Birch Ridge (Closed)

"We couldn't be happier with our decision to host our wedding at The Hive at Birch Ridge Estates. The venue is so beautiful with the birch trees as the ceremony backdrop and the mountains peeking through in the distance. We even started a large bonfire after the reception that all the guests enjoyed. Though it requires more work to find vendors and create decor, having a wedding at this venue allows you to customize every detail of your day, and we believed at a fair price. We were even able to host our two families a few days prior to allow them to get to know each other more and help set up. Eric was always available to answer questions and met us to visit the venue a couple times prior to the wedding to help envision where everything would go. The only negative about the venue is the bathroom situation, but that is something Eric is working on with a new changing area/restroom."

"My daughter got married at the Hive in Waterford- although the venue is beautiful dealing with Eric is a nightmare… in the beginning he had double booked the venue and then came good on it so we could book the venue for 7.9.22. There are some safety concerns at this venue that he doesn’t care to accept feedback on 1.) the wooden benches set up for seating are all rough lumber pine, cracked broken and very fragile and are not anchored in the ground 2.) No handrails on the steep fieldstone stairs going up to the wedding barn 3.) No lighting at night on the sides of the barn to light up the stairs 4.) No lighting to walk to vehicles which is down the long driveway on the front lawn Also in the farm house he has old outdated air conditioners that don’t keep the house cool on a hot summer day! He finds any tacky reason to try and keep a portion of a deposit! (Flower girl flower pedals on the ground lol) he breeches his contract and thinks he will get away with it and tries to bully the client in hopes they will give up! Stay clear from this man! Poor management will put him out of business!"

"*DO NOT BOOK YOUR WEDDING HERE OR STAY HERE!* Beware! The venue itself is a 5/5. However, Eric, the owner, made our experience a 1/5. We booked all 3 of his properties in October 2018 and had our deposits in. Fast forward to 2 days before our wedding (July 2019) after Eric not returning our emails, he sent us an email stating he had accidentally double booked one of the properties, and we would have to find another place to stay. TWO DAYS before our wedding! Our family was traveling from Rhode Island and he stated he was not willing to stand by our signed contract and let us have the house for the weekend. My assumption is the other family booked the house for the whole week, not just the weekend, and he wanted to keep the family giving him more money, even though we had it booked since October.. Did I mention he told us this via email? Then did not answer emails, phone calls, and text messages for 4 hours? What a way to stress two brides out two days before their wedding. Eric was incredibly unreasonable, and after a lengthy discussion without him budging, he finally agreed to pay for a nearby rental. Still did not take away the fact we had to scramble around for 4 hours when we should've been setting up for our wedding.. At the main house, there was a notebook where previous guests had written in. There were MULTIPLE people who wrote they had been double booked. Seems like a common issue. Incredibly unprofessional guy. Although the venue is beautiful, do yourself a favor and avoid this venue. The owner is terrible at communicating and returning emails. He does not even know how to keep a schedule, and will put money over you and your wedding. Avoid at all costs! We are still upset with you, Eric! Also, as previously stated in other reviews, Eric told us the wrong time to stop the music. The police showed up and shut our wedding down. They said they have been there 22 times in the last 18 months due to noise complaints."

"We had our wedding celebration at The Hive during peak foliage. Definitely a beautiful, scenic location, great for an outdoor event! Eric was incredibly kind, communicative, and helpful throughout the entire experience. Some small issues during our stay got resolved quickly. He has been nothing but kind to us and went above and beyond for us before, during, and even after our stay. The only BIG remark I have is about the flies... I'm not talking about a few flies... The entire place is INFESTED. We had people have to go out and buy fly traps the morning of our wedding event because there was no way we could have put our food and drinks out without literally thousands of flies on it. I included a quick picture I snapped of hundreds of flies on the floor in the tent... We were glad it was pretty cold on our actual wedding day, causing the flies to leave us alone a bit. But definitely keep this in mind when you book your outdoor event. Keeping "doors closed" won't help, they are EVERYWHERE, and are especially a big problem outside. Maybe Eric can hire a professional exterminator or make a bigger effort to put fly traps around the property? Other than this we have no real complaints and would definitely recommend this venue to anyone looking for a picturesque outdoor wedding."