The Felt Estate — Attraction in Laketown Township

I have waited a LONG time to write this, as I didn't want to waste my energy on it; however, I'm doing so because I think it's important for people to know who they're doing business with, especially when it comes to their wedding day. I will never, ever set foot on this property after the experience my husband and I had, dealing with the Felt's team, specifically Patty and Derrick, during Covid. My now husband and I (we got married at an entirely new venue because of our negative experience), booked our original wedding for May 2020. Like many other Covid couples, we cancelled our big day, something we'd both been dreaming of, out of concern for everyone's safety, and closer to the day found out we wouldn't have been able to hold the wedding due to laws in place re: gathering in large groups. We spent $15,000 to reserve the estate for our wedding weekend - keep in mind, no work was actually DONE by the Felt's team, other than putting our name on a calendar and reserving the date. Contractually speaking should have received a FULL refund as per state laws, they would not have been able to host the wedding as we had planned it. They never offered this as an option, but we were instead met with an email outlining "future booking dates" - all of which were Monday-Thursday. They were no doubt keeping the IDEAL dates of Friday-Sunday open for NEW couples to book in 2021. I was furious, because who books a WEDDING during the week. My husband couldn't fathom they would actually do something deceitful like that, so he called under a different name, and sure enough, the weekend we wanted in May WAS available. We ended up calling our wedding planner to address this issue are we were fuming, and they came back with "additional dates" that were available. We booked the future weekend, not dreaming that Covid would still be looming.

Come February 2021, when numbers were high and vaccines were JUST rolling out for essential workers, we made the difficult decision, yet again, to not only cancel the day, but to cut down the guest list more than half. To spend $15,000 for a weekend where again, legally, we were not supposed to have more than 6 households under one roof, hosting the wedding we had planned for was out of the question. The Felt kept our $15,000, even though they received PPP loans to keep everyone employed AND received a $500,000 grant in 2021. My husband and I are both professionals, both in sales, and my father is a small business owner - and never in a million years would any of us have treated a couple trying to get married, with such coldness. I have since advised 4 couples who wanted to get married there to be cautious; they were appalled and chose other venues based on the unethical business practices and due to the one-sided nature of their new contract.

What is supposed to be the “best day” of our life turned into a costly nightmare - yet we still chose to spend MORE money to host our wedding elsewhere, because of how they chose to handle things. It was not a place we wanted to start the rest of our lives together, and surely didn't want those people surrounding us on such a special occasion. Why they couldn't see past the standard “cancellation policies” and recognize that these are unprecedented times - we are living in a global pandemic - and no one should feel pigeonholed into holding an event that could be unsafe, is beyond me. Cancelling our wedding TWICE was not a decision we made lightly and we were devastated - twice. The world we live in is not what it was when we initially booked with the venue, and there was no grace given, at all.

Read your contract closely and proceed with caution - there are plenty of other venues that offer better service and are owned by...

Very disappointed with my experience here in October 2020. Rented the mansion overnight 3p-10a for roughly $1200. Signs posted saying closed to private event but random strangers were walking the grounds and peering into the windows staring at my friends and family who were the guests. I even had a group of people taking pictures ask me to move out of their shot to which we responded that they were trespassing on a private gathering and they still didn't leave.

Beyond that, the building and grounds are in a level of disrepair that very likely falls outside of legally acceptable for a venue that rents out to guests, especially one that is owned publicly. The cement railing on the rear patio was deteriorated to the point that if you sat on or leaned against it, it would have fallen in and collapsed. There was a water fountain broken and just leaking everywhere into the basement and ground floor of the carriage house. Several window latches do not work and are missing fasteners. The front entryway cement is literally crumbled to gravel and they've crudely glued down a rug over top of it. The wood trimmed windows are rotted out.

Lastly, they recommend a medium to enhance your overnight experience as the mansion is supposed to be haunted. Do not pay for this service. Somehow this person has found a way to significantly overvalue her time and amounts to little more than a third-rate tour guide to the house. You can learn more about the mansion and its history in 30 seconds of scanning a Google search result than in an hour with a feckless hack like the...

The Felt Estate is the PERFECT venue, and it was one of the best choices I made when planning our wedding. My planner and I worked with Derrick and Holden, who were absolutely wonderful venue managers. They were so accommodating in helping us achieve our vision, which included an alfresco dinner in the garden (never been done before at the Estate, and they totally made it happen!!!).

There's so much to love about the Estate, but my favorite was the little white chapel. If you're a classic bride, this ceremony location is a dream come true, seriously! The inside of the mansion is gorgeous, with stunning wallpapers as the backdrop in every room. We did a mini cake cutting in the beautiful library. The bridal suite is spacious and has lots of vintage touches. I felt like a princess getting ready! Also loved that we could spend the night in the mansion with all our close friends -- we had a little afterparty with pizza from Jets in the 3rd floor ballroom -- one giant sleepover.

Our wedding was actually interrupted by a tornado warning, and we had to evacuate to the basement (no joke). However, the venue team made this so chill, it didn't kill the vibe of the party AT ALL. Our amazing DJ kept the party going afterwards in the parlor inside the mansion. We had a seriously fun night, and so did our guests! Massive thanks to Felt and their entire team. Would recommend them...