My fiance and I have been together for 11years...it's been a roller coaster but with the Grace Of God, we are ready and finally set a date, picked a venue, and placed our deposit....We signed a "tentative"contract since they weren't sure what our grand total was going to be and they took our $500. After that, they didn't contact us. We had to physically walk in every time we wanted to talk to someone.....however, they could never find our file...they would make sticky notes and tell us they would update it later. Although that was getting old, we kept our end of the deal and worked with them. Then, we received our invoice in the mail.....it was wrong....the guest count written for the ceremony set up is 40, but our guest count is for 75... Our chosen date is mid summer 2011 but they date they have reserved for us is Fall 2010..yes, last year?...? I was stressed. We stopped by but they were busy and couldn't discuss anything; said they would call us, but didn't...we had been calling for 3 weeks and finally stopped leaving messages 5/13/11 and started searching for a new venue since we were sure what was going on. Here we were 3 months away from the biggest day of our lives and they hadn't even returned our call in 3 weeks. We had been looking for catering and called our favortie caterer that evening to discuss options so at least we could feel like we were getting something accomplished. The caterer, well-known at many venues, tells us that they no longer do business with our venue....said that they owe the company a large amount of money and don't like the way the couples are treated by the staff. That was a Big Red Flag! So, we tried another caterer and she said almost the same thing...she will bring the cake and at least do that much if we really want, but she will no longer cater there......now I was stressed. Not only am I not getting any returned phone calls, but they aren't even fulfilling their vendors contracts......I have now seriously been looking for a new venue with 3 months left til we say I do. Today, 5/16/11 we go to Royal Gardens and speak to female who tells us they will NOT return our $500 deposit. She said we signed a contract.....but what about them not holding to their end of the contract....we have to stress more than needed for their errors and lack of communication? She told us we would have to take them to court....
Ummm, this is a wedding people...not just a dinner reservation! Is it really about the money to the point that a bride has to worry over whether or not her vendors will show if they aren't being paid? It is not a prime month so we aren't holding a date that will cause them to miss out on money....we just want to plan our wedding like we have been trying to do since the day we walked in. She said they no longer have the same staff working there so there's no way of knowing what was discussed with her. Weddings are stressful enough, this is supposed to be an amazing, unforgettable experience, but to them, it seems it's business as usual. Please help us, with only 3 months left and a very limited budget, we just want to be heard.
(The Elegante was very understanding and I think they will be the venue we book, we just need to get the word out and see if anyone out there is interested in helping us fundraise, and also warn other couples that unfortuneately weddings are just another business agreement at some places.)
Please, please don't just file this as another complaint....brides deserve to know!
Thanks.
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