South Carolina-Charleston

Alhambra Hall Witch! READ THIS IF YOU HAVE BOOKED THIS VENUE!!!!

Hello, ladies!

I just wanted to give anyone who has booked or is thinking about booking Alhambra Hall a heads up!!!!  LAST YEAR when she was first looking at venues, my best friend took a tour of Alhambra and was shown the downstairs room behind the restrooms and told this was the room where she and the bridesmaids would be getting dressed and hanging out before the ceremony. I was there on the tour, so I was a witness to this fact.

When she pulled up to the hall this past weekend around 3:40ish on the day of her wedding (the ceremony started at 4pm!) a woman locked us out of the back room and told us we were not allowed to use it.  Mind you, THE BRIDE WAS NOT DRESSED AT THIS POINT!!!!  This woman was rude, arrogant, and downright nasty and told us to re-read the contract because that room was not owned by Alhambra and was owned by the City and we were NOT ALLOWED to use it.  At this point, I'm freaking out, the other BMs are freaking out, the DOC is nowhere to be found, the photographer is tearing up because she "has shot several weddings there and the bride has always been able to use that room.", and this woman is standing her ground and is an absolute EVIL COW.  Finally, after much debate and frantic fighting, the woman finally agreed to ONLY let the bride and her mother in the room so she could at least get dressed 5 minutes before her ceremony. Again, this woman was discipicable and deplorable and should not in any way have contact with human beings, or customer's for that matter.

Come to find out, there were voting booths inside the room and that is why were not allowed in because of the fear of tampering.

So, just a heads up, if anyone is planning to book Alhambra make sure you get IN WRITING whether or not you may use that room on your wedding day!
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Re: Alhambra Hall Witch! READ THIS IF YOU HAVE BOOKED THIS VENUE!!!!

  • cougarettecougarette member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Yep, we discovered that the morning of our wedding too.  I've seen many pictures of people getting ready in there, but we were told it's not part of the rental.  The woman gave us a roll of paper and tape and my MOH and I started covering the windows in the one hallway.  Luckily it was 10:00 for my 5:00 wedding so we had plenty of time, but it was upsetting.

    That in addition to having 2 tables with broken legs that we couldn't use made me feel we should receive some compensation, but I never pursued it.

    I hope your friend had a nice wedding despite the initial headache.
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  • kje120kje120 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Hmm - that room was open for us to hang out in and change prior to our wedding in May 2009.  We didn't have any problem with that at all.

    The only thing that upset me was them saying they couldn't tell people they couldn't be out playing with their dogs on the lawn (when we were about to go out and do pictures) when just the night before we were booted from there when doing our rehearsal.  I guess it depends on who you work with.  Sorry you had such a bad experience.
  • UgaAli05UgaAli05 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Sorry to hear you had those problems!  I ended up getting dressed at Alhambra (as did my bridesmaids) and we just used the women's restroom downstairs, then the photographer got pictures of my mom 'pretending' to zip up my dress, putting on the garter, jewelry, and shoes, etc. in the hallway with all the windows - which led to some great pictures with the light coming in!  There was plenty of space and were were able to close off the door to that hallway so the groom and groomsmen wouldn't see us.
    I had no problems with their staff - they let us in promptly the day of the event and were there until the very end and were very helpful.  It really is a great venue for the price and the location - I have no complaints!
  • melmcbridemelmcbride member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    OMG - That's sooo good to know.  I've got too many choices already, just crossed this off the list.  Thank you for posting.
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