Rafters Venue — Attraction in Newtown Township

WOW. I have so much to say about Rafters but if there is one thing you need to know it's that you NEED to choose this as your venue.

Originally, I had booked another venue, but that venue cancelled on me 4 weeks before our wedding. My event designer knew of Rafters so I gave the owner, Mary Beth, a call. Luckily, they were available on my date and I can truly say that cancellation was the BEST thing to happen to us.

First, Mary Beth is the kindest woman I think I've ever met. The first time we spoke she was on the phone consoling me and helping to calm me down because of everything we had gone through due to COVID. I knew right away we would now be in good hands. She made herself available every time we needed to see the venue and worked with literally every dream and wish I had.

Rafters has their own rental company so they provide the tables and linens. We had to stick to social distancing guidelines which made the layout and rentals a bit tricky. However, Mary Beth still made it work. I said I wanted 4 farm tables, she fit 4 farm tables. I said I wanted bistro lights outside, she got bistro lights up outside. I said I wanted certain chairs, she found enough of them for all of my guests. Mary Beth worked so hard and it was such a pleasure planning our wedding with her.

Rafters is a great venue because the layout is awesome and its really a blank canvas so you can make it whatever you'd like. They are also prepared for ANYTHING. Mist on your wedding day? They have a tent for the ceremony. Pouring rain? They have an indoor space as well. Guests nervous of being in large crowds? They have a covered outdoor space for them to enjoy. Truly, Rafters has it all and you can feel confident that they will be able to tackle any issues as they arise. It's also perfect because it's new and updated! The bathrooms are very clean and and the bridal suite is large and beautiful. The bars are also large so that lines don't form and the prices are very reasonable.

You can tell this is not just a business to Mary Beth and that she really cares about all of the people who use her space. She really made our dreams come true. What could have been a disaster turned into the best day of our lives and we owe it all to her and Rafters. Please use this venue because I KNOW you will not be disappointed. If you want people to work hard to make your vision come true, Rafters is the place to go. I genuinely have no cons or complaints about Rafters.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you all for everything you have done for us. We had our dream wedding in the middle of a pandemic and I will forever be so thankful to you guys for...

I was very disappointed with the communication. I have still not gotten to see the venue, but at this point have decided to go in another direction. When I saw Rafters on WeddingWire I fell in love and was confident I wanted to have my wedding there. I reached out through the WeddingWire app and got no reply. A few days after that I went to their website and submitted a request for information through there. Still did not hear anything back. I began to get discouraged but again I loved this venue and wanted to see it in person so I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I found a few different numbers online for Rafters so I called each one. I was able to leave a voicemail for one of those. I also sent a message to their Instagram and Facebook pages. At that point I did receive a message through WeddingWire apologizing for the difficulty with communicating, the reasoning was that there was a storm in the area that impacted every form of communication they use. I was understanding and we set up a tour for that Saturday. The day of the tour I received a message that the person giving the tour was not feeling well and that we would need to reschedule. Right at that moment I messaged back saying I hope she felt better and if we could do the next weekend. I never got a reply. Yesterday I texted again asking if we could reschedule. No reply. I am so disappointed because this appeared to be the perfect venue for us, but I cannot imagine booking and having this hard of a time getting in touch...

I’ve avoided this review for YEARS but I can’t hold out any longer. I tried to have my engagement party here about 6 years ago and worked with Mary Beth. We toured the venue, were prepared to book and Mary Beth just decided to stop answering. That was red flag number one. About two years ago, we reached out to Mary Beth personally as well as the general inquiry email, AND called/left a message, to book the venue for my husband’s 30th. ZERO response. Red flag number two. ONCE AGAIN I reached out this week to get info/pricing for potentially booking my own 30th. Again, no response. Red flag number three. My mistake was reaching out again after my first experience. The venue is beautiful and matches the style I’m interested in for events. But it’s clear to me that they are incredibly unprofessional, lack communication skills, and couldn’t care less about receiving negative reviews considering the number of reviews that they have regarding EXACTLY this. At this point, I would NEVER recommend this venue to anyone due to their lack of professionalism and level of incompetence when it comes to communication. If I could give them zero stars, I honestly would. I’ve worked with low end event spaces that had better communication. Shame on...