The Stonebreaker Hotel & Barn on Markham Hill

ften took weeks, and sometimes months, to get answers to simple questions from the Director of Sales and Event Sales Manager. Our planner noted that this was very unusual and unprofessional in the wedding industry. We were not able to finalize our BEO until one week before the event, and many details still required clarification. For example, at the venue's request, we provided a list of food accommodations required but received no response for nearly two weeks. After following up, we were told one week before the event that not all guests could be accommodated. After considerable back and forth, they agreed to provide two gluten-free meals for guests with severe celiac disease. Those meals were not provided. The venue also required an event floor plan. When we requested their template, we were told it had been lost during the change in ownership. Since a replacement was never provided, we had to measure the venue ourselves and create our own floor plan. On the day of our event, none of the team members we had been communicating with were available, and the staff working the event had limited information, much of it outdated or incorrect. The Banquet Captain had an incorrect timeline and attempted to shut the party down an entire hour early. The venue also appeared severely understaffed. The staff working were clearly overwhelmed and were not adequately prepared or trained. That said, they worked hard to make things right and did their best under difficult circumstances, which is a major reason we are giving two stars rather than one. For our ceremony, we paid an additional $1,500 to use the grass lawn outside the barn. Day of the event, we discovered that the grass was dead and extremely dry, with hay spread across the lawn for vehicles to drive over the area where we had planned our ceremony. During our outdoor cocktail hour, in approximately 90-degree weather, the venue ran out of water cups within half an hour and “ran out of” beer and wine several times. Guests were told that the venue was out of drinks rather than that they were being replenished. Additionally, the barn was locked and guests were not permitted to enter. We had elderly guests who needed a break from the heat, and even the parents of the bride and groom were refused entry. We never expected to be unable to enter the barn DURING OUR EVENT. At dinner, they ran out of chicken and we were told that they had served all of the food we had paid for. More chicken eventually arrived, but by then dinner had concluded. We paid for buffet service and were specifically assured that we would not run out of food. We also had fewer guests than our expected headcount. The two gluten-free meals that had been guaranteed were also not provided. When our guests asked staff about them, no one appeared to know about the arrangement or was able to provide the meals. For dessert, we paid a $150 cake-cutting fee for the cake to be cut and plated. Instead, the cake was placed uncut on a table, and we were told to help ourselves. We were extremely disappointed by the lack of hospitality and professionalism we experienced from a venue that presents itself as a high-end hotel and restaurant.

ly due to my coordinator).   We had specifically asked the venue for 2 buffet lines but we only got one.  The problem with that was the barn is 2 stories - in terms of flow and speed of people getting food 2 buffet lines would have been better which is why our wedding coordinator had asked for 2. The catering was absolutely incredible—both the food and the staff were wonderful. Many guests commented on how good the food was & that it was hot. The chef was fabulous!  Our bartender was top notch as well.  I will say though, this venue definitely has some issues they need to figure out—and while I had great wedding, I don’t know if I would recommend this as a great wedding venue.  For starters, there is no getting-ready space here. While the hotel does have larger suites—they are not that big and would allow a very few amount of people to get ready. The bathrooms in the rooms are also kind of weird and there’s not much privacy—which is also a hard sell if you have family/friends wanting to stay there and share rooms. For my wedding, we ended up getting an Airbnb to get ready in as there was no way we would all fit.  There is also not a great place for the wedding party to be prior to the wedding.  There are outside spaces & the clubhouse but beware if the weather is cold or raining you have a problem as not much is covered.  Room booking for the hotel (for traveling guests) was also quite frustrating. The system they use for room blocks doesn’t work most of the time (we had a lot of people who had to call to book) and the main employee over this was very unprofessional/rude when we tried to ask questions about these glitches/how the room blocking worked (and we only asked because we had literally never dealt with that kind of thing before so we just were confused).  We also had other issues beyond this leading up to the wedding with coordinating/working with some of the other employees/Stonebreaker. Anyone who has had to plan a wedding knows how many details there are—and trying to get a hold of our main contacts here to discuss all the details was quite difficult. They aren’t super great about answering the phones—email is the main way they communicate which can mean longer response times. The first employee we met with to tour the venue was amazing—after that we mostly worked with another employee who I think was still pretty new at this job and it unfortunately showed. When we later increased our headcount (which was allowed—it just meant the contract had to be updated), I had to constantly re-check and correct the contract because extra numbers and charges were added. That would be my main advice with this venue: double check everything in the contract before signing to make sure the charges are indeed correct.