What a disappointment!!

My Wedding Experience At Hudson’s Venue, Vredenheim I want to start off with some important considerations. When my husband and I first went to Hudson’s, we knew that this was the place we wanted to have our wedding. The views were spectacular and the interiors were exquisite. Venue hire price was reasonable and the packages seemed reasonable at first glance. When Covid-19 struck South Africa we were left in limbo. BUT, we were hopeful that in months to come, restrictions would be lifted and risks would be minimised. The hope was that by October, the wedding we had envisioned would be possible, even if it was on a smaller scale. Even so, we were forced to come up with contingency plans, and as the government regulations changed, our wedding plans evolved and Hudson’s staff were supportive. Eventually we had a solid plan and we were able to send out invitations, menu options and agree on a plan of action with regards to the flow of the wedding day. About 2 weeks before the date of the wedding we were ready to sit down with the final guest lists, menus, quotations and invoices. The first red flag popped up when the staff at Hudson’s were not able to clarify to us what was a “Basic Fee” which amounted to R2000.00. We were continuously given conflicting accounts of what we were paying for with the Basic Fee. This information was given over various emails and phone calls from 2 different people over the course of a few weeks/months. Some of the explanations given were: · “The R2000.00 basic fee for décor is for all décor items including rented items, collection and delivery and final styling” – 01/06/2020 Aldrine Louw. Keep in mind that we were already charged for delivery and collection (R1600), handling (R1500) and that the venue hire fee included “in-house coordinator, planning of flowers and décor and management team to oversee the set-up, the event itself and breakdown”. · “The basic fee is a deposit payable before proceeding with your mock-up this fee forms part payment on your total invoice, you will notice that this R2000.00 payment is already reflected at the bottom of the invoice as part payment of the full invoice.” – 21/10/2020 Penny-Jane Brown. This implies that we were charged for the deposit, instead of charging only for goods and services, we were charged for a “deposit”. In other words, at the end of the day, the deposit wasn’t deducted from the total of the quotation. So… Goods & Services 50 000.00 Deposit 2 000.00 TOTAL 52 000.00 · The final explanation given was that it “covers the labour and transport aspect of preparing and providing your flowers and décor” – 23/10/2020- Penny-Jane Brown. When I enquired about why we were only told then about this explanation of this fee (when it wasn’t mentioned in any of the packages) and why it was not included in the venue hire fee, we received no response. Nevertheless, only a few days before the wedding day, we paid the total amount of what Hudson’s told us to pay. Other pricing discrepancies include charging us R30.00 per person to put out chairs for the ceremony, when their package stated that the fee was R25.00 per person- that amount they amended on the final invoice. AND, charging us R1800.00 for the bar facility when their package stated that the fee was R1600.00 – that amount was NOT amended on the final invoice when it was brought up in an email sent 24/10/2020. The wedding day arrived, I had sent updated catering and Covid-19 screening lists and I felt confident that the staff were prepared to handle all the intricacies of the day. My first interaction was collecting the bouquets and boutonnieres. I had asked for the bouquets to be in the theme/colour scheme: Greenery, White flowers (preferably NOT roses), Grey and champagne gold ribbons with a very few pops of yellow. Here’s what I received: My bouquet - Greenery; 50% white roses; 50% yellow roses; a single, small arum lily; a white ribbon and the most hideous yellow gold organza ribbon. A total of R200.00 more than the initial quoted price. Brides****’s bouquets - Greenery, appropriate flowers, white and cream ribbons. Boutonnieres - Yellow rose, and a single, non-sturdy pin to attach to lapels. The petal aisle - Which I had asked to be in theme, had pink and red petals as well. I was quite disappointed but if I’m being honest, I accepted it as is because it was simply not a big deal in my books. Had I been one of those brides that found flowers to be an important part of setting a theme, I might’ve had more to say. But I suppose that when a venue charges R950.00 for a mock table set up and the only things on the table that’s correct are the plates and napkins, clearly they have absolutely no regard for the bride’s wishes and vision of her most special day. Moving along to the start of the proceedings, before I even get to the aisle, the snags start. As with all weddings, I told myself, there will be snags. First of all, my mother’s dress had split open at the zip and I must say that while the Hudson’s staff were not all that equipped to handle such a catastrophe, they seemed eager to help. And, while that is going on, my father informed me that there were not enough chairs even though I had given a VERY specific breakdown of how many people were attending the ceremony and how many needed chairs since my wedding party had been instructed to stand AND we had at least 2 people that had not showed up. By the time I got to the ceremony area, some of my guests were standing around. UNACCEPTABLE!!!!! After the ceremony it was time to sign the register and have confetti thrown at us. All was looking good. I was excited to take photos because it was the reason we chose that venue. The views were spectacular! And with the sun setting, everything was glowing. We had a bit of a frustrating time with all of the midges especially considering that I was essentially walking around in a mosquito net. During that time, our guests were having their pre-drinks and canapés. While I cannot speak much to that portion of the evening, I have had some feedback from guests. While some complained that there was not enough to drink, especially considering it went on for an hour and that the staff was rude; others could not stop raving about how good everything tasted. They had also been plagued by midges but not as badly as the photography session, since they were further away from the lake and flowers. Something for Hudson’s to consider: insect repellent! Then, it was time for the tedious work: Covid-19 screening. We were asked to send a list of all our guest’s names along with their ID and cell phone numbers. We had done so a few days before the wedding and then we sent an updated list afterwards. Somehow, the screening still took longer than anticipated and there were even some lost names. I can only assume that they had not seen our last few emails, with the updated information and this did not bode well for how the rest of the evening was to continue. After this initial delay, I was eager to get the rest of the program started so that we could get supper on the tables. Well… that did not happen as I had planned either. There was some delay with the food. Along with some delay with the bar. It was chaos. I was kept out of the loop, and my father and M.C had to run interference with the staff of Hudson’s. We were supposed to start with a blessing on the food while the staff served the main course. Instead, we had to do an opening prayer, speeches and then only did we do the blessing of the food. All of this took well over an hour, and all of this after Hudson’s had sent us an email to say that we had better start on time to ensure the food is hot and fresh. Then it took soooooo looooong for the servers to serve the food. Table 1 was done eating long before table 6 was even served. There were 14 tables. Not only was the food taking extraordinarily long to plate up but then there was 1 server, walking around at a time with 2 plates in their hand, walking around like they had all the time in the world. It was incredibly frustrating and I actually had to ask her to walk faster because people were waiting for the food. That’s when the manager approached me asking if everything was ok. I explained the situation to him and he served up some cold excuses. They really had all the time to prepare for the service and there was no excuse for the poor service we were offered! I was incredibly disheartened by the experience and even more discouraged when things got so bad that they had decided to close the bar in order for the bartender to assist with serving the food. At that point I had lost my appetite and was left feeling a bit guilty because I had received a rather large portion of salmon while one of the groomsmen at the table was given a piece that could be eaten in 4 bites. And he did. There were a few stories like that. Luckily the dessert went smoother, since it was plated cold. However, I had heard from a few people sitting in the last few tables that the chocolate tart looked like someone had spread an extremely thin layer of chocolate at the bottom of the tart shell instead of filling the tart shell up to the top and that is honestly UNACCEPTABLE in my books. But the most unacceptable issue we had was when it came time for the toast: We paid a corkage fee on 24 bottles of sparkling wine because according to Hudson’s recommendation, we needed 24 bottles for the amount of people we had. The person who poured the glasses, poured such a little sparkling wine for the toast, and when our guests asked for more he said no and that, “It’s just a sip for the toast”. He ended up pouring only 12 bottles for all 113 guests and we were left with 12 bottles we needed to take home. Honestly that was the most unbelievably obnoxious thing that the staff at Hudson’s had done. I was left speechless at the end of the night when I had to take 12 bottles home because one of the staff members had the audacity to make the decision to underserve my guests and be so rude about it. ABSOLUTELY DEPLORABLE. The bar in general did not operate as it should. They ran out of the popular brands of whiskeys etc VERY quickly and guests were then forced to drink more expensive, top shelf brands. A lot of people complained that they could only get 1 glass of their preferred (cost efficient) brands and then had to buy the more expensive, lesser known brands because the bar ran out. Then there was an unbelievable amount of people that mentioned they received the wrong food, even though we had sent the seating chart and food list as they had asked AND we printed individual menus for each person (even though Hudson’s said this was unnecessary, which I guess it would be if they were just going to ignore them) We hadn’t realised it at the time but we had 2 people who did not show up for the wedding due to them falling ill on the day. Hudson’s would have realised this as soon as they did the screening. They did not even offer us the extra food as a take away even though we had paid for it. It’s not like they didn’t have the means to because they have a restaurant that offers take-away boxes all the time. We even showed up the next day to collect our doggie bags (since we hadn’t eaten all of ours) and to pick up some of the bouquet runners etc. Considering we had paid for all of this, they were very reluctant to give it to us. We didn’t even hear about the extra canapé’s that were left over. I honestly think that if the venue is not going to offer to give you everything that you paid for, they should at least refund the money. To summarize my experience, I would have to say that the whole day felt more like a dress rehearsal. Nothing ran smoothly and the entire staff compliment behaved like it was their first time hosting a wedding. So, would we recommend Hudson’s Venue to others? Honestly, maybe we would but with MAJOR warnings: 1. There will be hidden costs, go over everything with a fine toothed comb 2. Get everything in writing, over emails. But be warned that even so, they might just ignore the emails anyway 3. Continuously go over your plans with the staff because they tend to do whatever seems to benefit them instead of what it is that you want 4. Have someone there on the day that can make sure the staff do everything the way you want it to be done. If not you will be stuck, trying to put out fires instead of enjoying your day. 5. Bring your own take-away boxes and tell the staff to place the leftover food that your guests never touched in there at the end of the day. Also bring other larger boxes for flowers etc. Hudson’s will be reluctant to give you those things even though you paid for it and it belongs to you. 6. The only thing you can really count on is that the scenery will be amazing Hudson’s is an incredibly beautiful venue for a wedding and the pictures alone might be worth all the headache and heartbreak you might go through with the service provided by the staff.