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June 2024 by Ramses Garcia
IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING BOOKING THIS VENUE FOR A WEDDING PLEASE READ THIS!
I'm a award winning Wedding Photographer based out of the Miami area, I have been shooting for over 9 years.
I just finished working a wedding at this venue, and I'm a person who never leaves a negative review for something because it's a Buisness and it can hurt them, but I have to be honest & transparent.
This review is to reflect my experience at the Howe Mansion.
This venue is gorgeous, has beautiful spots for photos and for ceremony. These are the only Positives I have about the venue.
Now the venue manager "Fran" is literally the worst Manager of a Venue I've seen in my wedding photography career.
She's rude, condescending towards vendors, the planner & the bride. This woman SHOULD NOT be apart of this venue, and honestly I don't know how with other countless negative reviews that have been left she is still working for the Howey Mansion.
I arrived to the venue early to scout and she open the door and told me to come back in 3 hours as a vendor I'm not allowed to go in to the Howey Mansion until 3 hours before the wedding starts.
Wedding photographers like myself capture days from early in the day, especially when the bride is getting ready at the actual venue, not a hotel.
She literally would not allow me to take my gear (my bag with camera & lenses) upstairs for photography because she said it can damage the floor of the property which has been standing for over 100 years. The planner had to get involved and explain that none of my gear would hurt the venue in any way.
She gave me a hard time for arriving to the venue a few hours early to try to get a head start on doing getting ready photos for the couple that she paid for. She almost didn't allow it to happen, and after myself, several bridesmaids and eventually the bride and the planner got involved I was finally allowed to do my job. She was difficult with the planner and the dj as well.
Do your research and look at the negative reviews of this venue. They are literally all about her.
I would not recommend this venue at all, and honestly I would not photograph at this place ever again as long as Fran is involved.
If you're looking for a wedding venue, stay away as long as Fran is involved with this venue.
Fran if you read this -- You are the sole reason why this venue is getting negative reviews. Please do better.
If the owner is reading this - Why haven't you gotten rid of Fran? She has been the worst wedding manager I have ever been in contact with in my career. You are in a hospitality/service based business, she needs to treat vendors with value & respect.
REVISION: I was contacted by the owner of the venue Brad in which he apologized for the experience we had with Fran, and let me know there would be some changes in the future. He welcomed me to come out again when these changes happen.
My change in stars is to reflect him making it right. Thank you for reaching out and making this right Brad.
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June 2024 by McKenna Folmar
I love this venue! As a planner, it is my dream. The venue clearly lays out all the rules in advance to make the wedding rehearsal and the day completely smooth sailing. I have planned multiple weddings here and each day has always been perfect. Thank you, Fran and the entire Howey Mansion team!
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June 2024 by Taylor Diamond
While this venue has its perks visually, it’s not worth booking when you have to deal with the venue manager Fran. From both a vendor perspective and a client perspective she’s genuinely the worst. I’ve worked and been to many weddings and events and have never dealt with anyone quite like her. Like, who is horrible and condescending to even the BRIDE?? This venue is in the middle of no where, requires you to rent a tent for out door receptions, and won’t let vendors use their STANDARD equipment to do their job. And I’m not talking about taping things to the floors or walls, I mean giving the DJ a hard time about his table… a normal table. And the photographer a hard time about softbox’s and sand bags. Most of the staff was pleasant and tried to make up for Fran and her terrible attitude, a hard job for them I’m sure.
Anyways, moral of the story, between the location, their requirements, and the manager I wouldn’t recommend this venue to my worst enemy.
Ps- 100 year’s old is not that ancient friend.
It’s pretty though, I guess.
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June 2024 by Kaitlyn Aurilio
I had the pleasure of coordinating a wedding at The Howey Mansion over Memorial Day Weekend and it was truly one of the smoothest weddings I've done. Fran was so helpful and her team was there to help me with whatever I needed. The venue is absolutely stunning, so many areas for photo ops. This particular weekend was extremely hot, but the venue has an awesome AC unit, the inside never got hot despite the doors constantly being opened and closed. As a planner, I felt so prepared going into the wedding because of how organized Fran was leading up to it. The Howey Mansion team is extremely thorough with all the vendors and leaving no room for confusion. I can't recommend this venue enough and hope to have the opportunity to coordinate here again in the future!
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May 2024 by Justice Prevails
Went for The Founders Day celebration.
Today was a public festival on the outside of the property.
A well chosen cache of vendors with well priced and unique offerings.i came away with a few new things!
I tried 2 of the food trucks,both provided quality and value as well as congenial staff.
Then there was the mansion itself.
I’d never been in,and self guided tours were offered for only $10.00.
This was a bargain!
A beautiful historic property with docents who knew their stuff about the place and were happy to engage.
This event was so well put together and made for such an amazingly multifaceted experience,I hope they do more “ open to the public” events like it.
Kudos to all who made this happen!
It was FABULOUS!
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May 2024 by Jeanine Clark
Went there for a wedding. It was beautiful
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April 2024 by Faith Rowley
First off - As a wedding photographer I have seen so many wedding venues and event spaces. Howey Mansion is none like the rest. If you are looking for a unique experience for your guests to celebrate your new marriage... tour this venue as soon as possible. It is one of my absolute favorites to light and photograph my clients in. The grounds are incredibly beautiful for photographs and the entire experience is extraordinary.
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April 2024 by Janet Schick
It was award winning! I was there for a wedding and the staff to the food was top notch.
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March 2024 by Candida Lavoie
We enjoyed celebrating our daughter’s wedding this past weekend, 3/16. The actual day of went off very well. I’m not saying perfect, however, it was as close to perfect as possible. Fran runs a tight orderly ship where the staff of the mansion are kind professionals and know what their responsibilities are for the event. This is definitely a place to have a fun classy event. Keep in mind, this venue is a museum first and a venue second. Be prepared for some additional rules you and your vendors will be asked to follow that you may not have at some other venues. They are common sense rules like don’t jump on the furniture or be aware of your drink while standing on the rug that.costs thousands of dollars. The mansion can’t exactly run to the store and replace a period piece.
If we had to choose again, we’d definitely choose to have our event here.
<Arthur’s Catering is a separate vendor to the mansion.>
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February 2024 by Michelle Klinedinst
I have never written a review but If you are planning on staying here you might want to know of my experience. I attended a wedding at the Howey mansion and thought the carriage house would be a convenient spot. The information on the website did not explain the steep flight of stairs to the carriage house living quarters. It was impossible to carry luggage up these stairs and challenging to navigate much less carry large luggage up stairs. The information regarding stairs I realized was in the booking information sent to me AFTER I paid and booked the days. The blow-dryer did not work, the bedroom remote did not work, there was a metal bar located by the toilet protruding from the window we had to navigate to avoid injury. After opening the bathroom cabinet, it would never close again and the door hung open into the middle of the bathroom which is quite small to begin with. I did slam into it once. It did not feel good. We were there more than one day and were never offered additional towels or coffee. The stove smoked terribly when we turned it on and the microwave was dirty. The mansion is lovely and the event lovely but I would not recommend staying at the carriage house. When I notified the management I received no response. Despite the cost, we were also required to take out our trash upon departure.
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January 2024 by Deirdre McCauley
Went for a wedding and 17 got sick. Slow service to clean tables. Salad was great .
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December 2023 by elizabeth demarque
This place is amazing!!! It has been beautifully restored after being abandoned for a decade. Our guide, Pat (?), was absolutely fantastic! She provided us with fun facts and stories on the house and its previous owners.My favorite room has to be the “secret” room!! If these walls could talk!! ? And the stained glass front door is absolutely gorgeous!!I would definitely recommend coming here for a tour if you’re in the neighborhood! Advanced tickets are required so you can’t just show up for a tour!!!
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December 2023 by Ben (NotbrokejustBen)
Weddings, events, concerts, holidays - They all are more stunning at this beautiful estate.
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December 2023 by Michael Maccallum
Amazing place and the Staff was so friendly
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December 2023 by Andrew O’Keefe
My daughter had her wedding in this beautiful old mansion located in Howey in the Hills,Florida. The photos from this wedding are incredible. The entire wedding party stayed overnight in the mansion and the two outbuildings on the mansion property the 2 bedroom carriage house and the cute little gardeners cottage. The food catered by Arthur’s was absolutely delicious, and the staff of the mansion were most accommodating and exceeded our expectations.A special thanks to Fran and Pat and the rest of the mansion staff to a job well done.Cheers!
