Wedding Banquet Hall Disaster

[shop til I drop]

I want to vent on one hall specific The Royalton in Woodbridge. I had a wedding there and they have to be the worst hall ever. I had a tasting before the actual reception. I made a list of everything I wanted changed for the big day. What happens on the wedding day, they gave me everything I didn't want. I was so pissed. The room was so hot that I asked them to turn up the air conditioning and they told me it broke. I was pissed again. Then they had the nerve to tell me that I had to many people and that is why it was so hot. Then when dinner was served, which I must say was horrible service, the plates that guest wanted seconds on the waitress told them no. What do you mean NO, I paid an unseen amount of money and you tell my guests that they cannot have seconds. They comes the bathroom. I had all my guest getting mad because the bathrooms where not equipped with proper paper for the restrooms. When I complained they shrug me off and said ya ya we will get to it. It was 1 a.m. and still no paper. In the end when I complained it was shrugged off again. So as long as you have your money then you don't care right.

Please what ever you do new brides, communion, or anything else please do not go to the Royalton in Woodbridge. They will kiss your behind and screw you the same way.

[walkonby]

That sounded not acceptable. Is there any way to be refunded or compensated? Guess not, since they have your money. That sucks.

[Shwa Girl]

Sorry to hear about this shop til I drop.

What you wrote here, you should write to the owner.
Give them a week to respond and then put it in a Letter to the Editor in the local newspaper.

Thanks for the warning.

[erin9mmm]

I like that suggestion Shwa Girl. I wouldn't let it go either. Wedding halls are expensive and a wedding is (hopefully) once in a lifetime, also some guest often travel distances to attend and deserve better treatment.

[torontogal12]

My hall changed our veggie meal and didn't bother to tell us. Then the veal came out kinda gross but we also had chciken so people ate it and said they liked it so I let it go bc a wedding is too much stress anyway and I was glad to be done. the rest was fine. You got married and had fun and try not to think abt this stuff. The ultimate result is you are happy and at least you ate and danced and ppl enjoyed themselves so that's money well spent. No wedding goes smoothly. My makeup girl was 1 hour late and I didn't get all the pictured I wanted bc we weren't made up and the photog stood there ehile we were getting done. Then we had to pay $250 to get the photog to stay later and they didn't even give us those photos in the end because we couldn't prove it. I'm annoyed that your guests came to you to complain abt the paper and not to the best man. That really pisses me off. You need to be having fun, not dealing with that and guests should have more courtesy than to bother you abt it (and of course this is unacceptable to have no paper). We looked at royalton and it was so expensive so I'm sorry you had to deal with this. Talk to the owner and if they don't fix Leave a bad review on n49. I have a popularish wedding blog where I rant abt bridezillas or how the industry gouges couples. If you want to write a guest post, PM me I can't because I'm on my phone

[kparker1786]

you could also rate them on weddingwire.com. I've seen quite a few people do this to different places and the halls respond all defensive. It's very sad

I'm sorry you had to go through this, but congrats on your wedding!

[Zonny]

That sucks that you had such a bad experience! I'd be asking for at least a partial refund, especially for no air conditioning. Surely they knew how many people would be there when you booked? If that was too many for the A/C to handle, they should have mentioned that ahead of time.

No wedding goes smoothly.

I totally disagree on this. My wedding went just fine. We had our reception at a Royal Canadian Legion, had a great meal for a reasonable price. Our wedding cake was from Superstore, and you have no idea how good it was! Before trying it, I would never have considered a wedding cake from a grocery store.

Only thing that didn't go smoothly had nothing to do with the wedding really. We'd just bought a house a month before our wedding, so we didn't go away afterwards (I like to say, we honeymooned at Home Depot). A hurricane hit Halifax head on a week after our wedding. We had just moved into our house, didn't know any of our neighbours. Power was out for four days. The freezer defrosted, we ate the top of our wedding cake rather than toss it out. The trees we had our wedding photos taken under no longer exist, they were blown over during the storm.

[marstec]

These days, with the availability of social media and the internet, I am puzzled when businesses give unsatisfactory service. It's not just one person anymore, that person talks to a few dozen and so on. They really aren't doing themselves any favours by not addressing your concerns. You should go on the review sites and rate them accordingly, best to just state facts and not get too emotional about it though.

[RebeccaRYoung]

It does seem odd that they would treat you so poorly. During my own wedding planning I learned a lot about proper contracts. If you're getting a hall and catering make sure everything is in the contract!

[erin9mmm]

I totally disagree on this. My wedding went just fine. We had our reception at a Royal Canadian Legion, had a great meal for a reasonable price. Our wedding cake was from Superstore, and you have no idea how good it was! Before trying it, I would never have considered a wedding cake from a grocery store.

I agree, and my wedding was similar.

We had the reception at a Rod & Gun Club and my family and friends all helped decorate it as a surprise to me. The ceremony was at my church so no cost there and since it was close to Christmas it was already decorated, we just added more poinsettias and candles at each stain-glass window. My bridesmaids carried candles and I had made my own bouquet. The food was done by a lady at the church and we actually insisted on giving her more money because she wasn't charging much at all. The DJ was my DH's cousin (his own business), food was buffet style and we had an open bar.
...15 years later and people are still telling us that it was the most romantic and fun wedding they had been too.

[SarahS83]

It would be easy to have a wedding that doesn't match expectation as expectations are so high. My wedding had things that were less than perfect and I'm sure would have ruined some peoples days. That being said the food was amazing, everyone had a lot of fun and I married my love.

I would suggest writing a letter detailing everything that you didn't like about the day/venue and sending it off. Then find a way to appreciate and enjoy everything that went right and how you get to be together.

[jasperandchar]

sorry to hear about your wedding disaster, I would write a letter to the general manager and asked that you have a sit down to discuss your concerns, it's never too late to put your concerns to rest. It won't change what happened on your day, however, it will in once sense give you peace of mind.

[chulamom]

I just looked up their website and it shocked me to see that Helmeet Rast is the manager there. I use to work for him at Montecasino banquet halls and he was a top notch manager...he was always there and never let any subpar stuff happen...did you speak with him at all? So sad...sorry...I would NOT let it go....check if they have a facebook page....post there aswell if you get nowhere with management...

[chulamom]

did u see on their website under testimonials?...they actually have a link to rate them...that would be the best place to rate them because potential customers would go to that link to cheeck out reviews....check it out..

[FrugalKris]

I had issues with my wedding at a hall in that area as well. Many things didn't go to plan and I ended up going the next day and ordered a partial refund - I ended up getting 20% back because I went right away and complained - i didn't get an attendant and everything was set up wrong 1 hr before I was walking down the aisle!!! Yeeeesh! I'm glad I was able to actually get something back. I would march back and ask to speak with the general manager ASAP. It needs to be resolved. Good luck and sorry all that happened at least you are married now though There was a plus out of everything!!!!