Management determined to ruin the day!

★★★☆☆
3.4
54.0% of users recommend this
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NMehanger's review of Kelham Hall, Newark, Nottinghamshire

“Management determined to ruin the day!”

★☆☆☆☆

written by NMehanger on 05/08/2014

This is a beautiful venue and our decorators and caterers did a superb job. However, the management of the venue and the wedding planner were awful and worked with the attitude of "we have your money so tough!"
Prior to the wedding, we had met with Becky (co-ordinator) to agree final arrangements. The Monday before the wedding (which was on Saturday) we were told that we had no rooms to get changed and we (bride and groom) would have to share with the campers, meaning we had to arrange a hotel at short notice and extra cost.
During the week leading to the wedding, we were then that we would have to use square tables - as we had round lazy susans we had to argue to get the round tables we had discussed since day one. We were also told we could use the ice cream cart, but again told that this had been booked for a year - this was a lie as we had discussed the hire of this on the Monday when we had gone down to finalise arrangements.
On the day of the wedding, the wedding co-ordinator was nowhere to be seen and spent the entire event at the other wedding boked on the same day (this was obviously the one they had decided to focus on). When our guests arrived, they were ushered to the balcony area and squashed up there as the discussion to keep the flow of people moving had been ignored/not set up. The caterers complained about the how unhelpful and rude the staff were. However, our discussion about being able to set up a bar at the venue (this was due to be a free bar) was denied on the day! My sister who was overseeing arrangements for us arrived at the venue to be told that the bar - which we were always told we could set up - was not going to be allowed as this never had been discussed. We had taken pictures of where this could be set up and discussed numerous times. The manager on duty was rude, arrogant, ignorant and as unhelpful as he could possibly be, even telling us to take our guests to the pub across the road. We had to put a card behind the bar to pay for the drinks for our guests, who then complained about flat beer and being told that they would not be served after the drink had been poured and thrown down the drain. The manager was an absolute disgrace; and even tried to be rude to us when we asked for the bar to be closed saying we would have to pay a fee!! This was a private event!
The disabled toilets (only ones with baby changing facilities) were loocked for no reason, and the workers refused to open them for guests, until we had a word with them. They had no reason or excuse for doing so, or why they took over 20 minutes to respond. Please bear in mind, the polite request to unlock the door was ignored but the "abrupt" conversation provided results!
The venue is gorgeous but the poor management and even worse customer service skills were a huge let down and I seriously think anyone considering this venue in August should consider changing with campers, lack of co-ordination, and being prepared to have to deal with a small minded 'team' who change their minds and lie about what is available and what is not. Such a shame because it is gorgeous, but if you want a stree free day which follows a well discussed and planned plan, then do NOT use this venue with poor customer service;, missing co-ordinators/management; and a determnation to ruin the wedding

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