The professionalism and attitude of the venue manager was very horrid. My cousin just had his…read morewedding there a few days ago and I have never felt more disrespected by this venue's manager/planner/owner, whomever she is! When my father and I arrived a half-hour early, we found the door locked as it started to pour rain and thunder and lightning. The rest of the family was already inside setting up and getting ready. This so-called venue manager or whomever was in charge finally saw us standing outside and opened the door and rudely asked with an attitude, "Are you family?"
What kind of a question, IS THAT? Also, why in the hell would you lock the outer doors of a wedding venue that is currently occupied? That is a fire hazard! Also, if you have posted business hours, you are not allowed to lock the doors, regardless of whether its by appointment only or not.
I was half expecting her to be a gracious hostess and say, "Hello, welcome, are you here for the wedding? Please come in." INSTEAD, before I can respond, she continues to say, "We don't let guests in before the start time, only family."
Of course I reply politely as I can that we are family. My father and I were the only two members of my aunt's side of the family attending this wedding. Everyone else that was attending was the bride's family members who came all the way from India, Canada and other parts of the world, and my Uncle's family members who were all local plus family friends. They only had 9 tables and not everyone even came. I'm actually very glad that my mother, who is wheelchair-bound, could not attend because this building is not ADA compliant by law. She wouldn't have been able to use the bathroom or enjoy the patios without someone helping her up and down.
When we got inside and greeted our family, I could clearly see that this wedding was not going to be starting right at 5:30. (I even had offered when we arrived to help put out the name cards for the tables on the guestbook table for them so they could focus on the food and the bar, and I was immediately dismissed with the rudest attitude from this manager.) They claimed it was because of the rain and that they were going to have the blessing outside and were trying to wait for it to pass, but by 5:30, they hadn't even bothered to open up the bar or put out hor d'oeuvres. They didn't even have coffee made, and we couldn't even get a soda, they just had water and tea ready. It wasn't until 6 or so that my cousin finally walked over to the bar, told the bartender he was the groom and wanted the bar opened because people were stuck standing around the staff scrambled to finish setting things up they should have been brought out at 5:25 PM. My cousin told me that because they didn't open the bar on time, they didn't use their money's worth of alcohol.
People were coming to this blessing/reception for an already married couple, expecting some sort of food for them to much on right away, and it wasn't served until nearly 7 PM. it was nearly 8 PM by the time I got my food. The salmon was so dry and overcooked and was cold because of their delay.
The staff was also rushing around trying to move things along once it got going. They brought out COLD PIZZA at 10 PM that should have been brought out way earlier. They didn't cut the cake until after everyone was done eating. It should have been cut up while everyone was being served their plated dinners.
As someone who has worked in the customer/food service/retail/restaurant industries for the last 20+ years, I WOULD NEVER EVER run my own business like this, treat my clients' guests horribly. I always LOVE it when I work and it's clear I'm struggling and my customers or regulars immediately ask to help.
I have never seen so much disorganization from a venue since my own wedding at a completely different venue in another county in Ohio five and a half years ago. Don't use this venue, clearly others have had the same issue with the professionalism and speediness of this staff.