Crown Rose Estate Weddings and Distillery — Attraction in Brunswick

I recently got married at Crown Rose and took my time to write this review. My venue was the first thing I booked, so I had been working with CR for over a year by the time I got married...here is what I wish I would have know/considered before booking. I would give 3.5 stars if that was an option.

Pros: The venue itself is beautiful Making payments is very easy through the provided website and can be done automatically Taylor (my day of coordinator) was a wonderful woman to work with. She truly made the experience what it was. She answered all my questions with patience and was as involved as I wanted her to be. I am so thankful for her. She even mailed me something my brother had forgotten at the venue a week after the wedding (more on that later) CR lets you bring in all of your own vendors and is pretty accepting of any added decorations as long as you do not use tape, nails, damage their barn, etc.-which is very standard and fair

Cons: I considered the venue quite pricy for what they provided and all things considered (I got married on the most popular date of 2022, so there were limited options-even a year out). There was a hefty upcharge to use the mansion to get ready and other minor additions. Even though we read all of our contracts, it is easy for things like that to get missed, especially when looking at many venues at once. The venue is the biggest expense of a wedding, so ask as many questions as necessary to get the full picture before committing. The venue owner was a bit pushy and strict. She had some odd rules (such as my hair and makeup team not being able to use hairspray in the getting ready room-we had to move to the bathroom). She also critiqued what I was eating on my wedding day a few times?? A big no-no. Every bride wants to feel beautiful on their wedding day and that immediately put a bad taste in my mouth. My MIL had brought donuts for everyone for breakfast and she apparently did not like that we were eating that and mentioned it to me twice. She also kept giving instructions to vendors that were wrong, as she was not involved in the planning process at all. She set up all the ceremony chairs incorrectly and told my mother she was the one who was wrong and told my hair and makeup team to set up in the wrong room, then they had to move their supplies (which was A TON) and they were not happy. We had a few small things that got left behind after the wedding-one of them was a "groom" champagne glass I gave to my husband to use while getting ready. It was not expensive, but I wanted it for sentimental reasons-as it was handmade. I let both Taylor (Day-of Coordinator) and Tara (owner) know about the missing objects. Tara let me know that anything "not of value" gets disposed of at the end of the night. That shouldn't be acceptable-this is a wedding and most things are of at least sentimental value. She should put anything left behind (as wedding day has a wild amount of moving parts and things WILL get missed) in a closet and let the bride and groom decide if they want to come pick it up-THEN dispose of them. I also had a very expensive Misses Kisses bra that lost a pad there that was thrown away-a $160 bra that I now cannot use. Taylor, on the other hand, found the object my brother had forgotten (in a less obvious place, hence why it didn't get thrown away) and mailed it to me for free. A gem-YAY TAYLOR. A day or two before the wedding, I was told that it was $90/per heater to use. There were four heaters on site. Again, for how expensive this venue is, that should be included. They were NOT transparent about this additional cost and it was not in the contract.

All in all, we had a beautiful wedding day. Most of the things I mentioned in con were somewhat minor, but I wanted other brides to make an informed decision based off of my personal experience! I only hit on a few cons, but I could have said more. I focused on the fact that I got to marry my wonderful and amazing husband, but if I could go back, I would have chosen a...

The venue itself is absolutely beautiful & well kept. My husband & I got married there last October & were highly disappointed with the lack of organization overall. When we went to tour the venue, we met with Tara who showed us around. We discussed how I imagined my day & I told her I wanted everything planned out in advance so that there is minimal stress the day of the wedding. She assured me that her staff would help with planning our every detail & even had 2 in person meetings to go over everything. My husband & I immediately booked the venue & even paid extra for their day of coordination services to ensure our day would run smoothly. Taylor, our day of coordinator was amazing. She was so responsive & we had communicated back & fourth so many times going over every detail. She quickly answered any question I had. Fast forward to our first in person meeting. Taylor was not there. Tara & a new hire were there to go over the details of everything & it seemed to be unorganized. They were asking questions that Taylor & I had already reviewed & seemed to not have the proper information on my wedding. I reached out to Taylor to express my concerns & she immediately called me, we went over everything & she told me not to worry because she'd be there the day of my wedding to take care of everything. Fast forward to a week before my wedding. Taylor had started being unresponsive so I reached out to the venue only to be told she was out of town & would not be at the wedding. The person I spent months talking to & planning would not be there. I immediately started freaking out of course but the venue promised me that Taylor left detailed notes about everything. I'm unsure if Taylor had some type of emergency...I understand life happens, but I felt like the venue could have attempted an additional in person meeting or at least informed me, but they didn't. The day before the wedding we had the rehearsal scheduled. I scheduled it with Taylor weeks in advance. The venue called & said nothing was scheduled & the only time they could do it was late in the evening at 7 or 8 (I can't remember exactly). That was annoying, but I told the wedding party & everyone rescheduled. However, the actual rehearsal was the most unorganized & chaotic thing ever. The new hire & a different person who I had never spoken to before were "running" it. They didn't bring the line up & had no information about my wedding with them. I literally broke down & started crying in front of EVERYONE because of how unorganized it was. Due to the venue double booking themselves & me being asked to reschedule, it was completely dark outside & they had 0 lights on. We were all walking around in the complete dark using our phones as lights. I'm telling you, it was terrible. The day of the wedding did not go much better. My mom & bridal party pretty much did all of the decorating even though that was included in what I paid for. The venue was supposed to have 2 people help park cars & didn't according to my guests. There however was a shirtless man walking around the parking area & my dad told him to put a shirt on or leave, so it's possible that this person was the one who was supposed to help park & he decided to leave instead of put a shirt on lol. Honestly, if it wasn't for my amazing photographer, the timeline would not have been followed at all. There is so much more I could add in, but overall this venues lack of organization completely let us down.I reached out to the venue about a month or so after to discuss my concerns. They were very apologetic which I appreciate but it doesn't change things. They "mailed me a gift" which I've yet to receive & it's been 10 months so it's safe to assume that didn't happen. I conveniently received many ads from them about their whiskey barrels that they sell but never a "gift".If you want an organized & stress free day, I would not recommend using this venue. I even paid additional money to them to make sure things ran smoothly with TWO DAY OF COORDINATORS & they still let us down...

First thing to note: they will tell you that they can provide for ANY size party you need - correction, they only have 141 chairs and you have to rent the rest, but, you can fit at max, and probably very squished, 200 people in the barn. I went in to the meeting thinking they could accommodate 250-300 - but we would have had to have people in the bottom of the barn (big no) and outside under a tent (bigger no). They charge you for everything and provide you nothing ($10,000 for the day, to be in the barn and the not very pretty mansion, but nothing else included). The barn itself was pretty but small, and forcing people to climb stairs to get a drink isn't fair in my mind. I wasted 2 hours of mine and my parents' time because they lied to me about the size...