My family paid for the highest package at the La Mirada Country Club, the platinum package and it was not what we were promised, or more importantly, what we paid for. I was promis...ed a wedding planner with the package, which started off okay. I was planning my wedding from Oklahoma, so the wedding planner was essential for me to help with the details since I was so far away. However, over the whole year that I was working with the Country Club, the wedding planner was switched on me 4 times. The first time, I was not informed of the change and I called and emailed the ex-planner for weeks before I was contacted back and informed she was no longer working there. I then visited the venue during vacation and met with the temporary fill-in, who had no idea who I was, when my wedding was, or any of the details of the platinum package. She could not answer any of my grandmother’s or my questions. I was alarmed, but since it was still about 8 months from the wedding day, I wasn’t too worried. After I went back home, the planner was switched again, and I was not made aware until two weeks later, again only after repeated emails and calls to the ex-planner. Finally, the new planner Rita and I completed all the details. I came out to California two weeks before the wedding, planning on a meeting at 1pm and that day I was emailed at 7am stating that Rita was no longer working for the venue. I called the general manager, Steve, who had no idea I was coming in for a meeting, and even asked me if I had picked my food yet (ten days before the wedding!). Finally, I met the new replacement, Roxanne, the day before the wedding at the rehearsal. She had no idea about the dessert table that we had ordered, which really panicked me.
The day of the wedding, the air conditioner was not working, and my mother and uncle had to repeatedly ask for someone to make sure that it was going to be fixed. Roxanne had only set up 9 tables, after meeting with her the DAY before and organizing for 10. My father had to personally move table settings and set the new table himself hours before the ceremony. The hour before the wedding, Roxanne was meeting with potential wedding clients, driving them down to the gazebo and showing them our decorations, as well as taking them inside the ballroom. My bridesmaids had to yell at her to get her attention because she was in charge of the bouquets and she was busy elsewhere. The appetizers were not hand passed as often as the contract stated, and I had to go in myself to ask where one of the appetizers was because it was missing. The schedule we organized was not followed, which meant that everything started later and my photographers only captured my grand entrance before their paid time was up. Our guests had a choice of two entrees, and they didn’t write down who had what so Roxanne had to ask my mother during cocktail hour how she should serve the food since they didn’t know who had what. My mother paid for an additional queso cheese package for my husband, which was supposed to be a funny surprise. She paid an extra $500 DOLLARS for the package, expecting portabella mushrooms, baguettes, cauliflower and broccoli and Roxanne served raw carrots with the green ends still on and raw broccoli! It was just pathetic.
Instead of fully enjoying my reception, I was worried with details that we had all thought were taken care of. It was terrible. My family and I felt uncomfortable, worried and frustrated. Do not book here.