San Clemente Shore by Wedgewood Weddings — Attraction in San Clemente

I want to preface this entire review by saying that Tito truly saved this review from being a dumpfire. He came through & made our day absolutely perfect.

What went right:

TITO: Tito literally should get all the proceeds for our wedding because he WORKED for us. He was so kind the entire time. He, in comparison to other staff members we encountered, was far & above their customer service, knowledge, & warmth. He did everything we needed without even being asked. He has a knack for wedding planning. Wedgewood should do anything & everything to keep him happy. We also worked with Summer on our day, & she was immensely sweet. We also had a positive meeting with Sierra as well (any negative remarks about the staff at Wedgewood do NOT pertain to these three employees: Tito, Summer, Sierra).

Bartender: Michael kept everyone’s glasses full. He was the only bartender working for a wedding of 96 guests, & you would have never known. He worked immensely hard, & he always seemed to know when our glasses were empty.

DJ: Kyon kept the party going all night. He was extremely communicative during the entire process, & he made the whole day run smoothly. He even managed to get a video of our last dance which was such a welcome surprise as we will likely wait for months until we get our official videographer’s product.

What went wrong:

Communication: It is virtually impossible to get on the phone with a staff member- not a corporate customer service rep. Getting ahold of a venue staff member by phone was nearly impossible, forcing us into frustrating email exchanges. Responses lacked thoroughness, often requiring us to restart discussions. As full-time workers opting for an all-inclusive package to avoid extensive planning, we found the email communication quality to be subpar. In our frustration, we formally requested improved communication, including signed responses from staff. Despite this, the issue persisted, leading to uncertainties even regarding our final payment & the reception of our cashier's check. We had to reach out just two days before our wedding to ensure everything was in order.

The Tasting Event: Wedgewood, every quarter, puts on a tasting for all the engaged couples for that season. At our first planning meeting, Kayleen told us we would attend on Sep. 11th. This is a Monday night. We are from out of town, so we both requested that Mon & Tues off immediately after learning this. On Sep. 4th we hadn’t heard anything from Wedgewood, so I sent an email. Haley, a different staff member, let us know that we were not on the invite list for the Sep. 11th tasting event. We were scheduled to attend one in December & that it would cost $20 per person to attend. There are several things wrong here. 1)We had taken, collectively, four days off for the 9/11 event. 2)How were we supposed to attend the event in December when our meeting where we decide what food we want is taking place in October? That didn’t line up at all. 3)Perhaps I'm being petty, but why are we paying $40 when we are giving your venue over $20k? They did rectify this situation & allowed us to come to the September 11th event, but I hated having to make a stink about it. We wanted our wedding planning to be a joyous time, but Wedgewood continued to drop the ball over & over again.

Deceit/Weekend Meetings: When we had our initial meeting with Kayleen to tour the venue, we brought up that we live 3 hrs away & would only be ale to do weekend meetings. Kayleen said this would be no problem. However, as soon as we put down our deposit, the staff changed their tune. They would not accommodate us.

Lack of consistency: Inconsistent documentation during our four official planning meetings with Wedgewood left us frustrated. Despite having details selected in the initial meeting, they were never recorded in subsequent sessions, requiring us to start anew each time. This gave us no confidence in the venue whatsoever.

My husband & I have zero regrets about our wedding. For those considering this venue, clarify communication expectations...

I'll make a clear distinction right up front. The venue, the food, the ceremony and reception hall, the location, all 5 stars. No complaints about any of things, done exceptionally well. Now, this next part may just be a blunder in perception, or I could've been given wrong information, but if not this review is well deserved. From what I was told the venue has it's own DJ/MC/sound guy for both the ceremony site and the reception, if you choose to book them.

For starters, homeboy comes wearing all black to a wedding. No suit, no tie, not even dress shoes. Black jeans, an oversized trench coat looking monstrosity, and doesn't crack a smile once. Cranky, sulky, put out demeanor the entire event start to finish. This amateur's wireless microphone goes dead mid way through the officiant's speech to the couple and he doesn't even stand up to change a thing or investigate. 100 plus people unable to hear what's going on and this dip!@#$ doesn't move a muscle to rectify the situation. A groomsmen had to take his microphone to him he was so fu$%^&ng lazy. Fast forward to the reception, he plays early 2000's pop music for a crowd mostly 40 years old and up. Doesn't even cross fade the songs or even blend them to any degree. The looks of disdain from the audience were evident and any DJ worth a cent would've adapted and made a switch. Terrible understanding of music theory and song choice. Fast forward to all the announcements. Made in a slurred, monotone, totally uninterested inflection of a voice that most people couldn't hear. Fast forward to the dancing portion of the evening. Cranks his mains up to over 100 dB (anything close to or over 80 dB induces permanent hearing damage at prolonged exposure) and plays a list of awfully mismatched songs. Going from "Timber" by Pitbull and Kesha to "Sweet Caroline"....it's almost unfathomable. Not only that, the entire crowd is ultra conservative Christians and hearing about how "girls be like Miley Cyrus twerking in their bras and thongs" roaring out of the speakers is just about as bad as it can be.

This DJ, by far, is one of the worst I've ever encountered. Being a professional wedding DJ myself of nearly five years I've never encountered someone as unprofessional, uncaring, untalented, and who obviously doesn't give a damn about anything except getting through the evening and receiving a paycheck. I would fire him immediately and retain a new sound guy. The feedback throughout the evening was nothing but negative. He really fu!@#$ up the vibe of what would have been a...

Staff was very friendly and had a great attitude. Venue is very nice, as well. When first showing up to tour, they actually seemed happy Other places acted bothered by our visit.

The pros: -Friendly and helpful. Always available to answer questions via text. -Coordinator was very nice and friendly. -Beautiful venue -Pricing is not too bad in regards to wedding costs. About $25k for a wedding with DJ, lights, drapery, cake, food, etc, included. -We had our own desserts to add and they were very accommodating. -The personal server was very nice and attentive. Besides missing our toast. -the DJ, Rachel, was very fun and did a great job with our first dance and the rest of our preferences. -The bouquet was ok. The boutonnière was ok. You can tell that you need to get upsold in order to get the good quality stuff.

The cons: -Us, as the wedding couple, didn't get our toast drinks. Empty glasses while the speeches were given. Half the guests didn't have drinks for toast either because the servers didn't say what it was for. They just walked around asking if they want champaign or cider. Many declined preferring wine, etc. But the fact that us, THE WEDDING COUPLE, didn't have our toast, was unacceptable.

-The welcome sign at the ceremony site kept falling down. I, as the groom, kept having to put it back. It kept falling so I gave up and the sign just sat on the ground as guests came in.

-The food was not the same as the tasting. We got the beef and during the tasting it was delicious. Juicy. At the wedding, it was overcooked and inedible.

-The florist was supposed to decorate the cake. The coordinator decorated it and it was very empty. A big white cake and like 2 flowers in it.

-The coordinator should have us, the wedding couple, go to a different spot after the ceremony when we walk out together. The way it's setup, you get bombarded by ALL the guests. Our personal appetizers got eaten up, we couldn't have a moment alone. We need to have been behind the green wall on the opposite side of where the guests leave toward the reception. That was a terrible position. This isn't a performance where your guests come to congratulate you. It's a damn wedding ceremony.

Overall, this was more like a 2.5 star. Mediocre. I'm sure there's a few more good and bad though these are what...