Gina D.
Google
Starting with the good — and a huge shoutout to the amazing staff at Barley! We had our wedding here and worked mostly with Kelly, who was absolutely fabulous. I truly couldn’t have planned this wedding without her. She was organized, kind, and incredibly detail-oriented. An absolute dream to work with — Barley Sheaf is lucky to have her. The grounds are stunning and so picturesque. Everything went smoothly during both the ceremony and reception, thanks to Kelly and the rest of the team. Now, why I’m giving 4 stars instead of 5: When we originally booked in 2024, Barley was under different ownership. The previous owners were warm, attentive, and made us feel seen and respected — it was actually a major reason we chose the venue. A few months after we booked, new management took over. Unfortunately, we didn’t feel the same warmth or attentiveness from the new owner, Theresa. I don’t know if I said or did something wrong that offended her during planning, but we often felt like she was standoffish and uninterested in making us feel welcome. As wonderful as our wedding turned out, we left the next morning feeling a bit deflated because of how we were treated by her. A few specific issues: After the rehearsal, we were allowed to check in early — great! We wanted to nap before the dinner, but noticed a stained comforter (blood or rust). We asked for clean bedding at the front desk. After 45 minutes with no response, we followed up. Theresa came to the room and explained that the cleaning crew was busy prepping for a wedding that night. While that’s understandable, we were confused why she couldn’t just bring fresh sheets herself — we were happy to make the bed. Also, the air conditioning was stuck on freezing. When I mentioned it, she was dismissive and told us she didn’t know when maintenance would arrive. Her attitude felt cold — not what you expect from someone running a wedding venue. On the wedding day: We got ready in the barn and had access to the bridal suite for one hour. After getting ready, we had no one to help move our things from the barn to the suite. We were shocked — especially with the time crunch and amount of stuff we had to move. We asked for help and were told, “Usually the bridal party takes care of that.” My bridal party included only my mother, MIL (both over 70), my MOH, and a friend who was 30+ weeks pregnant. My MOH had to run up and down the stairs multiple times and was dripping with sweat. We are all in our 30s and have been a part of multiple weddings and have never experienced something like that at another venue. It felt like staff should’ve recognized the limitations of our group and offered help — instead, we were met with attitude. Lastly, Theresa was barely present the entire day. Past reviews under old ownership raved about how involved and supportive the owners were during weddings. Maybe she was working behind the scenes, but from our perspective, she never checked in or made us feel celebrated. We didn’t feel like she cared — and definitely didn’t feel like the bride and groom that day by how we were treated.