Wood Retreat

irst meeting. I could not disagree with the other reviews more. Tracy was friendly and helpful throughout the planning process. We had a different coordinator help us during the rehearsal and on the day of and she was also lovely. Our wedding day was rainy so we had decided to hold our ceremony inside. About 30 minutes before the ceremony was to start, the sun broke through, and we were able to change our minds last minute and have the wedding outside! The coordinator (I feel awful I can't remember her name!) was so helpful it getting decorations moved and making the outdoor ceremony we dreamed of. Thank you so much! The picture previews we've seen are better than I even imagined in this perfect setting. We had so many compliments on what a beautiful venue it is. Truly a fairy tale! Also, the alcohol policy is very strict. However, I asked Tracy ahead of time if it would be alright if we had a cooler with alcohol in a vehicle and transferred it to the party bus immediately after the ceremony. She had no problem with this as long as we didn't open anything until we were off site. It was really not an issue. Be respectful of Tracy and the property and you will love this venue!

read previous reviews but I loved the space and decided it was worth looking into. After communicating with Tracy via email, I found her to be considerate and to have great customer service. We found Tracy to be so accommodating and more than helpful the day of the ceremony. She keeps the grounds perfect and beautiful. We were running behind and did not show up as early as we had wanted, which put our ceremony start time behind schedule. Tracy did everything she could to help and assist us. She is thoughtful and prayed with me before I was walked down the aisle. That was so touching to me. It calmed me and brought peace. I was so appreciative of that gesture and that she took the time for me. From my experience, she is understanding and accommodating. I believe Tracy will treat the wedding and the wedding guests as the grounds and Tracy are treated initially. If the rules, policies or requests are adhered to, Tracy will do everything in her power to make the time run smoothly as possible. Respect is the bottom line. Perhaps if the wedding is smaller, it is easier to convey the rules to everyone to ensure all people understand what is expected. Sometimes weddings have a party affiliation that people can't detach from. The Woods is a place of spirituality, togetherness, sentiment, and serenity. The party is for the reception, where the celebration of the ceremony that took place previously can begin. Thank you, Tracy for a memorable experience and gorgeous grounds to promise our lives to one another! If this venue interests you, please look at the pictures and watch the videos. It is a place like no other. Communicate with Tracy, she is a kind woman who wants everyone to get what they came for. Please consider The Woods Chapel & Events Center. It is worth it.

erratic and very unprofessional. Make sure the wedding party and all guests know how serious she is about the alcohol policy. The bride and groom were charged a $350 fine because two groomsman opened beers on the party bus as we were about the leave. Because the party bus was technically on the property, the fine stood. It’s such a shame because we were so close to leaving and the groomsman were just trying to escape the mosquitoes until the rest of us got on the bus. The owner physically got on the bus to check if people were drinking, threw a fit and chewed out the bus driver all while the bride and groom were taking last minute pictures nearby. Her behavior at the end was embarrassing, irrational and lacked professionalism. I hope she does something worthwhile with all the outrageous fines she likely collects. Her expectation of the bride and groom being responsible for the behavior of hundreds of guests 100% of the time is unreasonable. I was stunned to observe this woman lack the ability to take a deep breath, calm down, understand what qualifies as a problem and give out a warning vs. an excessive fine.

and respecting the people working to make your day special is an issue for you, then this place and many others are probably not for you. We were married on August 20th on a very up and down weather day. We were originally planning an outdoor wedding but because the morning was rainy it looked more likely we were going to be inside. Amazingly the weather cleared up and Tracy and her team worked hard to get the outdoor site ready. With little help from any of our party Tracy decorated everything beautifully. Then out of no where the skies opened and it started to pour! Tracy and her team quickly moved our entire outdoor setup back inside, got our entire party lined up for the indoor switch, kept us all relaxed and ready to go. She is so awesome and truly made our day magical despite the weather. There is not a more beautiful site than The Woods Chapel. Both inside and outside are incredible and the cottage to get ready in is perfect. Getting married at The Woods Chapel was one of the best decisions we made when planning our wedding.

rience! It is in a poor location which makes it very strenuous to drive to. The staff were no where to be found when needed, and the parking situation...don't even get me started on the parking situation! I suggest looking else where if possible.

nor in front of other guests at both the rehearsal and even on our wedding day. She stormed into the bridal cottage 10 mintues before we walked down the aisle and screamed at all of us as well. We had multiple guests asking if she was crazy. It it not worth the money mainly because of how difficult she is to work with. She took 350 dollars out of our security deposit because someone in our wedding party accidentally brought 1 6 pack of beer. We would have been okay paying the fine had she handled it in a tactful manner and didnt run around screaming at people. This is not even an exaggeration, she acted like a child throwing a tantrum. Then afterwards she was extremely passive aggressive when we emailed her afterwards as well to follow up about the matter and she wouldn't even discuss anything. I saw all the negative reviews on different sites and chose to overlook it because the venue was beautiful, but I completely regret that decision. If I could make any recommendations it is to stay FAR away from this venue. It is definiely not worth the headache. Totally ruined my wedding day.

t, sort of like an enchanted forest. You have to understand that Tracy runs a business. She has up to 2 weddings/day on the weekend and has to make sure her clients stay accountable for keeping the place nice and clean. Follow her rules and you'll have a perfect day. I would highly recommend the Wood's Chapel.

of a nightmare than a "fairytale" location like some people claim. Here we go: Tracy is horrendous to try and work with to start things off. She seems super nice and accommodating during the meetings up until booking the venue, then everything switches. We tried to set up a meeting with her a few weeks before our wedding because we wanted to talk about questions we had and wanted to understand how our music would be played, we set it up for a night after work and my Mom and I drove 2 hours there (and 2 hours back) only to show up and SHE WAS NEVER THERE. She sort of apologized and said she "forgot" she had another meeting scheduled the same day. We understood, but were very frustrated, especially with how pricey this venue is. Started the whole thing off on a bad note. Then, fast forward to our rehearsal - she had just gotten a puppy and was carrying it around the whole rehearsal and having people in my BRIDAL PARTY watch the dog or hold it when she was showing us things. This was completely unacceptable and unprofessional. I like dogs, but the rehearsal should run smooth and not be focused on her puppy that she had to parade around and have it constantly be yipping right in our ears. Moving forward to the wedding. She was so rude to my Mom the day of and was just a total controlling crazy woman. Her rules are you have to clean everything out before the ceremony, and we did that. We had forgotten that we left some water in the fridge, so after the wedding was over, my Mom went back to clean the items out of the fridge - and keep in mind NO ONE else was in the parking lot for the next wedding, so really, there was no rush, but she cornered my parents and told them that the contract said we needed to be out at 3pm (and it was 3:05pm) and she was going to charge them $500.00 for being 5 minutes after. My parents were furious with this obviously and she ended up charging them $100 extra for being 5 minutes late in leaving the site. My parents brought up the fact that she missed our ONE meeting we had planned to go over items and how unprofessional that was and we drove FAR and spent a lot in gas to get there and back for nothing, and her response to that was "I already apologized for that and any further questions can be directed to my LAWYER". Like, yeah lady, we're going to SUE you for $100.00. It was just ridiculous, be a human. The last thing in my rant is that (not that the Woods chapel can prevent this), but the neighbor that lives in the house behind the site was chainsawing for literally 2 of the 4 hours we had the site. It is in all of my videos and we asked if she could ask him to stop and she said she can't control that. Our ceremony was at 2pm and they stopped as I was walking down the aisle. It was just a huge mess and don't book this site if you want to be stress free. The assistant that worked there was super nice and helpful, but that's the only good thing about this place. Other than it's really pretty but definitely no where near worth the money she charges. Also, they misspelled "no alcohol" on their entry sign, which bothered me, but probably just because the entire thing was a mess and not how I pictured my wedding day going. On the other hand our reception was at Bayview Event Center and the venue and staff were AWESOME.

nd the windows showcasing the trees outside. Taking pictures on the grounds was absolutely gorgeous, even though it was a bit chilly that day! All around a great experience, a great location with great service. We also had our reception there, which was great. We had a small wedding, about 100 people were there, so it was a nice intimate affair for dinner.

d understanding. The only downfall is that The Woods is very strict on timing. They have an adorable bridal cottage to get ready in, but since they are so strict on your time slot there, my bridesmaids and I had to get ready elsewhere. Overall though, The Woods is an absolutely gorgeous venue. I highly recommend it!

me and there were many different opportunities here (I loved the separate Bride and Groom cottages). I love that you have two options (indoors or outdoors) so that you can go based on weather, even making a last minute decision same day. Our service was great and planned out very well (and they have a great sound system). You can tell that they have great knowledge on how to have a smooth, successful ceremony. I would highly recommend this venue to anyone planning a wedding and I believe the price is well worth it. I do have to say that they are very strict when it comes to certain rules (no arriving early, no leaving late, no alcohol, no smoking, and staying out/off of the landscaping), but we still were completely satisfied with choosing them for our ceremony. Just make sure to manage your time accordingly.

nd rushing her through everything. She could have found someone else to do this too. The owner is very on top of and proud of her business but can be pushy. Overall, I would recommend this site but be ready to deal with the owner.

d takes excellent care of the venue. However, one thing to keep in mind is this venue has several rules and be prepared for rules to change even after you book. For example, when we first signed our contract we were advised that we did not need to provide the $500 deposit until the week before our event. When we received our bill to make the final payment for the venue rental that was due 30 days before the event, we were advised that we would also need to provide the $500 deposit at that time. Also, this sight is very stringent on it's time slots. You cannot arrive even one minute before your slotted timeframe. I would still highly recommend this sight to anyone looking for an intimate, old fashion, romantic wedding. You wont regret it! Just keep in mind that you will be limited to a tight schedule and must comply to there tight rules.

e weren't let down. The staff was helpful and accommodating. The two things that could have been better was the communication around the no alcohol and the departure. I understand that there is a strict no alcohol policy there but to be told no less than ten times was a bit overkill in my opinion. I would understand if we were a bunch of teenagers, (no offense), but we weren't. The second was leaving the cottages. Five minutes before we were set to walk down the path we were told we had to get everything out of the cottages. Now this was after we were told previously that we would have a few minutes after our ceremony to gather our belongings. It was something that didn't need to be dealt with right at that time and with that sense of urgency as if the world was going to come to an end. These weren't major things that in anyway detracted from our day but something you may want to be aware of. I think the ceremony was beautiful and given the decision again, we would still choose this location. Everyone loved it and our guests were very happy and loved every second of it.

ved 15 minutes early. Before even getting off our bus they demanded we pay $100 for being early. We asked if we could drive around for 15 minutes and she responded with no too late you owe us $100 dollars. It started our wedding day on a very bad note.

the chapel, the tri-leveled patios and the out door amphitheater each contribute to the incredible ambiance this venue holds. There are a plethora of trees, plants, bright and beautiful flowers, and a gorgeous pond. Even better, the lady who owns The Woods Chapel (Tracy) is as wonderful as the venue. She is incredibly friendly and pleasant and went out of her way to help make accommodations for our us. We booked this venue about 11 months prior to our wedding and she always answered any questions I emailed her throughout those 11 months. She was extremely helpful and we felt so blessed to be working with her and having our special day at her beautiful venue. We HIGHLY recommend this location for your wedding if you are looking for a gorgeous, fun, natural, reasonably priced, stress-free, and intimate feeling wedding (with an incredibly sweet and helpful coordinator as a bonus!). The Woods Chapel was honestly an even better venue than we could have ever imagined for our wedding. P.S. And the pictures here turn out FABULOUS! :)

platform made the most beautiful background setting, and even though it was a blisteringly hot summer day, all of the shade provided by the huge oak trees kept my guests cool enough they said. The guy who ran the sound system from my iPhone didn't do the best job running my music, but that was the only complaint that I had. Otherwise, it was perfect!! There was a lovely guest house that was cooled with two stories for my wedding party to get ready in as well.

er we signed the contract that I was responsible to bring garbage cans and liners and haul away all of our garbage and after being shown the kitchen we were also told we couldn't use the stove or fridge. The day before the wedding we were told we didn't need to deal with the garbage and could use the fridge for our leftovers. It is very pretty here but make sure to ask about all the details.

ecommend holding your reception there. They have a venue that holds 150 people (but that's squished!) and they really don't do a lot of receptions there...so the coordinating is extra work with them and really the owners don't even seem confidant holding receptions there. But if you're just doing the ceremony there...GO FOR IT! There's a super cute bridal cottage to get ready in, bridges, fountains, brick, lanterns, willow trees, etc...it's the fairytale venue. You will never feel more beautiful than walking the long path from the cottage to the stage!!!

dn't buy any additional flowers to "decorate" the place because it is so pretty by itself! We also loved that there was a indoor chapel just in case it rained that was very cute and would have been just great as a backup. That really helped us not to check the weather everyday because we knew what would happen either way and were ok with both options. The only thing I'd do differently is maybe buy additional hours, because you only have 4 and it would have been nice to be there for maybe just an extra hour so we weren't rushing the guests off the property. With taking pictures and having the ceremony, time runs out faster then you think!