Richard Chim

Review of Blue Ribbon Cooking

Had to wait a while to rate this so that my feelin...

Had to wait a while to rate this so that my feelings and emotions on the day did not cloud my judgement in a heat of the moment posting.

My wife and I flew over to Seattle for a friends wedding from Toronto. We left our then 12 month old son back home and thank the heavens we did! For a company in the customer service and satisfaction industry based in one of the wettest cities in the world you'd think they would have contingencies prepared for bad weather.

Positives:

1 - Food was decent. Nothing out of the ordinary but I would have expected more from a company in Toronto if I had to pay what my friend paid. I understand cost of living and US exchange rate, but at the price I should have been wowed.

2 - Venue was gorgeous. Old world charm with that country inn feeling in the middle of the city. Location was easily accessible by car even for someone who was not from the area.

Negatives:

1 - Venue runs on a well system. No electricity equals no clean flowing water. I guess its part of the old world charm? However, to function in the 21st century I can't believe there was no back up system in the case of a power outage. My wife and I walked into washrooms with overflowing human feces as the toilet system stopped working. Guests couldn't wash their hands and only near the end of the night did bottles of hand sanitizer start showing up in the washrooms.

2 - Everything that required electricity in this world didn't work. This is the part where I was glad I didn't bring our 12 month old son. By the end of the night we were litterally freezing our butts off. How could a business not have a back up system for electrical failures? No heat, no lights, no music. The officiant had to yell at the top of his lungs for people to hear him over the ceremony. The poor bride had to walk down the aisle with no music, no lights. Her first dance was done with a car backed up into the tent running music out of the car's system and all her guests using the smart phones as lights to light up the dance floor. Not exactly the wedding any girl would have dreamt of having on her big day.

Hopefully this event would have helped them make some changes to the way they operate the business. If not, I wouldn't recommend this place unless you're 100% sure your wedding day is going to be sunny. For the price my friends paid for this wedding, I could have had a real fancy wedding in Toronto.

2 stars because I'm Canadian and I'm being nice and polite. Can't help but compare them to what we would have expected from a Canadian company. By far the worst wedding I've ever been to. Not sure if I should be sorry for the bride and groom, or for my wife and I who wasted our money to fly over. Sorry A & T, but your wedding really kinda sucked..... =(