Villa Antonia

Breathtaking. If there was one word that I could choose to describe how I felt about our wedding as my husband and I were leaving Villa Antonia it would be, "breathtaking." This was such an amazing venue and what made it a memorable experience and an amazing day was Shelley. She has a great heart and really knows what the job entails with being a wedding coordinator and goes above and beyond to make things run smoothly as well as make sure that everything is taken care of. I had to plan most of my wedding from another state since I was in medical school and I can't tell you how accommodating Shelley was to work with and how much effort she put in to keep me stress free and put all my trust in her. I couldn't have asked for anyone better to work with and wish I could do all my future events with her.

After the wedding I can't tell you how many compliments were given about the facility, photography, food, and just how beautiful the scenery was. Especially at night with the stars and beautiful lights, just makes everything so perfect.

Villa Antonia also has a great recommendation list for other vendors and I have to thank: Austin Catering, Floral Fetish Carrie Beamer, Cakes by Kathy, The Grooves, Lake Austin Strings, April Skinner for hair, and Patrick Motola for my amazing photography!! They all seemed to work so well together and put on what some of my family calls…

Excited...but nervous.... I was very hesitant to book my wedding with Villa Antonia for one reason and one reason alone. The wedding "coordinator". We are not from Austin so we scheduled an appointment with her. When we arrived she was running late with another couple (which wasn't a problem at all). She asked her assistant to show us around while she was finishing up. It was so uncomfortable the way she spoke to this girl. It was in an incredibly demanding tone that made my finance and I feel uncomfortable. That being said, we took the tour and fell in love with the place. Once Michaja was finished with her other meeting we sat down with her. About 2 minutes into the conversation she asked if it would be ok for her to go into her office and have a lunch break. No I am not kidding. We weren't sure how to respond so we agreed. After about 15 minutes she came back and we started again. She's lucky that the venue sells it's self b/c I would have never book with her after that meeting. She was so demeaning to us- it was insulting. I was spoken to like a child the entire time and took it bc I did not want to start out on bad terms. I am aware that this is my first (and only) wedding but for someone who doesn't know me to blatantly discredit my suggestions for OUR wedding was disrepectful. She implied that her fee was not mandatory which was a huge relief and that is why we booked. Then we read the fine print and realized she is mandatory. Her list of duties during our wedding are comical. I have no idea why we are paying her $850 other than to have her show up. I am so excited for my wedding day and know that nothing can really ruin that for us. On that same note I am terrified that she is going to stress us out, not hold up her obligations as coordinator and be rude to my friends and family. All I can do is pray and hope for the best. Good to the future brides. I'll keep you posted on how it goes! :)…

Dream Wedding. My husband proposed to me in Italy, so we wanted our wedding to have a Tuscan theme. We fell in love with Villa Antonia the moment we saw it and the setting could not have been more perfect! Nothing could have ruined our day because we were celebrating with our family and friends. Even though a previous review was far from my experience with Villa Antonia, I find it sad that one person could ruin their day instead of focusing on each other and celebrating with loved ones.

I found Michaja Tate, the wedding coordinator with Villa Antonia, very personable from the day we toured the venue to our wedding day. She ran the rehearsal smoothly which would have been chaotic otherwise. On our wedding day she tended to all of our needs and made sure our parents and wedding party were taken care of.

We had our some of our guests transported from our hotel to Villa Antonia and Michaja even straightened out a transportation snafu without us even knowing about it.

You do have to use Sterling Affairs for the catering and the menu is a bit overwhelming, but after discussing our menu options with Tedi Venia, I found this to be a plus because she was knowledgable, professional and seemed to have a lot of experience working with Villa Antonia. I was somewhat worried about trying to plan the majority of our wedding from out of town, but Tedi made this easy and was accommodating and prompt when corresponding.The food definately met our expectations and was superb. Several guests commented that it was the best food they ever had at a wedding. The personnel that served our guests were terrific and that was no small feat becuase we were a rowdy bunch!

I would have loved to dance outside under the stars, but the dance floor has to be inside. However, our guests seated outside could still hear and enjoy the music.

Our wedding would have been wonderful regardless, but it was spectacular because of this stunning venue, terrific food and the great experience we had working with all the people involved.…

RUINED OUR WEDDING. Michaja, the so-called wedding coordinator, single-handedly ruined our wedding this past July. We booked with Villa Antonia because the entire compound is so beautiful, and Michaja was polite and promised to take care of everything the day of our wedding. What happened, in fact, was that she was rude to us, rude to our guests, and did almost nothing.

Parents of the bride and groom, as well as the wedding party, were scrambling to get everything ready because Michaja was nowhere to be found at the time she said she would be there. It turned out she was having lunch with a friend. She then proceeded to take half and hour of time—literally half an hour—to try to present and try to sell to the make-up person a weight loss patch product that she was wearing. Then, when the reception was running a half hour late, she told the bartender to start charging for drinks because the time we had paid for was up, even though it was not because Michaja had delayed the wedding half an hour by doing her weight loss patch “pitch” as the bridesmaids were getting their make-up done.

Michaja was rude and bossy to so many guests that throughout the evening, and in the days that followed, we had our parents, family and friends telling us she “yelled” at them like they were insubordinate children when it was time to get the party and guests moved toward the chapel for the ceremony. One friend, who flew in all the way from Denver just to attend our wedding, couldn’t find his seating place card on the place card table. Michaja asked him why he was there, and accused him of being a wedding crasher. She was not kidding, and my friend walked away from her. (It turns out his place card had fallen on the floor next to the table).

Michaja is the mandatory “coordinator” and charges $750 for this service. Her typical response when asked to take care of something, such as finding a wedding party member or making sure something was ready, was, “I don’t deal with that.” Then, throughout the reception, she enjoyed herself by sitting on the couch in the lobby, chatting with the vendors, and eating our food. She had promised to make sure food and drinks were brought to me and my wife throughout the evening. While there was food for us when we got to our table from the ceremony, we were abandoned after that. No one ever asked us if we needed anything.

Despite the beauty of this location, I would not even consider having the wedding there if given a second chance. I would sooner get married at a bowling alley (not joking) because of Michaja. She insulted our guests, ate our food, breached about seven of the ten “items” she was supposed to take care of according to her contract rider, and tried to charge us for drinks that we already paid for up front.

Don’t get married here unless Michaja is gone. I cannot stress this enough. If you’ve already paid a deposit, try to get it back. If you can’t, it’s still not worth getting married there. If Michaja is locked into this place by relationship or tenure, it should crumble down the hill upon which it sits, because no couple should begin their life together with such an experience.…