I just had my wedding dinner at GCW last weekend and it is a very disappointing affair for both I and my husband. For all couples getting married over there, do learn from my experience and hopefully your wedding dinner will be a much happier event than mine.
My dinner was at the Waterfront ballroom which had a beautiful reception area. Both I and my husband believe that wedding is an intimate affair and hence we kept our tables to a minimum. We had 21 tables in total and had told our close friends and relatives that they can come at 7pm for cocktail cause both of us will be there to mingle with the crowd.
At 5pm, my husband told me that the wedding reception wasn’t set up; he cannot do the dry run cause everything is in a mess. I thought it is a small problem and it will be resolved at 6pm. When I went down at 6pm, I was shocked. I cannot recognise my ballroom. The whole place was in a mess. They had an auction earlier in the day. I do not know what had happened but at 6 pm, all the paintings, sculptures and everything else you can associate with an auction were left at the reception area. I actually had life size tiger statues, huge paintings in the reception area, pending the movers to move. Cardboards, boxes were strewn everywhere as they were packing the auction stuff.
I went into the ballroom and nothing has been set up. My tables were not set up. June florist was frantically trying to do up the ballroom. Everywhere I see movers trying to move huge articles due to the auction that has taken place earlier. I waited there for 10 minutes. I would have thought that the banquet manager would at least come and explain exactly had happened or assured me that the mess will be cleared soon. But none of that has happened. The banquet manager only appeared after I had called him and demanded to know what exactly had happened.
Frankly the banquet manager’s presence did not account much. The mess wasn’t cleared until 7:10pm. And he seemed to be in a total lost of what to do. My rose petals from June Florist were left on the floor in 2 plastic bags. It would be left there on the floor if my sisters did not notice it and reminded him about it.
The ballroom and reception area were only ready after 7pm. Due to the screw ups, my brothers did not manage to do a dry run. They only tested the system and laptop at 7 plus after the whole ballroom has been set up. And my guests at the cocktail reception can hear what the whole process. Worse still, we have to turn some of our friends and relatives away when they arrive. Because the cocktail reception area wasn’t ready until 7:10pm and they were here at 6 plus. We were apologizing to everyone else the next day, for turning them away as the cocktail area wasn’t ready till 7:10 pm. And that both our parents have to call our relatives to explain the situation and seek their understanding. The whole night to me was a nightmare. And I lost all faith in GCW.
GCW did apologize the next day. For all the screw ups. And they waived off a portion of my bill, gave us dining vouchers and a free night stay. But to every couple, that night is magical. And no matter how much GCW waive the bill and throw in freebies, it will not change the fact that the night has been spoilt.
Hope my experience serves as a lesson. I sincerely hope that there will not be a repeat of my incident.
