BEWARE OF NORTHGATE COUNTRY CLUB

jupitor143

 On Friday, June 24, I got married at Northgate Country Club. The wedding was beautiful, and I got endless compliments on the physical appearance of the wedding and taste of the food. The cake was delicious, the flowers were beautiful, the linens were great and the DJ had the party going all night. The staff was also great. Jemma, the Service Director, the bridal assistant Arteerean, and the other staff were very kind and friendly, and took great care of us. However, after spending a year planning my wedding, I have to say I was less than impressed with the unprofessional planning process that took place at Northgate, and my final wedding coordinator, Misty.  Towards the end of my planning process I was not looking forward to my wedding because of all of the headaches Northgate was causing. I was crying a lot for the last couple of weeks leading up to my wedding. It was supposed to be a joyous moment for me but it was not at all.  Unfortunately I keep in mind the trouble that I had with Northgate and that gets in the way of the joy I should look back on.  It was not the experience I was expecting to have with them.  If I could do it all over again I would do everything the same except have my wedding at Northgate.

I went through 3 wedding coordinators throughout the 1 year I was planning my wedding.  Unfortunately, nothing was being written down in our file, so when the last coordinator, Misty, came in, it was like we were starting over from the beginning. Since Misty never emailed me to introduce herself or give me her contact information, I had to email other Northgate employees to even find out who she was. I thought it was very rude and unprofessional of her to not introduce herself, and go over the wedding details with a bride who was already in a contract with the country club.

Another frustration was that, instead of going over our wedding details with me, she would make changes and neglect to tell me. For example, she changed the menu we were given by the previous coordinator, didn’t tell me, and made it difficult when I requested it be changed back to what I was promised before. We had to contact the owner to get the problem resolved. In the end, our problem got solved but I do not feel that the problem should of escalated to as big of a deal as it did.  The only way I would find out about any of the changes, was if I asked questions, and luckily I did! Can you imagine showing up on your wedding day with these big changes and not knowing about them?

Also, when we discussed the date and time to have my wedding rehearsal, Misty said I could do it at any time on the day we chose. A week before the wedding she said we couldn’t have the rehearsal at the time we decided because there was another event happening. This pushed our rehearsal back to 8:00 in the evening, which my family and I were unhappy about because it was so late and we had made dinner plans.  It was also frustrating because the guests from the previous event were still lingering around during our rehearsal, making it difficult for us to practice. To top it all off, Misty did not even show up for the wedding rehearsal! At this point, my aunt, who happens to have previous experience working as a coordinator at Northgate, took over my wedding rehearsal and sort of became my unofficial wedding coordinator since Misty was neglecting to do her job. 

During the day of the wedding, Misty never came up to me to see how everything was going or to congratulate us or anything. She practically ignored us. In fact, most of the time, the workers there were asking my aunt, who was my bridesmaid, what was going on because Misty was not around or didn’t have answers to their questions.  My maid of honor also went to Misty to ask her where something was and Misty sarcastically replied “I don’t know, no one tells me anything. Maybe Hanna (who is my aunt and was my bridesmaid) will know.” I was told by my bridesmaids and guests that they got sarcastic and rude responses from Misty on numerous occasions which I find very unprofessional and inappropriate coming from someone who is supposed to be a professional.

Another issue was that we were promised that heavy hors d’ oeuvres would be served for an hour. The food was delicious however, some of them were only served and refilled for only 30 minutes. One of my guests didn’t even get any, and when she asked Misty if they were going to put out more, she replied, “No, we are not going to refill those”.  I also had guests telling me that the waiters were picking up plates before they were even finished. Sadly, some of my guests had to hold on to their plates so they wouldn’t get taken away.  What’s even worse is that my father-in-law, some wedding party members, and guests were not served cake. After waiting to be served, my father-in-law took it upon himself to go to the kitchen to get a piece of cake.

We were told that Northgate would set up and break down any extra decorations that we bring.  Not a single employee of Northgate offered to help us.  When Hanna went downstairs to ask if Northgate Staff would do the set up, the front desk agent told her “I will find out and let you know”. Two hours later they still had told us nothing. My bridesmaids were running around Northgate trying to get everything set up because another promise was broken by Northgate.  When the wedding was over, stress was left on my family to break down and pack all of our pictures, cake, and other décor. I later found out that my family was left to do this and didn’t leave Northgate until after 1 AM. My Maid of Honor told me she went downstairs to ask a lady at the front desk if she and the other staff members would help clean up and she was sarcastically told, “We can’t do that anymore”. I was extremely angry and irritated to find out that my family had to do the work that I was told would be done by Northgate staff.

As future advice, I would encourage Northgate to give the groomsmen private locker rooms, as the groomsmen told me there were men in and out of there all night who were smoking, and left the disgusting smell of cigarette smoke on our groomsmen tuxedos and belongings.

I thank all of the wait staff, bartenders, Service Director Jemma, and bridal assistant Arteerean, for their wonderful service as we were more than pleased with their assistance. However, I would absolutely not recommend this venue to prospective brides because of their neglectful, unprofessional, irresponsible, sarcastic, “coordinator”, Misty. I would encourage all of the future brides to steer clear of Northgate Country club when you are searching for a wedding venue.  Though it is a beautiful venue, the headache and disappointment of the service received there by the coordinator is not worth it.  One of my bridesmaids and my maid of honor have written an email to the owner of Northgate Country Club and have yet to get a response from him.

Carla1019

WOW, I am so sorry you went through this! I would copy & paste this review on their website. Misty sounds like someone that needs to be fired.

I had a similar experience with a "coordinator" at Hotel Derek when I planned a large corporate dinner. I had to contact her boss in order to track her down 90% of the time. She was let go not too long after my event.

kreativeangle

I photographed a wedding there last month. Pictures was my major concern which came out awesome, my bride didnt complain but I will definitely ask her what her experience was like working with her.

Hannah098

This is awful!  And I know I'm tacky, but I am sure you paid very nicely to use the facility and all that should have been included.  At least you know that your family will love and support you through anything, including the wedding coordinator from hell.  And thank God for your Aunt Hanna!  I agree with Carla, put your note as it is above and send it to the owner/manager of Northgate.

SFA2010

This is aweful......I had a similar expirience @ Spring Chataeu because they didnt decorate the tables until an hr before the ceramony & when they did they had decorated the tables with the cloth, runner, & vases with the flowers but they didnt do the rocks & flowers on the table like I had asked they to a week before. Then since we had paid for our ceramony on our own, they didnt open the chapel until my now husband came with our checkbook so he could open it. Plus they were being jerks to my wedding planner.....I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND SPRING CHATAEU TO ANYONE!