We held our wedding reception here in June 2011. My husband and I were worried about the costs involved, but were swayed by a winter wedding discount and by the lovely building.

The first warning bells went off when the carpet and entire layout of the room we booked was changed without telling us. The dance floor in the upstairs room we'd booked was moved, which was partially the reason we booked in the first place. Communication with our advisor was limited, with weeks going by with no return emails or contact phone calls. I had to constantly remind them of details for our wedding, there was no follow up from staff, and when we finally received our final invoice days before the wedding, we were horrified to see that they had added GST to our total - unheard of. We caused a fuss about this and were told it was an 'error', but I'd hate to see how many people didn't ask questions about this.

We were set to arrive at Curzon Hall at 4:30pm on the wedding day - we were assured that despite other weddings being booked, entrances were staggered so that we wouldn't run into any other bridal parties. It was raining on the day, and when we arrived, there were at least TWO other bridal parties taking up the front entrance, the driveway, and the surrounding front area of the building. Staff did not manage these bridal parties, and we were left waiting around to take pictures while nobody bothered to hurry the other brides along. We weren't allowed to enter the building until another bride was finished on the steps - so we waited around under the balcony in the cold, as the light faded.

The final straw was us walking inside to go to our booked bridal suite, only to find that it had been double booked and given to another bride. My father had to argue with management to eventually sort this out. The planner I had been dealing with was not present during the evening, so I had no point of contact.

The deep fryers broke, so our canapés did not go out on time. The new carpet that had been laid down was spongy, and guest chairs continually fell over during the evening. Several of our special meal guests either received the wrong meal, or no meal at all. The DJ was constantly in and out of the room, checking on other weddings. Our wait staff were very young.

A cake was included in part of our package deal, however we paid extra for a non-mud-cake with fresh flowers and no fondant - this turned out to be a complete disaster. The staff had convinced me that a perfectly decorated foam cake would work best, with the sponge tiers to be served afterwards - done discreetly so that guests would not know the difference. After the cake cutting, the cake platters were brought out - but the uncut fake cut was left in clear sight of everyone. Worst of all, the cake served on the tables was MUD CAKE, with fondant and in the complete wrong flavours. We paid an extra $230 for the privilege of getting a stock standard cake.

I will give credit where credit is due and say that the food itself was lovely. The many things that went wrong were NOT ones I expected when paying $133 per head, off peak. The attention to detail was not good enough, the day was not personalised at all, and I ended up organising most of the details myself.

After the wedding, we complained about a variety of these things, and communication with the management is still absolutely terrible. We have been fighting tooth and nail, even going to the dept. of fair trading, and we're still dealing with inept staff months later. Be warned.

If you're looking for a lovely building and don't care about the service or the fine details, by all means, book Curzon Hall. If you're looking for a wedding venue where YOU matter, steer clear.