Belles On The Bluff Reviews

Carolyn and the staff at Belles on the Bluff do their best to be nothing but perfect when it comes to ensuring that your wedding day goes smooth and exactly the way you want it! As a wedding DJ who has worker here several times, I can confidently say that this is my favorite venue and staff to work with! If you’re not booking Belles you’re missing out!!!

The day of our wedding was special! Everything was beautiful and perfect! We would not have wanted to have our wedding anywhere else or any other way. It was a cold day but it was worth it! The experience we had here was unreal. The coordinator Ladies are amazing and very helpful. I would recommend this place to anyone. Book early because there wedding spots fill up fast.

My husband and I were so incredibly happy that we chose to have our wedding at Belles on the Bluff! Since my husband and I were planning our wedding from Alaska we were really looking for a place that was going to be easy to work with and help us out because we couldn’t be there in person. We honestly couldn’t have found a venue more perfect for us! They include SO much in their wedding day package (decorations, tables, set up/tear down, and even a coordinator!). Kailee was so wonderful from day one and made sure we had the wedding of our dreams. Our guests can’t stop talking about the view either!

Belles on the Bluff is so breathtaking! My husband and I got married here at the end of September and the leaves changing were beautiful. The barn was warm for a chilly fall day. Kailee was so amazingly helpful and made the day of such a breeze. They let you use a lot of decor that they have accumulated, which is a great time/money saver!! It was so beautiful and I would recommend to any bride.

My best man had made a comment he was worried about racism, as all of my groomsmen were black, but I feel very strongly their race had little to do with our mistreatment as all of our bridesmaids were white and were not treated any better. The owner let the family who reserved the venue for the night after us walk freely through our wedding, and she even brought them into the bridal suite while my wife, sister, and friends were changing. my groomsmen and I (which included two small boys both under the age of 3) were expected to get ready partially outside in three small rooms. I ended up having to change outside, which is visible from the street.

The last thing you want to do as a bride after your wedding day is to sit down to write a negative review. You want your wedding day to be perfect, and while our wedding day was wonderful, there were some very unfortunate things we had to deal with on and after our special day due to the way we and several of our guests (we received complaints from over 20 guests) were treated by the Belles on the Bluff and High Country Orchard owner and staff.

Treatment by Staff: The owner and staff clearly did not want us on the property.

By 8:05 a.m. on the day of our wedding (five minutes after arrival) my guests were already being treated poorly by the property owner. My brother-in-law dropped off my sister, my maid of honor, at the property. When they arrived the gate to the property was open (which made sense as we rented the property from 8:00 a.m. on). Immediately after my brother-in-law drove away, my sister realized she left her purse in the car and asked him to return it to her. By that time, 8:10 a.m. the gate was closed. My brother-in-law used the speaker on the gate and asked that the owner please open the gate so he could return the purse and was refused. The owner said the gate does not “officially” open until 9:00 a.m. (or if a coordinator was present) and if my brother-in-law wanted to return the purse he would have to leave his two babies (ages 1 and 3) in the truck by themselves on a busy road and walk around the gate, down the long driveway and to the cottage to return the purse. Mind you, the gate opens with a simple press of a button and the owner refused, even after knowing two small children would have to be left in the car alone.

At our reception, the disrespectful treatment of our wedding party and guests escalated when the bartender and coordinator, Carolyn, decided to impose an arbitrary two drink rule that we were not informed about prior to renting the venue. We have no problem with such a rule if we were informed in advance. Instead the bartender and coordinator decided all of our guests were allowed only two drinks a piece (over a 4 hour period). This included the entire wedding party, none of whom were driving (we arranged transportation to come pick up the entire bridal party so we would not need to worry about designated drivers). This also included me, the bride, who was refused a glass of wine at her own wedding. Wine and beer that we had purchased in advance, and that we could not return once opened.

Additionally, one of my guests requested a second beer after a 30 minute “wait period” and was told to “take a lap” and “go sit down” that he couldn’t have another yet. When he came up for a second beer, he jokingly stated “good thing I brought my own.” He was then approached by the owner, while he was sitting at a table quietly eating his dinner with other guests, who said bringing his own drink was a violation of the venue rules and was told he would have to immediately leave the premises or the owner was going to call the cops. The owner did not even allow him to get his car keys which were on another table before he escorted him off the premises. My guest did not want to make a scene since it was my special day, so he went quietly. I did not learn of the incident until the next day from the guest and was absolutely LIVID.

For brevity sake, I only recounted the more egregious incidents; however, I am continually getting told about the disrespectful and rude treatment of my guests, which truly breaks my heart, because that’s how they will remember our special day.

Condition of the Venue:

On the day of the rehearsal, the grass where the ceremony was to be held was extremely long. My father, the father of the bride, asked the coordinator to please have it trimmed prior to the wedding. This was not done.

On the day of the wedding, the venue had their sprinklers on the grass the entire day, so by the time of the wedding there was mud where the guests walked and the grass was still wet.

The morning of the wedding we went to High Country Orchard to drop off decorations for the reception. The grounds were filthy. There were little pieces of trash everywhere and the tables were uncleaned from the wedding the night before. I asked that the trash be picked up and the tables cleaned off. I was assured this would be done. It was not.

I was also assured the lemonade and iced tea would be prepared by staff for our reception. It was not.

I was told the guest sign-in and gift table and area would be set up by staff. It was not, my guests had to do it.

Overall, we were a bit disappointed by the condition and cleanliness of the venue.