morning- no answer. In the afternoon- no answer… so that evening I sent an email requesting information, and letting them know I was having my wedding at Eden Try. Mid-week I still hadn’t heard anything back from them. I called a couple times a day until Friday hoping that I would catch someone there. No luck.
A week later, I had my sister call and she got a hold of a n there (also named Linda) who said that she had called me and left me a message, but I never called back. She never called. I had no voicemails and no missed calls. I left my home and cell number so at least one of them would have shown she had tried calling.
My sister asked her to send over a menu, told her how many guests we were expecting, and where the wedding was to be held, expecting her to send over a menu related to the agreements they have with Eden Try. A couple of days later she sent over a menu via email. Again, apologizing for not reaching me when she called. Nothing on the menu was what was offered while at the venue. In fact, the prices were twice as much and they added a lot of stuff in that was not previously discussed at the venue. I tried calling them back to ask for the venue menu, and never got a hold of anyone.
I finally contacted Linda at Eden Try to tell her about the problems I was having with the caterer. She said she had no idea why they weren’t being responsive, because no other brides have ever had a problem with them. She said she would call TJ’s and have them send me over more information.
I still didn’t get anything, so I had my mom call to get information from them. almost a month later, we get a menu and it STILL isn’t what was offered while at the venue, but more expensive.
The other caterer Linda at ET had listed as a preferred vendor- Simply Organic Catering was also non-responsive for about 2 weeks before I finally found out from Linda that they were no longer taking any more orders for the year because the owner was moving back to London. I understand this.. but a return call from the caterer would have been nice.
During this whole stressful process, I was very nice and professional with everyone, although extremely frustrated.
My mom and I decided to cancel the venue because the costs of everything were just not working out. Yes, it is a pretty property… but it is NOT worth fighting with everyone about the money and being super stressed out about.
When we contacted Linda to explain our decision, she kept stating that she had no idea why we were having so many problems with the vendors because she has “never” had another bride complain.
Funny she mentioned that… since we last talked, I have spoken to people at a few different venues and they have all told us stories about unhappy customers at Eden Try. One bride allegedly had the power cut off during her reception because Linda and her significant other thought the wedding guests were using too much of their power…
Anyway. She refused to give us our money back, and I explained that the reason we chose the venue was because of the price and her excellent praise of the vendors… and since this wasn’t working out, we wanted to cancel our contract. She finally agreed to keep $600 of the deposit to pay for her time spent working on this.. and to give some to the caterers.
For what?!!? You might ask. Good question. Apparently Linda charges $250/hr for her services.. I still don’t know what they are. The caterer DEFINITELY does not deserve ANY money…they did nothing to help us, and we got absolutely nowhere in the process. I work with caterers at work every day, and we are never charged for drawing up quotes, tastings or return phone calls.. that is just ridiculous and horrible business.
She and my mom came to a resolution, but it was not in our favor. I hope that no one has to deal with this type of thing that I did at this property.
I should also mention that we DID seek outside caterers… and none of them could do what Linda offered for the prices she quoted… we almost went with another caterer, but we just couldn’t afford it.
