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| - I'll start with the good things I have to say about the Croft. It is a beautiful and very customizable space, and they have good event planning staff on hand to make sure things go smoothly on your wedding day. The days leading up to the wedding, however, were not so pleasant.
Disclaimer: I'm dying of cancer, so some things about my wedding that don't apply to everyone. BUT I think the tips below apply to most people (unless you have an unlimited budget, in which case disregard).
If you get married here, you will:
- Be required to use Angelic Grove as the in-house florist and pay 2-3x more for your flowers/ decor than you would if you DIY or went elsewhere. AG claims that they have relationships with wholesalers and florists, which may be true, but any savings they get will not be passed on to you. For example: AG charges $2.50 per votive candle. At the time of this writing, votive candles retail for less than $1. AG wanted us to use 200+ candles. You do the math. (ETA: you might be thinking that the items are expensive because they include the cost of setting up. Not so. You'll be charged separately for labor.)
- Be shamed and yelled at if you are brazen enough to suggest cost saving solutions. Jason J's comments about the owner, Mark, are spot on. It does not matter what your budget is or how legit your concerns are. When I explained to Mark that I couldn't afford to pay $4000 for flowers (turns out that cancer treatment is expensive and might hamper your ability to generate income - who knew???), he reacted with shock and offense. I tried to explain WHY our budget was curtailed, and he told me that he *did not appreciate me throwing my cancer in his face all the time.*
My friends. Let us pause in this moment. I've been trying to plan a wedding in two months because my doctor has literally told me I might not have much longer to live. And yet. Mark Karp has successfully made me doubt whether my condition is really serious enough to justify asking for cheaper flowers. I think we've reached Peak Gaslighting.
- Be required to choose a caterer from the Croft's list of exclusive vendors. Our caterer was professional and lovely. But they (the cheapest on the Croft's list) still cost $10 more per guest than quotes I got from other caterers. $10 may not seem like that much, but come back to me when a hundred people RSVP to your wedding.
- Have to chase down employees who mysteriously vanish when you have important questions. Every time I had a question about availability, pricing, etc. I was told by my hapless coordinator that she would have to ask the owners and they just happened to be out of town. For example, I was promised a floral estimate by a certain date, and it was delivered two weeks after that date (and three weeks before the wedding!)
- Not know what your wedding or bouquet will look like until you show up to get married. AG doesn't do samples or previews. For example, the day of my wedding, there was a truck (yes) and two enormous balloons saying LOVE in the reception space. I had not been warned and they didn't really go with the decor I had in mind. So it's kind of like a surprise party! Just what you wanted for your wedding.
- Pay $550 for "security" (please see Jason J's review for the absurdity of this, I'm too tired to write anymore).
When we were shopping around for venues, we received assurances from Angela that they could work with any budget. Any further attempt to get an estimate was shut down. We foolishly trusted her. Having gone through the wringer now, I don't see how anyone could pull off a wedding here for less than $25k.
Price transparency is a huge issue in the wedding industrial complex. In an effort to draw away a little bit of the curtain, here are some of the prices quoted to me by AG and compared to retail.
Votive candles: $2.50 each from AG. $0.75 each from Amazon at the time of this writing.
Leaf garland: $16.50 per foot from AG. Prices vary from $4.50 to $10 per foot from Sam's Club, FiftyFlowers, or Blooms by the Box.
Cloth napkins: $1.05 each from AG. $0.83 each from Bed Bath & Beyond. Can actually be found for much cheaper but I chose a well-known store for the example.
I suspect that Mark or Angela might comment on how they generously gave me a discount in light of my ~condition that so aggravated Mark. The discount was 10% off the cost of rentals, which totaled $303. I paid the Croft and Angelic Grove almost $10k, for a discount of roughly 3%. Thanks guys!
One final fun fact: The Croft took pictures of me and my husband for marketing purposes, posted them on Instagram, and tagged me as my bridesmaid. It's one thing to not be able to tell Asians apart, another to forget the name of the BRIDE who has been emailing you and sending you checks for months.
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