EM Fine Art Gallery & Events

Amanda and Roland stole our money as well, 58 days before our wedding!

I was to be married 11÷1÷14 but 6÷6÷14 they sent me an email that there was a fire and were shut down. We figured out and reported to the news per seattle fire there was no fire… The owners up and left… No refunds. They stole almost $ 1900 from me…80k+ from events schedules over The next 16 months. They knew the bldg would be taken down before may 2015 And booked well past that… This was intentional they respond that contract says non refundable… Yes it
Is if I cancel but not if they up and leave!!! Unacceptable…
They are thieves!!!

I signed a contract with EM Fine Art on May 6, 2014 for an event scheduled May 24, 2015. I specifically asked at the time, re: the no refund policy, «what happens if you lose access to the building before our event, like if you decide to sell the building?» Roland replied that payments were non-​refundable and «they had no plans to sell the business.» I signed the contract and paid half of the total amount up front.
On June 9 we received an email saying there had been a massive fire and due to «force majuere» there would be no refunds. Two days later they sent a second email saying that actually, there was no fire, but still it was the building owner’s fault for cancelling their lease, and no refunds, sorry. It has since come out that they knew their lease was expiring May 31 of this year, yet they did not disclose this information at the time of offering me a contract, and still happily took my money.
EM Fine Art is closed, the website is gone, the Cranes are unreachable, so I don’t know what’s next for them. I would strongly advise to future consumers not to sign any contracts with these two. Their actions throughout this process have shown that whether or not any of what happened was illegal, they are clearly looking out for their own interests and not their clients.

So my first response got removed… with the following… «Though we understand this business has recently received media attention and that users may have strong opinions, Unilocal reviews should be focused on everyday customer experiences with a business; we think this is an important requirement for keeping Unilocal a useful site for consumer reviews».
I was a customer goddamit. These pieces of garbage ripped us as well as dozens if not hundreds of other couples off intentionally and SPD says that it is only a civil case, even though they contacted Unilocal two weeks before asking to list their business as closed. Even with the motive, this is still only a civil case.
Like I said in my first post. I wish that somewhere in this case, prison will find you and you will meet our good friend MRSA. He likes to chew off limbs and there are 96 nurses who will remember the names Roland and Amanda Crane for the rest of our lives. Oh and remember, bad news always gets spread to 10 people for every person wronged. So now we are up to 960 potential nurses who will care for you, as well as the ten other people they tell… Catch the drift here homes…

There are no words… those before me posted my sentiments exactly. I totally did NOT see this coming-​silly me! I am among the many screwed over by Roland and Amanda. thank you all for saying what i cannot find words to express. Roland and Amanda; prayers for your souls.

My fiancé and I are also victims of this shocking and sudden closure. We just recently paid in full for our wedding June 28^th, 2014. This past Friday we received an email stating an electrical fire occurred and that the owner decided to not fix the $ 100,000 and upwards of damages. After seeing other couples stories it’s starting to seem we may have all been victims of a scam. As no fire was reported at all. There seems to be more evidence that is continued to be found out. They stated they had no obligation to return any of our money. So 3 weeks before our wedding we were left with no venue. I’m still shocked Amanda and Roland Crane could do this to so many couples during such a special time in our lives. I know we will all unite and make sure they are held responsible. Breaks my heart they could do this to us and so many others. I just joined a Facebook page «Fight against EM fine arts» I recommend all who are victims also join this page.

I’m among the group notified today that we will not be receiving our deposit back due to this fire. I am looking into details now along with everyone else but my gut feeling tells me that this is definitely a scam. There should be a very large sum of money in their pocket for no services rendered…

With nine days to go til my big day, I was pretty content in knowing that just about everything had been finalized. Over a year prior, I’d paid off the venue. We’d kept in touch with them, and all I needed to do was finish paying caterers and get renting things finished.
And then?
Well, apparently there was a supposed «fire» and the building closed up shop. No personal email from Amanda or Roland (who had been very nice in past emails) showing condolences. No news posted anywhere ABOUT this fire. And then I come to read that so many other people have been affected.
My wedding is 6 days from when I post this. They knew earlier that it was «going to be closed» and could have alerted me. I have a new venue and, while it is gorgeous, is not what I wanted and I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed that I am not having the wedding I dreamt of.
However, I am furious with this company. How dare they steal my money (and the money of so many other brides-​to-​be or anyone that was planning on a party there) and try to run off without any sort of legal consequence. An electrical fire is not an «act of God» and does not fall under force majeure, as this strange email we all got seems to claim.
Do not think for a moment that I will not be finding and taking these people to court. They are horrible business owners and have turned themselves into thieves and liars.
PS: Feel free to email me over at
if something similar happened to you. These people need to pay for their actions.

I wish I could write a negative star review. I am beyond sick to my stomach about this place. Amanda and Roland really reeled me into EM Fine Art by making me think they were so cool with everything and I really thought this was the «perfect» venue. We even paid 3 months early. Stupid us for trusting them with this. They sent out a generic e-​mail to me saying how they had electrical damage and decided it wasn’t «worth the money» the fix the damage. Really? So your insurance that you pay for all that art, your exposed brick walls, and not to mention the area your in and THE MONEY THAT ALL THESE PEOPLE GAVE YOU won’t pay for it? I do not believe this for one minute. I am absolutely disgusted for giving away my hard earned money to these folks.
I will make sure this is not the end of them hearing from me. I promise you.

Oh Amanda E and Roland C Crane. I was going to wait until after the wedding for this review, but here we are.
Our friends had used you in the past and you came with years of recommendations. You seemed very nice. What happened? Did some MLM fail? Did you bet everything on Bitcoin? Did your federal tax liens catch up with you?
You defrauded us out of what we’ve paid claiming «electrical problems» with the building* and have skipped town by now, even your landlord (who you also owe money to) can’t seem to locate you. We’re by far not the only person who this has happened to. We have time to change our plans, but you walked out with full payments from people who were set to have their wedding this week and well into 2015.
Recent brides and grooms mention you going after them for «stolen tables», after being notified by the landlord that you were about to lose the space, you later moved on to asking customers for the full sum before this last email and radio silence for a wedding that was never ever going to happen when you knew this was coming for months.
You were not permitted to hold the events you agreed to in our contract. The «electrical fire» that you used as a cover to leave town and break over fifty thousand dollars worth of contracts, by gosh. The wedding parties that occurred around that time were not aware of this or notified. Your landlord hasn’t ever heard of this! And neither has Seattle Fire Department!
Do you ~really~ think you’re going to start over in another state? Whether you can be pursued through criminal means or civil, the «events» industry is built on reputation. Return whatever money is left and give up this childish fantasy that you’re in the right here.
Thankfully the Seattle wedding industry is contacting EM’s former customers with grace, rushing to fill the void left by their unprofessional implosion.

Wow.
A review I never wanted to write.
What Bride would?
We were going to hold our wedding here in September. The space was just the right size, needed minimal decoration, had open catering policies and everything. It looked to be perfect and Roland was very on the ball about getting back to us and answering any questions. We paid our deposit (nearly a year in advance) and went about planning all the OTHER details to the wedding.
Then this morning I get a strange email from EM. A new/​different email than their old one, and one that already seems closed (you can’t reply). They had an «electrical fire» and had to close up shop since the people they lease from would «not renew their lease.» They declared our deposit forfeit. No other details, no condolences, nothing.
Funny thing is no fire was reported in the building, the owners of it have no clue whats going on in that regard, and the phone numbers for the venue and the hosts have been disconnected, the website and facebook page are gone, and I’m one of nearly a hundred brides out their deposit and freaking out over trying to find a last minute venue.
EM stole my money and ran. They’ve frauded people out their deposits and a day that was supposed to be special and meaningful.
Edit: feel free to join the FB group surrounding this business and their closure. More details are coming to light throughout the day and we can all work together to do something about this.

Amanda and Roland stole our deposit money along with many others. Please contact me at «Murray.347» at Gmail if you’re also a victim of this crime.

Roland and Amanda pulled the rug out from everyone this last week, closing their venue, leaving all the events that have been planned without a place to go– to add salt to the wound, they are not refunding anyone the $ 1000’s of dollars we have already gave them because, I quote «Frankly we do not have the resources»… They are not refunding us because they stole our money and already spent it. I’m looking for other people who were victims of these people so we can gather together as a group to take legal action. Please send me an email and we can discuss our options.

I’m very overdue in writing this… so here goes.
I can’t say enough great things about Roland, Amanda and EM Fine Art. What an amazing team!
I worked mostly with Roland, and he was a delight. He was prompt to return emails and phone calls. The information packet you get when you book is very helpful. The space is unique and very easy to work in as well.
Price:
This place is the best bang for your buck. Seriously — a flat rate, you get to use their equipment (which was in good condition and fit our needs), and you get to use your choice of vendors without ever being nickeled and dimed. It took a lot of stress out of wedding planning.
Space:
We did both our ceremony and reception here. He helped out with ideas of how to flip the space… and it worked out very well. The bar is super chic. The bridal room was a great place for my gals and me to get ready. The alley makes for great urban photos. The gallery is warm and inviting with your choice of art and lighting. There are so many options to choose from… but also Roland will gladly tell you what works best if you want him to.
Roland and Amanda:
What a lovely couple! (Their dogs are precious too.) They were very accommodating regarding looking at the space whenever we wanted/​needed. He stopped in during our wedding to make sure things were going smoothly which was super nice. They are as involved as you want them to be — which was very nice.
I would love to do business with them again for another event. They were a big part of why our wedding was so wonderful. Thanks!!!

Our group, Rain City Brew, had a homebrew and art show at EM Fine Art Gallery 2 weeks ago and had such a great experience! Roland and Amanda (owners) made everything very easy and flexible for us and they seriously had EVERYTHING we needed right there. Our guests and sponsors were very impressed and have requested that we have future events there. IT is very beautiful and has lots of options for any event.
I could not be happier with how our event happened and we are very grateful to EM for all their help.

My husband and I just got married here last month and this space is fantastic. Roland and Amanda are both very nice and accomodating and FLEXIBLE! They are quick to respond to questions and they let us come in however many times we needed with the wedding planner/​DJ/​bridesmaids/​etc. They let you do whatever you want with the space. There is some great art in the venue, however it didn’t fit with our wedding feel/​theme, so they took it all down for us and let us put up our own decorations (we had enlargements of our engagement photo shoot that we hung up, along with some mirrors) and it looked fantastic. You can literally do just about whatever you want in this venue (just dont hurt it!)
The venue itself is fun. It has all white walls with industrial-​feel ceilings and a funky upstairs bar area. One wall is exposed brick that is absolutely perfect for wedding ceremonys. They have adorable string bulb lights already hanging for your use which add great light and ambiance to your event.
The one downside is there’s not a lot of getting ready space, so for a wedding you gotta get creative if you’re having both parties in the building before hand and you dont want the bride and groom to see each other, but we made it work. They have red velvet curtains they will hang up for you which helps with keeping parties seperated. They have one «getting ready» room upstairs with theatre green room style mirrors and lights, great for the brides party!
You can also use your own caterer and bring in your own alcohol too – no lists you have to choose from. (Though the caterer I was already going to use on my own happened to be one of their preferred vendors. win/​win!) and they only book one event per day, so no having to wait until 4pm to even get into your venue– you get it all day. This is a unique and fun venue for a pretty decent price, so if you’re not looking for a typical wedding venue like a hotel ballroom, check this place out!

Here’s what I wrote about this venue on another site: This venue and its owners were so great and helpful! Roland and Amanda gave super helpful suggestions for other vendors to use for our wedding, decorating ideas, and general wedding tips that really made me feel more comfortable with the whole planning process. They have done this so many times and have seen the space used in such a variety of ways that they have great ideas of what is possible. They are also super flexible which was helpful when I wanted to bring multiple people in at varying times to see it. When the day of my wedding approached, no one expected the spike in temperature, but they were the ones to take the initiative to call me and let me know they were going to get air conditioning which helped me calm down so close to the special day. I really appreciated that I could call or email them anytime, and they were always super friendly, nice, and calm. What you get for the price is a GREAT value. I had a lot of out-​of-​town guests, and it was so easy for them to get to the venue while also being so close to downtown to be able to tour popular sites during the day. Overall I received a lot of compliments on how unique the venue was. We’ve already told other friends of ours to consider this space for their upcoming nuptials. I really can’t express enough how happy I was having chosen this place as our venue and how wonderful Roland and Amanda are.
Other details: We had both our ceremony and reception in the space, and our reception was a full-​plated dinner. We had about 85 – 90 people there, and while the space could certainly fit more, I would suggest not going above that amount to keep the space from feeling too warm/​over-​crowded (unless you’re having people stand or walk around for a buffet versus a plated dinner). I would recommend taking advantage of getting to add personal touches to the space. The brick wall, sky lights, italian string lighting, and upstairs bar are all incredibly beautiful and definitely selling points of the space!

I just had my wedding here. It was the best experience that I could have hoped for. We had a list of what we wanted from a venue and it met all of them. We closed off the alley and had food and chairs out there and it was beautiful. We decorated the inside and moved things around how we wanted them and Roland and Amanda were so great about it. The space is perfect and beautiful and worked out great; I especially loved the bar upstairs and the exposed brick wall. The best part of the gallery is the owners, Roland and Amanda. They are easy going, understanding, helpful, and downright cool! This venue and event exceeded my expectations!!! Definitely 5 stars.

I came here for a wedding show-​type thing recently. The space was of decent size I think to host a party (I believe the do hold weddings!) The event was a lot of fun and I didn’t think it was too crowded or anything trying to get around. The space seems to be setup nicely too. It was a little hard to see from the road where it was, but now that I know, I can’t miss it! I definitely wouldn’t mind coming back for another event, that’s for sure :)

I’ve been able to experience E|M both as a patron attending an event there and as a planner working with the gallery to plan events, and I just have to say that both experiences have been amazing.
As a guest at an event, I was struck by the awesome space with exposed brick walls, amazing art, and fantastic sound system that rocked the party all night long — not to mention the awesome upstairs loft that acted as a swanky little «get away from the crush downstairs» bar that evening.
As a planner, I am thrilled by the value you get booking with them. Roland and Amanda offer excellent customer service and totally reasonable pricing for such a gem of a downtown space. Parking is easy, the space is unique and versatile, and they are totally flexible when it comes to what you want to create there.
Attend events here, plan events here — I love it!