Black Iris Estate Reviews
Reviews
3.1 out of 5 rating
3.1 out of 5 rating
8 Reviews
61% recommend it
-
Kelly Sent on 05/14/2018Our wedding at Black Iris Estate was everything we wanted it to be. The grounds are beautiful, the service staff was professional and extremely helpful and the food was fantastic. Our day was perfect!!! Thank you Thomas Caterers for doing such an amazing job. We will never forget our special night for as long as we live
-
-
![Kathryn]()
Kathryn K. Sent on 09/24/2020Beautiful venue, Low quality service
I was married at The Black Iris Estate last month- it is a beautiful venue for weddings or any event. The grounds are picturesque and the ball room is just beautiful! The food was also really good, which is not always the case at weddings. I'm not sure you can find a more beautiful venue in the central Indiana region.
While the venue and grounds are top notch, the staff at the Black Iris were much less accommodating. Being a "covid bride," we had to go through many changes, including changing our date. The Black Iris was pretty inflexible on changing our date, providing us with a handful of dates in 2020. When asked if we could move our date to 2021 to ensure it was safe and we wouldn't have to move our wedding a second time, they stood firm that this was not an option as we had to get married in 2020 (if our deposit was to go towards our wedding date). They moved our date to a Sunday in a different month that is priced less due demand (they have 3 different tiers of pricing based on which month you select) but tried to charge us the same as they would have if we got married on a Saturday in a "high demand" month.
This wasn't the only scenario where the Black Iris staff was not accommodating- they even scolded us for bringing in a small fruit salad for my 7 months pregnant bridesmaid as we got ready day of as "no outside food or drink is allowed." This was after we spent over $500 purchasing food and alcohol through them to enjoy while we got ready. I understand that event spaces have rules, but making a big deal about fruit salad, and taking part of our damage deposit because of it, seemed overkill to me.
At the end of the day, the Black Iris is a beautiful venue, but know what you are getting into as far as the level of service you can expect. Maybe I have high expectations, but the service level we received was pretty disappointing. -
![Andrea]()
Andrea Sent on 11/11/2020Not Worth It!
We were married at Black Iris Estate (owned by Thomas Caterers) a few weeks ago. Starting with the positive, the food was absolutely wonderful and everyone commented on how they have never really had wedding food this good. The venue itself is also incredibly beautiful. Our ceremony was in the Willow Chapel and it was honestly something out of a fairytale.
Now for everything else, the negative.
First (1), and the biggest issue given the massive impact of COVID, our day of coordinator arrived sick. When asked if she was sick she claimed she was “not sick” but had an minor upper respiratory infection and already went to the doctor, is on antibiotics and it is “not contagious”. If you are sick at all, in a time in which we are all trying to avoid spreading COVID, why come into work at all? We were also JUST with her the day before for rehearsal, without masks. During which rehearsal she continually talked poorly about another couple having there ceremony there that day.
Second (2) We were told at the rehearsal we would have to do a full clean-up of everything the night of the wedding. When I asked why I could not come get things the next day, I was told due to tours potentially happening, then when I attempted to schedule a time to pick things up Monday I was told they were closed Sundays and Mondays for all visitors. So…even tours?
Third (3) We were told the day of the wedding about the bracelet system that guests had to adhere to. Not too big of a deal but who wants bridesmaids and groomsmen, and family members, wearing bright green, yellow or red bracelets in pictures? Guests had to sign a waiver and do temperature checks, again, not a problem, however no one followed this protocol for my bridal party, mothers, or hair and make-up team until 3 hours after they had arrive AND were exposed to the sick coordinator!
Fourth (4) We knew having a wedding in the fall there would be leaves. When asked about clearing them out, we were told groundskeepers would clear them. However, they cleared them at 10:00am and did NOT clear them before the ceremony 6 hours later. I walked down the aisle with leaves in my veil. There was almost nothing done to prepare the grounds for our ceremony. There were even leftover flowers and trash from the wedding the night before.
Fifth (5) Echoing what another review said, they were incredibly strict on outside food and beverages while getting ready. While I completely understand you don’t want people showing up with a big tray from Costco, goldfish for my 15 month old niece and a granola bar for a diabetic family member shouldn’t have been an issue. This also applied to a very special bottle of wine my fiancé and I wanted to enjoy, just us, for our dinner. I brought this wine up multiple times on several calls and on the day of when I brought it in, our event designer stormed upstairs and berated me about this wine she ‘didn’t know about’. Everyone in the suite was appalled.
Unfortunately, I could keep going with more and more issues even though we paid for a level of service and that was nowhere near met. Ultimately the venue itself was gorgeous, however the level of service was nowhere near the cost.
Are you interested?
Send a message
