点评:Organising a wedding at Buranco was an absolute nightmare. The location is lovely and the food was tasty, but everything else was a complete disappointment.
None of what we agreed on beforehand actually happened. The venue's wedding planner Sarah told us ahead of time that we would have three large tables, so we made our seating chart accordingly. However, while we were on the train to Monterosso, she texted us to say that there would be two tables, so we had to completely redo the seating chart the day before the wedding.
We agreed that the apperitivo would start at 5pm, but when we showed up at 5, the management made us wait at the entrance for 20 minutes while making us feel very unwelcome.
We agreed that there would be five high chairs for children, but these were not brought out and I did not notice early enough because I was running around taking care of logistics (see more below).
We asked to have small ceramic gifts put next to the seats of guests who were over 5 years old, but they were put next to seats for small children, so I had to run around before the start of the dinner to make sure that everyone who was supposed to get a gift got one.
We agreed that we would have a table for a polaroid camera and a guest book at the apperitivo but Sarah just dropped off our stuff at the entrance and I had to use part of the drinks table to set it up during the drinks reception.
We agreed that we would get a round multi-tiered cake, but to our surprise at 10pm, we got one that was flat, rectangular, and did not look like something fit for a wedding.
We agreed that we would get Buranco's limoncello digestif at the end of the night, but this did not happen.
Sarah arranged a photographer for us who was meant to send us the photo album within two months of the wedding, but it's three months now and we have only seen five preview photos.
What was most disappointing though was I (the bride) had to spend my entire wedding running taking care of logistics. The wedding planner was not actually there, presumably because she was organising another wedding at a local hotel. She only came for 5 minutes around 9pm, after spending over an hour texting us "I'll be there in 5".
I had to go up to the staff before the ceremony to ask them to turn the music down. I had to initiate when the guests walked over to the dinner venue following the apperitivo. I had to set up the guest book and the polaroid camera, make sure that the gifts were moved to the correct seats, and check that people with food allergies were given the right meal.
The planning itself was not very pleasant or professional either. Although I visited a year in advance and spoke to one of the owners/managers, the venue refused to communicate with us and urged us to be in touch with Sarah. They introduced her to us as "their wedding planner", but she turned out to not be their event planner; rather an independent wedding planner based in Milan, presumably specialising in weddings for foreigners.
While negotiating the price, Sarah told us that she would speak to the management to ask if we can start earlier than 5pm. But this of course never happened once we paid the deposit. We specifically asked for 65 guests (which did not include the bride and the groom since they are not guests at their own wedding), but Sarah sneakily put a total of 65 people on the contract, presumably so that we would have to pay a higher fee to add anyone closer to the date. We ended up having fewer guests than expected and Sarah was supposed to reimburse us the difference "within a few days of the wedding". She took close to a month to wire the money and we had to spend several days of our honeymoon trying to make this happen.
Sarah did not want to give us a detailed cost breakdown saying that paying the lump sum would warrant that we would get "exclusive treatment" and wouldn't have to worry about any individual items. What this meant in reality is that we had to print out the menus and name tags (and bring them over from Australia). Because we did not think of printing a piece of paper with our names on it, there was nothing at the entrance indicating that our wedding was taking place.
While the food was lovely, I would not recommend this venue because it made everything so difficult.
翻译:在Buranco举办婚礼简直是一场噩梦。那里的环境很美,食物也美味可口,但其他方面都让人大失所望。
我们事先商定好的事项一件都没有实现。婚礼策划人莎拉事先告诉我们会准备三张大桌子,所以我们也就按照这个安排来规划宾客座位。然而,就在我们乘坐火车前往蒙特罗索的过程中,她发来短信说实际上只有两张桌子而已。因此,我们不得不在婚礼前一天重新安排座位表。
我们约定好开胃酒环节于下午5点开始,但当我们5点到达时,酒店管理人员却让我们在入口处等了20分钟,态度极其冷淡。
我们约定好会准备五把儿童高脚椅,但实际上它们根本没被拿出来;由于我当时忙于处理各项事务(详见下文),没能及早注意到这一点。我们要求把小陶瓷礼物放在5岁以上宾客的座位旁,但这些礼物却被放到了小孩子的座位旁。因此,晚宴开始前我不得不四处奔走,确保每个应该收到礼物的人都能拿到。我们约定好在鸡尾酒会上专门设一张桌子来放置宝丽来相机和留言簿,但莎拉只是把我们的物品随手放在入口处,结果我不得不在酒会期间借用饮料桌的一部分来布置那张桌子。
我们约定好要一个圆形的多层蛋糕,但令我们惊讶的是,晚上10点时送来的蛋糕却是扁平的长方形,完全不像是适合婚礼的蛋糕。
我们还约定好在宴会尾声时提供Buranco牌的柠檬利口酒作为餐后酒。但事情并未如此发展。
莎拉为我们安排了摄影师,承诺会在婚礼结束后两个月内把相册寄给我们;可现在三个月都过去了,我们只看到了五张预览照片。
最令我们失望的是,作为新娘的我整个婚礼期间都在忙着处理各种事宜。婚礼策划师其实并不在场,大概是因为她正在当地一家酒店筹备另一场婚礼吧。她只在晚上9点左右出现了5分钟而已。在发了一小时多的短信说“我5分钟后就到”之后。
典礼开始前,我不得不去找工作人员,请他们把音乐音量调低。在宾客们享用完开胃酒后走向用餐区时,也由我来发起相关安排。我还得布置留言簿和拍立得相机,确保礼物被放到对应的座位上,并确认有食物过敏的宾客能拿到合适的餐食。
整个策划过程也既不愉快也不专业。虽然我提前一年去拜访过,还与场地的一位业主/经理谈过,但对方拒绝与我们沟通,并要求我们联系Sarah。他们向我们介绍Sarah是“他们的婚礼策划师”,但实际上她并非他们指定的活动策划师;而是一位住在米兰的独立婚礼策划师,大概专门负责为外国人策划婚礼。
在商议价格时,Sarah告诉我们她会去和管理层沟通,问问我们能否在下午5点之前开始仪式。不过,在我们支付了定金之后,这种情况当然就再也没有发生过。我们特意要求只邀请65位客人(这还不包括新郎和新娘,因为他们不算自己婚礼的客人),但莎拉却偷偷地在合同上把总人数写成65人,大概是为了让我们在临近婚礼日期时若想增加人数就不得不支付更高的费用。结果实际到场的客人比预期要少,而莎拉本应“在婚礼结束后的几天内”把多收的费用退还给我们。她花了将近一个月的时间才把钱汇过来,而我们则在蜜月期间花了好几天试图促成此事。
莎拉不肯给我们提供详细的费用明细,只是说一次性支付全款就能确保我们获得“特殊待遇”,也无需为各项具体费用操心。但实际上,这意味着我们必须自己打印菜单和姓名牌(还要从澳大利亚带过去)。因为我们没想过印上我们名字的纸张,所以入口处没有任何迹象表明我们正在举行婚礼。
虽然食物很美味,但我不推荐这个场地,因为它给一切带来了诸多不便。