Edward Anne Estate at Bavaria Downs — Local services in Chaska

My daughter and son-in-law had their reception at Bavaria Downs on June 5th, 2021, originally scheduled for April 18th, 2020. When we first walked through the front door, we fell in love with it. Our wedding planner was Melissa and she was awesome! She worked with us to create a timeline. We felt confident that we were in good hands and that the staff at Bavaria would assure that everything went smoothly. Melissa left Bavaria and we were assigned a new planner, Hannah. Our photographer, videographer, DJ and florist were arranged with Bellagala. A few months out, we were informed the photographer was no longer able to be there. We had to find another photographer. About a month before, my daughter discovered that the videographer had left Bavaria and we were never told. Luckily, we found another videographer. The day of the reception went great despite a couple hiccups. When we arrived at 8:00a.m., I told Hannah we had one less table and which table number should be removed. She did not relay this information and the table was set up. At our table, we were short two place settings. Not huge deals, but annoying. The real problems came at the end of the evening. According to our timeline, the bar closed at 10:30, the wedding couple would depart at 10:45 and the DJ would announce for the guests to head outside to send the couple off. At about 10:40, things were still going strong. Bar was serving, people were dancing and I saw no signs of things wrapping up other than staff removing all the table decorations onto carts, while the ballroom was still filled with guests. I found a girl taking down decorations and asked here who was in charge. I asked her if the hired car was there and she went to check. It was not and she did not have the contact info for the driver that I had given Hannah. I scrambled to find a car to drive the couple. It was chaos and very stressful. Eventually, the bar stopped serving and the DJ moved people outside for the sendoff, but much behind schedule. Things did not go smoothly. We were told that the bar would not serve obviously intoxicated people. They did. We said we did not want bartenders to serve shots. They did. And, a bartender told a guest "I take bribes if you want the whole bottle" (of wine). We were told that Bavaria staff would make sure shuttles and limo were on schedule and there, hence providing driver contact info. We were told the Bavaria team would take care of everything and we could relax and enjoy the reception. At the end, they failed. I called the Operations Director and Senior Event Planner to let them know and was really disappointed in their response. The Senior Event Planner apologized that "a few elements of bar service that night were outside of what you were expecting". The Operations Director said " we all strive to keep the wedding day timeline, but in most weddings the day becomes somewhat organic". There was no-one striving to keep the wedding day timeline at the end of the evening. I do not feel that my complaints were really heard and cared about. The venue itself is absolutely stunning. I was really sad and disappointed that the day had to...

I attended a family wedding here about a month ago, and while it is a beautiful venue, I am very disappointed in how things were handled during the reception. There was a lot of confusion regarding mask wearing- particularly during dinner/the dance. Prior to the wedding the bride and groom were made to believe that masks were required indoors, with the exception of eating and drinking. They also were told masks were encouraged but would not be required for the dance portion of the evening, as dancing is considered physical exertion/exercise. They were told that staff would not be acting as “mask police”. I have noticed that they have changed their COVID safety information on their website since the wedding. Following dinner, staff were watching guests like hawks and did in fact start acting like mask police. For example, they were rudely telling people who were drinking/holding beverages to put masks on. I thought eating and drinking was an exception? Then, right before the father daughter dance, a staff member told the bride and groom that masks HAD to be worn for dances. This led to confusion and frustration for the couple, especially before an already emotional moment for the bride. The bride was in tears at this point..Things continued to escalate as staff continued to press the mask issue (often rudely), and the bride and groom as well as their guests became confused, upset, and frustrated. I’m not sure why staff made such a huge deal out of masks during the dance, when a large majority of people were wearing them (there are photos to prove this) and when people were made to believe prior to the wedding that they weren’t required to dance.For those very few people who were not wearing a mask during required times, if staff would have kindly asked them to put one on, things may have ended differently. The mother of the bride even offered to individually talk to those not wearing masks, in which the staff declined.

Long story short- the wedding unfortunately was shut down early by staff and the bride again ended up in tears on her own wedding day. It is very unfortunate that things turned out that way. The venue should have done a better job communicating rules and expectations to the bride and groom prior to the wedding day. There seemed to be a disconnect among staff members on what the rules were, which led to the couple being told different things by different people. You can imagine the emotion and frustration this would cause. The way things were handled on the wedding day were extremely poor, as evident by the bride crying on her wedding day and ruining what is supposed to be the best day of her life. I truly hope no one has to go through what this couple...

From the moment my husband and I walked into Bavaria Downs, we knew it was the place where we wanted to celebrate our marriage. We toured it pre-construction and signed the contract before seeing the final project, and felt confident doing so because of the honesty and transparency of the staff! We worked mostly with Georgia Meyer as our planning coordinator, and we cannot say enough positive things about her! She always answered our questions quickly, and eased any worries about the aspects of the day that could possibly go wrong (my long list of "what if's"). She thought of logistics and details I would have never thought of or prepared for! Back to the venue itself, when we arrived in the morning our day-of coordinator Hannah was waiting to greet me at the door with carts to help us unload. She checked in with me all day long to make sure I was feeling okay and had everything I needed. When we got up to the bridal suite it was picture perfect. Bavaria Downs works exclusively works with D'Amico catering which is amazing because they work as a team, so everything flows so smoothly. When it came time for ceremony the Bavaria Downs team were even in contact with our transportation company and let us know some guests were still on the way, and asked us if we wanted to wait for the final guests to arrive. All evening long the Bavaria Downs staff greeted us with a smile and a "congratulations!" We felt like celebrities as they escorted us around when needed, and even gave my husband and I sneak peek of the ballroom during cocktail hour so we could see how beautifully they prepared it! If things didn't go as planned I had no idea because they took care of EVERYTHING without bothering us so we could just enjoy our day. The photos don't do this venue justice- we truly felt like we were living in our modern day fairytale. Weeks after our wedding we are still receiving compliments on how unique and beautiful our venue was. If you are considering this venue, just know it is worth every penny! Not only is it the mot beautiful venue in the twin cities, but more importantly the service you receive from the staff simply cannot be surpassed. I wish I could relive that day over...