Venue Rant (long)

EDK2010

So I just got a call from my Mom who was meeting with our venue this morning (the New England Center). We booked the NEC for our reception the week we got engaged (in August), we were unsure of where we were going to do the ceremony as we are Catholic and we were having trouble finding a Priest to marry us during Lent. When my Mom first when to view the NEC she was told we could book an additional room (besides the room for the reception) to hold the ceremony in. She told the coordinator then that she would call to confirm whether we wanted that room too.We found a Minister a few weeks ago to perform the ceremony at the NEC, and my Mom called to tell them we wanted the extra room and she would go in to pay the deposit for it. She set-up an appointment last week for today to meet with the wedding coordinator, who informed her that they booked out the ceremony room to someone else for a conference!!!!!!! She claims that it was a verbal misunderstanding and that we never had the room. My Mom's interpretation is that they would make more money by hosting a conference in the room all weekend rather than our 30 minute ceremony, so they bumped us since they didn't have money yet to hold it. I guess our $3,800 deposit for the reception was not enough of a commitment!I am 5 MONTHS away from my wedding!!!! So my Mom threw a fit and got them to book another room on campus in Huddleston Hall (which apprently is nicer, but I have never seen it). But now my guests will have a 10 minute walk between the venues so we are going to have to hire a shuttle, although we are getting the room at a lower rate. They also told my Mom that they booked out all of the suites in the hotel for the conference. We have OOT guests who had planned on booking the suites for the entire week which my Mom had indicated to them before in discussion. When we first booked there, every hotel room was available, that was like 6 weeks ago.Am I wrong to think they should have at least called us before bumping us from both the room and suites?? I am so upset I could scream!! I am a 7 hour plane ride away, so I guess I won't get to see the ceremony room until February when I am in NH next. Have any of you UNH girls seen Huddleston Hall??? Sorry for the long rant!

Mrs Babs

I am a former UNH girl and I completely agree that you should be upset about this. I do know that UNH has a shuttle so maybe you can contact them to get the shuttle for the distance your guests will need to walk. Its a decently long walk in my opinion. I've never been inside Huddleston but I was under the impression that its a dorm. I hope this works out for you! GL!

rashost

They have completely redone Huddleston Hall and it is really nice. Many people rent it out for weddings. It has a big ballroom kind of a feel to it. The New England Center is closing down at the end of the year. That may have something to do with it as well.

chayer227

I'm on old UNH alum, so this may not be the most updated view, but I hope it helps.  Babs is right, UNH runs a shuttle, all around campus, there should be no problem with setting something up on that end.Huddleston is a dining hall, and was decent when I was there (several years ago)  I haven't seen it recently, since they remodeled, but I have heard that they geared the remodel toward the ability to host weddings and other such fancy gatherings, as pp said.  They were promoting it on the radio last week.  I wouldn't worry too much about that bit either. 

MrsWilson0611

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} I graduated from UNH this past May, I have stayed at the NEC and been to sorority and fraternity formals there. The events that I have been to were very nice, however I'm not surprised that you encountered some significant customer service issues since the NEC is going out of business next year. There is a brand new Holiday Inn Express in Durham where you can set up a block for your guests - the rooms are much nicer than the NEC and they might have more availability. I've never been inside Huddleston Hall, I'll be back on campus for Homecoming this weekend so I will try to take a look. I've heard of people doing their wedding receptions there so I bet it is really nice.

EDK2010

Thanks ladies for the reassurance! I did know that the NEC is closing in June, but when I booked 6 weeks ago I was reassured and given a document in writing that this would not effect my wedding. I don't feel that is a fair excuse for this mess on their part since they still have a business to run until then.My Mom was able to look at Huddleston and said it was really nice. However after they sent her over there from the NEC to look at it she called to book it, and they told her it was not available for that date!!!!! Apparently another couple looked at it a few weeks ago and said they wanted it but did not put a deposit down!! My Mom said if you are bumping us for no deposit then you better be bumping them. Last I heard she was going back over after work to put down a deposit for Huddleston!! I think this is stressing me out more because I can't be there to deal with it!