First, I have to start by saying how let down I am by the whole experience of dealing with Magic Moments (the company that owns and operates the Atrium and Flint Hill). They really started off looking so professional and so caring. They leave you with the impression that virtually everyone who has used their facilities and services in the past was satisfied beyond their wildest dreams. They had written testimonials. The people who wrote these glowing reviews must have been one or more of the following:

A. Gullible

B. The nicest people on earth

C. Completely apathetic and indifferent

or

D. Too drunk to remember their own wedding



The Big Failures:

I am describing these under the category of BIG failures and may run out of characters to describe the whole experience. So we will start with the failures that stand out the most, since listing all failures along with the colorful descriptions I would like to use would take at least 50,000 characters.



First Big Failure:



My wife worked with their decor person to make the interior design of the atrium fit her unique expectations for our wedding. She wanted to make it an experience that all of our guest would remember. As an added note, they do not do this sort of thing as a built-in service. They charged a nice chunk of change for this. The real let down of this aspect was that they had told her they would change the light bulbs in the chandeliers from a plain yellow bulb to a blue bulb to give the room the look and feel she desired. They did not. And they don't care that they missed this point.



Second Big Failure:

We made it known to them that we hired a top of line photographer and wanted to make the most of our time with her and also wanted to get a few of the wedding photos out of the way before the ceremony started. We made it known to them that we intended to be in the court yard taking photographs as early as 5:30 PM. Our ceremony started at 7:30. Upon arriving at the atrium at approx. 5:15, I found that they were running another wedding party through their wedding rehearsal and I was told by Paoula, our cavalier wedding director, that they would be done at 6:00. She did not seem to care at all that we were loosing valuable time due to the fact that they had scheduled these people to be in the court yard at the same time we intended to be in the court yard. After that party left, another party arrived. When I questioned Paoula about this, she informed me that they had scheduled not one but TWO REHEARSALS, during our time and that this group would not be done until 6:30 PM. Once again, she did not care that this was a huge inconvenience to us. She brushed it off like it was nothing. It's funny how much their entire attitude changed once they had our money in their grubby little hands. Another issue with this was that the second party should have been made to park at flint hill. This would have kept them from using EVERY PARKING SPACE. Friends and family who started arriving a little early were left with no place to park! They shrugged that off as well, when it was mentioned. As a side note, Paoula stood there and watched as the children of one of these people dipped their dirty little thieving hands into our custom ordered candies and did nothing to stop it.

I could not believe my eyes.



Third Big Failure:



Almost all of our guest had negative things to say about the servers. The complaints heard most often were:



Felt rushed to finish their salads.

Felt waiters were not bussing the tables well enough.

Were not offered appetizers.

Dinners were overcooked.

Some of our guests did not get a slice of the wedding cake! Not because it ran out; there was plenty. They were not served any cake!



So, in closing, it was a night to remember; for negative reasons, not the positive ones described in their touted warm and fuzzy fan mail.

So, Thanks again Paoula, Hilary, and the rest of the Atrium staff. Thanks for nothing.