Chapel at Ana Villa — Attraction in The Colony

My daughter was married at the venue over the past weekend. We fell in love with the place when we toured it in the spring and were so looking forward to holding the event there. The young lady we met with was wonderful and walked us through what we envisioned would be the perfect day. BEWARE! They overpromised and underdelivered at almost every turn. When we arrived for setup on wedding day the building reeked of bleach but was somehow still dirty. We were told we would have someone on wedding day to assist our coordinator for the ceremony with executing timing etc, which was reiterated at the 30 day planning meeting (which, by the way, was almost impossible to get scheduled and was finally held 17 days prior to the ceremony after countless unanswered requests for return calls to schedule). There was someone working in the building that day but he never offered any such assistance. The reception, however was absolutely 100% awful. If a venue is going to require you utilize their catering staff and menu, especially at their pricing, they should certainly provide stellar service. NOT THE CASE. The drinking glasses were dirty, at least 15 with lipstick on the rims. They charged an additional $275 for "upgraded" ivory linens for the tables. Several of the linens had burn holes, I assume from candles, and they were crafted for long rectangle tables versus the round tables that were set for the event. We had to crawl under the tables and tie them up around the legs to prevent pooling on 2 sides of the tables. They charged an additional $100 for silver charges with the place settings, most of which were scratched and chipped. There were round mirrors and multilevel glass cylinder vases for centerpieces. The mirrors were filthy and the vases were splattered with candle wax. We were told the bride and groom would be served first and that did not happen. They were served cold plates of steak and scallops 45 minutes AFTER the guests were served. We paid for a total of 456 hot hors d'oeuvres and only served roughly 175 pieces, which is a generous estimate. Several people did not receive salads. We had ONE vegan meal request planned for in advance. We were approached by 3 different staff members, including the catering supervisor, to confirm it would be provided to the correct guest/table however the guest was still served the non-vegan meal. Once we complained it was rectified. The tea and water bar was empty for 45 minutes during our meal. The catering supervisor was notified of this 3 times and when I approached her the 4th time she was quite abrasive and argued that it had been handled when it had, in fact, not been and was still empty. We were supposed to have several cocktail tables set with black linens in the patio area, which were there, however they were clearly left from the previous night's event and were littered with crumbs and ashes. There was not a garbage can available for use anywhere onsite. We were told we would have the bubble machine which was never set up or left for us to set up. At the end of the night, the staff which was supposed to be responsible for breakdown of the reception area (linens, house centerpieces, sweeping, etc), lined up along the balcony railing of the Ballroom and watched the wedding party do their job - never once offering to tell any of us it was not our responsibility. As if all of these things were not enough, I have been unable to reach anyone nor get a return call back or email since the event ended. They had no problem charging my card an additional $3,100 the night of the event but I have not been provided with any kind of itemization or documentation for the charge(s). This is a beautiful venue but it is poorly managed and they only care about taking your money. Once you have paid in full you are a...

Chapel at Ana Villa was an amazing venue. My husband and I chose this place for the Mediterranean feel and the pews that the chapel had. When you walk in to the wedding venue you are just stunned by the beauty of the entire venue (reception room, cocktail hour, ceremony room and the bride and groom suites). The staff was nothing short of amazing as well. Everyone was so accommodating and extremely helpful throughout the entire process from getting started and picking our venue to our big day. We had a planning representative assigned to us at the beginning (Newshaw Varta) and she helped us get into all the food tastings and took us on tours of all the venues that WWE has to offer. Once we chose a venue, we were assigned to Chelsea Sproles, who did a fantastic job getting our profile/dashboard up and running with invoices/contracts, etc. She answered all questions that we had and was very helpful. Once we got further down the path and with how busy the staff is, we were assigned to Sydnee who helped us the rest of the way. Sydnee was AMAZING...she helped us with all questions we had and helped us get additional add ons added, finalized our big day and was with us by our side through the entire process. The communication that the whole staff had was impeccable, through email and text. Once everything was finalized for our big day, we were assigned to Kadia Kice whom helped us with rehearsal and our big day. Kadia did such an amazing job and had lots of patience with our big rowdy group. Kadia was very laid back and made sure to touch all the important items for the day of. On the day of, she was right by my side asking if we needed anything several times and making sure all was turning out okay. She kept us on time throughout the whole event and we couldn't be more grateful to have such a great staff to help us along the way. The staff really helped us to enjoy our big day and not have any of the horror stresses that you would typically hear about on wedding day. The catering team was amazing and had food ready right on the dot, everyone who attended though the food was AMAZING and very tasty. The florist, Tina, did an incredible job from the 1st day planning to the final day with all staff showing up on time and not running into any issues. Jenny, did our 4 tiered cake with 2 flavors and the cake literally melted in your mouth. We had cinnamon swirl (tasted like a cinnamon roll) and a new flavor they brought on (strawberry champagne). We had also asked for a cascade of flowers to be on the cake and it turned out BEAUTIFUL. The DJ on our day of was INCREDIBLE. We had playlists for ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, and the reception and he did a great job feeling the vibe of the crowd and having fun. The bartenders do only come with 1 so I suggest that you get 2 (depending on your final count). Everyone was very satisfied with the timing on getting drinks a the bar. Everyone at our wedding had the absolute time of their lives and had great things to say about the staff involved and how amazing our wedding turned out. I can't stress this enough..if you are looking for a wedding venue, PLEASE keep Walters Wedding Estates (WWE) in mind through your search. The staff makes it so seamless and let's you enjoy your engagement. We were very hands off during this time and we couldn't be...

We fell in love with The Chapel at Ana Villa the moment we saw it & immediately knew that it would be our wedding venue! Bonnie was the person we dealt with directly for all of our planning details & she was beyond amazing! Anything we needed help with, she was there. One day, when my sister & I were there working on centerpieces, we noticed that the windows at the back of the chapel were letting in so much sunlight that you literally couldn't see anything when you turned around. This was the exact time of day that my ceremony was going to take place, so obviously, I was a little panicked. Within minutes of letting Bonnie know, she had sent pictures to the person who would be in charge of resolving it, & within 2 weeks, there were curtains installed to block out the sunlight during that time of day, allowing my wedding guests to see perfectly when I made my grand entrance. Kari was my coordinator for the day & she was also amazing! We had a very large wedding party (8 bridesmaids & 8 groomsmen,) so we were, undoubtedly, more difficult than many of the wedding parties she had previously dealt with, but she handled everything with patience & was incredibly helpful in making sure the events of that evening went smoothly. Another plus is that there are 2 hotels DIRECTLY across the parking lot from the venue. This was perfect for us, because we had a very large number of friends & family members traveling from out of town/out of state. It's also super convenient that the venue is a "one stop shop," meaning that everything from tables, linens, centerpiece vases, chairs, and food and drinks are all part of the packaged deal. You don’t have to shop around 100 different places to piece together everything you need. Also, the ceremony & reception take place in the same building, just separate wings, so your guests don’t have to drive anywhere for the reception, which, again, was good for us with all of the out of state guests we had in attendance that didn’t have cars. The only advice I would give to brides considering this venue is to find out in advance if they have another wedding directly before or after yours. I didn't know until the day of that there was a ceremony right after mine, so we felt more rushed than I expected to feel during pictures with my family & my wedding party. Make sure you ask whichever staff member is helping you with your wedding planning if there is another ceremony that day & if so, how close it is to yours so that you are able to plan accordingly. Aside from that, the venue was perfect, the staff was amazing, & the food was delicious! I definitely recommend The Chapel at Ana Villa to anyone looking for the perfect...