Renter Beware - Richardson Ranch is a beautiful property, and the space itself worked well for our wedding weekend events. Unfortunately, our experience working with Amy Richardson created a significant amount of unnecessary stress. We reserved the property, paid deposits, and began paying invoices nearly a year in advance. Despite that, important disclosures and restrictions were not provided until about one week before our event. This included last-minute alcohol restrictions. Alcohol rules are a critical disclosure when planning a wedding, and receiving that information so late left us scrambling to adjust plans that had been in place for months. We frequently felt nickel-and-dimed and were made to feel as though basic requests were special favors, despite paying more than $9,000 to rent the entire property for five days, including use of the event hall. There was also a lack of privacy. Amy told us that she would be watching the property through cameras and counting the number of people entering. We understand that an owner may need to protect the property and enforce occupancy limits, but the way this was communicated made us feel monitored rather than welcomed. It felt intrusive and uncomfortable during what was supposed to be a private celebration with our family and friends. There was no flexibility. We were required to leave the event hall promptly at 10 p.m. despite renting the property for 5 days. We explained that we did not want to move all of the leftover drinks and other items immediately after the event and asked whether we could remove them first thing the next morning. The answer was a hard no. We had to rally our friends and family at the end of the celebration to help clear drinks and other items out of the event hall before it was locked. After paying more than $9,000 for the rental, it was frustrating and embarrassing to ask our guests to help us rush everything out at 10 p.m. It added unnecessary stress at the end of an otherwise special evening. We were also charged $600 for an event coordinator who, from our perspective, provided no meaningful assistance. In addition, I repeatedly had to review and correct errors in the estimates and invoices. We spent more time emailing Richardson Ranch than we did communicating with our actual wedding venue. The deposit situation was especially frustrating. Our contract stated that the deposit would be returned within one week, but it took more than six weeks. When the check finally arrived, it bounced due to insufficient funds. After I informed Amy that the check had bounced, she ultimately returned the money through Zelle. Overall, the property was attractive and served its purpose, but the lack of timely disclosure, last-minute alcohol restrictions, feeling monitored, invoice errors, coordinator fee, complete lack of flexibility, and mishandling of our deposit overshadowed the experience. My wife and I agree that we would never rent Richardson Ranch again.
