Beau Cheval in Wartrace — Attraction in Shelbyville

Sadly, I am writing this review to give others my experience with this venue, and it unfortunately doesn't match the other wonderful reviews I read before I visited Beau Cheval. I visited sometime I think in early October, and my excitement for this venue was through the roof and Beau I think could instantly see that! The prices, the scenery, all that she had in order was impressive to me and I instantly fell in love and then the excitement grew. From then on, Beau started off with open communication and I thought this venue was going to be the one, only until my family and i looked over the contract and had some questions. From my side, I was trying to be respectful of the venue and everything Beau and Gary had worked so hard to put together, but that ultimately left me ghosted. Also, let's be real that perceiving a tone of voice can be totally different over an email, and in the end we were just trying to make sure we understood everything they requested. After emailing all the questions to Beau, they went silent on me. For about a week I was hoping and trying to give them the benefit of the doubt when it came to response time, then I told my fiancé to try and call. The first time we called, the voice mail box was full so I was assuming that there could have been family stuff going on, but then we tried to call the next day and my fiancé was able to leave a message. By the third day, him and I agreed that if they didn't answer it was a sign, but Beau picked up the phone. I wasn't the direct person on the call nor can we remember word by word what was conversed but my fiancé said that it came across that they were hurt by the usage of the word "unfair". I have to say that was the worst word used, and no ounce of us were trying to offend them. Like I said above, our goal was to get on the same page and receive some clarification on things possibly written differently. So, they spoke on the phone and my fiancé also mentioned that it seemed that the reason why they hadn't responded was because they were hurt because of how fair they are to their customers. Okay, yes you're fair but all we were saying was this one part of your contract was UNFAIR! In the end, I am hurt and felt that there was not an ounce of communication or just being able to discuss the contact more in depth. It is unfair that if the venue (Beau Cheval) cancels on the bride and groom that they keep all the money. Yes, you can keep the deposit that is non-refundable but what if we wanted to move our wedding date due to a family death or something of that sort? There are things out of our control and mainly that was the points we were trying to ask about (even if it won't happen). If you have concerns with the contract, just dont ask questions or you may be ignored. She also made it clear that they want their customers happy from the start and I was, until I had no communication and was ignored because of practically asking questions. My dad and stepmom helped me read through this and they saw things that needed fixing or re-wording to make it more clear. I didn't end up with the venue, and I am sad to say that I am happy i didn't because I think some work needs to be done when it comes to communication and business. Beau doesn't even know half of the information on that contract, and will ignore you because they take things way to personally. I was very upset because in the end I had felt that I couldn't have been more respectful, but this wasn't meant to be for us I guess.

Please read contracts, Brides. It is important to know every case scenario and because we spend so much money on these...

We booked this venue back in January 2021 for our wedding on October 16, 2021. This was the first venue we had gone to look at and everything about it felt right. We didn’t feel like we were getting a sales pitch, just a tour of their old family home that they renovated into a wedding venue. We took a chance and booked it before all the renovations when the ceremony area was an in-ground pool (now a beautiful concrete platform) and the reception area was just some concrete and a garage space (now a huge white pavilion with string lights and a perfect space for a reception). Over the summer, Beau and Gary worked extremely hard to renovate both areas and I was absolutely speechless when I saw the venue in July. When they have an idea, they make it happen and they exceeded our expectations.

We decided to rent the venue out as an AirBNB the night before so we could have our rehearsal dinner and our wedding party could spend the night. They have plenty of bedrooms and a nice kitchen space. We ended up staying under the pavilion after our rehearsal dinner just hanging out and dancing to music. It was an amazing night and I was so glad we could wake up the next morning and not be rushed to get to the venue and just take out time (our ceremony was at 3:30 pm).

The bartender (Emilee Burke) and our decorators (Sarah and Joy with Ivy & Grace decor) were amazing too! Ivy & Grace decor actually have a storeroom on the Beau Cheval property and they had an amazing package to where $500 included an arch for our ceremony (different shapes to choose from) and table decor as well as any decor in the storeroom they already had. The $500 included set up and tear down as well so it was really nice to not have to worry about all that.

The weather was perfect and it felt like the first day of fall on our special day. Because of the the wind chill, we decided to have the plastic brought down to block all the wind under the pavilion. There are so many amazing places at the venue to take photos, plenty of parking and Beau and Gary are always willing to help in any way they can.

Now I’m going to shout out to Beau and Gary. They gave us their phone number from the very beginning and were always quick to respond on any questions I had (and I had A LOT). With Beau, no question was a stupid one and she always went above and beyond to help ease my worries. During the construction, she sent me pictures and videos of all the progress along the way. Beau and Gary are the most genuine, down to earth people that just want to help people live out their dream wedding (or event) and they did that for us and more.

I will recommend Beau Cheval in Wartrace to anyone I know that is getting married because the venue is perfect in every...

This venue is perfect for the bride that wants to be hands off and allow Beau Cheval to handle everything for them. As soon you start to do anything personalized (guest book, favors, etc.) it will fall on you to handle on wedding day. From the beginning, Beau stated that she was a venue coordinator not a day of coordinator. As someone not in the wedding industry, I didn’t realize what a huge difference that is. I paid $1200 for venue coordinator services which is comparable to what a day of coordinator charges. Beau will not put out anything that you personally bring. If you ask her to do anything extra she is very combative.

What Beau was willing to do, she did amazing. It was very helpful having someone to create a timeline and help us stick to the timeline on wedding day. This bar sign and welcome sign they made were beautiful. The vendors that we used from Beau Cheval were for the most part great. Specifically, their caterer, strawberry moon, was phenomenal.

Another thing to be aware of before you hire Beau Cheval, is that they will not calculate taxes into the catering estimate. This was an unexpected cost in the end even though I used their main caterer (strawberry moon).

Overall, I feel that I was sold a stress free wedding day that I was not delivered. If you are wanting to be hands off, this venue is for you. If you are planning on personalizing your wedding, I highly recommend either hiring a day of coordinator or choose...