The Derby House - Frankfort, Illinois

Sunni Z.

Went to my friend’s daughter wedding on Oct 12 24 . Initial impression was a beautiful venue with much better potential than it had.

. . Their wedding ceremony was not what was agreed upon , owner went and changed the location a few times and forced them to get married in a gravel parking lot with a car parked next to location . Leaving guests to stand with not enough chairs . Nothing was ideal or right ! You don’t leave bridesmaid and bride to walk in long gowns and heels on gravel . . They arranged to get married in a grassy area with pond .

Owner was belligerent , rude wouldn’t compromise on any of the wishes of Bride and groom . Long story short he flipped off the mother n law and told everyone to get the eff out an hour before the reception was to end . So many things went wrong here and the owner not once wanted to be professional or try to make this young couple happy . That’s uncalled for !!! Warning do not book a wedding here you’ll be sorry !!!

Rachel B.

I do not recommend this place for your wedding. Had our wedding here and the owner was absolutely rude and horrible the entire time. Very unprofessional. A wedding is one of the most important days for people and if you cannot be a professional in this business you should not do it. It is a beautiful venue, but he ruins the vibe of the entire place with the attitude. 0 out of 5 stars. Save your time and money by going elsewhere. Even treating them with courtesy and respect gets you no where.

Alyssa B.

The owner is very unprofessional and rude. A wedding is a once in a lifetime experience. There’s thousands of dollars spent on this one beautiful day along with hours and hours of planning. Women look forward to this moment their whole lives. I’m so disappointed on how my best friend was treated on her special day. Going into the wedding business you should know how important it is to make this day special. You would think someone in the business would be there to accommodate your basic needs, be respectful, and follow through on what they promised. Unfortunately this was not the case at The Derby House. What’s really sad is this venue has the potential to be a beautiful place but the owner has made it basically his garage. He stores unnecessary items there like his snowmobiles, random statues, and random garage signs all over. For the amount of money people are paying maybe you should invest in a curtain to cover your garbage and make the venue an actual venue when people rent it out. I’m really confused on why there were palm trees all over too? We’re in the fall season and it has nothing to do with anyone’s theme. What really made me upset is the owner switching the ceremony three times before the wedding. The first option was by the pond, beautiful. Second option was by the tress, beautiful. But we ended up walking in the gravel next to the parking lot and a palm tree? Not only is it difficult to walk in gravel with heels but do you know how expensive a wedding dress is? Why would she want to drag her thousands of dollar white dress on the gravel ground. She had a photographer there taking our pictures and all I can think about is the gravel that will be showing. These are the memories she will have forever as her wedding day. I hope the owner is able to man up and at least apologize. Karma is real.

Felicia F.

NOT RECOMMENDED. I would give zero stars.
This place is a joke for a wedding venue. My daughter-in-law‘s sister had her wedding here over the weekend. The owner was very rude to multiple guest throughout the reception. There were strange nostalgic items all over the place and even a car. This man had them set up their photo booth in between the men and the women’s restrooms (a high traffic area for photographers). The owner is not the type of person you wanna have to deal with for a wedding. This man should stick to parties and leave the weddings to professionals.

K L.

We had our wedding here at the end of October & it was just how we envisioned our day to be. The owner was super easy to work with, was flexible to what we wanted, always responded to our questions promptly during the planning process & provided awesome, professional bartenders. We couldn’t be happier with our experience at The Derby House.

Todd K.

Attended a wedding and the venue and staff/management did not meet up to expectations especially on a wedding day. Guests were seated in a graveled area instead of a grassy area for the ceremony and actually had to carry their own chairs inside to the reception afterwards. Totally unacceptable. Place was not decorated as the pictures in his advertisement of the venue depicted.

Renea O.

You only get one shot to make this big day a success. You can’t rewind and you can’t do it over. PLEASE do not choose this venue, if you want a flawless Wedding day. HUGE red flags right from the start. Promised things verbally and what happens the day of isn’t what was promised. Asking for cash payments only…hmmmm. Not the customer service a Bride and Groom deserve!

Jerry S.

had a wedding here and out of everything that could’ve possibly gone wrong, the worst part of our day was the owner guys horrible attitude. That behavior is not acceptable for couples to have to deal with on their wedding day. The place itself was pretty cool but the stage was weird and we weren’t allowed to arrange stuff the way we wanted it, owner guy would yell at us if we tried to do anything that wasn’t his way.