hi all, i would like to share the disappointing experience on my wedding banquet last month.
I had worked very hard to make sure that everything was perfect. My husband was caught up with work so many details were settled by myself in addition to my intensive workload. I was sleeping 3-4 hrs a day as post-work hours meant planning, organising, selecting, scrutinizing, etc.
Initially, when we had signed with Hyatt, we were told that the laptop, projector and technical crew would not be provided. It caught me by surprise, honestly, as I had thought a reputable hotel would have the basic infrastructure. My friend had her banquet at a 4* hotel and they provided all the technical aspects. Nevertheless, i was keen on hyatt and i hired my own projector & technical assistant (mind you, that was an additional $800+ for a basic function)and brought my own laptop.
The big day finally arrived. Excitedly, I went down to the reception area earlier than specified as I had wanted to mingle with my friends. To my utter shock & horror, my cousin delivered the bad news that although they had performed sound checks earlier and found nothing amiss, the soundfeed from the laptop had suddenly went awry. There was no sound from the laptop.
Having spent many precious nights on the cartoon story & my montage presentation, I was not about to give up and proceed without them. imagine this, as the bride, I walked to the front of the room and plopped myself at the laptop, attempting to troubleshoot. Meanwhile, as the guests arrived, my level of panic increased beyond sustainable proportions. My quick-thinking friends who were working in the computer industry flurried to the laptop and tried their best to solve the problem. I would say about 7 people were surrounding the cursed laptop.
Erstwhile, there were 3 technical assistants (i'm not quite sure why they were there as I was told there wouldn't be any), two of which did absolutely nothing but talk beween themselves. Picture this - the bride is at the laptop, the groom is trying to radio for alternatives, 7 friends had used their initiative and came forward to help without being asked to. The 2 technical assistants, at this moment, were standing behind me, muttering in another language (probably assuming that i was unable to understand, but unfortunately, I did) that something was wrong with the laptop. They had taken note of that failure and beyond that? absolutely nothing. Here were my friends , the guests who should be seated, frantically trying to solve the problem together with my own technical assistant that I had employed. Ironically, there were the two hotel technical assistants that stood there and did little else but pass comments. Where was the initiative?
At first, we had thought that the loss of sound was the fault of my own laptop. However, the 2nd laptop (provided by my wedding coordinator, who was about to knock off and rushed to my ballroom on her own initiative) was unable to function. I must say that she tried her best to get a laptop for me at the last moment and although it didn't work, I am very impressed with her quick-thinking and initiative as compared to someone else (i won't name him) who had told me that there was no available laptop in the hotel. Furiously, I had retorted that a five-star hotel like Hyatt could afford lavish fittings and decor but had no spare laptop for any bride who would spend at least a 5-figure sum there? It was ridiculous.
That said, nearly an hour had passed and most guests had arrived by now. My brother-in-law suddenly recalled that he had a laptop in his car and rushed to get it. My other brother-in-law went to get his iPod lest the laptop didn't work, so I would at least have a library of music to choose from for my march-in songs. We were about to give up when the 3rd laptop played the presentations without sound AGAIN. Just as I was about to break down in tears, my brother-in-law's laptop finally worked (God bless!) and thank goodness I had backed up the presentations & songs in my thumbdrive. Everything worked out eventually though sound was lost midway for a few seconds (by then, that was considered a teeny weeny minor glitch!) during the cartoon presentation.
My face was as black as thunder and I did not have a single morsel during the dinner as I had lost my appetite. Even though the food was eventually sent up to my suite, I did not touch it as I was greatly disappointed.
After the banquet, I blasted the people in charge and I could not understand why my wedding coordinator, who need not be there at all, was ironically the one who panicked on my behalf and tried her utter best to get everything to run smoothly as possible when she could have knocked off. Those that were in charge - what were they doing? Even the backup CD was fished out by my wedding coordinator ( i have no idea where she managed to get that!) and the people who were looking busy - where was the concrete assistance provided?
Now, to have not one, two but three laptops to run without sound, certainly points to a key failure in the infrastructure itself, don't you think? Although the 3rd laptop ran with sound eventually, can you imagine the rollercoaster emotions I had to endure with the change of each laptop? All these accompanied with the helpless frenzy of my friends and to have no help rendered when I needed it the most?
To compound my anger was an offer to waive off the beer charges. I snorted that a mere three-digit sum was all it took to compensate the day of my life. Would you have taken it lying down? After spending a five-figure sum for what you had expected to be the Perfect Day of your life and to be sorely disappointed while being offered a mere waiver of a 3-digit sum, thus adding insult to injury? If not for the fact that my wedding coordinator had stepped in, I would have brought this matter up to the higher levels. It was on the account of the hotel wedding coordinator that I decided not to pursue the matter. I must mention that my Hyatt wedding coordinator & my bridal coordinator from Ritz Couture placated my fears and had performed beyond that which was expected of them. (thank you, ladies!)
I am not here to stir up trouble or to fan its flames. I'm giving a true account of what had taken place during MY OWN banquet. Although a month has passed, till this day, it feels like i did not have a wedding banquet as I subconciously deny the utter disaster that had taken place.
Would any amount of money have compensated for that?
