My husband and I regret having our wedding here. I waited months to write this review in hopes that my anger would subside but I just get more upset the more I think about how poorly this team handled our wedding. I will preface by saying we were refunded a small portion of what we paid due to the numerous errors made by Fairview Metropolitan.
We had around 5 meetings here for wedding planning. Each time, the venue tent was so eloquently set up for the weddings or quinces hours in advance. I had so much confidence that our wedding would be treated the same, but it was sloppily thrown together in less than an hour.
This venue had another event before our 5pm wedding. I had never seen two events on any of the days that we went in, and was not told that this would happen on our wedding day. It wouldn't have been a problem, I understand they are a business and prioritize profit, however the event before us was still occupying the tent when I got there at 4pm. The manager Shelley told me that they "could not get them to leave". My husband and guests state that the previous event finally vacated the tent around 4:05pm, leaving the team with 55 minutes to sloppily throw together our ceremony and banquet.
Shelley informed me that there were three sick calls that day, leaving the management to do the set up. They completely misnumbered the tables, leaving all of our immediate family sitting in the back row. It was THEIR seating chart. With everything going on, we didn't notice until dinner had started. This error is absolutely inexcusable from a wedding venue.
Since they only had less than an hour to set up our for our event, my husband and groomsmen offered to help tie the ~135 chair ties and had to stand on a ladder to help place the drapes on the ceremony awning. I don't see how the staff could have completed this without my party's help.
Our guests had to wait in the cafe because nothing, including the ceremony chairs, was set up for our wedding until after 4pm. The cafe has limited seating and we had 134 guests.
I had so much trust that this team would treat my wedding how I've seen them treat other weddings and quinces. If I had known this was all going on, I would have gone to facilitate and double check their inadequate work.
Other major issues:
1. The food service started late and ran out and ended early. We were told there would be enough food for seconds for everyone, so we decided not to bring a lechon and lumpia. Huge mistake. Being from Asian and Hispanic backgrounds, we were completely embarrassed that the food ran out. There was not even enough bread for seconds. We even had 5 no shows so there's no excuse.
2. There were not enough appetizers. Many of our guests did not get any.
3. Our guests were told that the bar could not provide shots. That was not in our contract and alternatives were not offered.
4. The top layer of our cake was saved when it should have been served. This was in our plan, and it just went to waste rather than enjoyed by our guests.
5. They were understaffed by 3, however no one stayed over to accommodate for that. The management left before 8. Because the seating chart got completely misnumbered, there were tables without settings. Our friends had to SHARE FORKS because they could not find any staff.
6. There was no staff to guide our photographers to the banquet room as stated in the event order paperwork. They had to sit on the floor in the corner. So embarrassing
7. The manager didn't allow my husband to set up our DIY Photo Booth, breaking the contract because we should have been able to start setting up at 4. They even told us the day before that we could go at 3:30. This left us without our photo out even set up. My husband had to set it up during the wedding and we didn't have our backdrop.
The good things about the venue:
1. Dog friendly
2. Trish was a great coordinator, I wish she could have managed the set up for our wedding instead of Shelley and Angela. My family said that they wouldn't even let her in to set up either and said she looked like the only person who actually care about our wedding.
3. The cake, dj, and flowers were great
While the management's response was apologetic, there were so many excuses including "they're human and make mistakes". I understand this, but the numerous significant errors made on our wedding day felt almost intentional. I think the fraction of a refund was just to get me to stop complaining and not escalate the matter.
Considering we paid for the elite package for 126 adults and 8 kids in July (most expensive package with highest facility fees), I thought we would've been treated at least as well as the other events that we saw. Fairview Metropolitan fell so short of how I've personally seen them perform and caused us so much embarrassment and shame on from our wedding day. I could never recommend it to anyone. I would say so much more if there wasn't a character limit. Huge thumbs down. read more