Fern Hollow

Brides beware. This place is everything a couple would ever want for their wedding day. Beautiful grounds, lodging for your family and friends, a rustic yet elegant charm… However; none of this is worth dealing with this family.
I got married there a little over six months ago and it has taken me this long to be able to relive this experience by witting a review but people need to know this information. After spending well over $ 12,000 for supposedly the weekend of a lifetime I’m still haunted with terrible memories. I’m not high maintenance and require crazy high customer service but I do expect my family and myself to be treated with respect.
The morning of the wedding my mom locked herself out of her bedroom after a shower. Stupid accident yes, but the way it was handled was downright atrocious. Long story short my mom and I ended up in tears. You’d think a venue of that ‘caliber’ would have an extra set of master keys right? Wrong. A locksmith was called out and the cost we were told would be taken out of my deposit.
After the big ordeal and we were let back into the room with very little time before the wedding, everything went off without a hitch and my husband and I were happily married.
When booking the venue it states in the contract that all music is to be off and guests gone by 10pm. What they fail to inform you is that the owners will show up at about 8pm and stand around hovering in the corners breaking down any tables or chairs that we not being used. The table linens that I purchased and brought in were also being stripped off the tables and thrown into garbage bags without any permission. There was complete and utter disregard for the event still taking place.
This venue is also very meticulous about clean up. Understandably so at the time knowing how beautiful the venue was. Sadly I regret everything about this venue because although clean up was planned I have yet to meet another bride who spend the morning after her wedding sweeping a 2400 square foot barn with a push broom. I have been working in the wedding business for three years now and although still very new with a lot to learn I will never ever recommend this venue to a single one of my brides. My husband and I are going to Vegas in a week and plan to have a ‘re do’ wedding and get married by Elvis for redemption.

My husband and I were married at Fern Hollow in October of 2012, and we basically had the wedding of our dreams thanks to our family, friends, and the lovely folks at Fern Hollow.
The reasons we chose Fern Hollow for our wedding were: 1. I’ve always wanted to be married in a barn, and Fern Hollow was the perfect fit, 2. The use of their chairs and tables (which are lovely, by the way) and the setup of those things (on almost any part of the property) were included in the price of renting the venue, and 3. in Sequim, WA, it doesn’t get any more beautiful than Fern Hollow. The scenery, setup, and service were everything we could have asked for, and my guests all had a lovely time.
We had several vehicles pulling up to and behind the main house before and after the wedding for setup, cleanup, etc. and never had any problems doing so. We had people dashing in and out of the house all day getting the cake, getting dressed, taking photos, etc., and we were never bothered by the owners in the slightest.
Overall, I believe our guests had a wonderful time at our wedding, and my husband and I couldn’t be more pleased with our experience, photos, and memories from that day.

My daughter was married at Fern Hollow and the owners are in the wrong business in my opinion. Here are some of the reasons why. Not once did Patti say congratulations about my daughter getting married. She walked around with a clipboard the entire night. We rented the house on the grounds and she was in there every time I went in. She even grabbed one of our guests by the arm and said you can’ t be in here. The young lady said I can I’m staying in this room for the night. We didn’t want to rent their Italian lights for an additional $ 250, white Christmas lights were included in the rental fee, but we had to supply our own ladder, so we purchased our own Italian lights for $ 50 and still brought our ladder. We had rental insurance, so I’m not sure why they wouldn’t let us use their ladder. I could go on, but it’s not worth me thinking any more about this place. If you want the venue owners to be hospitable, Fern Hollow is not the place.

Before you read my review, I would like to bring your attention to three reviews written below. You must scroll down I read them. Because the individuals have only written one review, and it happens to be negative, they don’t show up on Fern Hollow’s main page.
Fern Hollow is a beautiful venue for a wedding. The grounds are meticulously kept, and are truly breathtaking. Sadly, that’s where my praise for the venue ends. My husband and I celebrated our wedding there a couple weeks ago. While the grounds are some of the most beautiful around, the same can’t be said about the owners.
I have a lot of feedback that I could share, but I feel like my experience with the owners, and their lack of hospitality, can be summed up with the following, unfortunate example:
Sequim experienced HEAVY rains the day of our wedding. Heavy. Around 2pm, our pastor and his wife pulled up to Fern Hollow, to prepare for our 3pm ceremony. Myself and my bridesmaids rented Fern Hollow for lodging, and three of our cars were parked on the property, as is permitted. There were many parking spaces left available. Upon seeing our cars, our pastor pulled onto the venue and was abruptly stopped by the one of the venue owners. My pastor said, «Hi, I’m the pastor performing the ceremony this afternoon, and I happen to be a double amputee. Can my wife and I park on the property with the other cars here?»
The owner replied, «I’m a double knee replacement, what’s the big deal?»
The owner had my pastor, and his wife, park across the street, walk through two gravel lots through the rain to get to our ceremony.
I didn’t hear about this until we had dinner at his house this week, and I am appalled. My husband and I, as well as my guests didn’t have the best experiences with the owners, but we were going to sweep it under the rug… Until I heard this.
I’m sorry to share such a negative review, but I honestly feel like it’s my responsibility, after hearing the way my pastor was treated. The owner made my 86 year old grandmother, and my husband’s 76 and 75 grandmothers do the same when they asked if they could park on the property, in the parking lot. The owner didn’t even allow them to be dropped off on the property. They too had to walk across a busy road, through gravel lots, in the rain, with their canes, to get to our wedding.
Disappointing.