Château de Challain

If you’re considering Château Challain as your wedding venue, buckle up—this review is long, but it’s important to share my experience to help future brides make informed decisions. I got married here last year with 70+ guests, and while the venue itself is breathtaking, my journey with Cynthia Nicholson, the owner and wedding planner, was nothing short of a nightmare. If you are bride like me who spent lots time during the planning phase researching and reading reviews, I hope you get to read this and understand what you're getting yourself into should you decide to move forward with this venue. Let’s start with the positives: Château Challain is undoubtedly beautiful—an idyllic fairytale setting that mesmerized my guests for the three days we stayed there. I booked the highest (Platinum) package and covered all expenses, including accommodations, meals, and activities for my guests. The décor and ambiance were impeccable, and visually, the wedding looked like a dream. Many of my guests described it as a “true fairytale wedding,” and for that, I’m grateful. However, having worked with countless business owners and professionals globally, I can confidently say that Cynthia Nicholson is the most disorganized individual I have ever dealt with on a professional level. Her lack of organization, planning, communication, attention to detail, and transparency completely derailed what should have been a joyful experience. When you’re spending mid-six figures on a wedding—including thousands of dollars in planning fees—you expect professionalism and peace of mind. Unfortunately, I got the opposite through the planning process, including the day of my wedding. Months later, I’m still unable to fully enjoy my wedding memories because of the anxiety and stress Cynthia caused. Examples: -- Cynthia is not a typical wedding planner and she should stop advertising herself as such and pocketing “wedding service” fees to the tune of 10% of the total budget (and as it turns out, she’s also barely a day-of coordinator). 30 days before the wedding, as my guests from all over the world were getting ready to travel to Chateau Challain, I found myself frantically sending this text to Cynthia verbatim: “We’re a month away from the wedding, and I’m having major anxiety. I have no details from you regarding vendors, florists, food, or other essential plans. There’s no vision board, no finalized menus, no agenda or run of show, and no clear deadlines. I’m not even sure if I have a makeup artist. This is not the wedding planning experience I expected, especially after paying thousands in fees.” Her disorganization left me constantly chasing details and deadlines, turning what should have been an exciting process into a frustrating and anxiety-filled ordeal. -- I received over 10 versions of “contracts” from Cynthia, all riddled with errors—from misspelling our names to incorrect prices and omitted services. I had to personally edit one of the contracts in red just to