Wedding vendor goes ballistic.

We don't know if they had been haggling about the price, that's all hearsay. It's only coming from one side and there's no proof.

The bride just asked if the two issues were normal in a closed online group. She wanted some clarification on her assumption (child price) and what's the norm for paying the hotel. She never complained about it or mentioned the venue or location. There was absolutely no indication that she wasn't going to pay or couldn't pay. It was Kelly who started making allegations and posting her contract information online. The bride has been very dignified throughout, unlike Kelly who is meant to be the professional.

Regardless of what MIGHT have gone on before this post (the allegations of the bride being a bridezilla and quibbling over everything), it doesn't allow Kelly to act the way she did. We don't know if the bride was a handful before hand and it really doesn't matter.

Now if Kelly apologised for her outburst, this could have gone away very quickly. Instead she kept posting and posting her anger against the bride. Kelly then posted the details on the castle's open Facebook page, twitter and website. Whereas the bride has not once public bitched about the Castle, her contract or the staff.

Its getting even more bizarre. The Laird is now saying that the outburst was driven because the Bride racially abused Kelly.

anewme wrote: »

Its getting even more bizarre. The Laird is now saying that the outburst was driven because the Bride racially abused Kelly.

Don't you know? "American" is apparently a race.

esforum wrote: »

I dont think it will get to court either, a complaint will be made, they will plead guilty, get a warning, small fine and that will be it. Dont think any significent compensation will be awarded if any.

yeah, this side of the atlantic people won't bother with trying to make money on it...

To be honest, it seems Kelly's husband's as bad as her and they deserve each other.

tripadvisor wrote:

We were met by Stuart who told me Kelly was unwell.I explained that I needed the contact numbers for the organist and piper. he was not happy and raised his voice stating it was not his fault that his wife was unwell .I repeated my request for the contact numbers. he left the room and went upstairs shouting and screaming about phone numbers his behaviour was disgraceful, he came back down and shouted as his elderly father, and unbelievably at me.! I told him in no uncertain terms that his behaviour was unacceptable .All this in the prescence of me my partner my sister and her husband, we were appalled. He then went on to complain bitterly about the family health and the pressure they were under.

another one mentions their prices increased after the contract:

We had pre-arranged a meeting with Kelly to pay the final balance but had an email saying that the cost of the meals had went up all of a sudden. We did not agree this and there was nothing in the leaflets to say that the cost of the meals were subject to increase.
...
I would say the castle should be more organised, we need better communication, positive communication and do what was agreed to start with instead of imposing unfair t's and C's which were only constructed after payment was made.

in response to complaints about their crappy food:

We have always let everyone know, we are just home cooking here not highly trained Chefs. You did have a choice to have one of our outside preferred caterers to provide your meal. You could not afford that.

also they're not foreign to a bit of "racism" themselves:

he seating plan provided by the venue is incorrect showing more seats available that what is actually there which resulted in the complete unprofessional and rude comment from one of the staff about the Bride not being British and this being the reason they gave for the miscommunication!!!!

so tbh, I wouldn't believe anything out of Kelly's mouth. They shouldn't be cooking for events if they don't know how to cook. Maybe stick to what they know, digging latrines or whatever it is they do in their spare time...

esforum wrote: »

Your comment was every bit as insulting as anything you quoted, kinda funny.

obviously meant tongue in cheek. Their lack of customer service implies they should be in a different business... draw what conclusions you like.

esforum wrote: »

Not being British is no more a racist slur than not being American. Less so possible and could merely have meant a language barrier

Exactly.. I was simply pointing out they're doing a bit of kettle/pot black. Not saying it was ok for anyone to make any insults to her based on her being American, but they can hardly pipe up about it when their staff is equally guilty of it.

Gatica wrote: »

I guess that's a valid point. There were a few positive wedding reviews, so probably should be mentioned. The thing that I guess made the negative experiences believable is that they were similar in the inattention of the hosts and the reviewers weren't posting a once off negative review.
Dunno how it is some weddings fell through the cracks like that and others were done well... Perhaps they've managed to get lucky with some and things went smoothly, but if a large number of weddings don't go well, it would definitely make one uneasy if you were considering the venue. Certainly places that do that professionally and do it well, would have far fewer negatives vs good experiences.

There are too many people nowadays though that use the likes of Trip Advisor, Facebook, etc as weapons against small businesses.

The thread on here that was also posted on Trip Advisor about a Wedding Venue in Wicklow when it was the customer who was completely out of order is a typical example of this.

I believe people are reading these reviews with a pinch of salt now and are able to read between the lines.