Carltun Brides - FYI - Negative Review!!

I debated if I should post a bad review of a wedding I attended in October, because I did not want my comments to upset any future brides,
But...... I thought it may help future brides in planning your wedding there.........

The Ceremony was on a Saturday at 12:00 p.m.
at the Carltun, and the cocktail hour followed.

When you first walk in, there is suppose to be a waitress who hands you a glass of champain, I am still waiting for it??!! They Ran out of champion or the waitress just left?? The they send you to a waiting room, where you stand and wait until they let you go out side for the ceremony. They did not have enough chairs set up so some of us sat on the left side were they had some round tables with umbrellas. The cocktail hour was half outside and half inside. There was not enough food!! There were only a few stations: Pasta, some kind of meat that was cooked very raw, an omolete station filled with shrimp in a white sauce, and a fish and shrimp station. I waited on line for fish and shrimp for '20 Minutes' to find out they ran out of shrimps & fish, and had to wait another 10 Minutes for new ones to be brought out, they were still being cooked. I left that line and went to another line... I selected mussels in Maranara sauce, they were COLD!! One waiter put dirty dishes on top of clean ones and walked away....
There was not enough food or selections.... But that could have been the brides choice...... There was a small bar outside with one bartender serving 200 people. So you can imagine the wait.
The servers, worked like molasses....In Super Slow Motion......There was only enough time to get one drink and food, due to the long waiting in line. The only positive was the Grilled Tuna, It was Excellent!!

The reception.......The table next to me, did not get the bread served. Which were little round balls the size of a Munckin. And only one plate of per table with five pieces of butter made to look like roses. There were 10 people per table so of course everyone had to request additional plates of butter. The tablecloth were creamy in color and tapestry in material, very pretty, but they put silk white napkins, which did not match in material or color. The Salad was a mixture of greens with a sweet pear and nuts....Delicious!!
But then it took 20-25 minutes for the plates to be picked-up after eating. There was no in between pasta dish between the salad and the main meal, so it took about 30-45 minutes for the main course. So....people go tired of sitting for so long, some got up to dance and talk to other people at other tables.

The next thing you know, there are waiters weaving in and out of carrying a painters board with mini cones filled with sorbet ice cream. And if you wanted one, you had to reach out and take one as they passed by you. It was like being at a kids party or Barmitzva. Then you had to go look for a napkin. I found it to be inappropriate for a wedding and especially for that particular hall.
Maybe if kids had been invited they would have been more appropriate. In all the weddings I have attended they are always served in silver or glasses and served at your seat. Everyone just looked at each other in amazement and later comments how it took the classiness of a wedding JMO. I don't know if the bride requested them to be served that way, but if not I would have been upset at the hall. They took the easy and quick way out, but serving them like ordoreves

Choices of dinner were, sea bass, chicken stuffed with spinach and file Meinon The fish was not that fresh, if was bland, no one at my table asked for the chicken because of the spinach, so nine people asked for the filet Meinon. One person asked for well done and it was on the dry side and a little tough. The person next to me ordered medium and it was so raw they had to bring her a new. The mashed potatoes were good as well as the vegetables.

The service was terrible!! The average age would be 18-23, inexperience and very young which reflected in the slow and bad service. The dished were left so long at the table, we had to push them towards the center. As for drinks, our waitress was pretty attentive. But, again the empty glasses were not picked up, they piled up in the middle.

They had the cigar hour with a band. The band was great! However, with in Ten minutes of everyone lighting up and puffing the cigars, you could see the smoke in the air. Within 30 minutes your hair and clothes smelled of smoke. They do not have vents to take out the smoke so it just lingers in the two rooms they had. If you don't smoke or use contacts, that is not a place you should be in. But as a novelty it was nice and different.

I have a friend who here sister got married a month later, on a Saturday evening and also were very disappointed. The sister and mother of the bride are writting letters to the management, with similar complaints. They were very upset with the service and lack of food. The other negative was the bathrooms are all the way down stairs and I think they only had three in the ladies room. They were a little inconvient for the elder people to get to.

Unfortunally this wedding was very dissapointing.
Especially since it was supposed to be considered as one of the higher priced end halls. All the comments have been all negative since the wedding, except for the jazz band.
Perhaps some of it has to do with the chande of staff and management. I hope this helps some of you in the planning of your wedding there.