BIRCH HILL

1)Our (evening) outside Garden Terrace Cocktail hour - under a tent: they forgot to place lights under the tent - our guests used cell phone lights to see what they were eating. We requested additional heaters upon arrival because the chill under the sided tent was a bit much for our guests ? someone left to get them, but never returned. We paid an additional $300 for this service. We paid $590 for a sided tent alone. 2) We paid $368 for fresh chair linens (Ivory covers). When we stopped in for our day before "overview" of the table settings - we saw service people SPOT CLEANING THE ALREADY EXISTING CHAIRS FROM A PREVIOUS PARTY! We insisted that they be changed out. Of course we were promised that they would. This service was NOT completed. 3)We paid an additional $368 for an International Coffee & Cordial Station. ONE server manned it. My guests had to stand in long lines. Many gave up and walked away. I requested another server, and someone did go to retrieve additional help. It never happened. There was another wedding party of over 200 going on in the other ball room at Birch Hill - I assumed at this point that they were under staffed. 4)The Entrees were beyond substandard quality. The Bride discussed her food choices, in great detail and received nothing as promised. The chicken dish was described as Chicken Saltimbocca ? Chicken wrapped in Prosciutto, Spinach and Parmesan Cheese. Our guests were served a slab of what a appeared to be boiled chicken with a piece of Prosciutto and some kind of cheese sauce drizzled over it! The Seafood dish: Frutti De Mare Fra Diavolo ? described as Shrimp, Scallops and Crab in a spicy red sauce.... my guests had as little as 1 shrimp on their entire plate. And the most I have heard from anyone was 2 scallops and 2 shrimps!! The NY Strip Steak ? Steak cooked on a flat top grill. Our guests received some kind of beef drizzled with a sauce, obviously to cover the quality of meat being served. 5) Dessert is normally included in the $81 per main course selection, however in addition to the wedding cake - we requested a Viennese Style Desert Table described as Italian Pastries, Italian Cookies, and Canolli. The Bride also requested to add to this her favorite - little carrot cakes. We paid an additional $138 for this. No Italian Cookies or Italian pastries were ever served. There were only the mini carrot cakes and mini cheesecakes. On top of this, they never served our wedding cake to our guests! But rather, to cover the empty spaces on the Viennese table (because our other items never came out) - they put the sliced wedding cake there! When I went looking for the cake because it was taking so long to come out - I found it there on the table. I then had to run around my reception room to tell everyone they had to go to the back of the room and get their own cake!! I was so embarrassed. There is so much more..