How Not To Review Your Event To Death
When a mum recently asked me to help review her sons' wedding, I was absolutely delighted. The bride and groom asked me in great detail about the reception (the cake, venue, food), the flowers (the colors, arrangements), and their wedding outfits. As the time for my arrival neared I got more and more excited about everything. On the day before my visit I couldn't stay away from Facebook - where have you been all these years I thought?
I wasn't impressed with what Facebook offered; lots of baby photos being shared by parents who didn't seem to be too busy or creative with their offspring's names... but that's beside the point.
You see, when you start reviewing events, you have to learn a lot of things. Things like how to quickly get all the information you need about the venue and how much it costs. That kind of thing is easy for me... but not all reviewers are as good at it as I am. Mostly they take a bit longer and get the information they need by asking around or checking out reviews online (which is also useful). Also, if they already knew about their venue, they just skip over all those questions.
But this isn't a typical review - I'm writing this to avoid you making the same mistakes I did. Because when I got down to it, I didn't do my job properly.
**The venue**: The deal breaker! If there wasn't anything wrong with the venue, one should've thought about it more carefully before signing up for it. What sort of food does it serve? What's the price range? How big is the hall? What are their drink charges like? Etc etc etc... we can go on and on here, it's important to know as much as possible.
Once I'd arrived, I started my review of the venue by looking around. The place wasn't bad - it looked like a hall, but it was really nice and they had set up some tables outside for us as well. Inside, there were tables and chairs everywhere... which is exactly what you wouldn't want in an event.
I walked up to the woman behind the desk and asked for some information. She looked me up and down before asking what I was here for. My wedding review? The Bride's? Oh, this is a bit of a surprise! Well, let's see what we can do about this...
She took me into the kitchen and explained that they have a discount if you have more than 40 people. And that there are some tables you can reserve beforehand at a low price. So I could do this, and get them to print out the list of tables and sign it for me - I would pay for those guests, but they'd be responsible for feeding them afterwards. It sounded good to me! So I signed up as instructed, making sure to make the right choice in the menus they had available...
**The food**: The food was great! The cake was amazing too. The venue itself was great at providing food - but that didn't mean it would be great for a wedding reception too. As I said, we need to focus on the venue, and it's important to know what sort of food they'll offer.
It was a sit down dinner, so people would have to get up out of their seats and help themselves - which is fine for wedding sit down meals but not for a large event that needs people to move around. This is where the food would lack too! At the reception there are usually chips and dip and things like that. That was all well and good, but what about for someone who'd like a soup? Or some other side dishes? Or fish fingers? Or chicken nuggets (did I mention that this was a wedding?) - you get the picture here...
**The drinks**: Drink charges? What drink charges? Please explain. It's not a wedding without the beer and wine, so why are there fees for that?! Yes, in our country we don't have any drink charges for weddings - and neither should you. But I saw these fees everywhere on the web! They were charging R200 per bottle of champagne too - and you know what I had to do next...
I went to my car and grabbed two bottles of Uncle Toby's sparkling wine. I told the woman at the desk that I had brought my own gifts (she owed me one after all... or maybe two). She offered me a table and said that I could leave the bottles there. What, a bottle of champagne for everyone? Oh yes, this is how things work at weddings. Not here though - but hey it's my wedding!
**The time**: This is important as well. The time of your event is set for a reason - to give people enough time to party but also to get home safely, or at least go to bed early enough so they look fresh in the morning. It's important you plan it right so guests can get there on time and so you know when to put up the tables and chairs again. It means you can do it easily, whenever you want to!
I booked the event for 9pm onwards, because that's what I was told. But when I got there, it had already started at 10:30am! I didn't have time to set up tables in the hall - so I'd have to do this the next day after all. That wasn't very practical now is it?
**The flowers**: Now we're onto the important stuff here. The flower arrangements were good - and everything was exactly as they said they would be. But what about the flowers themselves? What do you actually need for them to look good? I only have a limited background in gardening and floral arranging... that's why I didn't know what all you need! And what about the colour scheme? You can't even have a red or white theme at a wedding - they'd be there until the morning! All that is not necessary for a standard event, but in my wedding the flowers had to match the rest of everything.
But guess what? They didn't have poinsettias. But they had small fake ones they said would look just as good. They were happy for me to try them out so I could check that they looked alright... but I didn't want to risk ruining some other flower arrangement with them...
**The number**: The number of people you expect at an event is always an important thing to consider. Usually these things are decided long before you arrive, and you can't change them even if the weather is not so good that day. No worries - I was given a number and that was what happened. However, there were only 30 guests and they expected them to all bring something... instead of one big gift or a nice amount of cash - it's just not how things are done in my country!
I've been looking around for recommendation letters from the guests on the site here, but I haven't found any yet.
Conclusion: This was a nice venue for weddings, with great food and service. However, it's not suitable for events such as mine and I would recommend going somewhere else. If you don't mind the fine-print, then this is probably a good place for you...
I have already started looking at other venues in my area - but I will post that review soon! Leave me a comment if you want to see it...