John Michael Weddings and Special Events

Kimberly Smith
8/30/20
reviews

3 out of 5

Quality of Service:	3.0 out of 5
Responsiveness:	5.0 out of 5
Professionalism:	1.0 out of 5

Value for Cost:	5.0 out of 5
Flexibility:	1.0 out of 5

There were good and bad points about this vendor. John Michael himself is an amazing person, and has a great vision. Gizelle is very responsive and on point for communication. However, the people they sent to my wedding were horrible. They were supposed to be at the venue at 3:30 to 4:00 to set up and prepare for our cocktail hour. At 5:05 when we are getting ready to walk down the aisle, they still had not shown up! Also, we did not walk down the aisle until 5:17, wnd the ceremony was 31 mins long. So now we are scrambling to feed our guests! Not an experience a stressed out bride wants to experience before walking down the aisle. They finally showed up at 5:30. So, our lateness starting was what actually salvaged this debacle. Had our wedding started on time, this would have been an absolute disaster. Then, we as the bridal party were supposed to get some hand passed appetizers sat aside since we were going to take pictures, and would not be in the building to get them. Had I no... Read moret purchased appetizer trays prior to the wedding that day, they would have gotten no appetizers. None of the bridal party got any of these. My husband and I only received 4 individual pieces of the chicken and waffles. Since the food is always per person, we paid for 10 - 15 extra guests to make sure there was more than enough food and appetizers for everyone, and so there would be plates to go for my out of town guests. None of my guests received to go plates. We recieved 3 boxes of food smashed and thrown in to a Styrofoam container. Now whether or not the food was packed by the caterer or the venue, i do not know. As i did not have time to babysit anyone, I trusted that everyone would do the jobs that they were hired to do. Very unprofessional to say the least. Half of the vendors did not receive their meals. *our package included 5 additional) we had 6 employees/vendors. There should have been more than enough for everyone, and plenty left over. My step daughter had to go and buy a sandwich outside during the wedding to eat because the food disappeared before she could eat. (which I absolutely do not understand). After the wedding. I contacted Gizelle about everything that had happened and conveyed my disdain for what had occurred, I was told that they set up 30 mins prior to the wedding. ( they were told by 2 different people myself, and the coordinator that the ceremony started at 5). Which they should have been there no later than 4:30. I was given excuses as to why they were not there on time. Then, because they were late. They could not handle the "volume" necessary to get my guests appetizers. So, the bridal party received none. We paid for 65 guests and had a TOTAL (including vendors and employees) 55 people. No excuse why they could not have handled this! Once I spoke to Gizelle after the wedding, and i truly expected them to make this right, we were not offered a reason, or not even an apology. (After this review was posted, I did receive an apology from Gizelle) which is absolutely fine. It still does not make it better and it does not change the facts for what we experienced. The wedding is now over a month out, and the memories of the food is zero. Also very unimportant to my memories and recollections. I have to say that the food is good, John Michael himself is a joy to work with. However, this experience was not worth the amount we paid, to end up being so disappointed. The caterer blamed the venue, and the venue blamed the caterer... we were the ones to lose in the end. Then, to use an attorney to make me change my review on MY EXPERIENCE is just ................ This is my opinion of my experience with them.

responded with the following comments.

I'm all about accepting responsibility when in the wrong, but that is not the case here. We are very proud of what we offer. It's really sad to hear this review, especially in times like this, as I did genuinely like this client. I have been told this client was not happy with any of her vendors, which is probably an indication of her nature. We have a contract that states we are to arrive at 5:30pm with food service starting at 6:30pm. We were not even allowed in the facility and had to stage outside the rear door - the facility provided all service, we only provided food so we had absolutely no control over the service. I have an email that shows us apologizing for her dissatisfaction on September 1st and she wrote this on September 4th. The irony in her review is that she clearly states how much she liked the food which was our contracted responsibility to provide. It is sad to see this client bash folks for something they had no control over. I did ask our attorney to ask her to modify this review as it was not factual and slanderous - she just argued with him to no point. I only wish them the very best and hope they can start to enjoy their married life.