Ever After Chapel

Shiplap everywhere should be Joanna Gaines dream venue, right? But not when it smells like sewage, has mosquitoes inside, has wallpaper literally falling off the walls and ceiling (but not in the cute pinterest way) and the owner/​event coordinator seems ultra awkward. I don’t really know if she was drunk-​ish or just «weird», but the fact that she was dropping lit candles into glass jars, then watching them flip over, burn themselves out, and doing it over and over again (all while having a flexible flame thrower in her hand and a wedding guest showing her how to use it) was very odd.
It has SO much potential, but its soooo disjointed. The outside is cute, but you park on the grass. The old church is cute, but had to have box fans inside bc the air was NOT moving at all. The side room/​inside reception area was stinky and muggy, and you had to walk thru the sewage hall to get there. If I were wedding venue shopping, this one would have to be crossed off the list asap.

I am from out of town and attended a wedding here over the summer and what a GORGEOUS venue! The pine floors were amazing and the garden reception area was gorgeous. The old chapel had a beautiful charm. Outdoor receptions are really common for Texas, but if the weather was bad, it looks like there is an indoor place to move the reception here.
Judy was amazing! I can tell she is a hard worker. Seemed like she was the wedding coordinator because she was so active. I know weddings are crazy with people running around lots to do, but she was so level headed and helpful. HIGHLY recommended for events!

Where do I begin? This location has soooo much potential but unfortunately the lady who runs it, a woman named Judy Cochran, does not do a good job of running this place. The venue itself is beautiful, very vintage and rustic but had I known then what I know now, I would’ve found a different place. First off, the reception HAS to be outdoors so you will be worrying about the weather for months leading up to the date. I was told by her that as a backup she has another room that can be used to fit all of my guests in (about 90) but she never wanted to show it to me (I am pretty sure her, her son, and a ton of cats live in there) but when we finally made her show us because it was the week of and there was forecast for rain, she did and the room was waaaay too small to fit everyone in. We had originally agreed that I would have my ceremony and reception there and paid her for both but when I brought up my concern about maybe having to have my reception elsewhere and asked about a refund for the reception, she wasn’t having any of it and kept trying to convince me that we could make it work so I just left it as is. Luckily, it didn’t rain that day (instead it was a record high of 91 for the end of October) It was really hot but that obviously was beyond her control. I did however have a couple of guests leave immediately after the ceremony because the mosquitoes were HORRIBLE out there, I feel that for the price she charges people she could afford to have a pest company come out and spray for mosquitoes when she knows there is a wedding coming up. The day of the wedding weren’t allowed to arrive at the venue until 12:00 pm, she told me this the night before even though in the original emails she told me we could have it anytime after 10:00 am but I guess she changed her mind later or something. My wedding was set to start at 5:30, with guests arriving as early as 5:00 so when we get there at noon, my wedding planner is scrambling trying to get everything in order and the whole time Judy is sitting there telling her what to do and how to do things, basically just getting in the way and her and my planner kept butting heads and yelling at each other, very unprofessional. we notice this disgusting sewer like smell in the whole building around 3pm, especially near the bridal room where my makeup lady was getting me ready– it NEVER went away!!! So embarrassing. Especially when we were all gathered in the inside room for the cake. Several of my guests mentioned it so I know I wasn’t just imagining it. I was also asked by some female guests if I could get them more toilet paper because the ladies room was out, that shouldn’t be something that guests have to ask for… We are also 99% positive she took pain pills from my wedding planner and one of my guests’ purses that were kept in the bridal room while the reception was going on. Everytime we would meet up with her she acted loopy and could tell she was on something so it wasn’t hard to put two and two together, even my guests asked me afterwards what «that lady» was on. We also believe that she tried to keep one of my wedding gifts that wasn’t wrapped but we were able to retrieve it afterwards. My wedding planner and mother in law both looked everywhere after the reception, picking things up and never saw it so they went home, however, my mother in law forgot her cell phone charger there so she went back and let herself in, and the whole time Judy was following her around asking her what she is doing there and insisted that she didn’t leave her charger there but my MOL insisted and pushed through anyways, retrieved it, then left again. Then her son called her saying that his daughter forgot her Barbie there and could she please go back and get it so my MOL turns around again and goes back, this time Judy isn’t there immediately but soon shows up, again looking surprised and asking what she’s doing there and my MOL tells her but she also spots one of our gifts sitting openly on a table where it wasn’t before and she tells her «apparently we forgot a gift too” — the label on the gift had been removed as well as the bow that was originally on it and the whole time my MOL is carrying it and walking with it to the car Judy is ranting and raving about how beautiful, awesome, and neat the gift is (it was an antique looking wine bottle holder made out of horse shoes– very antique and rustic like her décor) and how she would just LOVE to have that as a gift someday. Not to mention that at some point she went downstairs to take a shower and came back out in what looked like and nightgown and hung out in the reception eating our food and drinking our wine without being invited to and acted drunk and loopy! For the price we paid she should have just left us alone to do our thing, not hung around bossing us around and looking through people’s purses. We can’t prove it was her who took the pills but all of my guests agreed she acted loopy the whole night.