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Mill on the River – Wedding Disaster Avoided

I was at the Mill on the River yesterday for a wedding.  The ceremony was scheduled outside for 4:30pm, which meant guests were due around 4pm.  I arrived about 2:30 so that I had time to setup inside (really bad load in - through kitchen and up a flight of stairs, through a narrow hall and then into the room).

What I found when I arrived was beyond scary.  They were in the MIDDLE of renovating the room.  Yes, I said renovating the room I was supposed to be setting up in.    They were putting up wallpaper, hanging light fixtures, touching up paint and there was debris from construction everywhere.  There was scafolding up and clearly there was no way that I was going to be setting up anytime soon.

I setup the outdoor ceremony system and then went back in to talk to the staff once more about setting up inside.  Construction was still going on.  I staged my gear in the little narrow hall just outside the room.  At 3:30 they finally cleared a little room for me to start setting up but construction crews were all around me still.  It wasn't until around 3:45 when they cleared out.   That was less than 15 minutes before my bride showed up!

The management was not apologetic about the delay and construction issue.  They did not call me prior to warn me of what was going on so that I was prepared.  They were rude during the event (yelling to me while I was on the microphone multiple times).  The wait staff was wonderful, but this will be the last time we work at the Mill on the River.

The broken up facility is diffucult to run a successful reception as you cannot get sound into the dining area (no room for remote speaker setup due to the cramped setting).  Older guests tend to sit and leave soon after dinner as they are separated from the party in the other room.    It is not condusive to our normal fun party atmosphere where all ages are up and dancing.