AVOID SCE EVENT GROUP / DJ PAUL KNOX AT ALL COSTS!
It pains me to write this as we loved all our other vendors, but I would like to ensure that no one else has to experience the disrespect and awful service that we received from SCE Event Group that we received leading up to, on, and after our wedding.
Our problems were in three areas:
1. DISRESPECT: Throughout our planning calls, our DJ consistently made gendered comments that made both of us uncomfortable. During our reception, he made sarcastic comments about our choreographed first dance and our parents' and MOH/best man speeches. He also cut me off during my husband's and my's thank you remarks.
2. LACK OF ATTENTION TO DETAIL: When reviewing the songs we sent for our parent's entrance songs, he asked us to differentiate between two very different songs from the artist we sent. Admittedly, it was not in his native language, but all he had to do was listen to the first 5 seconds of each (which had incredibly different intros..) and match the characters in the song title. We didn't think this would be too much for a professional DJ to handle considering recognizing music and beats is a core part of his job? He also the venue name wrong while MCing our reception.
3. DISREGARD OF PLANNING & FEEDBACK: Our biggest issues. We spent a long time before the wedding filling out SCE's client portal detailing exactly what kind of music to play and the vibe we wanted at our wedding. We spent hours planning and reviewing our selections with our DJ (4 different calls ~45 minutes each) and were taken aback at how little of that planning actually surfaced during our reception. Things got off to a bad start when the DJ started our second dance set with a slow dance for our guests to join in- something we explicitly indicated we didn't want as we had widowed relatives that would feel left out. My husband and I separately went up to the DJ to tell him to cut the slow song ASAP, but when we asked, he told each of us "when I'm done with this song". This behavior repeated itself throughout the night as the DJ deviated from the agreed upon musical styles we had requested in our planning. Both my husband and I as well as members of our wedding party went up to DJ Paul Knox to request other songs or tell him to move on, but we were told by him "we'll have time for that later" - we were still getting these comments 45 minutes before the end of our reception. It genuinely felt like we were in a tug-of-war with our DJ to get the music we selected and discussed to be played at our wedding.
After the wedding, we had a call with the founder of SCE Event Group (Jason Jani), to express our disappointment with Paul Knox and how it negatively impacted our wedding. During the call Jason seemed apologetic and as we talked about how DJ Paul Knox's performance negatively impacted out day, Jason said that he will check with Paul but that he would "fully refunded us, even if out of my own pocket, if necessary" (his words). When we heard this we were impressed and appreciated a business righting its wrongs.
After Jason's conversation with Paul, we got an email from Jason that after review of the playlist and "footage showing an engaged crowd and a full dance floor" (which was probably true because we were trying to make the best of bad situation, with us and our wedding party dragging as many people as they could to the dance floor), he denied offering a full refund, stated that they would only offer a 50% refund with the caveat that we would not share our negative experience anywhere. We decided that we would rather not take the money so we could speak the truth about our truly terrible experience and to hopefully prevent anyone else from having their special day ruined by the indifference we received from SCE Event Group. read more
