Courtyards of Andover Event Center

My wife and I chose Courtyards of Andover because they were the most accommodating place we found. The outdoor ceremony area was very nice with a waterfall, the indoors had twinkle lights, and draped fabric that made the hall look fabulous. At the beginning Amanda, our wedding and event specialist, would answer our questions quickly and with details. However, the closer we got to the wedding; the more things started shifting the way they worked with us. It was nothing but headaches leading up to the wedding. We had our down payment in as well as all monthly payments leading up to the wedding in on time. We were negotiating the food and beverage minimum down from $5,000 due to Covid. We had over 250 guests invited and because of Covid only 90 showed. They agreed to meet us on the minimum but never did. They repeatedly told us we needed to be closer to $5000.” We added 2 appetizers to bring us to about $3600. They said we needed to be closer to $4000. Amanda kept saying she needed to go to management. We added a luncheon for our family which brought it to about $3900. Amanda sent us an email saying we needed to be closer to $4000 and she took the liberty of adding a third appetizer and adjusted our other appetizers to bring our total to about $4300. I told her we would do the 3rd appetizer, but to put the counts back down to 100 each vs the 150 she moved them up to. This brought our number to just over $4000. After we got our final bill, I noticed the pricing of the milk changed from $15 to $21 a gallon. Due to Covid they weren’t going to allow us to dance. Amanda said that they would have a tent set up outside to accommodate us for the dance. 3 days later she emailed us saying we would be charged $500 for the tent. This tent had been up for several months and even though we didn’t pay for it, it was up the day of our wedding. We were told that we could have the rehearsal the night before our wedding. However, they wouldn’t let us book it until about a week before, just in case another event was scheduled. The rehearsal went well, but the area of the outdoor ceremony was a mess. My dad and mother-in-law were picking up sticks, leaves and rocks off the path, weeding the flower beds, etc. We were told it would be cleaned up. The day of the wedding had come and Amanda told us she wouldn’t be working. The inside looked amazing, but they never cleaned up the outdoor area. One of the food items we had was prime rib. We requested it to be cooked rare. It was supposed to be served with horseradish sauce which we never got. The prime rib looked and tasted more like pot roast. It was supposed to be a 10 oz portion and instead it was sliced thin like deli meat, was mostly fat, well done, had little flavor, and was tougher than jerky. We found out later that they are known for their prime rib. We had our meals served with garlic mashed potatoes and glazed carrots. When you tried to eat the potatoes, the whole thing was one big clump. The carrots were shriveled and overcooked. Our Caesar salad had very little dressing on it. The apps tasted good and we did have a very caring server who went above and beyond. Unfortunately, all the food was cold. One of our guests hadn’t received his meal, so he found a server and showed them his food card. The server said they ran out of food and he wouldn’t be getting served even though ten people had not shown up. We were eventually able to get him some food. I wouldn’t recommend this venue to anyone.