“We're quite saddened by their google review, posted even before we had a chance to actually speak with them to clear up several serious inaccuracies. Our band has HUNDREDS of positive online reviews/satisfied wedding clients. And we'll always accept valid criticism. But this one is mostly false and unfair. As Zola does not provide the option for responding to negative reviews, the following are our comments:
1. Since the bride and groom hadn't hired a wedding planner everything was extremely disorganized as we received their timeline just one week prior to the event, but then they changed it twice more, including two days before. Despite asking for our bandleader's phone #, the groom never reached out to discuss any of these details. In other words, we were given minimal direction in regard to all of the last-minute changes. Even on the wedding day itself, our band was asked to set and reset their equipment multiple times because the bride and groom disagreed with the onsite coordinator's floor plan, moving/resetting the bride and groom table as well!
2. According to what the photographer told us, the bride and groom's limo driver was over 90 min. late, shifting the entire timeline and putting them in a bad mood from the very beginning, as noticed by our bandleader at around 5:15pm when he first introduced himself, prior to the band providing either live or recorded music.
3. Regarding the recorded music, it was only lacking for approx. 45 min. as the band discovered the phone battery issue at approx. 7:45pm, during their first break, quickly rectifying the situation by putting the phone on a charger and then continuing with the recorded music outside from approx. 8-10pm. Furthermore, they made up for it by keeping their system running for an extra 30 min., beyond our contracted time of 11pm. And those comments regarding the afterparty are also totally untrue as somebody from the band was manning the system, until a cousin of the bride or groom demanded that he use her playlist instead, and then she responded angrily when he finally turned off the system at 11:30pm.
4. As for the band's sound system, we do acknowledge some 'hum' issues as there was just one electrical outlet provided for the entire band, resulting in 'dirty power' which couldn't be fully corrected. And we deeply regret mispronouncing the various names as most were very unfamiliar and of Indian origin, despite our lining up the wedding party in advance and writing everything down phonetically.
5. Even though some of the client's emails mentioned solo keys during cocktails, we provided a duo, covering an extra 30 min. of recorded music from 4:30-5pm at no extra charge, as requested. While it's standard practice for a band to take a dinner break during an almost six hr. event, this was clearly-specified in our contract as well. And then we performed continuously from 8:30-10pm, including most of the requested songs that we had prepared well in advance. So their comments about seemingly just 'walking off a bus' are completely false and misleading. In other words, our musicians went 'above and beyond' in spite of some very challenging circumstances.
6. Fortunately, we did receive a 'happy reaction' with a crowded dance floor and TONS of compliments from the guests, some requesting pictures w/the band too, while even the bride and groom were singing along and dancing non-stop, which we were VERY happy to see, making their negative review even more surprising though!”
