Susan and Elia 's Wedding, April, 2011, Washington DC

Vendors

Photographer: Jun Kyeung Photography

Venues

Ceremony: New York Avenue Presbyterian Church
Reception Venue: Martin's Crosswinds
Reception: Martin's Crosswinds

Photographer:

Jun Kyeung Photography

Washington, DC, USA
410-963-3626

"Love this photographer! He is very professional and experienced, having worked in the wedding photography business for over 14 years. He knew what he was doing and was a funny and great person to work with. And we love our photos!"

Ceremony:

New York Avenue Presbyterian Church

1313 New York Ave NW
Washington D.C., DC 20005

"Really beautiful and historical church, and staff is nice to work with. One downside is that guests will probably have to pay for parking."

Reception:

Martin's Crosswinds

7400 Greenway Center Dr
Greenbelt, MD 20770

"Disappointed with our wedding reception. The customer service at Martin's was great during the planning process, and I was happy with how organized they seemed. The actual reception, however, had several major mishaps that caused us a lot of stress that day, when we just wanted to relax and enjoy the evening. As mentioned by a few other reviewers, the walls are not soundproof, so during a few of our toasts and a song performance (moments that were supposed to be touching and sentimental), we could hear the booming, disruptive bass from the other room. I saw some of our guests couldn't concentrate or hear what was going on, and I saw my mother and Uncle get up and start talking to one of the Martin's staff about this issue in the middle of my reception. As a bride, I just wanted my family and guests to enjoy the reception, so this was extremely stressful for me. One of our guests, who has planned many weddings in Chicago, walked up to my mother and told her that this noise was unacceptable for a reception venue. Some other mishaps that night: I ordered four vendor meals, but my photographer and videographers had no idea where they were supposed to sit, so my day-of coordinator had to look at the seating chart and find a way to squeeze them in a table. Other minor things that I was disappointed in: the favors were set up incorrectly, even though I had specified the setup in the reception details, so my friends told me they were scrambling to fix the favors on the tables before the reception started. The guests told me they ran out of coffee when the cake was being served. Some positive things about Martin's- it is a beautiful and large venue. They offer extra portions of food for free to the guests, and we also ordered a cheese display that my guests liked. We were a little disappointed in the taste of the food; it wasn't spectacular but it wasn't disgusting. In my experience, most wedding reception hall food isn't that great, so maybe the food was fairly standard. After posting a review on Yelp and Google Reviews about Martin's, they did contact me to resolve this issue and offered compensation for some of the services. We were surprised that they made the effort to contact us, but when we read the terms of the agreement, we found one caveat: in order to receive the compensation, my husband and I had to sign an agreement that stipulated that we were not to say anything negative about the company or its food, either publicly or written. This made us reconsider the issue, and we felt that the compensation they offered was not adequate for the disappointment we felt with our reception and what the agreement was asking of us, so we declined. This makes me skeptical of the glowing 5-star reviews from other clients under the Google reviews, because I wonder if they were also offered the same agreement. As I mentioned earlier, the people at Martin's that helped me with the planning process were great and very friendly, and the venue is lovely. I just wish that the details that we so carefully planned were executed properly on the actual day. I know no wedding event goes perfectly, and mistakes and misunderstandings can happen. But although Martin's hosts hundreds of events a year, this is the only wedding reception we will ever have, and we spent a lot of time and money planning this and trusting that they would carry out their services. Many of my guests still remember and bring up the noise that disrupted our evening. As a bride, you don't want this to be the impression left in your guests' memories of your special day."

Reception Venue:

Martin's Crosswinds

7400 Greenway Center Dr
Greenbelt, MD 20770

"Disappointed with our wedding reception. The customer service at Martin's was great during the planning process, and I was happy with how organized they seemed. The actual reception, however, had several major mishaps that caused us a lot of stress that day, when we just wanted to relax and enjoy the evening. As mentioned by a few other reviewers, the walls are not soundproof, so during a few of our toasts and a song performance (moments that were supposed to be touching and sentimental), we could hear the booming, disruptive bass from the other room. I saw some of our guests couldn't concentrate or hear what was going on, and I saw my mother and Uncle get up and start talking to one of the Martin's staff about this issue in the middle of my reception. As a bride, I just wanted my family and guests to enjoy the reception, so this was extremely stressful for me. One of our guests, who has planned many weddings in Chicago, walked up to my mother and told her that this noise was unacceptable for a reception venue. Some other mishaps that night: I ordered four vendor meals, but my photographer and videographers had no idea where they were supposed to sit, so my day-of coordinator had to look at the seating chart and find a way to squeeze them in a table. Other minor things that I was disappointed in: the favors were set up incorrectly, even though I had specified the setup in the reception details, so my friends told me they were scrambling to fix the favors on the tables before the reception started. The guests told me they ran out of coffee when the cake was being served. Some positive things about Martin's- it is a beautiful and large venue. They offer extra portions of food for free to the guests, and we also ordered a cheese display that my guests liked. We were a little disappointed in the taste of the food; it wasn't spectacular but it wasn't disgusting. In my experience, most wedding reception hall food isn't that great, so maybe the food was fairly standard. After posting a review on Yelp and Google Reviews about Martin's, they did contact me to resolve this issue and offered compensation for some of the services. We were surprised that they made the effort to contact us, but when we read the terms of the agreement, we found one caveat: in order to receive the compensation, my husband and I had to sign an agreement that stipulated that we were not to say anything negative about the company or its food, either publicly or written. This made us reconsider the issue, and we felt that the compensation they offered was not adequate for the disappointment we felt with our reception and what the agreement was asking of us, so we declined. This makes me skeptical of the glowing 5-star reviews from other clients under the Google reviews, because I wonder if they were also offered the same agreement. As I mentioned earlier, the people at Martin's that helped me with the planning process were great and very friendly, and the venue is lovely. I just wish that the details that we so carefully planned were executed properly on the actual day. I know no wedding event goes perfectly, and mistakes and misunderstandings can happen. But although Martin's hosts hundreds of events a year, this is the only wedding reception we will ever have, and we spent a lot of time and money planning this and trusting that they would carry out their services. Many of my guests still remember and bring up the noise that disrupted our evening. As a bride, you don't want this to be the impression left in your guests' memories of your special day."