stephanie H.
5/5
Where do I begin! Blueberry Inn was a God sent blessing to our family. I traveled south to my hometown of Waycross, Ga from Connecticut, to celebrate my Auntie's Surprise 80th birthday party with family, scheduled for Dec 14th, the day before her actual birthdate of Dec. 15th.
What was initially planned back in October, to be held at a fine dining establishment in Blackshear, Ga(J.L's on Main), turned into an immediate nightmare the evening before the party, at exactly 10:37 p.m., when the establishment in Blackshear canceled by email, to me stating they had a glitch in their system, which had a previously scheduled party in their old booking system, that did not transfer to their new system, where our party was booked. To make it worst, is that I had not seen this cancelation email until 11:50 p.m., as we had family in from out of state that was gathered at my aunts house, where I was staying. This immediately shook my sister and I to our core. There were no words to express how we were feeling. We urgently began looking for a location online, using both our phones, laptops, etc. At that moment, I recalled the Inn in Alma, but, the name escaped me. I looked online for fine dining in Alma,Ga, and the Blueberry Mansion came up. I asked my sister to check it out while I continued to search online. She noticed on the page of the Blueberry a mention of a phone # to call or text for questions. I asked for the #, and texted at 12:14 am. We did not expect an answer, it was now after 1 am; we went to bed praying and believing that God would not allow us to be put to shame, because we trusted in Him, and know for certain, that nothing takes Him by surprise, Romans 10:11. So we went to sleep.
Early morning, upon awakening again around 630 a.m. I began searching, looking for a venue to host 30 people, in Jacksonville, Jekyll Island, etc, and nothing was open.
Then, at 7:25 a.m., I received a text from Blueberry Inn, reaching out in response to my inquiry for the party later that evening.
Fast forward, they were available, SPRING(owner) had Sprung(answered prayer) in our winter of disappointment(cancelation)! To GOD BE ALL THE GLORY! WE ARE PEOPLE OF FAITH & MY AUNTIE LOUISE, A DAUGHTER OF THE KING! Truly, it was a miracle. Not only was the Blueberry Inn available amongst a busy holiday party season, but the banquet room was available. Our only issue was being able to move the party up 1 hour to 5 o'clock. Instead of 6p. Spring offered to revise our party invitation of which I declined, and was able to do so myself rather quickly. In addition, we had to select a menu before the food vendors closed at 12 PM, which required my sister and I to decide on the menu and drive to Alma, meet with Spring and her husband, Chef Joe, to go over the menu, give a deposit for the banquet room, normally $800, but because if our dire need, they allowed a 1/2 off for $400. We paid for the party, decorated, went back home to Waycross, got dressed, and drove back for the party.
My sister and I covered all the costs of this family dinner. It was the first time outside of a funeral repass that our family was able to sit down for a formal dinner, for a living family member, and auntie being our family's matriarch.
Here's the kicker, our theme was BLUE! We asked each family member to wear a shade of BLUE. BLUE was my aunts favorite color! The BLUEBERRY INN MANSION PLANTATION was a Heaven sent, truly God's choice! And, this space was 5xs the space of the original location allowing the kids to eat and have a wonderful time.
The owners, Joe and Spring, and their staff were ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! Even the servers, all BECAME FAMILY TO US! We all took pics, the chefs came out to greet Auntie, just soooo much to say. THE FOOD WAS OUTSTANDING! EVERY ITEM WAS AMAZING! AND AUNTIE'S SPECIAL SURF N TURF WAS TOP TIER!!
In the end, the Blueberry Mansion had additional revenue, but we got to celebrate in a most beautiful way our Auntie's 80th birthday. Thank you, STEPHANIE HAMMOND, CT!! We will be back! I highly recommend!
