The Villa at Ridder Country Club — Attraction in East Bridgewater

Dear brides, I would read this before thinking of booking here. I toured this venue in the summer of 2022 for a Sep 2023 wedding. We loved the women who gave us the tour, and she told us if we booked with them within the week, they would offer 1 free passed app or additional time added to the end of the night complimentary. After viewing few places, we ended up booking The Villa within the week. Basically everything after our tour went downhill and for these reasons, I would steer brides another way. After booking, we talked to our event producer, Kayla, who is a different person than the one who toured the venue with us. We told her about how we were promised a free gift for booking, but Kayla said “there wasn’t anything in writing so there isn’t anything we can do!” I looked through text messages and LUCKILY had a message from the woman who toured the venue with us saying she would offer us a free passes app. I sent a screenshot of the message to her and it took too much back and forth to finally have this put into our contract. Please, if anyone offers anything, make sure to get it in writing, even a recap text after the tour. They honestly made me feel like I was trying to con them out of more stuff, instead of just asking what was promised to us for booking. The tasting. What an annoying day. We have booked a time online for the tasting with our event producer, Kayla. Throughout that week, I have received various automatic messages stating different times than I booked for the tasting. I attempted multiple times to reach out to Kayla and never received a response. We arrive to our venue for the tasting and it’s empty. Me, my husband, and my sister in law all awkwardly waited about 25 mins before someone finally came out and asked what we were doing there. We explained we were here for a tasting and a look of confusion came on her face and she said she would be right back. After 5 minutes, she came out and said Kayla is going to call me. Call me? Aren’t you supposed to be here right now? Anyway, I get a call from her and she states she accidentally booked our tasting for another venue in the same company The Villa is under. She said all the food is ready and waiting for us if we could make it to the other venue. Well, an hour later, we made it to the other venue. What a disappointed that was. I will say, the food was AMAZING. I would very very disappointed with how Kayla handled this situation but let it go after seeing how great the food was. Next biggest complaint comes from the day of the wedding. We had paid to have a “lemonade stand” for pre ceremony drinks. I, as the bride, did not check to see if the lemonade was out but I did ask someone how it was hours later. The response: what lemonade? I emailed Kayla asking about the lemonade, was gaslight over email, and was told I was wrong that it wasn’t there. I honestly was so fed up with The Villa and Kayla at the point, I didn’t even care about losing the hundreds of dollars not getting the lemonade. However, some days later, I was informed by her manager, Hillary, that I was right and there was no lemonade out. Refund sent our way after. I will add some things i really did like about this venue as well, because I really had such a fun night regardless. As said before, food was literally amazing. Best food ever. They have a rain plan. Rained on our wedding day and it was so easy to move the ceremony from outside to inside. EMILY-this is for you. She is the BEST. She was my bridal attendant. She kept me fed and with a drink in my hand and I honestly love her. You’re the best. I had a great night. I had to send way too many emails just to get back was promised to me. This was an expensive day and it didn’t feel like this place cared about my dollar. Hillary, the manager was very nice and understanding and did her best to make amends and I do feel heard by her. If you do book here, I recommend avoiding Kayla as she does not make you a priority, won’t answer emails or calls when urgent, and will downright gaslight...

I can't say enough good things about our experience with the Villa. For starters, our event producer, Sarah Greenstein, is an absolute MVP. From the minute she was assigned to us, she was responsive, professional, and super efficient. She coordinated our meetings and helped us navigate the wedding process with ease. We got engaged in November 2021 and in the year of planning we had so much going on in our lives (finishing up graduate school, graduating, family getting sick, moving, and starting a new job). Knowing we had Sarah really put us at ease because she literally handled it all - from the big stuff down to the details like how I wanted my baby's breath tucked into my napkins! She nailed the vision I had for my wedding, coordinated a flawless timeline, and addressed all last-minute hiccups on the day of. The dress rehearsal went smoothly and quickly. She is as cool as cucumber and has a way of putting you at ease. She also planned accordingly so that we would be able to let our flower girl and ring bearer drive down the aisle in an electronic car. She also arranged our memorial table with care which meant so much to my family. A week before our wedding, some of our guests dropped out which totally ruined our already-printed table seating sign. Our event team handled this and I never had to worry. Our bridal attendant, Kim, was also a rockstar. She is extremely attentive and made us feel extremely comfortable. She put us in a great mood because of her upbeat attitude and was quick to jump in to address all our questions and concerns. She helped me quickly pin up my dress right before my first dance and delivered us drinks before they were even empty! The staff somehow took down and packed all of our decorations into my parent's car so quickly, they even beat us back to the hotel after the wedding ended. Don't even get me started on the food! So many of my guests raved about how delicious the food was, from the clam chowder, to the lamp lollipops, to the desserts, and the seafood! Our raw bar was a massive hit.. My family is Vietnamese and they are extremely particular and picky about food, and even they were impressed. My only regret is that I didn't eat more of my own food! The night flowed so well and everything was so well-paced. The ceremony was just the right amount of time and things moved effortlessly and seamlessly. A lot of our guests loved how well-timed things were and how we had enough time for dancing. I would not hesitate to recommend them to any couple getting married. They truly anticipate every detail and are true professionals. The entire staff was fantastic and I'm so grateful they made the wedding planning process so easy. Most people stress out planning weddings but I can honestly say I enjoyed pretty much every second of the process and it was entirely worth it for the night that we had. It made us happy to see our loved ones happy and enjoy their night so much and The Villa's expertise definitely made it an unforgettable night. Thank you so much, Sarah, Kim, and the rest of the...

The Villa at Ridder Country Club Review

Team:

Kristen Catwell Victoria Rando Staff at The Villa @ Ridder Country Club

There has never been a moment where I look back at the wedding team who had made our wedding the best. My now wife and I had been engaged for about 2 years since the COVID-19 Pandemic has shifted many scheduled weddings to later dates. At the time, we actually struggled to find a wedding venue that met both of our needs. I was driving back from work one afternoon and saw the billboard for Saphire Event Group and scheduled appointments at The Villa and The Avenir. While we did stop by The Avenir first, we were already blown away by the amount of care, services, and accommodations provided at the venue. However there were still a few things that we wanted to consider. So Lynne at The Avenir, recommended us visiting The Villa with Kristen and Victoria to see the other sister location since it was not only closer to our home, but may offer a different feel to what we were looking for.

When we arrived for our tour about a year before our proposed wedding date, we were greeted by Kristen Catwell. She was exceptionally thorough and left no stone unturned with what we were looking for. We received a tour of all the spaces and what would be included in our specific packages. Food is something that we are very passionate about so when we heard that SEG does all of the food options, including dietary accommodations, we knew we were in the right place. Many of our friends and family have some needs so it was nice to know that there were a lot of options for them to leave full!

As the process continued and the first initial payments were made, we met Victoria Rando, who is is hands down the BEST coordinator EVER! I don’t know of anyone who is so genuinely excited to be working with us and making our evening as special as the occasion, but every time we saw her to check in and make sure we were on track, it was like seeing a friend that we hadn’t seen in a while! She quickly integrated herself into the planning and really gave us everything that we needed, even until the night of the wedding reception. It was such a hard goodbye that evening, especially since we spent so much time in the planning process, going through contingencies, communicating delays, and many more. But we knew Victoria showed up for us that day and gave us her 1000%. I also think that she’s now the favorite :)

For many people wanting to celebrate an occasion such as a wedding or any other occasion that is meaningful in your life, please come a see the team at Sapphire Event Group. We’ve only seen two of the 4 event areas ourselves, but I am sure that if our experience at both locations serves as a marker for the other two, then all of the event spaces are fantastic!

Shoutouts to the amazing staff and bridal attendants at our wedding at The Villa! You all truly made us feel so special on a day that we will remember for the rest...