Bellevue Berry and Pumpkin Ranch

learly stated in all the paperwork and contract forms and also explained to people before they book. The other costs for a rehearsal for a separate day ($50 per hour), $100 for a bartender for 100 people, and a D.J. fee of $100 to bring in a D.J. or a band is clearly stated and discussed with people before they book. We actually had to have two bartenders for this party as there was a lot of drinks served, and we did not charge extra for this bartender. We are glad to here the food was excellent, and we get many compliments on the food. The bartenders always set up a voluntary tip jar in front of the bar, where they serve they drinks. At this party the bride and groom set up their own tip jar at their head table, which is fine and many parties do this, the problem began when their wedding planner moved the brides and groom tip jar (labeled for the Bride and Groom)to the bar without asking the bartenders, and they were so busy to realize this until when the party ended. There shouldn't have been any confusion for the people to read one tip jar that says for the Bride and Groom, and the one right in front of the bar for the bartenders, that was there from the start of the party. Also the Brides and Grooms tip jar was sealed like a piggy bank, so nobody could take money from this jar. So at the end of the night, there was some intoxicated people form the wedding party that demanded that they should receive half of the bartenders tips. They were also accusing them of stealing tip money meant for the Bride and the Groom. The bartender (my wife) said that the only tips in the jar were 1's and 5's and the bartenders do clear money from their jar during the night as they get filled. Sometimes when people drink they do and say some crazy things, but of the 1000 or so parties that we have done at the farm this was a new one. The bartenders only ended up with less than $90 total in tips, so this wasn't that much money to begin with, and I actually gave the Bride $60 out of my own pocket the next day, to try and make them happy, but explained that I would not be able to keep bartenders if they had to share their tips at the end of the night. I don't think I acted unprofessional when my bartenders are getting accused of stealing tips out of there own tip jar. Another thing that was weird is that they were accusing them to me the next day after the party, and I asked them if they had opened up their Bride and Groom piggy bank and see if that money was in there. They told me that they had not opened it yet! I'm not sure what they saw on the back deck, supposedly an employee smoking pot, we also had another party at the farm that night, with a lot of people at the farm, all the same we apologize for that and do not allow this at the farm.

us take care of the phone calls and I do all the emails if any one needs help or has any questions. I do apologize if you had a hard time getting ahold of people, but we do return phone calls and answer all the emails sent to us. We do apologize also if someone found mold on their buns, we do check every one and obviously one was overlooked. We do have the policy that is clearly stated and explained to the parties, that the rental is for six hour time frame from when your guests arrive to when everyone is out of the building. If the parties need or want extra time its $150 per hour extra. This is also stated in writing and told to all the parties, so this isn't a fine its an option that people can reserve ahead of time or decide the night of the event. We have to pay our bartenders and staff for extra time and $150 per extra hour is a reasonable charge if they want to keep the part going.

ng for, we are the venue and catering facility. We do have an independent decorator/planner that people can hire if they need help to figure out decorations or logistics of the wedding day. We are very knowledgeable and answer all of the questions related to the venue, ceremony areas, food and beverage questions, and also simple decorating questions. We can also recommend D.J's and accommodations to nearby hotels. So we do cover the bases to make this an easy and stress free process on their special day, or we have other vendors that we can recommend to the parties to take care of these things. Of Course we are in the wedding business and have done over 1000 weddings at the farm, we are just not the wedding coordinators, but do have one that we can recommend to you, some parties do this themselves, or some bring in their own. We do have air-conditioning in all the buildings and this works great, when the doors are closed, but just like any building cant keep up when they are left open. We also recommend that on very hot months that people don't use candles as they add extra heat to the building.

k that most places do this to improve their businesses. We added a backdrop curtain with lights to the building that everyone else have loved, and also added some new landscaping and planters to the outside ceremony area. We don't charge extra for these things that we consider permanent improvements. All of our costs are laid out in writing on our worksheet, and our list of prices, and clearly stated in our one page contract that prices can increase up to 10% per calendar year due to inflation and rising costs.

e are out plowing fields or working. We try to wear a lot of hats and do work as hard as we can to try and avoid these situations. 99% of the time we do have one of us available 6 and 1/2 days a week to show the lodges and answer questions that people might have. Again sorry for this situation and we are working to better this area.

eeds to set up the building, or we try and get them more if needed when the parties are setting up. So we do have the buildings clean and ready to go, but its either the parties responsibility or their decorators to set up the tables the way they like them. This is because everyone sets up the lodges differently for each wedding. We also don't move tables during the party unless parties have hired one or two of our people to do so, most parties have designated people to do this if they need too. At this time we didn't charge for the ceremony area and it was the parties responsibility to set up the chairs also for the ceremony. At the time we also had about 200 chairs designated for this area, so if parties needed more chairs, then they had to rent more for their needs. We have since changed this policy and now charge a fee for the ceremony area, and then we set out the chairs for the parties depending on what they need. As the party winds down, yes some of the food staff and maybe a bartender go home depending on how busy it is, however there is always a manager at the party until the party ends.