University Club of St. Paul

We had reserved both the Summit room and Terrace. Our experience with the University Club from about 4 months prior to the wedding was an absolute nightmare. Around end of June, we stopped receiving any and all communication from our assigned coordinator, Amanda. Weeks of unanswered emails and phone calls went by. End of August, I received one email response from Danielle, answering one question (out of many) that I had asked in previous emails, and ignoring my requests for an in-person meeting, as it was stated in the contract we would have an in-person meeting 4 weeks prior. It was at this point we were informed our previous coordinator, Amanda, was no longer with the U Club. We were told, “we thought she was still handling some weddings” even after her departure. No one knew if our wedding was included in that. There was no introduction from our new coordinator Danielle, no assurance that she would now be taking over and no apology. Early September, about three weeks before the wedding, my fiancé was finally able to get ahold of Danielle. He was also able to speak to the owner of the U Club, John Rupp. He shared our immense disappointment regarding the lack of communication. While doing so, John Rupp told him that if we were so disappointed, we should just not have our wedding at his venue. This was three weeks before and a completely inappropriate response. Eventually, we were able to have our in-person meeting at the venue and were promised the following from both John and Danielle: Communication would be 100% better from that point on. Our wedding day would go perfectly. Our wedding would receive the most attention out of any wedding they had planned for the year. None of these promises were met. My email to Danielle the week of the wedding went unanswered. We had a rehearsal the day before and walk in to the reception layout, not the ceremony. We had to wait 45 minutes for everything to be taken down and reset to the ceremony to begin the rehearsal. We are then late to our own rehearsal dinner. The wedding day arrives. I walk into the venue expecting my guests to be seated in the Summit room so I could sneak into the Terrace room, that would supposed to be closed, unseen. I walk in to almost all of my guests staring at me, who have now seen me prior to the wedding. I had to stand in their public restroom, crying and humiliated, as my 8-months pregnant Maid of Honor corralled my wedding guests into the Summit room. As a woman, I’ve spent my entire life imagining that first moment of walking down the aisle and my guests and groom seeing me for the first time. This moment was ruined for me. Additionally, no one knew where the flowers were (they were delivered to the venue hours prior), and I again had to send my 8-months pregnant Maid of Honor to run around the venue gathering the flowers, my bouquet, the boutonnières and my mother-in-law’s corsage. Danielle was no where to be found. Not once did Danielle check on me prior to the ceremony. After the ceremony, while we were taking photos, I noticed that random dinner name cards were being moved. I asked my Maid of Honor to please get Danielle for me. This was the only time I spoke to Danielle the entire day, after having to have someone get her for me. Dinner begins and we are served a salad with no dressing. It is inedible. My husband has to get up from the head table and ask them to dress our salads. The entrees come out much later than anticipated, and they are cold. Almost all of our guests ordered the New York Strip, and the steak was rubbery and flavorless. We are informed by a guest that the coffee that was put out for guests to help themselves to, has a dead fly floating inside the canister. After dinner, my husband and I are trying to salvage our enjoyment of the day, when we are informed by my brother and his girlfriend, that the ceiling had just leaked dirty water all over them. It started raining around 4 PM this day. Around 10 PM, we walk around the Summit and Terrace room and find 6 separate places that water is leaking in from the roof. 4 places in the Terrace room, one being directly over their piano that got covered in dirty water, and two in the Summit room, one being directly over a guest table covering it in dirty water. My own brother and his girlfriend left my wedding early from being soaked in disgusting water. Our guest book and card box got wet. Phones left on the table in the Summit room got rained on. My husband had to get one of the two people still left there for the night (a bartender and a server) to let him know we were being rained on. When my husband asked if they were aware previously that the ceiling leaks, we were told the owner, John Rupp, was aware and knowingly has not done anything about it. Please see the photos attached of the dirty rain water accumulating all around the rooms we reserved for the most important day of our lives. The day after our wedding, we called John Rupp. When my husband began to explain how terrible our wedding day had gone, John interrupted and said "I'm not doing this with you over the phone". He told my husband to email him to set up a time to meet. John responded to our email nearly a week afterwards, and we were able to meet with him. In the meeting, John himself told us that he was firing our coordinator, Danielle, and that our wedding was a "complete failure". We agreed. We told John the only thing that could make this right, is a full refund of all payments made to the University Club for our wedding. John agreed to a full refund, looked both my husband and myself in the eyes and promised he would make good on this agreement, and shook my husband's hand. That was on September 30th, 2023. John promised we would receive our refund by October 30th, 2023. We have not heard a single thing from him since, and he has not responded to any attempts to contact him since that agreement was made. We are now in the process of legal proceedings. We want to have another ceremony again someday, far, far away from the University Club. I am hopeful someday we'll be made whole and will have that opportunity. Please, if you are seeking communication, edible food and a safe and dry experience for your wedding day, do not use the University Club of Saint Paul.