I have mixed reviews about Highfield. I planned an international wedding at Highfield. I am very grateful for the amount of effort Highfield staff put into planning and organizing our wedding. When we arrived I was very happy with our choice to wed there - scenery was beautiful, accommodations were clean, food was delicious and everything went smoothly on the wedding day. To help me plan and direct my wedding day I had the pleasure of working with Zoe, Joanne and Laura - all extremely kind, accommodating and welcoming individuals. I can say the exact same for housekeeping, kitchen and bar staff. I would recommend this location to anyone; however, I did have some concerns.
It is unfortunate that their wedding manager, Rebecca, is incapable of showing compassion, accommodating to requests, or taking accountability for her own words and actions. I would explain using a few scenarios as examples, however, that might take too long. She was my main stressor throughout all my wedding planning - in almost every interaction with her she was condescending. I especially didn’t appreciate her badgering us for being 1 pound short on the final invoice when they declined my request to be reimbursed for 4 individuals who had to cancel for medical reasons - that's 440 pounds, almost $800CAD. Either I’m awful at comprehending or the contract is ambiguous. Rebecca did not “take reasonable endeavours to accommodate” us in this situation.
Nor did she let us refrigerate our cake which was already ordered.. and due to the logistics of that, it never arrived and we were out that experience and money... anyways, those are just two examples out of many.
My rating is lacking 5 stars due to Rebecca and some other financial headaches we received during and after our stay at Highfield. This is not a complaint for the wedding team, but just for the venue itself. Ask for an itemized invoice at check-out of all tabs, accommodation, bills, etc. Every single one of my family members, including myself, as well as a few of my friends, had random charges added to our bills at check-out. For example, I was charged for my bridal suite when I shouldn’t have been.
I feel bad about listing my complaints because the staff and beautiful venue deserve more than that for their kindness and professionalism. It’s just a shame that Rebecca was there to belittle my father and I on multiple occasions, when we’re paying thousands of dollars to be there. It’s also a shame her and whoever makes the final billing decisions at check-out are penny pinching. Good thing we never met Rebecca in person, and only had to deal with the charges at the end; they did not ruin the lived-in experience at Highfield.