The Howey Mansion — Attraction in Howey-in-the-Hills

The Howey Mansion was everything we wanted for our wedding and MORE. My husband and I were engaged in January of 2020, so right before COVID changed everything. Originally, we wanted a small family wedding and wanted to take a trip to Italy where my family is from. Unfortunately, with COVID putting a halt to travel plans, we quickly realized that wouldn’t be possible and that we’d need a venue here to accommodate more family/friends than intended. After some research, my mother found the Howey Mansion and we instantly fell in love with the photos. We scheduled a tour and it was our first and only stop on the wedding venue search. As soon as we pulled up, we knew we wanted to get married there.

Lori and the staff were always so attentive and answered all of my (many) questions and (many) emails. As we approached the wedding it seemed like I was emailing more than twice a day, and they were always quick to respond and informative.

Arthur’s catering was an absolute joy to have with the venue and the food was so delicious!! There were options for everyone and the hors d'oeuvres were so fun!! We received so many compliments on how good the food was. I was lucky enough to get to try both entrees and I must say, the chicken was the best chicken I’ve ever had.

We got the package that granted us access to the mansion at 11 am and it was so incredibly worth it. The vendors had more than enough time to set up and allowed both bridal parties and parents to get ready with ease. I also enjoyed seeing everything come together throughout the day!

This same package also included access to the prohibition room for the last two hours of the event and it was such a hit with our guests! It’s definitely one of the most unique features I’ve ever seen at a wedding and everyone really enjoyed it. The mansion is so beautiful that there are so many areas for our guests to explore which I really loved. It’s hard to put into words how unique the venue is, especially for a wedding.

We also opted to have the wedding party spend the night in the mansion and the two guest cottages and it was SO MUCH FUN. We kept the fun going and were well taken care of with accommodations such as towels, toiletries and more than enough beds for 18+ people. Fran was so helpful with getting all of the overnight guests to their rooms and with checking out in the morning. She had some great history stories about the mansion as well.

All this to say that our wedding day was even more perfect than we could have ever envisioned. We had a beautiful Mediterranean theme as we wanted but also got to celebrate with all of our friends and family in a beautiful ceremony, at a gorgeous venue with incredible food and drinks!

We’ve had so many of our guests tell us that it was the best and most beautiful wedding they’d ever been to and even some family who have already looked into renting the venue out for other events.

I’m almost in tears as I write this because of how perfect and dream-like our day was. I’m so sad that it’s over but the memories made at the mansion are ones that my new husband and I will cherish for the rest...

IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING BOOKING THIS VENUE FOR A WEDDING PLEASE READ THIS!

I'm a award winning Wedding Photographer based out of the Miami area, I have been shooting for over 9 years.

I just finished working a wedding at this venue, and I'm a person who never leaves a negative review for something because it's a Buisness and it can hurt them, but I have to be honest & transparent.

This review is to reflect my experience at the Howe Mansion.

This venue is gorgeous, has beautiful spots for photos and for ceremony. These are the only Positives I have about the venue.

Now the venue manager "Fran" is literally the worst Manager of a Venue I've seen in my wedding photography career.

She's rude, condescending towards vendors, the planner & the bride. This woman SHOULD NOT be apart of this venue, and honestly I don't know how with other countless negative reviews that have been left she is still working for the Howey Mansion.

I arrived to the venue early to scout and she open the door and told me to come back in 3 hours as a vendor I'm not allowed to go in to the Howey Mansion until 3 hours before the wedding starts.

Wedding photographers like myself capture days from early in the day, especially when the bride is getting ready at the actual venue, not a hotel.

She literally would not allow me to take my gear (my bag with camera & lenses) upstairs for photography because she said it can damage the floor of the property which has been standing for over 100 years. The planner had to get involved and explain that none of my gear would hurt the venue in any way.

She gave me a hard time for arriving to the venue a few hours early to try to get a head start on doing getting ready photos for the couple that she paid for. She almost didn't allow it to happen, and after myself, several bridesmaids and eventually the bride and the planner got involved I was finally allowed to do my job. She was difficult with the planner and the dj as well.

Do your research and look at the negative reviews of this venue. They are literally all about her.

I would not recommend this venue at all, and honestly I would not photograph at this place ever again as long as Fran is involved.

If you're looking for a wedding venue, stay away as long as Fran is involved with this venue.

Fran if you read this -- You are the sole reason why this venue is getting negative reviews. Please do better.

If the owner is reading this - Why haven't you gotten rid of Fran? She has been the worst wedding manager I have ever been in contact with in my career. You are in a hospitality/service based business, she needs to treat vendors with value & respect.

REVISION: I was contacted by the owner of the venue Brad in which he apologized for the experience we had with Fran, and let me know there would be some changes in the future. He welcomed me to come out again when these changes happen.

UPDATE: 9/18/24 - I have been told Fran has returned!...

The 2 stars is for the house. Our sales rep was Kathleen. She seems nice until they have all your money. Then she’s a no show. What you need to know and what we wished we knew was when it’s your wedding day you’ll actually be dealing with a lady named Fran whom you’ll never meet until it’s too late. We showed up for our scheduled rehearsal the day before the wedding with 3 cars full of stuff (large mirror, candles etc) per the “day of coordinators” instructions. This is the same “day of coordinator” they highly recommend because they had worked with her so many times. When we arrived all the doors were locked and Fran came out and started screaming at us “who are you? What are you doing here? You can’t be here!” We explained we were here for our wedding rehearsal, we were supposed to be getting married here tomorrow. At this point we still had no idea who she was. We were then told by Fran we couldn’t not come inside to even use the bathroom and we couldn’t leave any of our wedding decorations the day of coordinator they apparently worked with so many times told us to bring. We said we were sorry for the miscommunication and lack of coordination on their team but now that you know who we are why does it matter if we leave the stuff? “Because that’s what Fran wants.” So we had to bring all the stuff back to the hotel causing us to be late for the rehearsal dinner. Then they said we couldn’t bring it back in the morning. Not until 1pm. We explained we would need to be getting ready by then. They didn’t care. “That’s what Fran wants.” We were told we could have food in the get ready rooms we payed extra for. Then when we got there they said we would have to go downstairs to the kitchen to eat any of the food we had catered. Possibly the worst thing they did when it came to treating us like trash was telling the groomsmen and myself (the groom) we had to get all of our clothes and belongings out of the get ready room before the ceremony. We asked, “you want us to walk past guest fully dressed in our suits carrying our stuff to the cars as they arrive? “ “Yes.” We asked why can’t we put the stuff in the cars after the ceremony? “Those are Fran’s rules”.

It’s a great house but you’ll be treated like trash the entire time. Better off finding another great house. Fran has no business being in hospitality. Every decision she makes is made from the view point of how it will affect her, not how will it affect the customers who are spending thousands of dollars to have a good event. If you get married here be sure to put in your contract that Fran is not allowed anywhere near the place while you’re there. Also get in the contract everything they say you can do when they are trying to get your money or else you’ll be walking past you’re guest on the way to the ceremony carrying your stuff to your car because “that’s...