lalou99's reviews

I recently held my wedding at Millcreek Barns as well. To say that Kirby is rude and a pitiful businessman is an understatement. Beginning from our first walkthrough to post wedding bills, he was a challenge to work with and was inflexible every step of the way.

-I scheduled our first walkthrough for a Sunday in February (emails to prove it). After driving from Chicago to Watervliet in a literal blizzard, he had the date wrong and wasn't around to show us the space. That wouldn't have been so bad, I understand human error, but he insisted that it was my fault and was totally rude (Amy later apologized for their mistake by email). Luckily we could walk around the space and see in the windows so the trip wasn't completely wasted.

-We envisioned a wedding with much more detailed decor from my company, Kehoe Designs and that seemed to offend him. He then charged us to adjust every tiny little thing...flags, paper lanterns, chairs, ceremony seating, you name it! He even charged money for "clean up" of an outdoor cocktail hour that was completely tables/bars/decor that my company brought in and took out...he had absolutely nothing to clean up.

-For being the "artsy" owners they seem to be, they don't seem to have any respect or appreciation for anyone's vision but their own. I believe they usually have pretty simple weddings there with not much decor because they seem to think that an entire venue can be cleaned up in a half hour. I wasn't about to pay to have the space until 1am and kick my guests out at 10pm just to make sure my decor crew could take everything down by their ridiculous 1am exit time. I understand guests leaving by 12:30am-1am for noise issues, but if they had any experience in larger scale weddings they would understand that teardown takes some time. I paid the extra $500 for overtime for my clean up crew without argument because it was in their contract and I expected the charge to come, but they need to reevaluate what they are asking for with a 12am standard exit time for everything (not just guests). This is one of the biggest days of their clients' lives...it's a party. After months and months of planning, who wants to end the event at 10-11pm just to make sure the venue staff gets home by 1am?? Welcome to the industry people--by opening a business in the events industry, you should expect some late nights.

-They do have a beautiful space, but I honestly don't know that being there was worth it to have to deal with Kirby. I would give all of my vendors 5 stars--they were amazing. DJ Guy Voss, Events Without Boundaries Catering (as good as any I have seen in the industry in Chicago, if not better), photographer Lindsey Shae, Skip from Millburg Trading Post for alcohol. Kirby Briske at Millcreek Barns I would give 1 star...and that's only because I liked the space for my style of wedding.

I will post pictures when I get them so you can see the detail I'm referring to!