So, my mom (who is paying for the wedding) and I found a church that is big enough to have our ceremony and reception. The church is a great size, but the reception hall was smaller than we had hoped. Nonetheless, we decided to go with it. The church had a rule about renting facilities out to non-members prior to six months before the event. Because of that, we had to wait until February to book it.
So, as soon as we were able to book, me, my mom, and the planner (that she hired without talking to me about it and without me even talking to the planner) met at the church and walked through the space. Everything was great but we were a little nervous about the reception space. The lady at the church told us that it held 200 but that it would be tight. We went ahead and booked and paid the $100 deposit.
Yesterday, the planner emailed me and said that she had called the church to confirm the numbers. But instead of the 200 like they had told us at the beginning, they told us that it would only hold 150 very tightly. I immediately flipped out and called the church today to explain to them what had happened and so I could see exactly how many people it would hold. And of course, she said 150. And I very nicely explained to her how we had been told one thing when we booked and now we were being told something else. I also explained that there was no way we could even try and work within that number because there are 240 people on the guest list and we know we can get it to at least 204. But there is no way that we will get out guest list anywhere close to 150. The lady told me that the only way we might be able to make it work is to line long rectangle tables up in rows and leave no space in between for people to walk. So basically, my wedding reception would look like a cafeteria!!
With this in mind, I emailed the planner and tried to tell her in a nice way and also get her attention so she would understand. The reception hall at the church just is not big enough. At this point, I think our best bet is to move the reception to our church gym which is like 20 minutes away. We have the tables and the space. The only thing we would need is some kind of wall draping to hang up around the walls because they are so beat up from basketballs. When I told her this, she basically just wrote it off and said that this just wasn't a feesible option. And that if we go with the seating arrangement she is proposing, then she things we can accommodate our numbers! But her seating proposal is to have the cafeteria type rows. It isn't just me feeling this way. She agrees that this is what the tables look like and just tries to tell me that I need to let her do her job because she says that I will be pleased. Even a BM who went with us to look at the church and set the tables up so I could see what they would look like said that the tables were ridiculous!
Needless to say, I am beyond upset. My wedding is August 6 and since the beginning of all this wedding planning (January 2011) I haven' been able to enjoy anything. I'm constantly fighting over what I want (and even giving things up that I really wanted) and the only thing I have to show for it is my dress. It's the absolute only thing I have picked out myself!