My husband and I got married on October 9th at the Temple Theatre in Saginaw. Horizons Conference Center is partnered with Temple Theatre to provide wedding services and catering. The day of our wedding was absolutely amazing. My reception was ...flawless with no hiccups. The food was amazing (many guests complimented it). The waitstaff on the day of my wedding was top notch, great service, and very friendly.
However, the year of planning leading up to our wedding was nothing a bride should ever have to experience.
After we had locked in Temple Theatre as our venue, unfortunately our wedding coordinator had left. We were put in contact with the VP of Horizons Conference Center who would act as our wedding coordinator. Leading up to the wedding, we would have calls with her, and every phone conversation we had she would state incorrect information that she had about our wedding. One conversation, she asked us when we wanted to schedule our tasting (when we had already met with her and had our tasting two months prior). Another conversation, she had the incorrect information on our tablecloths choice, napkin choice, and centerpiece decisions. We had multiple conversations where she had the wrong information down about our wedding and we had to correct her. Even as soon as a month before our wedding, we had conversations with her and she had information that we were doing a buffet meal, and that was never something we considered! Also, she thought we were having our ceremony at Temple Theatre as well, when we have always had a separate ceremony location! I was called the wrong name, I was told that she had everything written down and noted and that she didn’t need the notes we provided, but then the information she had written down was incorrect. I truly feel that every detail was somehow incorrect.
A week before our wedding, we still did not have a clear answer on when we could decorate the Temple Theatre. We were told that it’s because Horizons Conference Center can’t control the Temple Theatre events, and it’s completely in their hands to tell Horizons when you can set up. If that is the case, we never would have booked Temple Theatre if we would have known we can’t set up until the day of our Wedding.
As a bride I felt incredibly unsettled and not confident that anything was going to be correct for our wedding.
During our wedding reception, it came to our attention that the waitstaff did not receive gratuity. We specifically asked during our meetings with the wedding coordinator if we should set out a tip jar for the waitstaff, and were told that it wasn’t necessary, that there is a 20% service charge that goes to them. Well the day of our wedding, we were told by the waitstaff that the 20% service charge did not go to them.
I do not want a Bride to go through this experience like I have. Our wedding coordinator had mentioned to us over and over again that she was the only employee managing weddings. While we understand it was the perfect storm of situations because of the pandemic, as a Bride hearing that over and over again does not make you feel comfortable.
We repeatedly told our wedding coordinator things that continued to be incorrect in future conversations. If we would've known that we were going to go through such panic, misinformation, and worry during our wedding planning process, we never would've booked this venue.