Cheekwood: Estate and Gardens

Reviews 3

KR

Kristian Collins

I recently tried to plan a wedding at Cheekwood and feel that it was a waste of my time. Previous reviews mentioned how poor they were at communication but honestly it is even worse than that. After weeks of less than unimpressive communications below is the email I sent to their Special Events Manager: Erin, I appreciate you following up but we decided to move forward with another venue. To be honest it was the lackadaisical and underwhelming performance of your entire team that made this an easy decision. Starting in December I had to email into your office more than 3 times before anyone would get back to me. From there responses were inconsistent and took much longer than all of your competitors to receive. I read reviews of your venue and saw comments about how difficult it was to communicate with your venue but overlooked it because of how pretty your spaces were. I am sad to say that they were correct. Your team comes off like you dont care and that you think that you are the only venue in the area worth having a wedding at but you are not. I asked several times for members of your team to call me back and I only got 1 call throughout a multi-week duration. Your team is not flexible and accommodating and really made me feel like you didnt care to help make planning my wedding any easier for me. You just threw a huge list of vendors at me and essentially said, "figure the rest out on your own." I did call all of your vendors for quotes and while your catering people were quick to respond and very welcoming, Anne at Music City Tents and Events was a nightmare to get in touch with. I had to call/email her and the business at least 5 times for over a week before she even got on the phone to call me. You both are guilty of using variations of, "we were busy with other clients with events now" as excuses for your extreme delay in getting back to future business. I understand you have current events you have to manage but if you keep treating potential clients like this you wont have any business in the future to worry about. The worst part is I tried to overlook all of this because I liked your venue and convinced myself that this was my venue of choice but when I asked for contract you STILL took way too long to get it to me and used a myriad of excuses that made me feel like even less of a priority for reasons why it took you 2 days to send me a contract. I want to let you know that I am not writing this letter to vent pent up frustrations or to get something in return. I signed a contract with a venue over a week ago and I took this long to respond because I had a lot going on and frankly wasnt exactly sure on how I wanted to relay this information to you. I am writing this to you because you and your whole team need to know - including your outside "preferred vendors". You need to know that your level and consistency in communication is less than dire and that the disinterested vibe you give off to potential clients is losing you all money. It may not run you out of business but nonetheless it is hindering your ability to make even more of it and it is effecting your reputation. There are so many equally impressive venues in the Nashville area and I would encourage you and your team to look into the level of service that they provide to even their potential clients and incorporate them into your own business. It is sad that we will not being working together just because no one on your end could bother to pick up the phone and tell me why things were getting delayed or even send a email within a reasonable about of time. I was going to spend a lot of money are your venue and think that was the least that I deserved. I wish you all the best in the future and hope you take the things I have said to heart moving forward,

JA

Jacqueline Garner

I am giving a lower rating because of my experience. I hope with tips I can provide to keep others from similar experiences. I went to Cheekwood for a college art assignment, but had previously wanted to go for the gardens advertised. The first mistake I made was dressing up with heels thinking it was an upscale establishment. If you will be walking the gardens, mansion, and sculpture trail, wear athletic shoes or at least flats. I have six blisters and a busted knee from falling. Second mistake was forgetting a water bottle. If you are like me and forget, there is no where to get water in the visitors center or the learning center, and the mansion only has fountains near the bathrooms. Otherwise only pineapple room restaurant and gift shop building sells drinks on the opposite end of property. I was near overheating and I was never offered a drink or concern from employees. I was pouring sweat and feeling near hear exhaustion. As far as the gardens, only the one behind the visitors center has flowers. The rest have cute cottages and one has a really unique train on wooded tracks that is really large, which is really nice! The sculpture trail is not advertised but goes behind the mansion, through the woods, to the pineapple room. There are very few sculptures on there which arent very impressive and they are the only art with markers that explain what they are! Possibly the greatest disappointment was There wasnt much art in the mansion. Right now till September they are having a downtown Abby convention. So the 2nd floor is all downtown Abby clothes from the 20s. The first floor has been remodeled in the fashion it was when the Cheeks lived there. But it is only 40% the original furniture downstairs. The few pieces of art downstairs are not marked with plaques saying what they are and the large artistic tapestries in the lobby, the staff didnt have details they could give me of them... The only back up if youre there for a project is the sculpture trails. But they may have an art exhibit when you go. You should check and see what exhibits are there when you go. The security staff was so kind to me. There is a security guard working the G floor who was a retired veteran. He was very kind. Also the 2 older security guards on the second floor were very kind and gave me some details on pieces they knew. One final detail which might not matter, they charge extra to park there which is not advertised. They charged me 5 dollars for parking. Good luck if you go.

JE

JeAnne Swinley

I have NEVER been treated as rudely by staff as I was in this place. A small group of us (three) went to check wood to check out the sculptural garden. It was three of us with no other customers and four people to "handle" us behind the desk. They couldnt seem to understand that even though we arrived together we were praying separately. Soon that was explained and it seemed we were going to be moving. We then asked for directions to get to the entrance of the gardens. One customer service rep pointed to the visitors guide and another was more concerned wondering which one of us was going to pay for parking. We ubered... This also seemed a source of great confusion. Finally we are on our way and the sky opens up.. Torrential downpour. I know this is not their fault. We try to brave it trekking up the hill to the museum, wait there for a few minutes, decide this was not happening and made out way back down. All of this was approximately a half hour tops. We go in and I made a joke on the way to the bathroom to dry off that it was the best money Ive ever spent. As Im getting into the bathroom, I overhear one of them tell their colleague that they were going to refund a couple that came in after us, but not us because we were there an hour and a half. Had he kept his trap shut, I would have not even expected a full refund (although it would have been the right thing for a business to do). However, he couldnt help himself from being snarky and passive aggressive. I got out of the bathroom and looked for the closest person resembling management. After explaining what happened and disappointment in their attitudes, SHE APOLOGIZED FOR IT RAINING. Still no refund or even an attempt at righting a wrong. Discount vouchers, coupons for a "try again" visit, A REAL APOLOGY would have been super. Im sure yall make boat loads of money with tours and private even rentals, and our meager $50 is a drop in the bucket for you. But good customer service is priceless. Nashville has some of the friendliest service employees I have ever met... Hotels employees, bar and restaurant staff, cab drivers... In general amazing. Not this place. Pretentious as F$K.

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