Speakeasy on State — Attraction in Redlands

This makes me so sad to write this because I rarely write negative reviews but I feel awful after the last wedding that I photographed there. First of all, I knew the owners prior to actually visiting the location which was a church. They were leaders In the church. They were a new venue and I had wanted to use the space to host a workshop. We have me a price to rent it, and I thought, why don’t we just do 50/50 so you can make more money? There was an agreement. I had people coming from out of town paying for this. The night before they told me I needed to pay everything which wasn’t talked about, I didn’t have access to the money through Eventbrite until after the event. Either way, I came up with it to, not cause issues, and sent it to them. They were not happy. (It was more than we agreed on originally). There was a confusion on what they were actually getting because they wanted half of ticket sale not half of the profit, I had paid other vendors. Mind you, this was the night before my workshop I was teaching. I told her how disappointed I was that there was so much hostility (especially being a Christian owned business). I told them, let’s just go back to the original agreement of the rental fee, they didn’t like that either. They told em i needed to come up with all the money that night or find someone else to have my workshop (people flew in for this). In order to not cause problems, I sent them the money so I could keep the people who paid for the workshop happy. I made no money for that workshop. In fact I paid out of pocket. Since then I have had 2 weddings and an event there. Every time I have worked with them the owners have been rude, money hungry, and not accommodating. They have demanded things from me the day before that take weeks to get. This last wedding I did there was absolutely heart breaking. We are in the middle of a pandemic.. This poor couple had to cancel their wedding and find a new venue. She was not accommodating with anything. I didn’t say anything to my couple because I didn’t feel it was my place to tell her my past experience with them. Wrong move!!! My bride came to ME upset about how rude and money hungry the owners were, she said she wouldn’t have booked it if it wasn’t so pretty and she had another option but she would never work with them again.... and SHE also went to the same church. When she mentioned I was the photographer ariel seemed disgusted. She was not happy that there were outside vendors coming in so she charged her The same as the packages with all their vendors. She wouldn’t have even make that money so they were just pocketing it.

I felt awful... I felt awful that I didn’t warn my couple of my last encounters... I felt awful that she had to experience that because I was afraid of drama. But I NEVER want my couples to feel what the owners made her feel. This breaks my heart that in the middle of a pandemic, when couples are heart broken over their wedding dreams being crushed they didn’t do anything they could to make this an enjoyable experience. So this is me, saying to all couples, PLEASE, it’s not worth the headache for how beautiful the space is. It really isn’t. My bride should have felt a whole different way on her wedding day.

I refuse to ever work with this company again, and I will heavily advise any other couple to not work with them because they are greedy, rude, and not accommodating. I expected more from a Christian run company. And I am sorry the couples I have let down so far in not using my voice so they had a good experience with...

My husband and I came across this sweet, charming venue on Instagram. My wedding planner, Abby, is an old friend from high school and she went to the Speakeasy's grand opening (ALE is one of their preferred vendors). It looked like a fun, versatile, and charming space! I was intrigued and put it on my list of potential wedding venues. It was the second place (of four) that we visited, but it was our number one from the get-go.

My husband and I just got married here a couple of weeks ago and we could not have been more happy with our choice in venue. The Speakeasy on State was the perfect venue for us! It was affordable which was extremely appealing, but I fell in love with the charm of the space. We got married in the Colombia room and moved into the Ballroom for the reception (we placed some cocktail tables and the photobooth in the Colombia room afterwards). We had just under 150 guests so it was a little tight in the Colombia room (I really wanted to get married in a half moon underneath their gorgeous chandelier so some guests had to stand). But there was definitely plenty of room once we opened up the ballroom for cocktail hour/reception.

The wedding package (which I thought was well-priced) we chose included a number of vendors and a specific number of items we could get from each vendor. I met with each vendor early on and it felt like they were in constant communication with each other and the Speakeasy. Dawn and Ariell were wonderful and attentive - addressing my questions via e-mail within 24 hours (which I think is a reasonable amount of time). We visited the space a handful of times before the wedding including for our wedding rehearsal and each time, they made sure that our questions were answered or that they would follow up with us in a timely manner (which they did).

The only con to using this venue is that parking can be difficult. There is the Redlands Mall by CVS, an underground parking structure that no one really knows where it is, and a parking structure across from Martha Greens. I made maps available on our wedding website to our guests prior and made sure they knew ahead of time and encouraged them to carpool. If you do this, parking shouldn't be that big of an issue (although be careful on Thursdays becasue Market Night happens on State St. and they close that street down). Oh, and I should mention that it is upstairs but there is a lift in case anyone needs assistance.

Honestly, I don't think you can go wrong with hosting an event at the Speakeasy on State. Dawn and Ariell were fantastic to work with and while this event space is relatively young, they are professional, efficient, and there's just something about these ladies that make you feel like they know what they're doing! It's definitely worth checking out in person, because the pictures aren't enough to show you how beautiful and unique this space is.

[This review is on Yelp, The Knot, and...

Where to even begin, "Speakeasy on State" was the perfect venue for our intimate wedding of 36 on a Tuesday afternoon. From the beginning, Katie was welcoming, helpful, informative and professional. My mother and I went in for a bridal open house event which gave us the opportunity to view the space and admire its unique historical charm. A couple weeks later, my now husband, and I went in and talked floor plans, colors, linens and so fourth. As our event drew nearer, we were given ample time and notice to provide insurance information in addition to keeping track with a detailed payment plan. The rehearsal was a breeze and Katie was patient with our group as we were all excited to see each other and some people were meeting for the first time. She went over the floor plan with us once more and was flexible in moving tables/sections to provide the most space as we were using the Columbia Room for our ceremony and reception. On the day of our wedding, Katie and Jason were dressed respectably, remained poised and went above and beyond to ensure a smooth flow. She worked amazingly with the outside vendors we hired for the event, made sure we had plates of small bites in between photos and speeches, smoothed out my train before walking down the aisle, had everyone sign our invitation poster (in lieu of a guestbook), passed out our party favors, and captured photos to share on both of our business pages. I cant express how wonderful the day was because of all the effort and thoughtfulness she put into the details. Our guests loved the environment and complimented profusely how beautiful the space was. We would highly recommend "Speakeasy on State" for any of your private event needs. Thank you...