I am writing this review because even six months after my daughter’s wedding this still really bothers me. I REALLY don’t want this to happen to anyone else.
We had the reception at a hall where we had to provide everything. We worked for many hours both in person and via email with ASHLEY their “wedding planner”. At the last minute, they got another wedding and they were willing to pay the additional $1,200.00 to guarantee that Ashley would be at their reception.
The main disappointment of the evening was that the dinner food ran out before all of the guests could eat. It was EXSTREMLY EMBARRASSING. I am not talking about running out in a small way, so many people were affected from one degree to another that I can’t even tell you how many it was. People don’t want to tell you negative things, but as time has gone on, we have heard of more and more people who either didn’t get any of some items or no FOOD AT ALL! How do you run out of mashed potatoes? We’re Irish! My brothers-in-law were jokingly chanting, “Potato Famine”! I had talked to Michael prior to our contract about a couple of reviews I had read about people having the food run out. His explanation was that it was their (the customer’s) fault.
The second biggest disappointment was that there were suppose to be wine glasses at every place and wine poured by the servers. This did not happen. Ashley even order many extra wine glasses at our expense of course.
The following list consists of details that were agreed upon, but not followed through on.
Perhaps part of the issue is that the lead server was suppose to meet with us and Ashley at the reception site and did not. Each of these items by themselves is not that big of a deal. The problem is that there were SO MANY ITEMS that either were not done or done incorrectly.
The biggest problem is that Ashley either did not communicate these details to the head server(s) or no one paid attention to what she provided them. I did see them with a binder, but do not know what it contained.
1. Ashley stated that everything would be ready by 5:30pm. It was not. In fact I later found out from the florist that she had to wait 1 hour for the staff to arrive. She then had to tell them that they were setting the tables wrong!
2. When I arrived the gift table was filled with the costumes for the photo booth. The photo booth people were told by your staff that that was their table. It was suppose to be the gift table.
3. When I arrived there was no coffee/tea table set up. The staff knew nothing about it.
4. The staff could not find the coffee mugs. They finally found the Irish coffee mugs which is what was ordered for coffee/tea.
5. The cake table was not set up correctly. The wedding cake was supposed to be raised up and was not.
6. The groom's cake never got cut up.
7. There was no pomegranate lemonade which was to be provided.
8. I had to tell the staff that the potato "bar" was suppose to have martini glasses.
9. The potato "bar" was lacking a couple of the toppings.
10. I had to tell the staff that they were suppose to make plates of food and serve it to the Bride and Groom.
Other things:
1. The label on the signature drink should have said that it contained alcohol. I did have them correct it.
2. People were saving the plastic cups that we had printed as. That's why they were stacked on some of the tables. Your staff threw them away. We purchased 500 and not 1 was left. We ended up taking some out of the garbage so the bride and groom could have a few.
3. Full drinks were taken from the tables while people were dancing.
4. The sashes on the chairs were bows and were just supposed to be folded over. This was on the rental agreement that we were required to sign.
I'm sure that some of the items listed above may sound petty, but all of them together was a huge deal. Again, it is clear that there was not the proper communication between Ashley and the staff that was there.
Michael was apologetic, but what good does that do? What kind of “compensation” will make up for what occurred? We never heard a word from Ashley. That was also very disappointing.
Again, I am writing this so that it doesn’t happen to anyone else.