Terrible service and poor communication...

We were initially drawn to EM Designs because of the selection of new and modern mandap collections they offered for hire. Although Nila did have a wide offering we settled on a mandap collection we really liked. When we finally agreed on everything we wanted and needed we were sent a contract which was completely wrong. We had to go back and forth getting the details correct and this was a lengthy process to make sure they were charging us the correct amount for what we wanted. We had booked a specific wooden bench which would match our chosen mandap (wood carved). The day before our wedding (and 9mths after booking) we found out (and only because we asked) that the bench we booked had been damaged by another client and would not be available for us. Nila did not notify us of this but as we were now aware she promised to find an alternative and send us pictures so we could agree to the replacement. We never heard anything again and only found out what we were getting as we walked down the aisle. We were extremely disappointed to find that the replacement was not wood carved but a very cheap looking white set of bench and chairs. We had a lot of trouble with our wedding flowers. Despite not stating at the outset that we can only decorate the mandap using the in house florist, Nila later added this to the contract. Discussing the flowers was very difficult as Nila never let us communicate with the florist directly. As a result we never really knew what/who we were dealing with, but we also had no choice but to use this mystery florist. As we didn't want to engage two separate florists, we decided to use the same in house florist for our lunch arrangements and reception centrepieces. We ended up with a very poorly constructed flower banner on the mandap from which a large section fell off during our ceremony. This was extremely embarrassing for us as it happened in front of all of our guests. We also had ordered some small bouquets for the lunch tables for which we had agreed what flowers we wanted in what colours and how many of each we would get. On the day, the arrangements were terrible, including colours we had specifically said to avoid and the flowers looks pathetic and not what we had agreed. It really would have been better not to have anything on the tables! After the wedding we did contact Nila regarding all of these issues and more. She contested the flower issues and avoided our calls and emails for a few months but eventually agreed to a partial refund. However this never appeared and after a lot of chasing she claimed that we had not arranged the return of her centrepiece vases to her florist (4 months after the wedding!) and so would not pay us. This was not something we were required to do so we had no choice but to take her to the Small Claims Court following which she finally gave us our partial refund. We could not recommend EM Designs or Nila at all. Considering she provides decorating services, the way the end result looks should be paramount and in line with what we booked. So much was wrong that this was not the case for us. If it wasn't for us liking the specific mandap design that we chose we would not have used her at all. Communication is extremely poor and there is no value added considering she is the wedding services professional. The mistakes that were made could maybe be understandable if this was her first wedding, like it was ours.

Tara Smith - 07/02/2016 | report this review