River Raisin Banquet Center, LLC — Attraction in Monroe

We dealt with Drew for a wedding on July 7, 2023. The venue rental was paid in 2022, prices went up in the meantime. We had a consumption beer/wine bar with cash bar for liquor. Drew was helpful at times with ideas about cutting bar costs and we were grateful for that. But during the event our guests were treated inhospitably. The reception began at 5:30pm. Guests began to arrive before the "official" start time and when confronted with locked doors were told by staff that the doors would not be unlocked before 5:30. Guests came to me with reports that liquor was unavailable for purchase. By the time I got there the bartender told me that "He (Drew) went to go get the liquor." Guests were eventually served as agreed. We were told by Drew that coffee and supplies were included in the $3.00 per person charged for non-alcoholic beverages. Coffee and supplies were not prepared. My sister had to argue with the bartender that Yes, there was supposed to be coffee. One pot was brewed, and the coffee ran out before the event ended. The bar charges were discussed, agreed upon and paid in advance: $24.00 per person for 167 guests. Any refund check " will be mailed to you the next week". The next day, July 8th, I emailed Drew about the final bar bill. No response. I emailed again on July 11th. No response. I called on the 13th; he said that we were due a refund, gave the amount, and said that he would get the invoice to me that day. I emailed on the 14th. No response. Emailed again on the 20th. No response. A check dated July 20th arrived at my house for the stated amount--but no invoice. I called Drew on the 23rd and left a voice mail. I received an email on the 24th saying he was unable to get me the invoice until the next day. I called him again on August 1st. He stated that he'd emailed the invoice to me two days ago (no...), but he told me he'd send it again right away. After 8 more hours, I emailed again and asked him to simply reply to my email and attach the invoice. No response. I called again the next day, and finally, after 26 days, 6 emails and 3 phone calls, I found out what we had been charged for. It turned out to be for 175 people. I asked Drew where the 175 number came from as 167 was the number we had submitted and agreed upon. He stated "We always base our bar packages on the number of seats... In this case, I (Drew) missed that on the initial invoice which is my fault and would have just resulted in more refund for you. The total number of chairs rented was 176 minus the chair for the DJ is 175." When I asked that he honor the original invoice as approved, and refund the $48.00 overcharge, he flatly wrote "Let me assure you that with the amount of non-alcoholic drinks that we went through you are getting a steal at that price. The refund will not be adjusted." $6.00 x 175 people is $1050.00. A two-liter soda is $1.68. A bottle of water is $0.25. So 167 people over 6 hours drank 625 two-liter sodas? or over 4000 bottles of water? in addition to all of the beer, wine and liquor that was served? Aside from the patronizing tone, his statement is ridiculous. And nowhere, in any communication, printed, verbal or electronic--was it mentioned that we would be charged for beverage service for furniture. It is unfortunate that Drew chooses to withhold the $48.00 he overcharged due to his error, after a price was agreed upon and paid, that he chooses to respond with silence and pettiness, and that he can't seem to keep what he chooses to charge for his services straight from conversation to conversation. If you're seeking to minimize stressors at an already stressful time, I'd look elsewhere for your venue...one where the management responds promptly and meaningfully, and remembers to give you what you agreed upon without an argument. In addition: we were charged $102 for "damaged" tablecloths. After I finally got the tablecloths, I washed them twice at home with detergent and spot treatment as one would expect to do. They are clean and perfectly fine! But we had to pay...

In our experience, communication between mother, son and guests needs to improve. When planning a wedding communication is key to putting a large event together and The lack of communication added stress to our day. For example, mom told us we could utilize the patio area for pictures and guests, but in later discussions with the son he said it would be an additional 1,000$ then day of it changed to 25$ an hour. This lack of important information added stress for us as we weren’t sure as to what exactly our access to the patio would be. Plus the original information was a big selling point as we always wanted access to the river for pictures.

The bar experience was a complete failure in my opinion. We paid $ 4900 for a 5 hour bar package for 150 guests. The bar closed after 4 hours of service. And this was really closer to 3 hours of bar service as dinner, speeches, and the toast ate up an hour . We never got a full explanation as to how it was tallied up to 5 hours of bar service being reached within a 4 hour time frame. They closed the bar at exactly 940pm which was exactly 4 hours after it opened. Unfortunately many guests departed after that, and that was not how we wanted our event to end. We did pay to keep bar open for another hour but many left anyway. So bar service broke down to 1225$ per hour, plus the extra hour we paid to keep open . This experience really put a damper on the whole event.

Other than that all was well. Our guests really enjoyed the patio and the pictures with the river backdrop turned out lovely. But in my opinion, communication between mother, son and guests could greatly improve thus giving guests the experience they pay for...

They tried to close the patio at about 7pm on my wedding day when I booked the venue by contract all day, and then they tried to close the bar before 10pm even though we bought their “top” open bar package for five hours from 6pm-11pm, which took frankly way too much negotiation in the first place. Dear reader, would you ever book a venue on the river if they are going to close down your access to the river before sunset even begins? Would you have fun at a wedding if the bar closed at 10pm sharp and dinner was from 7-8? Let me tell you, when I booked this venue, there was not even a patio in existence—there was grass and an area near the river that was used as a selling point for why I should book with them. And then they got greedy and rude on my big day. I can’t believe it. I’m not even mad—I had a great time and I wasn’t gonna let some miserable miserly “businesspeople” go back on their agreement with me. I’m sure the venue owners will have their weird nonsensical argument about what happened, but at my one and only wedding, the mother father and son trio managed to not uphold their contract with me and bother my family and me. With a lot of argument and extra up charges that we don’t deserve and my kind parents never should have agreed to pay, I could never recommend this venue for any event. They should be ashamed of themselves, but they continue to gaslight me regarding the several meetings; the contract, and the evidence I have to prove they did not uphold their end of the bargain. I used to cater and bartend weddings myself, and I’m appalled. I don’t believe anyone is truly as ignorant about their own contract, only this rude...