I love the location of our venue.
I love the food produced by our caterer.
However, in our wedding planning process we have, of course, run into speed bumps. This is why a 3-ring binder and being incredibly nerdy is your friend. The below coordinators are all "on-site/staff coordinators" that are mandatory for the venue.
It all started with calling and speaking to the events coordinator (#1) for our venue. I met with her, discussed things, she gave us a copy of the contract to look over. We had two other venues to see (we had already seen 3.)
When we returned to sign our contract the next month, Coordinator #1 was gone and replaced by Coordinator #2. Um - all right. Sign the contract, give them the deposit check, voila. (That was Spring 2010.)
Move ahead....Spring 2011....
I get a phone call from Coordinator #3 asking, "someone was looking at hosting a wedding here with us?" I freaked out. I told her we already had a contract with them and a deposit. She was confused, but she eventually figured it out.
Late Spring 2011, I meet with our caterer for final decisions on linens, etc. and see that Coordinator #2 is now working for him. Well that helps - she knows the venue, etc.
I sent an e-mail to the caterer asking about child dinners. Two weeks later, I get a response from caterer's wife that SHE will be handling all contracts and such now. I guess Coordinator #2 is gone? Who knows? The response I received was a little....curt.
Today I call the venue since I'll be up in the area tomorrow, and I have been trying to reach Coordinator #3 for some time to discuss rehearsal, etc. I get the GM who says, "oh well Coordinator #3 is no longer here. You need Coordinator #4. Here is her number."
So...in a year's time, the venue has had four different Coordinators (that I am aware of,) and I think in between #1 and #2, there was actually another one in there.
This is why I love being a nerd with my binder: all of my contracts signed, deposit checks copied and placed in there, who I spoke to, etc.
(In the meantime, the contract on their website and the fees have changed four times. Glad we have our originals.)