"My husband and I had our reception at the Doubletree in Arlington Heights. The outdoor cocktail hour was enjoyed very much. All of the guests we very happy they had a chance to be outside and enjoy the beautiful day. I heard from many of our guests that the cocktail hour appetizers were very good. Sadly though my husband and I were unable to have any of the appetizers because they were all gone by the time we got outside. The room looked outstanding; the bows on the chairs. The cake, from the little piece that my husband feed to me was delicious and incredible beautifully put together. Everyone that I have talked to raved about the pasta purses. They were the hit of the evening concerning the food.
From here on I will have to put forth all of my frustrations with that day and with all of the wedding preparations. It was very evident to me and many of my guests that the communication between your staff at the Arlington Heights location is very poor. Throughout this letter I will give you many instances in which we witnessed this happening. Had your staff been able to talk to one another and to my husband and I many of these problems could’ve been avoided.
My biggest complaint was how we were treated throughout planning the wedding and on the wedding day. Throughout this process, especially on the day of my wedding I expected to be treated with the utmost respect and to be listened to. I also expected that any big decisions should have been run past me. On several occasions and in several instances this did not occur.
I’ll begin with the start of our evening at the hotel. We had recommended to everyone that they get a room because of the convenience. We booked over thirty rooms in your hotel. Upon checking in, my mother in law had her rooms all messed up. She had requested adjoining rooms with her daughter so she could watch her kids later that evening. Their rooms ended up being on two different floors, which was a huge inconvenience. Keys were given to the wrong people, keys didn’t work, and a crib that was requested was not there. I thought to myself please dear God let this not be a start of things to come. Well needless to say there was much more to come. I noticed a lot of people I didn't know walking in the hallway and asked my caterer if there was another event taking place. She said yes. One of the reasons I picked this venue was because my wedding was supposed to be the only event going on. The caterer told me hastily that this was not true and that it's only one wedding not one event. I hate to say this but I went on the website and on the wedding page, it plainly says ONE event. What a lie!
On a last whim I decided that I wanted a backdrop for my guests to be able to take pictures behind. My photographer was told that there was no room and he would have to set up in a separate room and my guests would not be able to get these nice portraits. That was the entire reason for him to set the back drop up. If someone would have come up to me and addressed this issue, I would have suggested taking away one of the present tables and putting the backdrop in that corner. So, because a decision was made without my consent, my guests did not get the pictures that they were deserving of and wanted.
Next came dinner again I thought to myself, they can’t screw this up. We had our tasting and everything was great, once again I was wrong. As I had mentioned before the pasta was great. Then came the pre-dressed Caesar salad and mine had about two teaspoons of dressing on it. Our food was at the very least, barely warm. My husband steak was fatty and he sincerely disliked it. On a side note, he loves steak and had been looking forward to that filet for a month. I asked some close friends how their steaks were and half said it was good and half said horrible. If there are two plates that you want to make sure you get right don’t you think it should be the bride and groom? At 85 dollars a plate I think my guests and I deserved better.
I need to back track just a little bit to explain this next part. When I gave my guest count to the caterer I included my photographer and DJ so that they could have the filet and chicken. As soon as I got to the reception I informed the caterer that my photographer and DJ had helpers that I didn't not know about and asked her to please give those 2 meals from guests that would sadly not be attending. My cousin's husband was rushed to the emergency room and they were not able to come to the wedding ceremony or reception. That is when she should have told me that she thought my count was wrong. Instead she had plans of her own, giving my photographers and DJ's club sandwiches with spoiled coleslaw instead of giving them the filet and chicken we paid for. I was later informed after I had finished eating that that is what they received. When I asked the caterer about it she said my count was wrong. I believe that she didn't add the 2 guests in that I called about on Friday. A couple called me last minute and told me they would be attending. I understand this was last minute and added to the confusion, but it was two meals. I don't think that the caterer should have told me I was wrong and should have just apologized. Later my photographer came up to me and told me that the caterer yelled at him because he told me they didn't like the coleslaw, when in turn it was her that told me. As confusing as this might be to read and write it was even worse on my wedding day. The complaint here is that the caterer should have asked me about my vender count. It is not my job to know that they were supposed to be in a separate count. Up until that evening the term vendor count hadn’t even been brought up. The caterer asked for a total count for dinner and I included everyone. I am not the one that is supposed to be the experienced wedding planner.
Another quick example about how she forgot an important and unique factor of our wedding. In our package we upgraded some of the liquor. We wanted Absolut vodka and it was put in our contract. I made a wedding day lemonade that's recipe was at the bar that had lemonade, Absolut and amaretto. The caterer calls me on Friday and asks me if I could change my sign because Absolut was not in our package. I had to reminder again that it was. This seemed to happen a lot with many of the details of our wedding. It was many of these little things that should have never been my concern, especially one day before my wedding. I don't know if she has too much on her plate or if she cannot keep her wedding details separate.
After all of this chaos I figured dinner is over and now we can have some fun and relax. We danced, drank and enjoyed our party for a bit until it was time for the pizza. One of the new trends for weddings is to give you guests a late night snack. About three weeks prior to our wedding day I had come in to give the caterer ribbon for my cake. I can give you the exact date if that is needed. I asked her at this time about having late night pizza delivered to the reception. I told her of my plan that day and asked if it was ok. She told me it would be no problem and brought me to the front desk and asked the girls that were working what pizza places deliver in the area. The girls in turn gave me menus of two in the area. (Which I believe I still have) On the night of my wedding I asked one of my ushers if he would order the pizza, pay for it and make sure it made it inside the reception. Needless to say, this did not happen. I believe someone else was in charge at that point and would not let the pizza in the room. My usher pleaded with him and the answer was still no. He even said do you really want to upset the bride and groom with such a stupid misunderstanding. He gentleman told me that he called the caterer and she said she knew nothing of it. We were charged for the pizza and it was brought up to one of our rooms. Ten pizzas and One Hundred Sixty dollars wasted due to a lack of communication. After much discussion and heartache, we were told that we would be reimbursed for the pizzas. This does not make up for me wasting the last few moments of my wedding arguing about something that wasn’t supposed to be a problem. This is just another example of something the caterer had gotten confused about.
The topping on the cake was my husband and I trying to enter our room. So after a long day and night and after much stress we just wanted to get into our room and have a drink and change. Put this image in your head……. A groom is carrying his bride he reaches for the key and as he tries to open the door to their room the key doesn’t work. I mean really how incompetent can we get. Of all rooms to mess up, really the bride and grooms?
The way I look at it is this. This was a once and a lifetime event and I feel like we were treated like trash. I talked with a friend that attended our wedding that is an event coordinator and she told me that we were treated this way because it was a one time event and we don't give repeat business. This made me feel like the fifteen thousand we spent there meant nothing to your company. Before the wedding I expressed my concerns with event manager, the caterer's boss and he assured me that things would defiantly change. I told him that we felt that we were being talked down to and that we were not being treated with respect. I still feel this way and the Doubletree will never get my business again. They will also not be getting business for anyone I know in respect to a wedding. I am the first of my friends to get married and when they ask me where I think they should look for a hall, I will point them in the opposite direction of the Doubletree.
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