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***Colette's Catering/ Meridian Club***

khouse01khouse01 member
First Comment
in California-Orange County
I know that it is "frowned upon" to trash vendors on here but, I wanted to give all potential Orange County Brides a heads up about this location.

I was married here on November 14th. The day was spectaculor and the venue was perfect. The food and cake were wonderful and the staff seemed to be very on top of things.

It wasn't until yesterday that my Husband and I realized (as we were writing thank-you's to friends and family) that about 15+ people did not bring anything as a gift. We thought this was strange. Being the person that I am, I started quietly asking around and getting answers. Come to find out almost all these guests brought a card to my wedding either filled with a gift card or cash. We never recieved ANY of these cards from the guests.

My husband and I quickly called The Meridian Club and asked them if they had the cards or maybe they were "missed placed". Unfortunately the head coordinator responded to me, "I was looking at your guest table and it seemed that not many of your guests brought anything. Maybe they cannot be sure if they actually gave you something. Nothing like this has ever happened here before. I trust all my staff and know they wouldn't steal."

My question to them is, then where did they go? I didn't even get to see my cards until the end of the night when the wedding was all over. They (the staff) were in charge of moving the gifts/card box from the ceremony room to the bridal suite to be "locked up, and safe." They were the only ones with access to my cards.

All in all, they simply told us, "We are sorry for your loss, but there is nothing that we can do." We are out about six hundred plus dollars from our friends and family.

Please pass this information about this venue on to every bride you know. I would hate for this to happen to anyone else. It's a horrible situation for my husband and I to be in, and we are extremely upset.
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Re: ***Colette's Catering/ Meridian Club***

  • jenbatjenbat member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I'm sorry this happened.  You would be surprised how often this happens and the quality of the venue it happens in.  My cousin had money stolen from a very high-end resort in San Diego and another friend had money stolen as well.  

    Unless you specifically have someone you know watch the card box at all times, then you can't be sure who took it - someone from the staff or from outside.  People will sneak in from outside to steal stuff from a wedding because they know there will always be something there to take.  

    I told my planner to watch our card box like a hawk and then as soon as the majority of guests were there, her assistant kept it until the wedding was over.  She then gave it to my matron of honor to keep for us in a locked car trunk.  We also received a large cash gift from my father, who gave it directly to my husband to keep on his person.

    My personal feeling is that with anything having to do with money, only put your trust in people you know well.
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  • khouse01khouse01 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Jenbat-  We did put our trust in our wedding coordinator. She was supposed to put it away in the locked bridal suite right after the ceremony, she promised us that. She neglected that and my husband realized it was still in the ceremony room about an hour after the ceremony had ended and went and got it and asked the coordinator to open the locked bridal suite door, so he could place it in there.It was left in the ceremony room for an hour un-attended. All the of the guests were accounted for in the reception because we had a very small group. I can confirm that the bridal suite was locked from the outside. I can also confirm that the card box was left in the ceremony room which is to the back of building not accessible to a third party. The only conculsion I have is that in the room where we were married there is a door that accesses the food preperation area, which you have to walk right by the card/gift table to get to that area. All the cards that were stolen contained cash and gift cards. Only someone that had the time to go through the cards one-by-one would be able to figure that out. We asked each of our guests what they put in the cards and that is how we know this. It is un-denialable to me that it was someone that worked in the venue. And was able to pick out each card with money (cash, paper) and gift cards. When we finally opened all the cards not a single one had cash or gift cards. They all had checks only. Which is extremely strange.
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  • dawnbeattydawnbeatty
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Kylee that is HORRIBLE.  I'm so sorry that happened to you and your husband.  That does sound like an inside job to me if all you got were checks and all the cash and gift cards went "missing."
    My Planning Bio - updated 4/19/10
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