Avent Orangery — Attraction in Kansas City

This venue is absolutely stunning. Not only did we book the venue but we rented out the entire hotel. We were told that only one other person has done this before. You would think that we would get top tier communication since we were paying so much and giving such great business. The original coordinator that we booked with told us a ton of things that just weren't true, probably to get the sale. At some point she either quit or was let go but they never told me my contact had changed. It took several unanswered messages until I just called the hotel. We set up meeting with my new contact Shelby. The meeting went well so I felt better about everything. I was just sold more lies. Shelby wasn't to quick to answer follow up questions and the hotel manager had to answer some or call Shelby out in emails to answer me. We paid an extra $1100 for AC (even though we were told it was included originally). The AC was supposed to be on in the morning before we started setup at 11am so that it was cooled off in there. Not only was the AC not turned on but not a single chair or table had been placed in the venue. This was supposed to be done prior to 11am. My mother in law, mom, aunts, & wedding coordinator were running around to get things set up and looking for tables and chairs. My approved layout was provided in advance and spoken about in person with Shelby. Shelby was THREE HOURS late. Her poor assistant was trying the best she could and said Shelby wasn't responding to any messages. She didn't know how to work the AC so it was 80+ outside and even worse inside the greenhouse. The AC wasnt turned on until 3pm, 1.5 before the ceremony. Thank God I have great family and friends who stepped up and did the job we paid the venue to do. Having to set up the floorplan pushed the timeline back and my moms had to rush to get ready and couldn't enjoy the moment with me in the bridal suite. The venue staff ensured that they were doing the flip of moving chairs from outside to inside but of course didn't. Selby showed up late AND LEFT EARLY. She was nowhere to be found after the ceremony. There were several tables with not enough chairs and people were literally standing at their tables. My groomsmen rushed over to move chairs after we took photos. They turned the AC off early and our elderly uncle almost passed out because of the heat. An ambulance had to be called. The hotel didn't follow the room sheet I made and just gave anyone whatever room they wanted after several conversations of them understanding the document and them thanking me for "making their lives easier". Outside of that the hotel staff was great. They even came over to the event side to help out because Shelby was MIA. Shelby's assistant was so fed up with how she was not supported that she put in her notice after my reception. She stayed to make sure my wedding went as good as it could, considering. I am so lucky I have such an amazing inner circle that stepped up and made the day so beautiful and amazing. My poor wedding coordinator had to do a lot more than what she was supposed to but she rocked it and rolled with the punches as best as she could. The hotel elevator was broken and they didn't tell us anything in advance. Knowing that we had elderly/handicap guests that would have to use the stairs to get to their rooms. When we asked why we weren't notified the clerk at the front desk said "the owner is too cheap to fix it and we have known for a long time that it was broken." There was a hornets nest in one of my bridesmaids rooms and a baby snake in the grooms room. They clearly don't take the best care as far as maintenance goes. They had the wrong liquor at the bar and we paid for the more expensive option. They will not communicate if there are changes on their end and you have to harass them to get answers to any questions. If you do book with this space make sure you have people in place to step up and have a plan B and C for whatever they promise because there is a high chance that they will not...

I have coordinated numerous weddings in the Kansas City area, and I was genuinely excited to work with Avent Orangery in October, 2023. Unfortunately, our experience fell short of expectations, and I’d like to outline the issues we encountered.

On-Site Coordinator: Shelby was the on-site coordinator for Avent and our direct contact. Throughout the planning process, communication with her was spotty. We often had to send multiple follow-up emails to get a response, sometimes even reaching out directly to the owner. There were times we waited over a week for a reply before escalating our needs. Shelby was frequently late to meetings. During our final walkthrough, we waited for ten minutes before calling her. She apologized, stating she was "a few minutes behind," and didn’t arrive until 30 minutes past the scheduled time, looking disheveled. It seemed like she had forgotten our meeting entirely. On the wedding day, Shelby stated that she would arrive by 10:00am to assist with setup and ensure we had everything we needed. However, she delayed her arrival several times and eventually showed up at 4:00pm. At that point, we had already come to expect this kind of behavior from her. Shelby did not assist with setting up the venue, leaving us to handle the crucial preparations on our own in the final hours before the ceremony.

The Venue: On the wedding day, we faced continuous rain, and we were reassured during the planning that the venue was completely weatherproof and that the rain wouldn’t be a concern. However, as soon as the rain began, the ceiling and walls started to leak in the corners of the building. With Shelby still absent, we did our best to manage the situation. Initially, the leaks were slow, so we used a mop to keep the floors dry. By the time the ceremony began at 5:30pm, the rain had intensified, and the leaks became much worse. We had to manage wet floors and leaks, all while trying to maintain the flow of the event. At 8:00pm, Shelby informed me and the wedding planner that she was leaving for the night. She had been present for 4 hours and did not assist us with much. We were extremely concerned since we had no other point of contact at the venue, and we would be relying on the hotel staff—who did not work directly with the venue—for assistance if anything went wrong. Throughout the day when we had questions about the venue and could not get ahold of Shelby we would ask the hotel staff, but they directed us back to Shelby and stated that they did not work with the venue. The venue has outdoor bathrooms located across the parking lot. While the bathrooms themselves were clean and well-maintained, their location made them inconvenient for guests, especially in the rain. During our final walkthrough, we requested that the bathroom trailer be moved closer to the building to protect our guests (Specifically older guests) from the rain. Shelby told us this wasn’t possible due to the length of the extension cords. We were disappointed, but we accepted the answer and didn’t push the issue further, though in hindsight, we regret not insisting on the change. Later in the evening, we were informed by a guest that the bathrooms had run out of toilet paper. We had to go to the hotel in the rain to restock. This should have been Shelby's responsibility, but since she had left, we were left to handle it ourselves. By 8:45 pm, the leaks had worsened significantly, and the floors had become hazardous. Several guests slipped and fell, and we had to use bath towels from the venue to manage the water. The wedding cake became soaked, and towards the end of the night, the bride herself slipped on the wet floor and sustained a concussion.

I had high hopes for working with Avent Orangery, but this experience was deeply disappointing. Based on this event, I would not recommend the venue to anyone, and I urge others to consider alternative locations. No bride should have to go through such a stressful and unsafe experience on their...

I was really looking forward to having our wedding reception at Avent Orangery. I first contacted the event space in October 2024 with the date of Dec 31st 2025 in mind. The team responded within a few days and told me they have the dates available and to book a tour. I live out of state so I booked a tour for December 2024. When I visited the space with my mom, we went over all details including date, bar package pricing, and pricing for the space with the tour guide. We are not having a full wedding and wouldn't need a wedding package. We discussed event pricing and did multiple calculations with the tour guide and decided on doing event pricing instead of a wedding package. I also discussed my concerns with the prior reviews regarding communication and coordination. I was assured that the communication would be much better than in the reviews as they had hired new staff since then.

I received a text a few days after the tour and they let know that I could reply to that line whenever I wanted to move forward or if I had any questions. I responded to the number they had texted me on and I did not hear back after a bit over a week so I ended up emailing them. When I heard back a day later via email, they responded with questions that we had discussed and given answers to during the tour as well as basic information that was given when we filled out the "contact us" form on their website. Not a huge deal, but it made it pretty clear that no notes were taken during the tour. Once I responded to this email, 5 business days went by with no response. When I did receive a response, I was let know that they were "sorry for the misinformation" and that they would actually be charging around DOUBLE of what we had discussed and calculated multiple times at the time of the tour. The reasoning they gave for this was that it is a holiday and an event hot date for them. They also stated in a later phone call that the hotel was already completely booked out to emphasize how busy they are, however the "holiday pricing" goes for events and weddings, and if a wedding package was chosen, no couple would even get to use the room block and discount that they advertise. During the tour that we took in December 2024, we were shown many rooms that they told us were fully available for us to book for December 2025.

During every single discussion that I had with the event space, they were aware of the date, that it was a holiday, and not once was this mentioned. Nor was it mentioned anywhere on their website. I am aware that it is normal for event spaces to up-charge on holidays or charge Saturday pricing for holidays, however, this is always communicated clearly on their website or in the first point of communication with every other event space I have viewed or contacted. I asked for a phone call from Avent Orangery to discuss and get some clarification. They did call me back same day. Other than an apology for the miscommunication, I was told that this must have just been a training error on their part. During the time that I had been waiting to get responses from them, other venues that we had visited became booked. This could have easily been avoided if communication was clear and upfront.

All in all, the event space itself is beautiful and has a ton of potential but I wouldn't recommend having any event here unless you have a different experience with the initial...