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http://www.femalenetwork.com/girltalk/index.php/topic,263485.580.htmlSaving the worst for last.. Out of 10, AEB Events Management rating is 1.
They are one of the worst suppliers in the industry. All those advertisements of years in service and hundreds of “extremely satisfied” clients, wasted money, wasted trust, and ungraceful receipt of feedback is how they treat their clients instead of focusing on improving their service.
A bit of PROs and a lot of CONs:
PROs - They allowed for payment on the day because I’m not comfortable giving them full payment (with good reason).
The RSVP service really helped a lot! I was able to invite more people when there are others who can't go.
I was not able to finalize songs so I requested them to prepare some during pictorials and dinner.
Paula helped with offertory flowers DIY.
They coordinated with the church for my requests on the day.
They made impromptu grand exit at the church. I guess they coordinated it with the parish. Quite resourceful.
They were able to follow the request of handing the groom water before ceremony.
CONs - Angel, the owner, attends meetings with children in tow without informing his clients. His attention is not 100% and it was very unprofessional.
It was only during the final meeting where there were other members of the team. I gave them a TO DO list and photos as their reference and they only needed to execute. They even took down notes but only a fraction of what we discussed was done.
As a concerned client, I asked about the instance of last minute cancellation of meeting from a previous client to hear out their side of the story. Angel was very frustrated, even said what bad thing he would do to that ex-client if he sees her (que horror) so I just moved forward to focus on improvements. Like his FB posts, he said that is just 1 instance and it’s the fault of the client. After that, he posted negatively about the previous client in their FB page.
There’s no follow-up whatsoever whether the day is near or not. I am the one who initiates for meetings, texts them to confirm our meetings, and sends them pegs, documents, etc. instead of the other way around.
They were not the first to arrive at the hotel. I only saw 2 of them in my room and one of them was just sitting pretty.
They didn’t ask about the food arrangements and I saw newly purchased bottled water even if we prepared both food and drinks. We ended up bringing home the bottled water we purchased specifically for hotel lunch.
In our discussions, there will be 1 person assigned to the bride and another to the groom from start to end. This was not followed, the groom was all alone, and Paula was with me for just a number of times. During hotel pictorials, there were no coordinators because they all left for the church. The P/V teams kept looking for them the entire time.
At the church, they were distributing the items to whoever was wearing a gown or suit and not giving to the correct entourage even if I gave them the list and contact numbers of everyone.
I was surprised to see my ex-manager become an instant reader. I requested Angel to do it but he advised to assign to the entourage and so I did. He would, however, be the backup just in case. My guests said they were approached asking who can do the readings as in impromptu assignment for ALL the readings.
The emergency kit that they indicated in the package was non-existent. During my teary moments, it was my PS who handed me tissue. Like in the hotel, my coordinators were nowhere to be found. The mentioned 2-way radio was also non-existent. They just used phones to text/call.
Nobody assisted us with the misalette because there are parts where we need to face each other and hold hands. How lucky for other couples with good coordinators who do this for them.
One of our copies was on the floor since start of the ceremony, no coordinator to check and ensure everything is ok.
During our meetings, I requested for them to give snacks and drinks (that we will buy of course) because we would need it during church pictorials but they did not get it from the hotel. We did not have much energy because of this.
After the church exit, Paula was staring blankly at me as if asking what to do next instead of directing the guests to the reception venue. We had to tell her this is the next activity.
So naturally, they had the entourage leave even if it was discussed in our meeting that we will have pictorials with them around church area. When I raised this, Paula tried to gather them but only a few were left. They got to the pictorial area then Paula told them to leave. Imagine the stress of my entourage.
They asked what time the reception would start and she gave them 1 hour after the intended start time.
They don’t have control on the flow of activities. They just follow what other people say.
During our meeting, we requested to serve food to us in the complimentary room as soon as we get to the reception venue. Paula called someone while we were in transit and yet the food was still delayed. Some time was wasted.
We were then left alone, again, so we don’t know where to proceed. Good thing our P/V teams found us and we proceeded with the pictorial in the reception venue as planned.
The entourage was incomplete because of misinformation to some of our entourage. It was even my maid of honor who gathered the rest of the entourage instead of the coordinator.
During cocktail hour, I saw that the guests were just waiting in their seats. Turns out, they did not set-up the escort card/candy container for candy buffet properly. It was supposed to be one of the activities while the guests were waiting. Good thing my caterer was able to deliver on serving hors d’ouvres.
It was my mom who provided direction on distribution but it was dinnertime already. It was too late and the point of having an escort card was not achieved.
They volunteered to set-up the candy buffet but the peg wasn’t followed, the candies were mixed, and the ribbons/tags weren’t attached to the jars. One of the candy container (as in original plastic container) was just placed there.
A relative said that the coordinators in the registration table were just sitting pretty while the guests had to self-serve to find their table. They called out the coordinator but and this coordinator just said she will do it but didn’t budge.
It was discussed in our detailing but the wine was not chilled before cocktail hour. It was only during cocktail hour that it was chilled so they were only served at dinnertime. Good thing the caterer provided drinks to the guests to complement the hors d’ouvres.
After the pictorials and before the grand entrance, everybody was gone. As in we were left in a dark part of the venue with no coordinator to tell us what’s next. My husband called out Paula but she was, again, just staring blankly.
They were also supposed to get the rented suits before the entourage left. The groom ended up being the one to do this so he was nowhere to be found during evening pictorial. As usual, there was no coordinator around to help locate him.
One gift for our PS was not given. It was assumed to be a gift to us and they even wrote (and guessed) a table number on it. I’ll have to re-wrap and give to the PS later on.
Some of my relatives and family members were so busy all day because our coordinator team wasn't doing their job. The objective for them to relax and enjoy our wedding with us was not achieved. I even told them they just need to oversee and relax, which is the point of having a coordinator in the first place.
At the end of everything, I saw that there were a lot of them in the team. I detailed everything that I saw was wrong with how they handled my wedding and how I regret even giving them a chance and entrusted my wedding to them. Angel just told his team members to listen to me as if coaxing that everything was his teams’ fault. Bad leadership
Paula, on the other hand, was explaining how she was doing her tasks and how she directed the team. She was pinpointing all the fault to her team members, no fault at all from her end. Really bad leadership
They even said it was the rain and my mom who was the reason why the candy buffet/escort cards weren't handled properly. Blame everyone and everything else except themselves.. It’s common sense to move things in covered area in the event of rain.
Everything was discussed in our detailing meetings, they are not complex tasks, and I even gave them the list. I asked what they were doing in the many hours they were supposed to prepare but there’s no response whatsoever. It's like I paid them to attend my wedding as a guest.
Angel was apologetic and said he doesn’t know what to say except they will do better in my next event. How would I after all the incompetence they’ve shown?
After all the failure, and even acknowledging it to me, they now resort to drama by saying they are persecuted, described unfairly, and for some reasons? I hope they stop using God’s name to defend their ineptitude.
