Hope Taylor

As a wedding photographer myself, I have never posted a negative review like this, but truly feel that I need to warn other potential couples. My fiance and I toured Ford and fell head-over-heels in love with the beautiful space in June of 2021. Shortly after, management was changed (we had no idea) and our experience rapidly went downhill. Communication was almost non-existent, we had to send dozens of follow-up emails to get a response and tens of thousands of dollars worth of expenses were added to our bill over 6 months AFTER booking. There were endless expenses that were not communicated to us up front (you have to pay to rent everything from trash cans to sheet pans) and our food and beverage estimate was more than 3x the minimum in our contract. Despite all of this, we went into our tasting experience hopeful that it would turn the experience around. We had communicated more than once, both verbally and in writing, that my fiance had celiac disease and would need gluten free food. As a venue that prides itself on it's 5-star fine dining experience (and requires you to use their catering), we expected they would have no problem handling such a common food allergy. Upon arriving, it was clear that the "5-star culinary experience" we were promised (with a $50,000+ price tag) could not even handle a common food allergy and had no interest in paying attention to client details. My fiance was served gluten more than 5 times, and one of those times the chef assured us the dish was gluten free just to come back later and say that it was not... this could have quite literally put my fiance in the hospital. When we asked Ford what they planned to do to repair this situation, they were far from apologetic or understanding. Instead, they were condescending and offered laughable solutions (i.e. $1000 off of a $50,000+ tab). Ultimately, we had to cancel our contract with Ford and change venues over a year into the planning process. As stunning as Ford's views are...nothing is worth the experience we had with them. We have a healthy 6-figure wedding budget and were made to feel like we were penny pinching just to afford the bare minimum in client experience. I hope changes are made to provide a better experience for future clients.