Summerset Winery — Attraction in Iowa

In short: Beautiful space in need of better coordination.

We held our wedding here on June 1st, 2024 after booking this venue in April of 2022. We started with Haley, who was absolutely perfect to work with, and had a few issues with the venue after she left.

Pros: The Inn. This was truly our tipping point of why we booked this venue. It was our ideal situation to be able to host ourselves and our wedding party. It had lots of plates and cups and felt so homey. The views out back were an added plus, and was a great backdrop for our first look. The Scenery. This was truly a beautiful place to hold our event. We loved having the ceremony and reception at the same space, and the weather held up such that we could have a fully outdoor event. We didn't have to decorate much because the vines and trees did it for us!

Issues: Communication. Even though we had two meetings in the 60 days before and numerous emails leading up to our event, it seems that many things that were conversed back and forth did not come to fruition. From the linens set out that we had to call and have them correct (minor, but was discussed in every conversation) to the bartenders switching us to a cash bar without our knowledge midway through our event (major and unable to fix now!) it seems like there were things conveyed to us that did not end up being the case. Other communication issues we had: we were on an older contract that was not honored and we had to fight for pieces of it. we were told we would have private ceremony space, there were winery guests milling about most of the evening. last call was made VERY early in our evening when we were out of the tent and thus could not fight it as we didn't know until the next day what had happened. they were cleaning up our event while guests were still present and attempting to enjoy their evening. This drove guests out of our event as they thought they were going to miss the shuttle. Alex had discussed setting up an additional signature cocktail for us that did not happen. The venue ran out of vodka (used in both signature cocktails) early in the evening after assuring us they would be well stocked up. The tent was gorgeous but the door flap would not stay up. We were also under the impression we could have a side left open, and that didn't happen. The dance floor had some water issues underneath it, likely seeping in from the flooring underneath. We all abandoned the dance floor and just stayed on...

So unfortunately, I am leaving this review as a vendor who has had a terrible experience with one the event coordinators Haley… She reached out regarding her Easter event to provide some fun activities for the guests. I got back to her with the information needed to book with us. I waited for her response and then once she did get back with me, she said she would like to book my services for her event, and then asked me to send out the invoice. I sent that out then, I didn’t receive a deposit within the scheduled time so I gave her the courtesy and called to make sure she was still interested in the services putting other potential customers off just for her because, she did say that she still wanted to go with our services and that she was just waiting on credit card information from the higher-ups or whomever to make the deposit. So I extended her due date for the deposit to secure her date for her. So as time went on that date soon past as well but, by this time, I did schedule some artists for her event being that she confirmed for a 2nd time that she did want to book with me. More time passed and I never received any call or response from any emails or calls that I made just following up to ensure that she was still good to go and I was willing to set aside the deposit as well if that was an issue, but there was never any response or courteous measure on her end to just let me know if she went another direction. I just really think that is unprofessional, and to confirm twice that you are booking with me due to the fact that I did have to let artists know their schedule ahead of time. My artist depend on these events for extra income, and it’s just a shame that the communication is not up to par on a professional level. I could have booked that date with another customer and I felt I was led on by this individual. So my review complaint would be that the staff that I dealt with in regards to being a potential vendor was very unprofessional and will lead you on to believe that you have a verbal contract agreement then break it with no communication or regard for the...

My husband booked the 2pm wine tasting (4 wines) and tour for us (8/24). We were told to ‘explore’ the building and outside area to decide where to have our wine tasting. We chose the main area, where we walked in. We were initially given only 2 of the four wines while we waited for other people, who did not make a reservation, to get full wine tastings services. We finally got a few crackers and some cheese and the other 2 wines to taste. We were left alone again for an extended period while others, without reservations, wanted wine tastings and merchandise. When we were done with the tastings we asked about the tour. We were interrupted by a merchandise sale. The tour consisted of the only employee walking us through the building, that we were told to explore on our own earlier, and give literally no information about the wine making process. We were shown the rental space for weddings and then told we could walk the vineyard on our own if we wished. My husband and I both asked at least one question during the tour about the wine making process and were told, “I don’t know”. For an additional $10 a piece we were literally given a tour of the rental space and we weren’t given any information at all. The one person working was nice enough, but for scheduling a tour and paying additional money it was ridiculous. Had we walked in unaware and just tried some wine I would have been fine with the experience. We made a special date out of it, wanted to find out about the process, and paid extra for absolutely nothing. I’m very...