The Henry Smith House

My granddaughter selected this venue even though I strongly objected to it. The staff at Henry Smith House totally misled us about what they would provide for a July wedding. I was very concerned about the heat since the rehearsal and dinner, wedding, and reception were all outside. We were told that they have many weddings there in the summer and no one has ever complained of the heat because they have many fans and even some outdoor air conditioning units they could place around the area being used. People were almost passing out at the rehearsal since there was ONE fan. At the wedding there may have been one or two fans which were totally inadequate. People left early due to the extreme heat. When I asked the staff about this they said, "that's why we only have one or two weddings a year in the summer." Initially I was told they are extremely busy in the summer and never had any complaints about the heat. The wedding was a package deal which included a wedding cake. We also paid for a floral cake top. There was no cake top provided as agreed, The bride's bouquet was not what she ordered and had to be sent back to be fixed up and was still not as requested. We purchased two large arrangements for the ceremony. The flowers were beautiful but the staff had not been informed to move the flowers to the reception area after the wedding and to move them inside to the honeymoon suite after the guests left. I don't know who was in charge of the food, but we sat waiting in the reception area for an hour after the ceremony ended before we were served our meal. The help were not trained despite our being told they had an excellent group that was well trained and had been with them a long time. They had to keep asking the bride what to do next. The bride and groom were told they were to have a private dinner inside the house, but the food never came and the couple wasted time waiting for that. When the bride and groom returned to the reception, staff began serving from the back of the room and served the bride and groom last. The food was cold. They also cut and served the cake top layer first and did not save it for the couple to have on their first anniversary which is custom. The bride and groom intended to spend their first night on the property in the honeymoon suite, but there were no sheets on the bed and no towels or soap. The bride and groom had to stay upstairs where we had stayed the night before. Upstairs rooms also had dead bugs in tubs and water smelled horrible. Our toilet was broken and we had to get someone to repair it. Couple had to dig around in a supply closet for soap. It amazed me that no one thought to do a walk through before guests came, especially since it had been a month since the house last had guests stay. I don't blame the staff for this disaster. The owner decided at the last minute to go out of town. He did not inform us at all that he would not be there and we only foun