We recently asked a question on our Instagram stories; "What do you wish you’d done differently when planning your wedding?" We had a huge amount of responses and will be sharing a blog about these soon! But, one reply really struck a chord with us...
Sadly not all businesses have their customer's best interests at heart. This is so upsetting to us, as we put our heart and soul into our work and love nothing more than seeing delighted faces and receiving glowing testimonials following the thousands of weddings and events we have had the honour of being hired to decorate. We know that we are a reliable company, and that we put our customers first, but we realise you might not know this, so with permission, we are sharing the lovely bride's story about her experience, in the hopes that even if you don’t choose us, you will be better informed and able to select suppliers who care as much as we do!
One Brides Story …
At the time when I was planning my wedding, I hadn’t heard of Epic Event Hire. I had instead found a company that came up on Facebook. I read some reviews on their page and booked chair covers and hessian sashes with them. It wasn’t price-driven, purely just seeing her advertise and have good reviews ... I was naive enough to believe they were real!
Four days before the wedding I contacted the company to confirm the timing, etc. The owner said she had to travel to family up north due to a bereavement however, she would be travelling back the day before my wedding to ensure she was available to setup. Me being me sent my apologies for interrupting at such a hard time and sent my sympathy.
Two days before the wedding I messaged a couple of times to confirm she would definitely be back on time, but received no reply despite me being able to see that my messages had been read. I sent a further 4 more messages the day before my wedding, all of which were again read, and finally the owner replied to say they were too distressed to travel. I was promised a refund ASAP, however, as a bride the room dressing was a huge thing to me and I had less than a day to find another supplier!
We hadn’t planned a huge fancy wedding as we had both married previously. My mum had become poorly with bowel cancer (thankfully now fine) so moved things forward. However, the chairs and sashes were a must-have on the list. I was so upset. A friend saw my Facebook post and said “why not try Epic? My friend used them and they were amazing!” So I rang, with everything crossed and Kerry (owner of Epic Event Hire) reassured me it would be no problem at all!
Within a few hours, I had a team of 4 at my venue and in no time I had beautifully dressed chairs, all done with smiles and reassurance. I had got Kerry some flowers as a thank you which didn’t nearly seem enough. Cost-wise Epic was no more expensive than my original booking yet 100% more reliable. Epic are a company that truly knows how much these things mean on someone’s big day. The other company, (which I later found had supposedly had many bereavements!) disappeared off Facebook after I outed them on social media, in an effort to obtain my refund and to stop them ruining another couple's special day.
Thank you for saving the day!
We are so glad we were in a position to help on this occasion. Last-minute bookings are not always possible for us or any reputable company to accommodate as they will likely already be fully booked. This is why it’s so important to find the right suppliers for you, and feel confident that they will deliver on their promises.
Here are some of our top tips to help you to find reliable, quality suppliers:
Get recommendations of suppliers from friends and family, ensuring they are businesses they have personally used.
Speak to your venue or wedding planner for their suggestions
See if your venue is hosting a wedding fair and make a point of visiting. The suppliers will often be familiar with the venue, and the venue with them. You will also have the opportunity to meet with them in person and ask any questions and get a better sense of the people behind the business.
Check their online presence, do they have more than just a Facebook page such as a Website, My Google Biz, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, youtube, etc. They don’t need to be active on all these channels, what is most important is to look at the information they are sharing. Are they posting regular, up to date relevant content?Are reviews readily visible, of a high quality and spanning a reasonable time frame to help build up an idea of their quality of work.
Are they local? This can avoid issues around travel should they occur.
Have they worked at the venue before and are familiar with the layout and access, etc.
You can check out our Facebook Reviews and Google Reviews, you’ll also find us regularly posting on Facebook and Instagram and you can view details and pricing of all our hire items and services on our website.
If you have any questions or would like to book us we are only an email away at info@epiceventhire.co.uk
We look forward to hearing from you!
Team Epic x