The Barn

Disgusting white trash wedding party was the worst I have ever been to. The place is filled with old dusty, plastic flowers and crap. Had to pay for water! No pitcher of water even on the table. It was 100 degrees in there in July. There was no air conditioning. The food wasn’t even edible. The owner was creepy and just hung around but never helpful wearing an actual gun on his side. What’s he expecting? The big plastic horse with faded plastic flowers was a good clue to how classless this place would be. It’s so nice to drive up to all the old, piled up rusted parts and things on the porch. I think I heard the sound of banjos in the background.kidding. I have been to beautiful barn weddings. This is more like a rundown shed. I just hope those poor horses aren’t mistreated. They seemed to have the look on their face, please get us out of here! Please do yourself a favor and have a party in a forest preserve before you book this hole.

I can see why no one has written a review really since 2012. Brides beware!!! I coordinated a wedding here in October 2015. The owner (old man) is sweet as pie before you sign a contract… then he turns into a grumpy old man that seems to just hate weddings. Oh BTW he;‘s trying to sell this property. so who knows if you book now if it will still be there in a year.
The owner prior to signing said we could decorate anyway you want (which in my mind hire a pipe and drape company to hide all of his random crap laying around. Don’t forget about the skulls and stripper cages hanging above the dance floor) However, if you move anything (there’s a LOT of dusty leftover items from other events he just put all over) Before your reception ends he turns into the décor Nazi and follows you around to make sure all of his stuff goes back exactly where it came from (Which yes, I understand needs to be done however, don’t be so rude about it.)
Every time you go there expect to be wondering around the barn or farm for about 30 minutes before anyone will help you.
Now, let’s talk about the actual wedding day… I arrived at 10am the wedding day. There’s no one there and it’s dark. So I’m there setting up the wedding reception with out any lights. Eventually a woman that works there offered to turn some lights on.
The owner decided to put an altar table by the gazebo (which the bride never asked for). I asked the bus boys that I found to take it down (obviously they set it up) they just looked at me and walked away. Eventually the owner shows up and makes it the world’s biggest problem that I want the table taken down for the bride.
He then asks if he can turn the lights off. Apparently he doesn’t care if a pregnant woman is wondering around an over crowded barn in the dark.
The bride was told before booking there would be a wifi connection for her Dj. Guess what wasn’t available the day of the wedding?
The groom had made a photo montage to be played during dinner. Well I guess the baseball game was more important to watch on the 2 screens… the owner decided to turn on the baseball game half way in to the cocktail and hour into the bridal party introductions! He then played the video montage twice and then back to the regular scheduled program.
The first dance comes as well as the parents dances. Guess what wasn’t showing on the big screens? That’s right, you’re guests can watch the baseball game instead of the important dances.
When asking the owners MANY times to turn off the baseball he ignores you.
When your wedding cake is being delivered there’s no one to help the delivery driver. The owner expects a pregnant woman to bring in a 3 tiered cake.
He’ll eat from your dessert table that your family brought in DURING the reception.
His cooks/​staff will ask your Dj for song requests? I’m sorry, is his staff paying for your dj with the wifi connection that doesn’t exists.
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Also, make sure to take your wedding décor home the night of your wedding… otherwise he’ll keep it and then will deny he has it.

We were really excited to host one of our wedding events here of about 200 people and were extremely disappointed with the results.
Michael had assured us constantly up until the week of the event that all he needed was a checklist and that any decoration we’d like to do — we can do that week. We set up a time with him a day before the event and my family members came to help out. Michael was surprisingly so rude to my family members and us while setting up. He constantly was raising his voice and refused to turn on a couple lights, he decided to make a few décor decisions for us, but we ended up turning on the lights at the end to give us the look that WE wanted since we PAID for the barn. That was an extreme hassle to deal with that during setup.
Then during the event, our DJ told us at the end of the night that he was unable to raise the volume of the music because Michael in the back had the full control and kept significantly lowering the volume. I could hear myself clap and I’m the bride! Some of the dancers said they couldn’t hear the music therefore were a little off on their steps in their dance performance. Why do you take pride in your concert venue setup, when you barely allow a DJ to play a tolerable volume level?!
Afterwards, Michael tried to overcharge us on items we already contracted for an extra $ 500 – 700. He was extremely rude and inappropriate to discuss anything with and went ahead acting like this in front of our remaining guests.
The next day after the event, my husband and I had to literally go through our email and go through each line item in the contract with Michael in order to show him how wrong he was. He finally agreed but still charged ridiculously extra prices, like $ 100 for borrowing linens to pray on. Seriously? Also on top of his rude behavior he kept emphasizing repeatedly how he’d never agree to contracted prices again.
Also the lights hanging up on the ceiling, you’re welcome. That’s the décor we left at the barn since Michael agreed to pay us off, you know for how much? $ 70. He refused to pay for any labor that my family had to set up and that he was UNHELPFUL with. He’s a ridiculous man and I hope that no one wastes their time with him.
We had a terrible time with Michael, in fact I’d like to say the event went well for the most part, but for what we had planned thanks to Michael that was completely ruined.

We have now been to Arabian Knights Farm twice. Both times were very positive experiences. Our first experience was with the Girl Scouts. They did a fantastic presentation for the girls and everyone was professional and courteous. The second time was a one on one experience with Judy. I called to request a «look around» with my youngest, who experiences anxiety about new situations. Judy was willing to take time out of her busy day to show us around and talk to us about the farm and the horses so that we could feel comfortable taking the beginner/​introduction class to Horsmanship, I was so impressed with how kind and helpful the staff was. We are looking forward to taking classes there this fall. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking to learn!

We booked this place for my Godson’s Baptism a while back and the place in it self is very cute and very in the spirit of that barn/​cowboy atmosphere. The rental of the place is actually very reasonable but they get you with the drinks! So keep an eye out! I give this place only 1 star because the people that worked there were super rude to everyone. Mainly the girls in the stables. We had booked pony rides for all the kids and we all went to the stable/​riding area and were watching people ride. People were standing all over the place and in front of their entrance. Instead of kindly saying if we could please move we got a very rude, «you all need to move out of the our way.» Ok so I took that as ok that was our fault but she was still very rude about it. We then extended our pony ride session because of the rain, when I told the girls running the pony rides that I have already spoken to the owner and he was fine with it and if they needed more information they can go talk to him. Their response was for me to go talk to him again and bring him to the stable because they don’t really like talking to him. What??? I have to do your job?! I was completely baffled that we were getting treated this way, we were paying for the extra hour. It wasn’t free! So I refused to go find out information for the girls that work there. So I tell them that if they need more information they can go find him. We did end up getting the extra hour, the hour is done and the kids and families are walking around the stables looking at all the horses. The girl riding and her trainer walk into the stable and again not pleasant at all says,” you all can’t be here you all need to get out! Get out!” That was the last straw. Teenage girls treating people like cattle. That’s just not how you treat people especially when that’s your job. If you don’t like your job that’s not my fault. But regardless I wouldn’t go back, employees lost a future customer.

I was here for the first time the other day attending a birthday party for a one year old. I thought it was a really nice party and was impressed at what a good time I had! The barn the party was in was very interesting. There were many different things to look at. After we ate the kids got the opportunity to go outside and feed the animals. There were a couple of goats, some chickens, a donkey, a mini horse, and peacocks. The peacock even opened its feathers which was beautiful. After that the kids were able to go on a pony ride. Since I was only a guest of the party I can not comment on the pricing. The reason I gave it four stars instead of five was because it was so hot!!! The barn wasn’t air conditioned and the heat was almost unbearable. Although it was a beautiful party I might prefer to attend in the fall!

We had our wedding here in May of 2013. We wanted a casual, non traditional wedding that wasn’t going to require us to take out a loan. The barn was everything we needed it to be and more. I am originally from Chicago and my husband from Detroit but we both live in L.A. now. Michael was more than accommodating to us when we were in town and needed to meet with him to go over everything. He always took time out to sit down with us make sure we got our needs met. We had both our ceremony and reception here. We had some specific requests in terms of table placement and decorating things and Michael made sure he had it all taken care of.
It is a barn and we let our guests know we were having a barn wedding. Telling them all to dress casual and not to wear heals. Everyone drank out of mason jars the whole night. We were very DIY, to save even more money, so all decorating was on us but Michael had some staff around while setting up to help put it all together.
We did bring in our own DJ and our own cupcakes (instead of a cake) but the barn did the catering and the food was incredible! It was served buffet style and the DJ called out table numbers to get everyone up and to the food table. The wait staff and bartenders were great and always seemed to milling about in case we needed something. Michael was also there the night of and consistently checked in with me or my husband to make sure we were having a great time.
We had an arrangement with a hotel nearby that ran a shuttle to and from the venue so parking wasn’t really an issue for us. However, there were attendants there in case we did have people driving in.
We have so many amazing pictures that we took around the grounds with family, friends and the bridal party. We jumped into the goat pen and took pictures with the goats, took pictures in the little outhouse, near the horses.
This venue might not be for everyone but if you want a non stuffy, non traditional wedding this is a great place for it and you won’t break your back trying to pay for it! If you’d like to see pictures of anything let me know! I can send them along.
Hope this helps in finding your perfect wedding venue!

Well let me be the first to review this place. I went to see Billy Crogan’s pro wrestling organization. This place is pretty cool and not sure what it is year round or most of the time. Seems like they train horses either for racing or that equistarian thing. The place is a barn and I think people can rent out the place for parties or weddings. There is a small petting zoo area in back with little horses and geese. A pretty cool place for anything especially pro wrestling.

Michael, the director of marketing for The Barn, is ON IT.
From a casual cocktail, to a wrestling match and beyond, The Barn at Arabian Knights farms is prepared to host your event. The venue is certainly unique, and able to morph into *almost* anything you need.
My complaint is that the boarders (people who keep their horses here) are not exactly thrilled over events and guests, and the parking can be a little trying.