Arrowwood Weddings + Events — Attraction in Red Oak

UPDATE 9/28/23

Taylor from Arrowwood reached out to my wife and I and she was so apologetic; we both could tell she was genuinely tore up about our experience with our coordinator. She was kind enough to give us a partial refund and stated clearly she had no expectation of us changing our original review, so we really appreciated her generosity and sincerity. We will keep our review at three stars to accurately reflect our wedding day experience, but my wife and I want to vehemently emphasize that Taylor has been absolutely amazing to work with and the Arrowwood venue is absolutely gorgeous!

Original

We had our wedding here in May of this year. It was a beautiful wedding venue and we loved Picasso the Donkey. I think we worked with Taylor, and she was great to work with. We also did it sight-unseen, but we did not regret that. They will do a FaceTime call with you and show you around.

My wife and I did want to deduct a couple stars due to our wedding coordinator (who works for Arrow Wood), Della Sherrill (I did reach out to Arrowwood to see where we could leave a review just for Della, but it turns she does not have a way to review her). Simply put, Della Sherrill was a major disappointment.

First, my wife and I noticed that the actual coordination was severely lacking. Everything was behind schedule. Keep in mind we met with Della on more than one occasion for a few hours over zoom to specify the schedule down to the minute of when events would happen. On the day of, we had minimal guidance or coordination, except for the actual ceremony. When we spoke to Della on zoom, we explicitly said we wanted our hands held the whole day where we did not even have to think (to which she said she could make that happen). It felt like we were having to hold her hand. In fact, we communicated more with family to get things done than with Della. (My Best Man even told me that the Wedding Coordinator was stressing him out). The schedule was so behind to the point where we were not even able to enjoy cocktail hour because we had to take photos. That was such a bummer, because there are friends and family we don’t see for years at a time that we’re there.

Second off, her attire was glaringly unprofessional (we were both embarrassed to say that she was the wedding coordinator); she was dressed up in what looked like a t-shirt, shorts, and tennis shoes. She was easily the most underdressed person at the wedding (all of the other vendors were professionally dressed). To make matters worse, she is in the background in some photos, so we will have to pay someone to have her photoshopped out.

Third, there were a few frustrating incidents. For instance, I got a text from Della saying she was going to get a drink at sonic (which I believe was about thirty minutes round trip away). It seems like on the day of your wedding (where the wedding coordinator has to be in the middle of everything to make the trains run on time) this was really inappropriate since it prevents her from being available. We get vendors need food and a break, but leaving for even that amount of time gave us anxiety.

Another example: When we went to do the cake cutting (and everyone was watching), nothing was ready, so I had to get the plates and utensils together from beneath the table. It was both awkward and frustrating for my wife and I, but we still made the best of things.

Also, for the grand exit, Della lit the sparklers way too early (they only last a couple minutes) while we were still having our last dance. Some of them went out before we completed our grand exit.

In short, we had a great wedding with wonderful memories, BUT Della Sherrill simply added very little value and a lot of stress and anxiety. We absolutely would not recommend using Della Sherrill as a wedding coordinator under any circumstances. We would strongly recommend getting a different wedding planner / coordinator.

Overall, the Arrowwood venue was gorgeous and we had a beautiful day.

Summary:

Venue: 5/5

Wedding Coordinator (Della Sherril):...

Just had our wedding on 5/31/2024…the owners Taylor and Byron were so amazing to work with. We dreamed about having our wedding outside and the day before, the venue experienced 5+ inches of rain. The morning of, I was convinced we were going to need to have the wedding inside. Taylor heard my concern and did everything in her power to make sure the wedding happened outside. They got their maintence crew out to clean up the area and the ceremony went perfectly. Very grateful for everything they did to help us have this ceremony outside.

We used pretty much all of their perferred vendors and cannot recommend them enough. We used Byron for photography and he was such a pleasure to work with. Keeping us entertained throughout all the picture taking.

Why I unfortunately had to give this 4 stars instead of 5…was from our day of coordinator Jana. From the beginning, it really was not a pleasant experience working with her. I tried my best to be as kind/understanding as possible throughout the whole planning process but she just did not meet our expectations. It was hard to get a response from her leading up to the wedding (had to reach out to Taylor and she was on it and helped me). I felt that during our 30 day meeting I really expressed our desire to be apart of our cocktail hour and went through a detailed timeline of what we wanted our schedule to look like. We had planned to have cocktail hour until 6:45. We spent 15 minutes with our guests and Jana was rushing people inside to sit down at 6:15. I did not understand the rush as we expressed so much how much we wanted to spend time with our guests during cocktail hour. I will say, Jana did approach me and ask if she could start moving people inside and without thinking I said yes so maybe that’s on me. But as a Bride, I had SO much going on with the people around me I wasn’t thinking. I just wish she would have honored the schedule we previously discussed. We even had custom fans made that had a timeline saying 5:30 “we drink” 7:00pm - “we eat”. The day after our wedding, we had family/friends tell us they also did not have a pleasant experience with her and she came across as very rude. I trust that my guests would not make this up as I agree she does not come off the most pleasant.

She came up to us while we were on the dance floor and asked us if we had money to pay the security guards. I did not realize we needed cash to pay them as everything we have paid for was on an online portal. I don’t recall her mentioning we pay them the night of but would have loved reminder before the wedding day so we could have took care of that before the night started. If we had a reminder that would have been totally different but it really did catch us off guard towards the end of the wedding while we are celebrating.

We also purchased an audio guestbook for guests to pick up a phone and leave live messages. Unfortunately, Jana did not turn the phone on so none of the messages from our guests were recorded. Maybe that was a miscommunication but I wish she could have confirmed with me before to make sure it was set up correctly.

Lastly, me and my husband left early while half of our guests waited for shuttles. I would have hoped that the coordinator would have made sure all the guests left the venue before she left but my Maid of Honor said she was no where to be found when guests were waiting for shuttles and I really thought that was unacceptable. Im not sure where she was or if she left. I’m very thankful my MOH stepped up to help make sure everyone got in a vehicle as everyone was drinking.

Overall, the day was GREAT! The venue is BEAUTIFUL! The owners are AMAZING! I would absolutely recommend if this venue is your vibe, just would have hoped for a better...

I recently had the pleasure of hosting my wedding at Arrowwood, and while the overall experience was enchanting, there were a couple of hiccups that slightly tempered our joy. Please keep in mind that this is coming from the perspective of a former event coordinator.

From the moment we first set foot on the grounds, we knew Arrowwood was the perfect place for our special day. The picturesque surroundings and charming decor provided an idyllic backdrop for our wedding festivities. The venue's staff, for the most part, were attentive, accommodating, and went above and beyond to make our day truly memorable.

However, our journey with Arrowwood was not entirely without its challenges. One of the major issues we encountered was communication. There were instances where we felt there was a lack of clarity and responsiveness, particularly during the planning stages. For example, it would have been great if we could have the coordination appointment earlier on - it created some unnecessary stress and confusion, which could have been avoided with more consistent and prompt communication.

Another aspect that left us slightly disheartened was the unexpected increase in pricing. At the time, it seemed like a great deal for all included, but, to our surprise, Arrowwood has increased their prices on almost everything. We paid $6500 for an October Saturday that we booked in March 2022, currently you could get the same weekend at $7900 (as of Dec 2023) - a 20% increase. It wasn't clear during the process what prices that we would be paying, especially when the price of coordination went from $1000 to $1200 within the time that we were planning our wedding. We assumed that we would be paying the lower price that we had agreed to and put a deposit on, but I would have liked more in writing to ease my mind. We did pay the price that we agreed on, to be clear. That being said, I don't really know if Arrowwood is worth the current price. It's a beautiful venue with great staff, but it really seems like the owners are taking advantage and it would definitely be out of my budget if I were to book any later.

Despite these challenges, the beauty of the venue itself and the efforts of the staff to make our day special cannot be understated. The wedding was executed flawlessly, and our guests were in awe of the stunning surroundings. The venue's team worked tirelessly on the day of the event to ensure everything ran smoothly, and for that, we are truly grateful. The staff was literally wet-vaccing (is that a verb?) puddles and putting down new pavement because it was important to me to have an outdoor ceremony despite the FLASH FLOODING that happened the night previous. Mallory was amazing, very LGBTQ+ friendly, and she completely eased my mind at the coordination meeting. Plus, I didn't outline every detail for my decor, but her instincts were on point. Taylor was on point as well, my wedding ran very smooth with her help, and anyone willing to deal with my family deserves a medal. ;)

In summary, Arrowwood is a magical setting for a wedding, and our day was filled with love and joy. However, improvements in communication and a more transparent approach to pricing changes would greatly enhance the overall experience for future couples. If you choose Arrowwood for your special day, be sure to establish clear lines of communication and inquire about any potential price adjustments well in advance.

Photos: @thatmomwithacamera - she...