Boycotting Courtyard Garden

After about 2 months of calls and meetings with Courtyard Garden, we reached an agreement so Paul and I went over there yesterday.

As I could not contact the F&B Director (which is the norm cos he hardly calls me back even though I leave several messages and call his mobile phone), I met up with one of his managers instead.

Azman was really nice and suggested several some options on how I could do the set up and to save money too. As I took out my credit card to pay for the deposit, Azman went into the office to double check that 18^th October was available.

He came out shortly only to tell me that that date has been taken. I was totally taken aback. After 2 months of talking, calling and meeting, how can this be?

I then asked if the other couple has paid the deposit? He said no but he still can’t give the place to me yet until the other couple decides because their name is on it and mine was not. To be fair, he said that he’ll give them 3 days to decide.

I still don’t understand why the F&B director didn’t put my name down on that date. Even if he wasn’t sure, by talking to him so often, doesn’t it show that I was seriously interested and wouldn’t he check on the date I wanted. This is so unprofessional. As a director, I thought he'd be more on the ball. Guess I should have expected this for someone who doesn't return calls, is hardly around, doesn't offer suggestions, has one word answers for all my questions and is not passionate about events, parties or weddings.

But what else could I do? Poor Paul. He didn’t know what to do to cheer me up. So he bought me a Japanese dinner with my favourite cheese sticks and even tepanyaki waghu beef. That was yuuuums!

And this morning, a colleague, Sharon, came to me with good news. The original place I wanted to hold the wedding was Passion Road which was situated at the same row as Courtyard Garden. It’s a bungalow which only caters to events. They do not operate as a restaurant. As the directors are florists and interior decorators, Passion Road is absolutely gorgeous! And they really know how to host a party. However, when I started inquiring, I found out that Passion Road either closed down or moved. But I couldn’t find out where. So the next best choice was Courtyard.

And now Sharon tells me that Passion Road moved to Jalan Yap Kwan Seng. She even gave me all the contacts. I called them right away and 18 Oct was still available. Is this a sign?

Just in case the incident with Courtyard happens again, I temporarily booked the date. As they only operate during usual working hours and I’m not in town this Saturday, I’ll only be able to go have a look for myself next Saturday. But the pic on the website look gorgeous. Go see for yourself. In fact, it looks as pretty if not more so than their old premise at Damansara Heights.

Their menu prices are more expensive than Courtyard. And their beer barrel corkage and band cost are higher too. However, the place is already decorated and all I need to do is to make some slight additions. So at the end, the price for Passion Road is only slightly more expensive than Courtyard Garden.

I’m so excited. Especially after the shock and disappointment from the previous night. I can’t wait to see the place.