Independence Harbor — Attraction in Freetown

Independence Harbor has absolutely beautiful grounds, and the food is outstanding. The wait staff and one of the day of coordinators were also extremely nice and welcoming. Unfortunately, in my experience the management of this venue, Connie, Anne and Matt made the process extremely stressful. If you have a vision of what you want for your day, you will be met with a healthy amount of push back. They have a very specific way of doing things and can be extremely inflexible and rigid In terms of how they want the day to go. At times, I felt bullied by this venue and I was so incredibly thankful that I hired my own day of coordinator who truly cared about me and my husband’s day. It was extremely clear that management was unhappy with some of the things I had requested and I felt very uncomfortable interacting with them. I had wanted to have our rehearsal the day before the wedding as I had family out of state and a bridal party of over 20 people that needed to know what to do. After many back and forth emails we were able to Compromise on the day before in the afternoon. They additionally told me that myself as the bride could not arrive for my 5pm ceremony until 4:30pm along with the guests and I would have to change on site as well. The day before Matt informed us I could get there at 4:15 after I had already confirmed with the bus driver what time I needed to be there. Now in real life 15 min is not a big deal, but for a wedding that is planned down to the 5 minutes this was a frustrating change that would have been better if Connie had informed me of this instead of telling me 4:30 and not a minute Earlier every time I spoke to her. I had hired a DJ for the entire day and they would not allow him to play cocktail hour music despite this being something I had indicated in my wedding packet for them that I had hired my DJ for the entire day. The day of the rehearsal and wedding it was also extremely clear that Matt did not care for or have time for the day of coordinator that I hired myself. I also ran into a few vendors that have this venue on their do not work with list. It’s truly a shame bc the grounds are amazing, the food was also extremely good. I’m just thankful for my day of coordinator Angel and my photographer Paul for helping to keep my day on track and make it everything my husband and I dreamed. Unfortunately if we could go back in time we would not have...

Many people ordered the prime rib. It was a wedding. Mine was more red than I care for or can eat. I asked if it was possible to get a piece cooked a little more and the waitress said that’s why we ask how you want it. That was never the case as we had to pick from the options offered by the bride and groom and they didn’t ask when they came around to the table for dinner. Another person asked the same and she said I am only taking back 2 and that’s it. A couple other people at the table also didn’t like there’s and said you need to be a carnivore to eat it and were afraid to send there’s back. Unrealized how hard waitressing can be so I was nice about it and she was very rude and gave me a nasty look I didn’t see but others at the table mentioned and the other person who gave hers back got the same nasty look. The waitress also said again “we get complaints all the time about this that’s why you are suppose to order what you want” . All but 2 on our table did not eat there meal as well as others even though they were not impressed but were hungry. The one person who got the. Chicken piccata said there was no lemony taste and just blah so didn’t finish hers either. Lots of meals were barely eaten and a little au jus would be good . When our prime rib came back within a couple minutes it was so dry we left it and one person who saw where it was cut said it looks like saw dust. Definitely needed au jus sauce by consensus . The apps. Beef Wellington , spring rolls or what ever they were and the chicken pieces with a honey mustard sauce were all good and the melon on the fruit platter was very good. Luckily we all ate the apps so did ok not eating the meal. The potatoes also had a tangy taste to them which was ok for some but not others and never tasted anything like that. The food and rudeness of the waitress which was not warranted as we were nice about it having worked in catering and knowing they are busy was enough to not use them in the future. The apps and people at the bar got them the 3 stars. Probably should have been...

WELL THIS JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER. I TRIED TO CALL THE VENUE AGAIN AND GOT AN EVEN RUDER SALES PERONS WHO SAID SHE WAS THE OWNER'S SISTER AND SHE SPOKE OVER ME AND HUNG UP ON ME. I ASKED TO SPEAK TO THE OWNER OR HIS WIFE AND SHE SAID NO! WE WERE JUST TRYING TO CALL TO SEE IF ANY ATTEMPTS WERE BEING MADE TO REBOOK THE VENUE SO WE WERE NOT OUT $6000.00 . SHE HUNG UP ON ME TWICE AND TOLD ME I COULD NOT TALK TO THE OWNER.... DO NOT BOOK THIS VENUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was calling on behalf of me nephew who cancelled his wedding 6 weeks before the wedding due to unforeseen circumstances. I was trying to recoup some of his deposits for him as this was very costly to him to lose all of this money. When I called to explain, the person who answered the phone who I later found out was one of the owners, could not have been any more rude. She said she could not talk to me and laughed when I started asking questions. I asked how I could get permission to talk to her. She spoke over me and then accused me of speaking over her! My nephew called to give her permission to speak to me so I then called back.... While we perfectly understand that we would lose a good chunk of the deposit, I asked her if there was anyway she could just give him back a part of the deposit of almost $6000.00 dollars he had paid! We understand that it could have been booked by someone else for that date (even though it was a Friday night)... I believe it would have gone along way as a goodwill measure to at least give him something back.. She did apologize for her rudeness and said she was very busy answering phones, etc. If this is the way she talks to people, run do not walk away from ever booking here..... Most businesses, especially during these uncertain times, would refund even a...