Both venues STATE ROOM and BALLROOM VERONIQUE owned by LONGWOOD EVENTS. INITIAL yet short lived IMPRESSION: The Ballroom Veronique was beautiful and it appeared the staff at Longwood Events was that of utmost professionalism.
I have to say that if it weren't for my resourcefulness, our outside vendors and good company, our wedding would have been a disaster at the fault of the terrible service exuded by the "so-called" pro's at Longwood Events. I never felt so disgusted, and like we didn't matter. Their attitude and service sucks, and now I am just trying to let other brides be aware.
HUGE MISTAKE BOOKING HERE. During the planning process we were faced with a lack of attention and service by the staff in Brookline and Boston proving evident during our event. We were quite displeased with the staff's lack of promptness, response and unprofessionalism. We felt as if our resourcefulness and easy demeanor contributed to the appearance of our event's success to our wedding guests, but by no means with the help from the staff at Longwood Events.
I had to request a face to face meeting with someone at the Ballroom in order to get answers to specific inquiries that were not responded to. The staff canceled appointments with us with no notice due to double booking. I had to continually request necessary documents from the staff and updates. A month and half went by with no response from the staff regarding our event.
We received our event contract 10 days before the event and were expected to be held to deadlines, which they hadn't even followed. Two weeks prior to the event I was not able to get a response from anyone at Longwood Events even after escalating to the Corporate Event Director.
During the event, we were continually pushed by the staff interrupting our receiving line. During our formal portrait session, we again were continually interrupted to accommodate another wedding party scheduled to take their pictures. There is no where to take pictures!
I have quoted one of our vendors who witnessed the scene "I was just astounded by how vigorously that coordinator woman harassed you about altering your cocktail hour and starting dinner early. I have never seen a coordinator bother a bride, much less harass them repeatedly, as that woman did to you. She was extraordinarily rude to you, in my opinion. They knew your itinerary, and knew the program for your ceremony. If they were so concerned about an extra long cocktail hour, they should have parlayed the ceremony and not demanded that you alter the itinerary; that you had all agreed upon previously. I found their behavior towards you pretty horrifying." My husband and I completely agree.
As our parents were getting announced into the reception for the first time from the foyer, my mother-in-law expressed concern for the card cage near the door and our coordinator just shrugged her shoulders and said, "we are not responsible for the cards". Even if one of the staff members agreed to stand by the cards until the announcements were over, or had one of the coordinators informed us of this prior to the event, we could have planned for it. They offered no help. My parents missed their announcements as a result.
There was no attention to any of the discussed details. Throughout the reception, my husband repeatedly had to inform the staff that paper towels were needed in the bathroom. The Corporate Director handled my complaint, responding when it was convenient for her, and thought she expressed her sentiment well. I found it completely lacking empathy, completely condescending and downright rude. Huge billing issue at the end, I requested a refund, STILL PENDING. They have the choice here to make things right.
Our discontent lies with those we interacted with. We felt a relationship was never developed and we were never given the proper attention and information by each staff member in Sales and Event Coordination. My husband and I have worked in Sales and Customer Service for almost 10 years, and realize the two must go together for a positive experience, especially from a company dealing with people planning possibly the biggest, most important event in a lifetime. I have never experienced such a lack of respect, lack of priority and concern as we did with the folks at Longwood Events Brookline/Boston. read more