Corley Mill House & Gardens — Attraction in Irmo

I want to be very honest about my experience with the Corley Mill House. I got married on June 15, 2019. I chose this venue because of the inclusiveness of it all and me living out of town. I don't know that I would choose this venue again due to these 5 most important factors for me:

Communication Mrs. Sheila was very good at responding back to my emails very quickly! I was able to reach her by phone and setup times to come in. However, on the pricing sheet it stated there were many other items for use. I asked several times in January and February for the list of items. She said it would be finished by the end of February but I never received it.

Food I was the most disappointed with the food. I chose an option for a beef brisket carving station which on the menu explicitly states it is carved in front of guests. There was no carving and the small sliders were already put together. I also chose a mac and cheese action chef station in which the menu also states there are many toppings to choose from such as pulled pork, bacon, mushrooms, ,etc. There were no toppings but bacon for the mac and cheese. The beaufort stew skewers were cold and did not seem very fresh. The bartender made my pineapple, rum, and strawberry drinks all wrong. I sent a very specific email stating how these should be made. Instead the ingredients were poured in a pitcher and served from there. Those drinks were to be made when ordered and shaken.

Friendliness The entire catering staff that day were very sweet. However, the bartender had a less than pleasant demeanor and not very friendly. I do not feel I had any issues with Sheila or day-of coordinator Nancy as far as friendliness was concerned. Mrs. Sheila was always able to make time to meet me when I wanted to set a quick meeting. Nancy was very pleasant and friendly the day of.

Ease of the day I will say that it was a HUGE relief and help to have Nancy directing the rehearsal and the day of the wedding. It is also a huge help because they do help with clean up and getting things to your car. This is a major plus! I rented and paid for 7 hours. 4:30 to 11:30! I did end up cutting the wedding short because many guests had already left and I was feeling tired. I ended and left around 10 or 10:15. I was very disheartened to hear that my family that stayed behind to gather my personal belongings felt rushed to get out of the house. As I was leaving, things were already being cleaned and put away. This should not have happened as I paid for the event to go to 11:30.

Cleanliness On the day of my wedding, the card and gift table linen had several crumbs of some sort on which I had to brush off and a small stain.

Positives of the venue Good space and beautiful grounds, help with logistics from Nancy during rehearsal and the day of, and they set up everything for you.

Needs Improvement FRIENDLINESS from bartender, cleanliness, quality of food and providing exactly what is offered on the menu, taking the time to understand exactly how I wanted things set up, and making my family feel rushed to gather my belongings even though they were still...

I’m giving two stars only because it’s a lovely old house. The venue coordinator is a rude, condescending prig of a woman. It was supposed to be my brother and sister in law’s happiest day. Instead it was filled with anxiety and one if not all of us doing the venue’s job at some point or another. Imagine walking into the bridal room and it still not being cleaned up from the day before (we arrived at 2pm). No toilet paper in the bathroom, much less a knob or lock on the bathroom door! Disgusting! When asked about toilet paper and telling them how dirty the bathroom was I was treated as though this was a tremendous inconvenience. Then let’s talk about the fact that a rehearsal is covered in the contract, but was not provided until an hour before the wedding because it’s Christmas and they are so very busy and it inconveniences them. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the coordinator was not consistently rude/condescending and trying to rearrange our bridal party order to her liking rather than the bride’s. This woman acted as though this wedding was her own and made decisions without consulting anyone. Including not putting the lantern/candles on the tables as promised in our meetings, forgetting to set up the bridal party table! When we were finally allowed to eat there was nowhere for us to sit, including my brother and his bride! Unthinkable. To make matters worse the coordinator told my brother in law that he had to leave after the ceremony because pictures were only for family! He was supposed to be in them!!!! I think the most hilarious part was that she lied to my brother and sister in law about needing a special permit/insurance in order to have sparklers at their wedding. Why do I find this humorous? I’m in the fireworks industry and I work with the firemarshal’s office regularly. I know the law, and I know NFPA like the back of my hand. Sparklers are a NOVELTY item and as such are not considered display pyrotechnics. However...since she brought the firemarshals up...I could not help but notice blocked egress paths and that there were no fire extinguishers placed within 75 feet either. I overheard the bartender laughing about my little brother and his bride, said that their wedding wasn’t worth the venue being open on a Sunday since they bought the basic package. I nearly jumped down her throat. They rushed us out the door and were cleaning up table linens while the wedding was still going on! If you like chaos and being treated rudely and as though the wedding isn’t actually your wedding, this is the venue for you. Otherwise...

disappointed: newly engaged Jan 2018 ( GO ME!!) I immediately started to search for a venue. Corley was perfect! a friend of mine had gotten married here years prior so I was pretty familiar with their all inclusive packages. My initial contacted was mid Jan. I sent emails, contacted on facebook and left voice messages. after a few days I receive pricing and package info via email.... that's all I've EVER received! Many calls later I finally got someone to return a call to my fiance'. we were told Jan was too soon and they had not begun 2019 weddings yet (I totally understood). I was told to call back Feb 1st ( they did not answer nor return my voicemail ) i waited until the following Monday(no call back) called them again a few days after ( no answer and no return call after left messages) my "hubby"called (no answer) a few days later finally got someone to pick up the phone. I was told that they would call me on March 1st bc they were in the process of opening a restaurant and still had not started booking for 2019 (NO CALL BACK). Mid March my fiance' was able to get someone on the line and he was told that bc we had not been able o set up a time to actually discuss the venue that they would give us a discount on a portion of the pk. it was not disclosed how much or what the discount was ,but she assured my Fiance' that April 1( Sunday) she would call us to set date to book... i called on Last thurdays April 5th.. i have still not been contacted. so much for having my wedding here .. Jamsmine Home & Garden was more than willing to have my business! The venue is more than I expected. May 5th update: Still no call, no email, no S.o.S , note in a bottle..... NOTHING! but I came across why.. the house is being sold! All they had to do was inform me of this so I would not have wasted my time for months...