Paid For and Not Rendered
Friday:
No guests were checked in or showed to their rooms by the Mansion. Refund due.
We were not allowed to decorate outside and had to end decorating inside early due to Ron and Mary’s sleeping arrangements cause by other choices they made. Inconvenience.
No childcare was provide so it wasn’t paid for either. Inconvenience.
There was no fire pit lit for the bridal party. Refund due.
Saturday:
Maid service for rooms not provided. Refund due.
Complimentary Massage unable to be taken by Bride. Refund Due.
Bridal party Massages taken and paid for by use. No Refund due.
2 hairdressers. Never arrived. Bride was not informed until Bride asked where they were at 12pm. No refund due. Inconvenience
Limo extended services do to running late because of the hair dressers not showing up.
$525 plus $100 tip. Renegotiated $650 plus $140 tip. $165 Due.
Carriage ride was not provided, so it wasn’t paid for. Inconvenience.
Fire pit for guests not provided, which was a prominent part of reception. Refund due.
Childcare provided by mansion paid for by us. 9-9:30 paid for by Mansion and sent home. Not as agreed and the kids were running all over the place. Huge Inconvenience. But no Refund due.
DJ provided from 5-2. Prepaid. Unable to start until 8 because over run caused by hairdresser mishap and was shut down at 11:45. 5.25 hours unused. Refund due $131
Bartender provided by Mansion from 9-11:45 Paid $60 plus tip. No refund due.
Full use of kitchen not provided, bridal party as well as others were yelled at and abruptly ordered out of kitchen during the reception. As a result, appetizers, coffee and other main dishes were never served,. Also, hundreds of dollars of food was left uncovered and un-refridgerated overnight and as a result went bad and had to be thrown away. We were unable to use the kitchen Saturday morning due to cleanliness. Cooks and servers were not helped to do their jobs as they had agreed to do. They were yelled, swore at and not treated nicely along with bridal party and guest. Refund due.
Tables were not set up as promised. Inconvenience.
No favors, gifts, seating cards or decorations were put out since the tables were not set up in time and were laid out wrong upon arrival. Inconvenience.
Total physical costs owed: ( still configuring )
Check In $50
Fire Pit $150
Maid Service $150
Massage $40
Limo $165
Fire pit
DJ $125 hr x 5hrs
Kitchen use/ food waste $1,432
Total Reimbursement $2,068
Personal story of events to follow.........
Wonderbra
You poor thing!!! That sounds like a nightmare. I hope you totally freak out on that place.
1Wow, somebody deserves a punch in the nose for that. I'm sorry.
2good god sounds like disaster
3what happened? did the manager forget your wedding or something? sounds like they owe money, but all of what you lost can't be paid in cash.
4I am so sorry to hear that your wedding did not go as well as you had hoped. This is why I wanted to be become a wedding planner with day of service to prevent things like this from happening. It sounds like nothing was confirmed before the wedding. A lot of times couples do not confirm with arrangements made 8+ months before the wedding. Bride and Grooms just assume that everything is going to work out the day of. Many times vendors write down the wrong date or time. It is a human error that happens all the time in the wedding business, especially during the biggest months of the season (April – October). Again, I am so sorry to hear that your wedding did not go so well.
Ok first thing is first is pull out all your contracts that you have with all the vendors. Now you MIGHT be able to get some money back, but you are not going to get it all back depending on the wording of the contract. Contracts for vendors are typically worded to prevent any loss on the behalf of the vendor due to circumstances beyond the vendor’s control. For insistence, I don’t understand how a DJ would be delayed because your hairdresser mishap. It doesn’t make sense. I also don’t understand if there was a complimentary bridal massage, how you can ask for a monetary refund for that. You might be able to ask the hotel if you can set up an appointment for a later date. I could see that the rooms were not cleaned because they could have been in use and the maid service was unsure when they could clean them. This is something that needs to be brought to the hotel management staff. You may be able to get a small percentage back, but if the party used the rooms, you might not get anything back except an in house credit.
I just want to warn you. I know you are upset, but you have to remember you did use some services. I can tell you that you might not get the refund for any of the tips you gave to the limo or bartender. Tips are considered a gratuity, not a refundable item. If you were not happy with the service that was provided, a tip should NEVER have been given.
As for the hotel called the Mansion, it sounds like you picked a very bad hotel. You need to have a meeting with the head catering manager to review your contact. Typically hotels or resorts have a head catering manager typically never stays during a wedding. They assign a head banquet captain to oversee the staff, food, beverage etc. It sounds like the captain was either not there, or did a really horrible job. I would ask to have a meeting with the head catering manager and the banquet captain on duty that night.
Now, if your contact states certain items that were requested, paid for in full prior to the wedding and not provided the day of the wedding, then they must be refunded. (Check the wording in the contract before to ensure the contract covers any items not provided. It is always important to read the fine print before you sign a contract with any resort or hotel.)
Again, this might not be what you want to hear and you will probably cuss me after you read this thinking I am just blowing you a lot of hot air, but I am just here to warn you in case you are not given a full refund of your money. I truly hate to see brides go through hell on what is supposed to be the day of their wedding. I am sorry that it didn’t go as planned but I do hope that your quests had a good time. The only other advice I can tell you is to just spread the word to anyone thinking about getting married at this facility. Tell them to double check with their vendors at least 7 business days before the wedding or hire a wedding planner.
5time for a lawyer
6How disappointing for you!! All that planning just to have it fall apart before your eyes. Save pinupsweethearts's comments and put them to use. Good Luck! And let us know how you make out.
And congratulations on your new marriage. I wish you happiness every day.
7I'm so sorry this happened to you. But do keep pinupsweetheart's info in mind. You need to sit down, go through your contracts and see what can be done. Overall, $2000 is not that much when most weddings run upwards of $20,000.
It is natural to feel a bit depressed and sad when your wedding or reception do not come out as planned. Though we have to accept that nothing will be perfect, this does sound like a lot of things. I hope that you were able to overlook it that day and just concentrate on the happiness of marrying your love!
This is a perfect example of why day-of coordinators are priceless. They will confirm contract dates/times/services for you, and take care of as many mishaps as they can on the wedding day, while helping to calm you down so you can just enjoy your day. The best advice for anyone who is going to get married is to know that things WILL go wrong. Your guests take their cues from you and if something is missing, they won't know unless you tell them.
As for word of mouth damage, you can do a few things. You can and should report this Mansion place to the Better Business Bureau. Talk to them first though. Bring another person along and take notes. See what they offer for your pain and suffering - since they DID contribute to your pain and suffering, as well as horrid treatment of your wedding party and other hired staff. (Although, I'm not sure why your wedding party was in the kitchen. They should not have been unless it was the only place to gather before an entrance, in which case this should be laid out prior in the contract. Frankly, they or anyone else not working in there has no business in there.)
To get the word out to other brides, you can visit wedding communities online and tell them about your experience. theknot.com has forums that are area specific. So if you live in Northern California, you would go to the Northern California board and post your experience there as perhaps "Beware - horrid experience at Mansion." You should also make a post about the hairdressers who never showed up so that other brides will be wary.
A final note: I think you should comb that contract very carefully to see who was responsible for putting out placecards, favors and decorations as if they were not put out, then you still have them and you wasted money on purchasing them and likely personalizing them.
I hope you had a wonderful honeymoon to make up for this! If you didn't have a chance to go away yet, I definitely suggest making the time for at least a weekend at a B&B or a nice hotel in fun or relaxing place that is nearby.
In the end, a wedding is about a marriage. And if you married the man you love, then it is all just little things that you can handle by requesting money back, apologies, and by posting to let others know about the horrid experiences.
One more note! Don't post about how bad they were until AFTER you have talked to the vendors and found out what they are going to do for you, if anything! Good luck!
8dang...I wish you well on your marriage tho!!!
9maybe it had a bad start but i hope it has a happy ending!!!
That is just unbelievable. How long ago was your wedding and was any all of this brought up IMMEDIATELY? Timing is everything. Hope you have contracts highlighted, attorneys names, better business bureau on alert, and any local wedding sites and newspapers in your mind. You need to make an appointment quickly with the manager of the place, spell it out for them and what kind of actions you are ready to take, and see what they are willing to do. I wouldn't get into numbers right away and see what they offer- they may make this up to you and include personal grief $$ just to prevent you from getting the word out and their reputation is down the toilet. Good luck- don't give up because this is completely unacceptable and SHOULD be made known to other brides.
10i'm so sorry about your ruined reception =(
11i wish you the best of luck sorting all of this out.
Wow, I think I would be seriously looking at what legal means I had. That is terrible! So sorry to hear all of that going on.
12uggghh they do deserved to be sued!
I say, get your refunds, straighten all up and once you get your money back throw a big "This is the reception that I planned" party!
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13Don't worry 'bout a ting!
Hey that'd be a great idea!
You could dress up again, have everybody come in their party
outfits and take new pix, what a blast that could be! 
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14Don't worry 'bout a ting!
perhaps try and scour the internet to see if anyone else has had problems with this specific mansion/hotel/hairdresser/caterer. definitely leave negative feedback anywhere you can in that regard.
15find a good lawyer who has dealt with similar issues (or if you already have a personal one who knows you well - great). best of luck.
and always remember, it's not about the wedding... it's about the marriage!
OMG that is just horrible! I am so sorry but you can ALWAYS have another wedding.
16I'm sorry, that sounds awful. Thank goodness it's all behind you and you are married! My mom always used to say that a wonderful wedding is when the couple ends up married
17Hey sorry about ur wedding day,,,,there is some good advice here esp from pinsupsweetheart.
18However i feel that what matters most is the marriage ie between u and ur man...weddings usually have disasters,i have a friend whose cake got burnt, another thetailor gevout her dress to someone else so the one she had was too tight, another the florist used the wrong color of flowers.
Things happen and at the end of the day what matters most is the two people gettin married,,,look on the positive even whenu dnt get ur money back,make ur marriage as wonderful as u can and forget the disaster of the weddin
I'd like to know more. I was in charge of my own weeding, I made lots of calls of confirmation at various times.
19Hi.
I don't know where you had the terrible adventure but if you didn't go to a cheapo "hotel-motel" then it's time to get the law involved.
Sounds like you were promised alot of things but ended up getting nothing but problems.
Good luck and congrats!
20Very sorry to hear of the trouble you had with your reception. Good luck with getting your money back. I`m sure you`ll live to laugh about it in years to come.After that disaster, the marriage can only get better. Sorry, but what on earth is a fire-pit?? ;}
21I'm so sorry to hear that! I know it's advice too late, but you should consider a day-of planner (I know someone above me suggested this too). I found mine through http://www.gatheringguide.com/ec/event_planners.html, if you are looking to make up for this with an awesome anniversary celebration. Either that, or you need a lawyer!!
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