Cynthia Y.
Yelp
If you are planning a budget wedding, then look no further! Weddings are hectic, and whatever could go wrong does go wrong X 10! That's why, the event coordinator and maitre d should be pleasant and accommodating. I am a corporate events planner, I understand that things don't always go according to plan, however, I would still keep a level of professionalism when interacting with guests. Yes, we are PAYING guests. They should get rid of the maitre d title and rename it CO (corrections officer) bc she was speaking to everyone like we were inmates at a federal prison. I should also note the sassy wedding coordinator had some sarcastic and patronizing comments as well (but not directly towards me). As soon as the limo came, all our bags were whisked away to the bridal suite. We were then taken to the lobby area outside of the reception area. We were told we were NOT allowed in the bridal suite. Why? So no one could touch up their makeup or anything prior to the ceremony. After the ceremony, the bride had to pay the limo driver and asked me to go get the money from her bag. Since I didn't know where the bridal suite was, I asked the CO. I was told "I can't let you in there by yourself! Someone from our staff needs to accompany you. You are not allowed in there alone." Excuse me? I was obviously apart of the bridal party, bc when she lined us up like cattle earlier, she yelled out each of our names and I was wearing a bridesmaid dress. I had to disrupt the bride & groom from taking pics and tell them I was not allowed to go upstairs w/o a police escort. The bride had to come and tell the CO she needed to pay the driver. The CO rolled her eyes and spoke into her headset to get someone to police me, bc I'm not allowed access to my own personal property. 2 other bridesmaids and I finally get to go upstairs, it was like we were granted special privilege into the prison yard for good behavior. When we got upstairs, my tote bag was open, I know 110% my bag was zipped up. My jacket and cell phone was also stuffed into someone else's bag (so weird). I had brought 2 cash canons (to use during the reception but earlier when I asked, the CO looked at me like I was crazy and said I couldn't use it, it's basically contraband) and had them inside a plastic bag, one was on the couch and one was inside the bag, again very strange. When we go downstairs, the bride said we took too long to get the money and she had to borrow cash from a guest bc the driver couldn't wait (how embarrassing). A bridal suite is for the bridal party to keep their stuff in, change, touch up their makeup. Have a code entry or give a key, we shouldn't need permission or an escort to have access to our belongings. And this is definitely not about security for OUR stuff, bc when the party was almost over and I wanted to get my bags, I was told they already brought all our stuff down. They put all our stuff in the corner of the banquet room. Yes, they put my wallet, with my id, credit cards, and cash in a room with 100 people, very smart move Antun's! Who's the brains behind this operation? The last time I had to deal with the CO was for the bridal party entrance. She said when the bride & groom come in, we need to lift one arm up and create an arch. As each couple from the bridal party came out, we were to line up. The CO kept coming and pushing and shoving us to "get in line!". She even yelled at me bc I'm short and couldn't lift my arms the way she wanted me to. She basically wanted me to stand at a 45 degree angle, how is that humanly possible? The food was standard catering hall food. It started with what looked like a DIY salad, and then guests had a choice b/t 4 options. I was actually surprised to see they had (2) vegetarian options, which was great bc it was a no meat Friday wedding during Lent. I ordered the eggplant with angel hair pasta or should I say a thin piece of breaded eggplant wrapped around plain pasta with string beans and sauce on the side. The servers during dinner were very nice, also the bartender Indira was awesome! She saved this review from being 1 Star! Indira had the hospitality skills and personality that the wedding coordinators lacked. And FYI, you must buy your wedding cake from them. You are not allowed to bring in your own cake. A wedding cake is something special, this alone would be a dealbreaker for me. This is the first event space I went to that did not allow an outside cake, charge a cake cutting fee or something if you want to milk the customer for everything. And the cake was a plain yellow cake with vanilla pudding, weird mushy cake consistency. There are also a million stairs. All in all, if you ever want to have an OITNB experience or scare bad teenagers straight with a real life prison encounter, check out Antun's!