Green Hill Farm — Attraction in Shepherdstown

I was emailed by Green Hill recently and offered a “pick your own flowers” session if I leave a positive review.. unfortunately that’s not at all what you’re going to find on this review. But you will find my honest opinions.. ironic we’re now being offered flowers when we were charged for them when they were advertised as included..

Before I was even engaged I saw weddings online from Green Hill that looked so gorgeous I knew that was the one venue I was absolutely going to be interested in. I was so interested in it that we compromised wanting a fall wedding and moved it to the Spring to one of the dates they had available.

In the weeks leading up to our big day, I couldn’t even get the venue to respond to my emails. I was so stressed and worried thinking we were going to have to throw together a back yard bbq wedding in a matter of days and take Green Hill to court to get our money back. I understand sometimes communications are missed but I sent multiple emails on different dates. For having a “venue coordinator” as the website advertises - we definitely did not get that. She was unavailable the day of our wedding and on Thursday (wedding Saturday) she emailed me saying “just listen for the music and open the front door and walk out.” Talk about stress! You mean no one’s even going to be there to tell the bride “ok, it’s time! Let’s go” and open the door and make sure I look my best before walking out to my ceremony?! One of the reasons that sold me on this was the fact I’d have a coordinator!

We went with a micro wedding package because we knew a big glamorous wedding wasn’t really our style. However, what was advised on Green Hill’s website is not what we were provided. Fine China - no, we were given plastic plates to use. Bouquets and boutonnières for the bridal party - no, that was deducted from our security deposit. I had one maid of honor, one flower girl & two groomsmen. I didn’t have a large wedding party where I was expecting a lot of arrangements to be given to us. Not to mention, no one told us we could take the flower arrangements from the center pieces home with us. We had already left our reception and our DJ of all people had to call and ask if we were going to come take our flowers home. Our wedding day happened to fall on the coldest day of spring - and by cold I mean rain, wind, guests wearing winter coats and covering up with blankets. FREEZING! My sister in law had to demand for the space heaters to he turned on! And even then the workers said we don’t know how to use them. Our guests had to light your space heaters for us to use.

The photography package came with 10 pictures - 10 PICTURES OF OUR WEDDING DAY! That’s insane. The photographers Instagram shows she’s a very, very talented photographer and we would have loved having her. We were told she was only available to photograph the ceremony and then would need to leave. We wouldn’t even be able to hire her for additional hours. We had to book our own photographer to come do our pictures.

Our dinner “grazing board” was changed multiple times. Finally about a week before the wedding they found a grazing board company to accommodate us. While the grazing board company did a very nice job, the food shouldn’t be something we’re having to also worry about when it’s included in the package. Our wedding cake that we were given is straight from Walmart, with the price tag still on it.

Here’s my only two positives: our DJ (Donnie) was awesome - we still talk about how much fun we had with him. Secondly, at the end of the day we were able to get married.

This was not a stress free event like we had envisioned when booking the micro package where everything is handled for us.

Definitely did not get what we had hoped or paid for.....

I am writing to raise a serious concern regarding the lack of access to free potable water on 08/23/25. Despite alcohol being served at the event, attendees were told that if they did not wish to purchase bottled water, their only options were to use bathroom sinks.

This is deeply troubling for several reasons:

Health & Safety Obligations – Under public health guidance, it is a basic expectation that venues serving alcohol provide free, safe drinking water. Denying this not only endangers attendees but can be especially harmful to vulnerable individuals, such as pregnant people, children, and those with medical conditions.

Duty of Care – A paying attendee was told they must either pay for water or drink from a bathroom sink. This dismissive approach shows disregard for attendee welfare and falls below reasonable standards of care.

Reputation & Professionalism – I am aware of your prior public responses to customer complaints, including sarcastic remarks that you are “in business to make revenue” and wishing complainants “well on their journey.” Such responses reflect poorly on the professionalism of your organization and suggest a lack of willingness to take responsibility for legitimate concerns.

A festival of this scale and cost should uphold, at a minimum, the standard practice of providing free, clean drinking water to attendees. Failure to do so is not only unsafe, but also contrary to community expectations of responsible event management.

I request that you:

Acknowledge this complaint formally.

Review your policies to ensure free, safe drinking water is available at all future events.

Commit to improving the professionalism of your responses to...

After visiting several venues around the area, my (then) fiancé and I decided that Green Hill Farm was everything that we wanted to host our Wedding and celebration following.

We were planning something more intimate than a traditional wedding but more involved than a micro. After talking about what we were looking for with Jackie, one of the coordinators, she came up with a plan that fit our plans and our budget.

Some of the things unique to GHF that really made it special for our event… the farm itself is absolutely stunning the flowers incorporated in our wedding came from the farm visits from the residents (Woody the Emu, the little puppies running around) as we planned and walked the grounds cabins available for us to stay in after the event an amazing open sided barn to host our reception Erin and her crew are so accommodating, considerate and flexible

Throughout the final months before the wedding, Jackie kept us on track and informed. When the threat of rain was encroaching, she worked to make sure we had options ready to go if needed (they weren’t).

We couldn’t have made a better choice and will always remember how this venue made our day a beautiful reality.

Thank you...