Brides I need help. I'm getting married at the Watermill and...
Awesome. Thank you so much!
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Brides I need help. I'm getting married at the Watermill and...
Original post by bellasmommy1029
Hello ladies. I've been off this site for quite some time. I just had my baby 12 days ago. I dropped the ball on all wedding things. I just received a call from the watermill saying I need to come in and finalize the menu. But I didn't ask if there was a tasting. Then I just got a voicemail from the baker of the wedding cake. She asked for me to call back and tell her what flavors and designs I want. I was under the assumption that was a def thing to go in and taste the cakes and go over the design in person. I don't wanna call back sounding like a jerk if that's not what happens anymore. Do u just pick the flavors and dishes without tasting them? Is that just the Watermill? Please help. Thanks
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Re: Brides I need help. I'm getting married at the Watermill and...
When I booked almost a year and 1/2 ago the bakery was dortonis in Levittown which is my fav bakery! But the last showcase I went to Samantha told me they changed bakeries. I was very disappointed since that was one of my deciding factors on booking them. Since I don't know this bakery from a hole in the wall I would like to taste it. The cake is a big deal to me since I have a huge sweet tooth. I guess I'll suck it up and ask. Lol. Thanks ladies!
I am actually having the exact same issue... We booked last April for this July and the fact that they used Dortoni Bakery was one of the deciding factors. We picked up samples from the Rolling Pin last week and they are definitely NOT up to par with Dortonis...
Don't let them charge you for the samples. They should be included because they are contracted with the Watermill. David at the Rolling Pin is extremely nice and very accommodating, but I was seriously disappointed in the quality. The cake itself was good, but the fillings were not... I guess we're just spoiled on Dortonis, but shouldn't we get what we thought we were paying for?!
Anyway, best of luck... I hope you're having a better time dealing with the Watermill than I am! It's been one issue after another and I'm seriously considering changing venues or canceling altogether (even this late in the game with exactly two months to go) - Sad, sad.
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Re: Brides I need help. I'm getting married at the Watermill and...
Posted by Stacie
When I booked almost a year and 1/2 ago the bakery was dortonis in Levittown which is my fav bakery! But the last showcase I went to Samantha told me they changed bakeries. I was very disappointed since that was one of my deciding factors on booking them. Since I don't know this bakery from a hole in the wall I would like to taste it. The cake is a big deal to me since I have a huge sweet tooth. I guess I'll suck it up and ask. Lol. Thanks ladies!
I am actually having the exact same issue... We booked last April for this July and the fact that they used Dortoni Bakery was one of the deciding factors. We picked up samples from the Rolling Pin last week and they are definitely NOT up to par with Dortonis...
Don't let them charge you for the samples. They should be included because they are contracted with the Watermill. David at the Rolling Pin is extremely nice and very accommodating, but I was seriously disappointed in the quality. The cake itself was good, but the fillings were not... I guess we're just spoiled on Dortonis, but shouldn't we get what we thought we were paying for?!
Anyway, best of luck... I hope you're having a better time dealing with the Watermill than I am! It's been one issue after another and I'm seriously considering changing venues or canceling altogether (even this late in the game with exactly two months to go) - Sad, sad.
Omg! What other issues are you having? If you don't mind my asking thst is. I'm scared now. :(
Member since
Re: Brides I need help. I'm getting married at the Watermill and...
I'm sorry, I don't mean to scare you...
I just feel like they are giving me a hard time about everything that was discussed when booking. I'm kicking myself for not getting it all written into the contract.
Our banquet manager was Frank, and I actually had to find out through one of these forum messages that he had passed away several months ago... to this day, no one at the Watermill has addressed his passing or who we are supposed to be talking to or anything. Obviously losing a friend and coworker is hard, and I'm sure emotions were involved, but I also felt like someone should have addressed what had happened with us.
It's been downhill from there and no one EVER calls me or my fiance back. We've been promised calls back from Samantha, Bob and even Roy (the general manager) - has never happened. I don't like feeling like I'm harassing someone when I have a question or need to make an appointment... a call back would be nice once in a while.
I had to hound them to mail me direction cards for my invitations (which I only needed 35 of - small wedding). It took three weeks, two emails and two phone calls before they finally did. Not a big deal, but annoying.
When we first booked, we were told that there were three hotels nearby with free shuttles to and from the Watermill. Trusting that information, I didn't call the hotels to confirm, but I should have. That wasn't in fact true. This was part of the reason we chose them so we didn't have the expense of a limo, but now we had to deal with the stress of finding a limo and the expense of paying for it for our guests. I understand they have no control over the hotels, but then don't advertise it as a selling point! Not cool.
Then I tried to set up a date for a rehearsal. We had discussed doing a full rehearsal with the room all set up prior to the wedding and were assured it was no problem. Well, apparently they don't do that. I got a nasty email back saying, '99% of our brides do a rehearsal the day of the wedding. Do you really need one before?' --- just plain rude. Turns out they can't make any promises about a date, so I can't tell the best man (my future brother-in-law) when to book his plane ticket to come until one week before - that won't work. Then they said if we do it the Wednesday before (our Monday wedding), they can make sure to 'find a place' for us, but that's not the same. I might as well have a rehearsal in my backyard and not trek out to Smithtown and make everyone fly in so far in advance... again, annoying.
Then this whole thing with the bakery. They didn't even tell us they changed. I had called Dortonis to schedule a tasting and that's when I found out. When I called, first Roy told us they were using MacCayla Michaels and was so enthusiastic about how wonderful this new bakery is... dealing with them was a nightmare, so I called Roy back only to learn that THEY had issues with them too so switched again to the Rolling Pin... which you know about. Honestly, I don't know why they'd ever leave Dortonis... I'm guessing they got a better price, which isn't right. That's like saying they can get a better price from serving cheese and crackers instead of prime rib and according to Roy they 'have the right to change bakeries' and apparently don't even need to tell us - Just the whole way that was handled was not right, just like everything else was handled by them...
And the part that takes the cake (no pun intended) is this...
We went to several halls when booking our venue and asked them ALL if they'd allow a dog in the ceremony and to stay on the premise afterwords. Frank at the Watermill said this was absolutely no problem, people do it all the time, so not a big deal, blah blah - great, right?! Our dog is our ring-bearer (as you can see in my pic) and this was a BIG deal to us. No matter where we got married, this was the plan, and if it wouldn't have been possible at the Watermill, we would NOT have booked it. My fiance spoke to Bob a few months ago about the rehearsal issue and we agreed that if we can't do a real rehearsal the week before the wedding we at least want to bring our pup in to practice with him, and Bob said that was not a problem. Well, when we talked to him again recently he had no memory of this. And when we talked to Roy, he claims that this is not allowed and he'll have to check with the owners and insurance company, etc.... That's when I lost it!
My fiance pointed out that he was probably just being a jerk because lots of places we looked at were owned by the Scotto brothers and they ALL said having the dog was fine... but then why give me such a hard time?? I don't know... But if they don't allow him, that WILL BE the last straw for me.
So that's my long sob story. None of this is the end of the world I realize... I just don't appreciate spending so much money on one day only to be treated like crap. I feel like they genuinely do not give a *** about us or our wedding because it's small and insignificant to them. They seriously have me wishing we just eloped...
I just feel like they are giving me a hard time about everything that was discussed when booking. I'm kicking myself for not getting it all written into the contract.
Our banquet manager was Frank, and I actually had to find out through one of these forum messages that he had passed away several months ago... to this day, no one at the Watermill has addressed his passing or who we are supposed to be talking to or anything. Obviously losing a friend and coworker is hard, and I'm sure emotions were involved, but I also felt like someone should have addressed what had happened with us.
It's been downhill from there and no one EVER calls me or my fiance back. We've been promised calls back from Samantha, Bob and even Roy (the general manager) - has never happened. I don't like feeling like I'm harassing someone when I have a question or need to make an appointment... a call back would be nice once in a while.
I had to hound them to mail me direction cards for my invitations (which I only needed 35 of - small wedding). It took three weeks, two emails and two phone calls before they finally did. Not a big deal, but annoying.
When we first booked, we were told that there were three hotels nearby with free shuttles to and from the Watermill. Trusting that information, I didn't call the hotels to confirm, but I should have. That wasn't in fact true. This was part of the reason we chose them so we didn't have the expense of a limo, but now we had to deal with the stress of finding a limo and the expense of paying for it for our guests. I understand they have no control over the hotels, but then don't advertise it as a selling point! Not cool.
Then I tried to set up a date for a rehearsal. We had discussed doing a full rehearsal with the room all set up prior to the wedding and were assured it was no problem. Well, apparently they don't do that. I got a nasty email back saying, '99% of our brides do a rehearsal the day of the wedding. Do you really need one before?' --- just plain rude. Turns out they can't make any promises about a date, so I can't tell the best man (my future brother-in-law) when to book his plane ticket to come until one week before - that won't work. Then they said if we do it the Wednesday before (our Monday wedding), they can make sure to 'find a place' for us, but that's not the same. I might as well have a rehearsal in my backyard and not trek out to Smithtown and make everyone fly in so far in advance... again, annoying.
Then this whole thing with the bakery. They didn't even tell us they changed. I had called Dortonis to schedule a tasting and that's when I found out. When I called, first Roy told us they were using MacCayla Michaels and was so enthusiastic about how wonderful this new bakery is... dealing with them was a nightmare, so I called Roy back only to learn that THEY had issues with them too so switched again to the Rolling Pin... which you know about. Honestly, I don't know why they'd ever leave Dortonis... I'm guessing they got a better price, which isn't right. That's like saying they can get a better price from serving cheese and crackers instead of prime rib and according to Roy they 'have the right to change bakeries' and apparently don't even need to tell us - Just the whole way that was handled was not right, just like everything else was handled by them...
And the part that takes the cake (no pun intended) is this...
We went to several halls when booking our venue and asked them ALL if they'd allow a dog in the ceremony and to stay on the premise afterwords. Frank at the Watermill said this was absolutely no problem, people do it all the time, so not a big deal, blah blah - great, right?! Our dog is our ring-bearer (as you can see in my pic) and this was a BIG deal to us. No matter where we got married, this was the plan, and if it wouldn't have been possible at the Watermill, we would NOT have booked it. My fiance spoke to Bob a few months ago about the rehearsal issue and we agreed that if we can't do a real rehearsal the week before the wedding we at least want to bring our pup in to practice with him, and Bob said that was not a problem. Well, when we talked to him again recently he had no memory of this. And when we talked to Roy, he claims that this is not allowed and he'll have to check with the owners and insurance company, etc.... That's when I lost it!
My fiance pointed out that he was probably just being a jerk because lots of places we looked at were owned by the Scotto brothers and they ALL said having the dog was fine... but then why give me such a hard time?? I don't know... But if they don't allow him, that WILL BE the last straw for me.
So that's my long sob story. None of this is the end of the world I realize... I just don't appreciate spending so much money on one day only to be treated like crap. I feel like they genuinely do not give a *** about us or our wedding because it's small and insignificant to them. They seriously have me wishing we just eloped...
Member since
Brides I need help. I'm getting married at the Watermill and...
wow. :( sorry --i remember reading how important having your dog in th4e wedding was :(
Member since
Brides I need help. I'm getting married at the Watermill and...
I'm so sorry you're having this experience! They've been good with us so far but we're not as close as you are. I usually get a back if I leave a message within a day.I hope everything works out!
Member since
Brides I need help. I'm getting married at the Watermill and...
I'm sorry you girls are going through this! Watermill has been great to me and both Bob andRoy have been amazing. I do know though for everything wedding related you are always supposed to get everything in writing no matter how nice the person is! Good luck with everything!!!!
