Recently we had our daughter's wedding at the Hanlon Convention Centre.
I will begin with the positives. The Centre is a beautiful facility!!! And the food was excellent! Generous servings and delicious. Cathy was our server during the evening and she was so kind and helpful and went above and beyond to help us out. The bartender, too, was friendly and accommodating. I can't express enough how these 2 people contributed positively to our evening.
But this facility is being terribly mismanaged and I fear for its future.
We were told there would be a tasting in mid November. I contact the Centre in early December reminding them about this. We were given 1 available date that was left for the tasting. We asked if the photographer and DJ could come at the same time to see the facility, thinking that this would be the most convenient even for the Centre as there would not have to be another viewing there arranged. Wendy agreed that they could come. When we arrived for the tasting she threw a fit because I (the mother of the bride) was there. I kindly said dont worry about it. I was not there for the tasting. I was there for some details that would also be discussed. The bride and groom were only tasting. They were fine with me there. Wendy continue to go on and on about how she wasn't expecting me and she wished she had known. and I mean on and on. The second course was out and she was still complaining about my presence. The the photographer and DJ arrive. The Mother of the Groom brought them as they are family friends. Before having their look at the facility they came to greet the bride and groom in the tasting room. Well that was the last straw! Wendy flipped out. Ranting and ranting. Making everyone feel very unwelcome and uncomfortable. The mother of the groom was in tears. The bride and groom had to go console her privately. I sent an email the next day expressing our disappointment at how she had treated us and her complete unprofessionalism. To this day I have never heard a word from her in regards to my email.
It was not clean when we first looked at it and we were told this was because there had just been a large event and it would be fully cleaned before our event. It was not. The day before we went in and noticed that the carpet (among other things) needed attention. I asked about a vacuum as my daughter, the bride wanted to do some vacuuming herself so that it would be clean. I was told it had already been vacuumed. When I questioned the quality of the job, Wendy, the Director of Sales, ranted at length about how crappy the vacuum is and that she sends requests upon requests, which are ignored, and what else can she do?! I have pictures showing the condition of the facility. They just rely on the fact that the lights are down at a wedding and no one will see. But I question the cleanliness of the kitchen if that is what the ballroom is like.
We also had asked before booking if the Christmas decorations would be down as our wedding was in early January but it was not to be a Christmas themed wedding. She assured us they would be long gone. The day before the wedding we notice silver reindeer and white poinsettias on the fireplace mantle. I approached Wendy to ask about these decorations. I would have offered to gather them up myself if necessary. She interrupted my sentence to claim they weren't 'christmas'. Reindeers and pointsettias. Then she jumps up and stomps through the lobby and starts grabbing the deer off the mantle ranting and muttering under her breath. The bride and groom were sitting on the sofa by the fireplace and they clearly heard what she was muttering. I wasn't demanding she do it immediately. I was just checking that it would be done at some point before the wedding. So unprofessional.
i believe we were very undemanding as weddings go. We only booked the facility in October and the wedding was in January so we had not been dealing with her for so long that she would have reason to be annoyed with us.