The Henry Smith House — Hotel in Picayune

My granddaughter selected this venue even though I strongly objected to it. The staff at Henry Smith House totally misled us about what they would provide for a July wedding. I was very concerned about the heat since the rehearsal and dinner, wedding, and reception were all outside. We were told that they have many weddings there in the summer and no one has ever complained of the heat because they have many fans and even some outdoor air conditioning units they could place around the area being used. People were almost passing out at the rehearsal since there was ONE fan. At the wedding there may have been one or two fans which were totally inadequate. People left early due to the extreme heat. When I asked the staff about this they said, "that's why we only have one or two weddings a year in the summer." Initially I was told they are extremely busy in the summer and never had any complaints about the heat.| The wedding was a package deal which included a wedding cake. We also paid for a floral cake top. There was no cake top provided as agreed, The bride's bouquet was not what she ordered and had to be sent back to be fixed up and was still not as requested. We purchased two large arrangements for the ceremony. The flowers were beautiful but the staff had not been informed to move the flowers to the reception area after the wedding and to move them inside to the honeymoon suite after the guests left.| I don't know who was in charge of the food, but we sat waiting in the reception area for an hour after the ceremony ended before we were served our meal. The help were not trained despite our being told they had an excellent group that was well trained and had been with them a long time. They had to keep asking the bride what to do next. The bride and groom were told they were to have a private dinner inside the house, but the food never came and the couple wasted time waiting for that. When the bride and groom returned to the reception, staff began serving from the back of the room and served the bride and groom last. The food was cold. They also cut and served the cake top layer first and did not save it for the couple to have on their first anniversary which is custom.| The bride and groom intended to spend their first night on the property in the honeymoon suite, but there were no sheets on the bed and no towels or soap. The bride and groom had to stay upstairs where we had stayed the night before. Upstairs rooms also had dead bugs in tubs and water smelled horrible. Our toilet was broken and we had to get someone to repair it. Couple had to dig around in a supply closet for soap. It amazed me that no one thought to do a walk through before guests came, especially since it had been a month since the house last had guests stay.| I don't blame the staff for this disaster. The owner decided at the last minute to go out of town. He did not inform us at all that he would not be there and we only found out when we arrived. Extremely unprofessional. His assistant did not have enough information from him about our discussions regarding the wedding and reception. They kept apologizing for all the shortcomings and did their best to meet our needs. We were told they would make it up to us, and we haven't heard anything from them. They simply are not equipped to handle a wedding at...

My husband and I got married at the Henry Smith House, on 3/15/25. We also booked their accommodations so we could stay all weekend. There was a storm surge all day Saturday, a level 4 threat across Louisiana and Mississippi. Not once did I have to stress about the weather because Dustin and his team took care of everything. On top of the weather, some personal matters delayed our reception for my husband and I. Dustin and Gabe were very understanding and accommodating to us. I could not have wished for better coordinators, and a better wedding venue. Thursday night before the rehearsal dinner, I realized I did not have placements cards for the tables. When we arrived at the venue I was in disbelief of not only how beautiful everything was; but the coordinators took it upon themselves to write the placement cards for me. Each and every encounter, leading up to the wedding, was wonderful. Not only is the venue absolutely stunning, Dustin and Gabe are so fun to work with. If you are a bride who hates DIY and planning decor/timelines, booking with the Henry Smith House will save you all of the time and energy. The only thing I had to worry about was our signs, pictures/frames, our party favors and working with our other vendors leading up to the big day. Dustin and his team were phenomenal, and absolutely blew me away with how beautiful everything turned out. It was obvious how much Dustin and Gabe love what they do, and care about their work, they are very talented. The landscape was beautiful, the staff was wonderful all weekend long, and the food was amazing. The Henry Smith House was an absolute dream, and I could not thank them enough for how amazing and stress free our weekend was. You will not regret booking the Henry Smith House, the beautiful property and the wonderful staff are absolutely worth...

I rarely write reviews, but my experience with this place was so terrible that I am making an exception to my general practice. I am an attorney and need to visit the Picayune area from time to time. I was interested in staying somewhere other than the one hotel in town and found this place online. To book a room, I called the phone number listed, multiple times, and submitted a request to book through the website. After numerous calls and attempts to contact them, I received an e-mail and later booked a room for two nights. I received a confirmation e-mail providing the latest checkout time and the earliest checkin time. I heard nothing else from them until the day I was to arrive. I received an e-mail at around 2 pm. I was flying during this time, but called the house after landing and getting a rental car. I called at least six or seven times, texted the phone number, responded to the e-mail, and even called another phone number from my e-mail confirmation. I received nothing in response. I showed up the house, which is in the middle of nowhere, to find that the gate was unlocked, every light inside and outside the house was on, and both doors to the house were unlocked. I went inside and called out. I also looked around to determine if they left me a key, note, etc. There was nothing. At this point, feeling like I was potentially about to be murdered, I left. The Picayune Holiday Inn was booked; I had to drive to Slidell to find another place to stay, which thankfully had a few rooms left. Days later, I have still received no response e-mail, no call, no text. I have never encountered a functioning business that operates this way in all my travels. I have no idea how they are still operating, how they avoid being burglarized, or how they intend to make money. What a...