Honest review for events *
I do have to start & close by giving credit where credit is due. Yes, the house is gorgeous!
Full Review: Prior to booking I was very transparent that this would be for an event (small wedding reception). Got approved, read through the guidelines ( I always like to clarify with host to make sure we are on the same page with everything) and was good to go. About a week and a half before my WEDDING, received a message asking if we could have everyone inside by 10pm (we were having a dinner reception in the backyard). Fortunately, we weren’t planning a crazy party or anything so I was fine with it and mentioned everyone would be moved indoors by then but would still have guest over and they would trickle out throughout the night. A few days before my event I receive another message asking IF we could do 9pm instead. Although this was a very intimate wedding we still had a schedule set with our caterers, guest etc. I had so much going on I didn’t get around to replying. The day of check in I get another message around 2pm (check in is at 3pm) with what seemed like a copy of the original guidelines we received, which I had previously read over. However, it wasn’t until the following night after our event that I noticed she had changed the time requesting all outside noise stop by 8pm. So we went from no time mentioned to now 8pm when our food caterer was scheduled to drop off closer to 7. None of these time changes were necessarily demands but requests. It was more the fact that we were being asked a day and the day of our wedding. I think times like that need to be established when initially booking because that way everyone is clear and if it doesn’t work with someone’s schedule we just won’t book with a mutual understanding. In that same message we received the day of she also mentioned the “cleaning lady” (I think she is the cleaning lady?) was running late and would be there until 3:45 “finishing up”. We arrived but felt a little awkward that she was still in the kitchen so we couldn’t fully settle in. We rented out the entire house for privacy. After she was done she went to the backyard for another 30-40 minutes to fix the zen garden I guess. We weren’t used to this because when we’ve paid to rent out the entire house it’s odd having someone just wander around.
The house hadn’t been fully cleaned, the kitchen and dining area had this musty odor to it. It’s not messy in the sense that there’s not things laying around. But it’s not swept or mopped or wiped down properly so it had that subtle but uncomfortable odor. I think for such a beautiful home they should hire a professional cleaning company at least once a month. Then the day of our wedding the gardener showed up! Around 3pm to “mow the lawn” honestly it just almost felt like they kept sending people over to check in on you. He “mowed” a small little patch, was using the weed wacker here and there and was walking around the backyard, while the tables were being set up. This was never communicated. What if we had our reception at that time? Or there were guest eating outside? Would he have been mowing the lawn right next to them?
Then, we tested out the string light in the backyard the night before to make sure it worked, Caroline mentioned we had to plug it in so my fiancé had to climb on a little ledge to plug it in and it worked (I think they should add a simple light switch for it) the other end was connected to the studio in the garage where someone lives! Again, this was never mentioned when you’re booking! Well come the day of, the string lights didn’t work so it had to have been turned off from that studio since the other end was properly plugged in like we had done the night before. Also, some of the pieces in the backyard had been slightly rearranged overnight by the person who lives in the back just slightly but it was more just creepy, I’m guessing they moved it while we were asleep. Finally, when we left we cleaned everything up (I wish that would have been done for us when we arrived because it would have been even more beautiful) while sweeping you could literally see all the dust so it had been weeks it seems since it had been promptly swept) I honestly think we left it cleaner than when we arrived. But take heart! I do have to close with saying that Caroline seemed very nice, was responsive when I had a question and the house is breathtakingly beautiful! It’s just absolutely stunning! All those hiccups mentioned above were not deal breakers, it all just happened to work out for our wedding because we weren’t having a loud or large party but are things I would like to know so I could clarify with a host if I was thinking of booking for an event. All in all a little clean up& the house is perfect!