The James Ward Mansion — Attraction in Westfield

Beautiful Venue, Disappointing Experience

While the James Ward Mansion is undeniably a unique and beautiful venue, our overall experience was unfortunately disappointing. Leading up to our wedding, the owners were uncooperative and made the planning process more stressful than it needed to be. Since the venue claims that my concerns are unfounded and an anomaly of their 5-star reviews, here are the specific examples of our less-than-favorable experience:

The week before our wedding, during our pre-event walkthrough, we discovered that the owners had made several cosmetic changes to the venue that were not communicated to us in advance. While we were notified of larger renovation changes, some major cosmetic changes were neglected—such as white-washing the exposed brick in the atrium area. This change, while likely done to expand the appeal of the venue, should have been communicated to a bride ahead of time and not discovered a week before the wedding. This lack of transparency was unsettling and frustrating.

Adding to this frustration, the day before our wedding, the venue allowed us an hour to set up our chuppa for the ceremony. While my husband and his brothers were there, the owners stood with their arms crossed, watching them put together the chuppa, claiming my husband was damaging the floor (which was not true), asking for ID and proof of insurance, and generally exhibiting intimidating tactics. This added unnecessary tension during an already stressful time. The owners admittedly thought my husband was a vendor, but this does NOT justify nor dismiss their behavior and attempts to intimidate him. This behavior was unprofessional and left a negative impression on us and our families.

During setup on the day of our wedding, our florist was placing flowers on the fountain in the atrium. My planner was called by the venue's coordinator and questioned about the flowers. However, at our pre-event walkthrough the week before, the venue had a representative present who knew that we planned to have flowers on the fountain and never mentioned that it wasn't a possibility.

Lastly, the morning of the wedding, I paid extra to arrive early to use the bridal suite to get ready. The owners reside in the building next door and there is a hidden door between the two buildings. This access point leads to a catwalk directly outside the bridal suite. As we arrived and were getting ready with hair, makeup, and dressing, the owner came from his next-door residence right onto that catwalk outside the bridal suite. The owners were well aware that we rented the space that morning and should not have accessed the venue while my bridal party and I were in the bridal suite. After how they treated my husband the day before, it is easy to interpret this surprise visit as more intimidation by the owners.

Most disappointing was the venue's response after the wedding. I asked my planner to arrange a time for me to directly discuss some of these issues. My planner was told that they refuse to address my concerns and feedback, claiming instead that my issues lie at the feet of her, my planner, and our caterer, and that their plethora of 5-star reviews speak for themselves. I, too, reached out directly to discuss these issues with the venue's coordinator and was met with the same resistance; my text message was ignored. This unprofessionalism and disregard for our concerns were extremely disappointing and added to our overall negative experience.

Here is my response to their claims: My specific concerns are with the management of the venue and their treatment of us and our vendors. No venue should rest on their laurels of 5-star reviews and ignore a less-than-favorable experience by a customer.

Despite the venue's charm and aesthetic appeal, these issues overshadowed what should have been a joyful and memorable experience. Based on our experience, I would not recommend the James Ward Mansion. It's important for couples to feel supported and respected by their venue, and unfortunately, that was not our...

The James Ward Mansion was a hit with our guests! It's great for smaller parties, and it's clean, classy, and one-of-a-kind in terms of ambiance. My family and I were especially impressed by the ballroom/dining area and the beautiful rooms upstairs where you could get ready for the party. We also liked that we had the whole venue to ourselves and that guests were free to move from room to room when they pleased. Julie was also amazing to work with and was very attentive to our needs and feedback.

Just a few things to be mindful of... this is not the most disability-friendly venue. There are quite a lot of stairs, and the service elevator in the back of building js older and can be difficult to find. If you have guests that need assistance going up and down stairs, it's best to keep tabs on when they will arrive, so you can tell them about the elevator and alert the mansion representative to work the elevator for them. Also, if you are bringing in food, party favors/decor, or any heavy equipment, you can't use the elevator to transport them, you have to use the stairs.

Moreover, since the venue is on a main street in a downtown area, its main entrance is accessible to whoever wants to enter from the street. Because the venue does not offer security for adult parties, it's easy for people to come in and crash the party if the door is not locked.

And although kids are welcome at the venue, it's not the most kid-friendly place. There are again lots of stairs and antique furnishings, so if you are having kids at your reception, make sure they are well-supervised and have things to do to keep them occupied. I think it's also important to mention that since the mansion is a historic building, the staff is very mindful of keeping the property well-maintained. Unfortunately, the mansion attendant at our party was hyper-vigilant in terms of keeping eyes on us and our children in order to make sure we weren't "damaging the property", so check in with Julie to see which attendant would work best for your guests/event and also confirm ahead of time which specific spaces are off-limits for you and your guests.

With all those things in mind, we would definitely consider having another event at the James Ward Mansion. It really is a hidden gem in New Jersey, and it photographs so well! If you want something that is different from the usual banquet hall, the mansion leaves a great impression and can give you a more tailored, relaxed, and intimate experience with...

Beautiful venue, great caterers, bad management

I had my wedding at James Ward in June 2024. Long story short, I can't recommend this venue due to several egregious errors and miscommunications by their main point of contact, Julie Ibrahim.

We booked and paid in full for the venue in January 2024, planning to be married in May, which was already a very short planning timeline. Two weeks later, I received a call saying that due to a calendaring error, my booked date wasn't actually available and another couple had already booked and paid months prior. Although we scrambled to find another venue to keep our date, after learning most of our vendors were still available in June, we ultimately decided to remain with James Ward.

To compensate, their staff -- and even the caterer, who hadn't made a mistake -- offered a discount and added extra hours to our event without charge. However, it took multiple months and emails back and forth with Julie to get that refund, though that was attributed to their accounting system.

The worst issues occurred the week and day of the wedding. I emailed Julie a few days before the wedding to finalize a time for the alcohol distributor to drop off our order, and only then did I learn she was out of the country and another person would handle our event. This person, Anna, was late to the appointment with the alcohol distributor, blaming me for giving her an incorrect time even though both myself and the distributor had the same time that she provided us. She was terse and rude to our day-of coordinator on the day of our wedding. The kicker was that although Julie had told us she extended our hours until 11 pm, around 10 pm, Anna abruptly signaled to our DJ that the event was over, and spent the next half hour rushing us and our guests out.

Our selected caterer, T&L, and their staff were really a godsend that day. Perhaps James Ward might work for less hectic or shorter events. But even for non-wedding events, our main gripes were with the communication and professionalism of...