Saphire Estate

Other reviewer, Stephanie A., is my wife, and I have to echo what she said. All our vendors found Hillary (and her staff) easy to work with, and from the moment we started looking for a wedding venue until the ceremony and reception, they were always very clear about what to expect. Their contract and wedding binder were clear about costs and their staff were always willing to walk us through everything. It was easy to see what the venue would look like, what the food would taste like, how things would be set up, and who would be there to help us. They made things easy, which is exactly what you need when you’re getting married.

Attended a friends wedding there. It is a simple nice place. Service was smooth and friendly. Food was great. Very nice salad, salmon with potatoes and asparagus (unfortunately I dislike asparagus), rolls and coffee all were good. The yard in fall colors was just stunning. I would have a party here (if it wasn’t on the wrong side of Boston).

After getting engaged my husband and I visited Saphire Estate as a venue to have our wedding. We knew we wanted a small wedding so the venue size was perfect. I wanted an outdoor wedding and this venue has a beautiful (but small) outdoor area.
We decided to use this venue and booked our date after obtaining a quote and an agreement from the consultant at our visit. A few days later we received a phone call from one of the owners.
The owner was calling to tell us that the quote and hours we received was not the actual amount we would have to pay. He was incredibly rude, pompous and overall disgusting to work with. After one phone call we decided to cancel our date, thankfully we had not put any money down at this point.
Looking back now I am so happy we did not choose this venue. The first interaction was great, but once we had to deal with one of the owners we decided that we did not want to celebrate our special day with incredibly rude and non-​business people.

The pictures on the website are so misleading. I was very excited to take a tour of this venue because it seemed to have everything I was looking for — grand ballroom, beautiful outdoor ceremony, near the water, free ample parking, and more.
«Disappointed» doesn’t even begin to describe how we felt! My parents, sister, fiancé, and I pulled up to Saphire and were already underwhelmed by the location. Saphire claims to be near the water and have its own private beach for photos. Okay, it is NEAR the water but you have to walk down a long driveway and the venue is located on a road that has a lot of traffic at times. Also, the «beach» was a small strip of land that would not accommodate our bridal party of 18. It was laughable, actually. We’d probably get hit by a car trying to figure out how to stand for pictures in that spot.
There was free parking available but nowhere near enough to fit our 250+ guest list, I feel. The outdoor ceremony area was nice with the stonework, pergola, and flowers but not enough for me. The cocktail hour would be held entirely outside as well in the same spot because the estate isn’t big enough to have a room for this. If it rains, «we would just have to make it work», um ok.
The interior wasn’t as impressive as I had anticipated either. Right upon entering the estate, the bar area was to the left and definitely would not accommodate our guest list. The reception area was lovely in its set-​up with a lounge to the side but it was set for 160 guests so we would have to take up the whole room. This means the dance floor would be tiny — I’m guessing less than 20×20 feet. The ceiling height was also too low for me.
There is only one bridal suite and it is greatly lacking in detail and design. So boring and plain! There is also a photo room next door that screams to be updated and redesigned. I would never want to take photos there.
Our experience with the coordinator giving us the tour wasn’t great either. We were escorted into an office to view video clips of the venue while we waited for her to finish another tour. The young woman who seated us and gave us coffee was super pleasant — we liked her a lot. She made sure we were comfortable and had everything we needed. Even so, we were not impressed with the venue (before we saw the rooms) and were discussing this as a family while we waited for the tour to begin.
The coordinator (forget her name) came in and I immediately noticed her disheveled appearance and she had pink eye or something because one of her eyes was visibly red. I understand you can get sick, but it was just so distracting. She also didn’t introduce herself to us which was odd and just started talking about the venue. I asked a lot of questions and made sure to record her answers.
After the tour, she left us to discuss the venue further amongst ourselves and we agreed that we did not want the wedding at this venue. Then, we noticed that we left the packet she gave us inside which was for the best!
We are having our wedding at Cascade in Hamden, CT and could not be happier with our choice.

I recently got engaged and started looking at venues to hold the wedding. The Saphire Estate was the second place we looked at and we were impressed. After meeting with the coordinator we were giving a basic proposal and told that this was just a basic proposal and they would be willing to work with us. I left the meeting feeling good. The next day me and my fiancé went to look at some more places and get some more proposals of venues we thought we would like. We got a few proposals that we thought were a better deal than the saphire because its offered more and was cheaper than the saphire (their original proposal was insanely high. Basically the same price as the Seaport and Boston Harbor hotel in Boston) So because the saphire said they would be willing to work with us, we wrote them an email that following night stating what we found and how much we be willing to spend at the saphire. Now let me say I read lots of reviews about this place and their staff being stuck up and talking down to people but I felt after the meeting that they were very nice and respectful. That all went out the window though after they never even bothered to take the time and respond to my email request even just to say sorry we cannot accommodate you. Instead they said nothing back and acted like more offer was so beneath them that they dont even need to respond. Place needs to get a reality check because its not the four seasons.

Don’t do any business with these people. This place is nice, and it is located in front of a nice little lake. The people, rude. They talk to you as if they are better than you. I wore sweat pants, and a hoodie and needed to stop by at this place to get some info for a friend. This lady looked at me as if I could not afford to even be at the lot let alone be inside the building. Whatever. She needs to learn how to not judge a book by it’s cover. I walked away from the building and hopped in my car, the lady saw what I was driving and had a ‘oh’ look on her face. Don’t waste your time with these people.

I just want to say what a GREAT help Katelyn in sales was for us. We are getting married in September and she kept in constant communication with us in the short time I had being back in Massachusetts (we live in California) and it was around the holidays!
We looked at a few places and had to deal with a few snooty people but it is nice work with someone professional and prompt. Thanks again Katelyn!

To anyone considering an event at Saphire Estate, it will be worth your 5 minutes to read my review, trust me!
Trying to summarize everything wrong that happened in a short review…
— Initially everything seemed fine, the sales staff is very nice, they promise you the world for a reasonable price and it seems like nothing will go wrong.
— On the day of, so many things went wrong I was shocked.
1) The food was not the right food that we ordered — some things were not available, others were displayed very poorly, cold food, stuck together etc
2) One of the courses was served at the wrong temperature to everybody (because it had been sitting on the table for an hour) and it was embarassing for us to be honest
3) The main dish was either undercooked or overcooked and dry, seemed pretty random depending on the guest
4) We paid additional to upgrade to a fancier presentation which was not done on the day of the event
5) The «open bar» ran out of certain items, quite conveniently
That is enough to give you a flavor… all in all we overpaid many many thousands of dollars, and were treated poorly when we brought this up to the owners.
I have planned many events, both corporate and social, and never have I been treated this poorly or unprofessionally
Resolution:
–After negotiations with the Saphire owners (the most unprofessional business people I have met in my life, and I work with many business professionals across industries, so truly I was shocked), they offered a partial refund which was an insult (about 20% of the money we should have received back).
Legal action was considered but given their history with lawsuits (search for other reviews online and you will see similar stories), we decided not to spend a couple months building a case against them
I strongly advise you to stay away from this place, they are dishonest, do not follow through with promises and refuse to give back money you paid even if you are entitled to it. There are plenty of establishments out there that may be a little more money, but they will not be run by crooked business people

After leaving a poor review on this review and taking them to court. 5 years later they contact me about leaving this bad review. GEE. you think that maybe when I was having my 40,000.00 ++ Wedding with you people you could have treated with me respect and decency. You chose not to. Don’t contact me 5 years later when I’m married and already took you to court and only got a ¹⁄₃ of my deposit back and YOU booked a new wedding on my wedding the wedding day I cancelled… LEAVE ME ALONE!

The Saphire Estate (formerly known as the Saphire Manor) is a flexible and friendly wedding venue.
They can accommodate both indoor and outdoor ceremonies. The main dining area has a beautiful dance floor and can be customized to make a very unique space. The bride and groom suites are spacious and have lots of huge mirrors so there’s no elbowing to see oneself as one is getting ready. The staff is quick and efficient.
Best of all, they have a bit of private beach overlooking a lake. The beach is small and only the immediate wedding party is allowed to be on it, but you can do some small group shots with the sunset and lake in the background.
My biggest complaint about them is the «photo room.» The photo room is where you do your formal photographs in bad weather. I hate the idea of them in general, but they can be necessary. This one (although it’s just been re-​done) looks like 1980s Las Vegas. There are enormous gold drapes and this insanely ugly blue and gold carpeting. It’s a nightmare. Pray for good weather.