Silver Swan Bayside Review

seralee5804

No it is not mine, I haven't had time to think about all the nice things I wanna say LOL.

But I thought this would be helpful for people looking into this "lovely place"

From the wedding wire. MDeGrasse
Wedding:
05/06/2011
3 Reviews 3.1
out of 5.0
Quality of Service:(4.0/5.0)Responsiveness:(2.5/5.0)Professionalism:(2.5/5.0)Value For Cost:(3.5/5.0)Flexibility:(3.0/5.0) Services Used:
Ceremony & Reception Venue   What is the one thing a soon to be bride is looking for? A perfect venue to have her dream wedding. I looked in wedding magazines, on the internet, everywhere but I really didn't find anything that caught my eye until I saw the Silver Swan. The Silver Swan was amazing, the views were unbelievable, the tables looked great, the presentation of everything was great. The Silver Swan is a beautiful place to have a wedding held. We wanted a venue on the water, with a view of the bride and it had to be on the Eastern Shore! We first saw the venue in June of 2010, I met with Amelia, by the way I thought she was great. She was always on top of everything, e-mailing me back with answers to questions I may have had, was very quick to put together our contract and just was an all around sweet girl. Everything was going great until 2 weeks before my wedding...my fiance (of all people) got a phone call from a man stating that some changes have been made and not only was Amelia laid off but the chef was as well. How could you make a change 2 weeks before ones wedding. Then I had this very nice lady named Heather call me and explain to me that she was taking Amelia's position and she was looking over my paperwork, I was on the phone with this lady for over an hour going over all the details from the wedding and what I expected. I had given her the final headcount through an e-mail and was surprised when I had received no response in 2 days, so I had written her another e-mail asking if she received my previous e-mail, I was shocked when I received her response...she notified me that the Silver Swan was not the right fit for her and that Joann would be taking over as my wedding coordinator. Seriously...now I was getting even more irritated. So now the coordinators are flopping all over the place and now I come to realize that I had already had my tasting with the first chef and I knew the food would be amazing, now he is gone and some random chef had taken his position. So how was I suppose to know how his food was going to be prepared. So I spoke with my family and they were as unhappy as I was and requested another tasting which was planned two days before our wedding. So how inconvient was that, didn't I have enough on my plate, now I had to meet with them again to ensure that the service and the food was up to our standards. So we went to the tasting and met with the new chef, which he was very nice, but tried to change my whole menu around, which by the way I had already had printed. After finally telling Joann that I wanted my menu to go back to what I had originally had, things started to work out a little smoother. So then we get to the rehearsal...it went some what smoothly, I felt like nothing was truely organized. At the end of going over the ceremony, I went through my instructions of how I wanted my wedding set up (which were typed). I felt like nothing was going to go as planned and what did I discover the day of the wedding...just that! Joann no more did what I asked, my father, bother-in-law and my fiance had to pretty much set up the whole ceremony with decorations. Seriously isn't that what I was paying them to do, my family was running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to put everything together so I could enjoy my day. So the ceremony began, don't get me wrong the view was amazing and everything looked nice, mainly because of my family. Food went ok, the tenderloin had way too much peppercorn on it, not like the original chef had prepared it, but we got past that. The thing that really amazed me was when the cake was cut and served unlike what they had told us (they would cut and place the cake pieces on a table to everyone to choose what flavor they wanted) the only guest served cake where the ones sitting in their seats, so if you were dancing...you didn't get one, if you were in the bathroom...you didn't get one, if you were looking around at everything and not in your seat...you didn't get one! Then they were very quick to pack up the cake. I, myself didn't even get a piece of my wedding cake! Now it's time for the bouquet toss...where is my toss bouquet...nowhere to be found. I paid extra for a toss bouquet so I wouldn't have to throw mine and since the idiots couldn't find it I had to throw my matron of honor's! So the night goes on, I was uncomfortable with the gift box location, since it was right next to the door and easy to disappear, Joann explained to me that all the guests would be briefly escorted into the dining area before the ceremony to drop their cards/gifts, well that didn't happen! She also explained that if it made me more comfortable I could have a family member remove the box around 9pm and take it to a designated vehicle for safe keeping. So I had my matron of honor (MY SISTER) take the box and store it in MY PARENTS vehicle at 9pm, and what happens...my sister is approached by Joann and accused of stealing the box, she told my sister she had her on camera taking the box to her vehicle and demanded her to go out and get the box and return it to the gift table. Another issue was that the guests were not suppose to be in the dining area at all before cocktail hour and I later found out that the guest were walking everywhere and there was no control over that on Joann or the staffs part...the wedding was over at 11, we walked into the dining area just before 11 and all the tables and chairs were broken down and the staff was vacuuming! Seriously we paid until 11, can you maybe not rush us out of the venue and start cleaning up at 11 not almost be finished at 11! So you think that's it...well your wrong...I had given my parents my $150 wedding shoe to put under their table so when they left they could take them home, well no surprise there, they were gone. So my parents thought maybe they had packed them in a box (which by the way Joann explained to me that none of their staff members would touch ANY of our belongings until we gave the okay. Well that went out the window) so when they looked in the boxes no shoes were found, so I contacted Joann and she said she would check and two days later...still no response from her! So as you can see what is suppose to be a fun, relaxing, wedding, was more of a headache then anything...not only for myself and my fiance but for our families! I don't know why they let Amelia and Scott go, but in my opinion the wedding would have gone a lot smoother with them. I think Amelia was on top of everything better and far more organized then Joann was.  

Bethanne1202

Isnt this place really expensive?  I would be MAD

Lizzie434

Oh no. I feel for her!  I checked this place out recently.  Met with Joanne and loved it bc of the views.  She promised me that someone from sales would contact me to discuss pricing and to get a contract together, but of course no one ever called!  I'm so glad that we ended up finding another venue.

JamiAnna

I have been trying to get a hold of someone from Silver Swan and now i'm almost glad they haven't responded!

cdstadler

I have heard nothing but bad things about the place...i dont know why people try...

dnice818

Seralee...sending you a PM.

CollegeSweethearts

This place absolutely SUCKS !! I contacted them for information on holding my wedding there and I never received an email back; not a phone call back to my numerous messages left for the coordinator named Joanne (who must be new from reading your posts).  It's ridiculous and I finally left a nasty message and sent an email to them about their customer service (a week later not receiving any response not even a thank you for my inquiry) AND YOU KNOW WHAT?! They still have not contacted me with the information or to apologize!  I def. would not trust them to host my wedding/reception based on the treatment I received on trying to receive information on rental fees and pricing of food options. Oh wait, and I completely forgot the best part of my phone call follow up on the 3rd day of waiting the girl who answered the phone suggested that I go with another venue WTH!!!  I was livid, and I asked her are they telling you to tell people this and she responde YES !! Seriously SSB is for the birds!

msjamiedoody

I posted my concern over my wedding (9/3) back in the spring, and here's my review from Yelp. 

From the time I signed our contract, to the wedding date, I had nothing but trouble to deal with. 
They went through three different chefs, three different wedding coordinators in about a year. 
Two months out, I hadn't heard from anyone, so I emailed my coordinator only to find she'd been fired, and her replacement (Joann) never bothered to reach out to me. 
They tried to make changes to my contract, rushed us out after the reception and we didn't get to take all of our decorations home.
A rental truck was delivering linens 20 minutes before my ceremony, completely blocking the small parking area, leaving no direction for my arriving guests to go. 
There weren't enough tables, and when a bridesmaid pointed out that it didn't match the seating chart, they threw a hissy fit when they had to change it.
Decorations that were dropped off the day before were not hung, despite it being written in my contract.
We were charged for two bartenders and only received one, as well as eight waiters, and only had four. 
To top it off, Joann didn't start our ceremony on time, let cocktail hour go to nearly two hours, and showed the venue to prospective clients during my ceremony and reception.
Joann called to yell, yes yell at me because of the pricing the chef gave me for our menu.  I repeatedly told her this was an issue and conversation that she should be having with her staff, not the client.  She just kept yelling that it was too cheap, despite her being at the tasting, and being well aware of my exact budget.  She yelled, "I guess I'll honor this."   
The icing on the cake...I spent three weeks requesting a final balance due.  At 4:00pm on the Friday of Labor Day weekend, they gave me the balance with the option of paying cash, money order, or certified check.  Did I mention I'm from California, and have an out of state bank? 
Yes, my wedding was beautiful, but only due planning on my part, as well as my awesome bridesmaids noting issues and correcting them before they got out of hand.  Run brides.  There are plenty of superior water front venues out there.