The Crooked Well

We found the crooked well through bridebook.com, this is how we contacted them (more on this later). Absolutely awful experience from top start to finish. In retrospect, alarm bells should have been ringing when on our first meeting Dann ( the manager) not only completely forgot we had a meeting booked in but also said "I can't imagine why anyone would want to get married". We then proceeded to tell him what we wanted, he agreed to everything including our proposal of a hot buffet meal for our guests with pre-bought bottles of wine to be placed on the tables for our guests to serve themselves. He assured us The Crooked Well could provide any type of food we wanted .We went over what we wanted to spend and agreed a minimum spend at the bar. We have never organised a wedding before, so in hindsight we should really have cottoned on to how blasé and wishy washy he was being with details, but we took him on his word for everything and continued to plan our wedding, safe in the knowledge we had our reception venue sorted. Email correspondence was like getting blood out of a stone. It would usually take at least a week for an email response and sometimes we would get no response at all. We were starting to get worried so asked for another meeting and asked to meet with the chef also to discuss our buffet menu. Upon meeting Dann and the Chef*, we outlined what we wanted on the buffet before the Chef told us that the Crooked Well did not have the facilities to provide a buffet service and that the only option was a sit down meal. We had not wanted a sit down meal. We had wanted a Mediterranean style buffet, but we found ourselves reluctantly agreeing to a sit down meal of contemporary British food, at a considerably larger price per head than agreed initially. It was here we really started to worry as it became evident at this moment that Dann, not only didn't know what a buffet was but also knew he had really messed up. Instead of apologising to us and trying to fix things he sloped off into the background, sulking and embarrassed More frustrating email communication followed before we decided that we needed our minds put at ease, then Dann started trying to change the terms of our verbal agreement. He suddenly started saying that the minimum spend for the night now didn't actually include what our guests spent at the bar and that we had to spend that before the reception had even started. He also now wanted to include a 12.5% service charge on the wine placed on the tables , which guests would quite literally be serving to themselves. He then started trying to make out he was being generous by not charging a cakeage fee for our guests to have cake on paper napkins, cut by us, despite not one even mentioning such a fee. We started to think he was trying to push us into cancelling as he was obviously in way over his head. so drafted a very professional e-mail highlighting all of the questions we really needed answering as definite. We had no contract, so we really needed some of this info in writing. All of the questions were completely ignored and we received a response that essentially said "look, we don't really have the facilities for the level of service you want, if you want to cancel that's fine". We responded and pointed out all of the services listed on bridebook.com (how we contacted them), and we got a response of "oh, we don't use bridebook anymore contact them if you have a problem with the information, it's not our fault" We contacted bridebook. Not only did they inform us that all information is provided by the Crooked well, but it also needs to be reviewed yearly when their annual (fee paid) subscription is renewed. This information is all entirely incorrect and this is entirely the fault of The Crooked Well. They have offered absolutely no apology whatsoever for the 6 months wasted on them, the hundreds of pounds wasted on a DJ booked for the venue, invitations printed and travel and hotels booked. We decided that even with 3 months until our wedding, it was better to start from scratch and find a new venue that continue with this farce. I cannot put into words how truly awful it was trying to deal with The Crooked Well, I personally would avoid this place and go somewhere else. *I have referred to the Chef simply as 'Chef' as I do not wish to sully his name and reputation, and we wish him every success with wherever his business takes him in the future, none of this was his fault.