Rental Agreement Questions

When putting together our rental agreement we really tried to think of as many scenarios as possible to outline the guidelines and "what ifs." Our goal is always to be as upfront and transparent as we possibly can about any potential limitations that we have. All of our policies or guidelines are set because of practical and/or logistically necessary factors, or they are included due to advice provided to us by our attorney. Our goal is to make everything as clear as possible, hopefully avoiding any surprises later!

Yes, as the signer of the agreement you are the primary decision maker for providing us with the logistics and details about your day, but you can delegate decisions to anyone that you would like.

Once we know that you're fine with your mom (or someone else) making decisions, we are happy to follow her direction. We will just ask that you provide this information to us in writing so that there are no misunderstandings.

Yes, although the person(s) signing the rental agreement is/are ultimately responsible for the rental and the payment, anyone can make payment(s). If making a payment by check, please make a note on the check as to which invoice/event/date the payment is for, so that it is applied to the correct invoice.

The Reservation Fee is what secures your date especially for you. Once your reservation has been finalized, this date is pulled from our calendar and is reserved for your big event.

When your date is reserved, we remove it completely from our calendar and let other couples that inquire with us know that this date is no longer available. In the unlikely event that you need to cancel, by that time we have generally turned away numerous opportunities to book the date with someone else. A cancelation generally severely limits our ability to rebook the date. For these reasons, all payments made are non-refundable.

Know that we have structured our payment schedule, as well as our cancellation policy, to be as fair as possible, allowing the potential risk of loss due to an unlikely cancellation to be balanced between both parties. As more of the total amount due is required to be paid, the closer to the rental date you will be, making a cancellation even less likely. Additionally, the structure considers that the later a cancellation happens, the likeliness of us being able to rebook the date is even further decreased.

Because we have reserved a date specifically for you and have pulled it from our availability calendar letting other couples that inquire know that it is no longer available, payments cannot be transferred to another date.

It is important to us to know that we are a good match for our couples that plan their day with us. Determining this is a process of meeting and communicating with our couples prior to reserving their date. For this reason, payments cannot be transferred to another individual.

We do not have an option for early access unless additional hours are added to your rental in advance. We have an option to add up to 2 additional hours to your rental time that can be used for earlier access, if you need additional time to get ready, or if your vendor(s) need to get in early. This can be added to your rental at the time of signing your agreement for $250 per hour, or can be added later for $350 per hour. To avoid misunderstandings, please make sure that you share your rental times with family, friends, and vendors, as they may assume that they can come at any time.

We offer a 2-Day Rental Package that gives you the opportunity to have a rehearsal the day before your wedding.

We offer a 2-Day Rental Package if you would like to host your rehearsal dinner at Sawyers Cove Farm. All meals must be served by a licensed caterer.

The first day the rental period is from noon until 8:00pm. The second day rental period is from 8:00am-10:00pm, with an additional hour for clean-up. Everyone must be off property by 11:00pm.

The same guidelines apply to rehearsal dinners as apply to all other rentals at Sawyers Cove Farm. Meals must be provided by a caterer that is licensed for commercial service and meets all other food service guidelines. If alcohol is being served at a rehearsal dinner, only beer, wine and 2 signature cocktails are permitted and a bar tender must be licensed and insured as outlined in our contract. We do not permit self serve alcohol during any events at Sawyers Cove Farm.

There is no overnight parking allowed without prior approval. If anyone is planning to leave a car overnight, please let us know ahead of time and we will provide you with the process to make arrangements for this.

In an effort to keep the property in good condition for future weddings we do not allow items that are hard to clean up and/or could possibly cause hazards and/or may be prohibited by our insurance carrier (or cause concern over future insurability of Sawyers Cove Farm). Hard to clean up things that are not allowed: confetti, fake snow, sand, silly sting, glitter of any kind, small gems/jewels, rice, popcorn, artificial flower petals, etc. (This is not an exhaustive list, so please have any decorating or send-off items approved.) Fire hazards (prohibited by our insurance carrier) fireworks, sky lanterns (illegal in Tennessee), open flamed candles, etc. (This is not an exhaustive list, so please have any decorating, special effects, and/or send off items approved.)

Items marketed as "biodegradable" such as confetti, etc. are also not permitted. The term biodegradable just means that over time the product will eventually break down into soil. The amount of time that "biodegradable' items take to break down, and the conditions required for that to happen varies with each different product. Even products that say that they quickly break down, still generally take weeks to do so and they do not biodegrade until the product gets wet. Once wet, they generally become soft and sticky which makes them very hard to remove from hard surfaces, such as sidewalks and rock landscaped areas. Because we often have weddings back to back, we are not able to allow things that cannot be quickly cleaned up. This not only is done to help keep areas looking nice for an event that comes after yours, but because we ask the same of everyone, it also helps to protect the spaces for your day as well!

We do have guidelines on what/how decor can be hung or attached to surfaces around the inside and outside of the building. Please get anything needing to be secured or hung approved before your big day. All guidelines that we have in place are simply our best effort to keep the chances for damage to the space, or other concerns that could impact a future event, as low as we possibly can. To have repairs done overnight between weddings is not logistically easy to do, so we do what we can to avoid any issues and to keep the spaces looking as nice as possible for all of our couples. This not only is done to help protect the space for an event that comes after yours, but because we ask the same of everyone, it also helps to protect the space for your day as well! We will do everything that we can to find solutions that fall within our guidelines, but also works with your vision.

We do not allow open flamed candles (this includes when they are inside partially enclosed containers). For decor use, flameless candles are required.

The reason is simple, our catering prep kitchen is not a commercially food service licensed full service kitchen.

All items for your day will need to be brought or delivered during your rental time. Unfortunately, because of our event and touring schedules, we have to be firm on this. Generally we will have another event or numerous tours scheduled the day before and the day after your day. Because of this, decorating, deliveries, and other set up as well as removal of all personal and rental items will need to happen during your rental time. Based on availability, we have a two day rental option if you need to arrange for more time for deliveries, set up and decorating.

We want everyone to enjoy their time and experience at Ocoee Crest, and we never want anyone's evening to include a mishap or tragedy related to alcohol. Because drinks are free, some guests may tend to over indulge. A four hour limit on alcohol service provides time for you and your guests to celebrate your very special occasion, while reducing the chances of having anything of concern happen.

This gives your guests a bit of time to sober up before the end of the event. No last call's are permitted. Making an announcement can cause a mad dash to the bar, which can result in guests drinking right up until the time to leave.

The insurance policy that the bar tending company is required to have, covers their own liability. Because you are hosting the event, buying the alcohol, and you have hired the bar tending company, there is potential for you to incur liability, should anything of concern happen. Because of this, we require that you purchase a specific event day policy that covers the event, and provides host liquor liability protection. This is a standard requirement at many venues.

While it may seem like there is overlap in these policies, there is not. The event policy that you take out, does not cover vendors, so all vendors must carry their own liability insurance. The policy that the bar tending company has does not provide any protection for you, which is certainly wise to have.

For alcohol vendors, and for the event day policy, we also require that our companies and principles are named as additional insureds, to cover the work and activities that are happening on the property throughout the event.

Yes, we allow food and drinks in the bridal suites, but we ask food and drinks to be prepared and served in the kitchen. Drinks can be poured and plates prepared in the kitchen and brought into the suites or table can be set up in the main room for the wedding party to use for eating if you prefer.

No coolers are permitted in the suites. Wine and/or beer can only be provided to the wedding party during the day with prior approval and with a signed release form. No champagne bottles may be opened in the suites. We also ask that you are careful to avoid spills and that no red wine or red/dark colored drinks are taken into the suites.

Yes, Sawyers Cove Farm has a natural, beautiful setting that can be very interesting to the imagination of a young person. Outdoors there are areas that require cautions that a child may not understand or pay attention to, and inside there are areas that are off limits to guests of all ages. In addition, Sawyers Cove Farm is a working farm, and electric fencing is used for our animals. We require that a parent or responsible adult be with them at all times. We have this policy for their own safety.

Sawyers Cove Farm has insurance that covers OUR liability. Your vendors will need insurance that covers THEIR liability. You will need insurance that covers YOUR liability. While I wish that the need for insurance was not a consideration, unfortunately in the times that we are living, insurance liability is just a necessity for every businesses and for gatherings such as this.

While it may seem like there is overlap in these policies, there is not. The event policy that you take out, does not cover vendors, so all vendors must carry their own liability insurance. If you are curious on the need for this, feel free to reach out and we can share with you real life examples of things that have happened at other events/venues and the concerns that we are doing our best to avoid.

Unfortunately, No. Most homeowner policies will not add additional insureds and does not provide the necessary coverage. Every policy covers certain activities and excludes others. In order to accept a specific policy, we would have to know what is covered and what is not, which would require reading pages and pages of insurance policy coverage that includes enough legal language that we would have to ask our attorney to look it over just to know what it covers (if you want to see what I mean, ask your insurance company to provide you with their full complete policy and try to read through it!). Because of this, we require that our couples purchase a policy that we are familiar with. The policy provided by our preferred insurance company has the widest range of coverage that we have found for the best price. Even so, we recommend getting the details from the insurance agent so that you will fully understand the coverage.