Navarra Venues Headoffice - Rozelle, New South Wales

Buse H.

I am very surprised by the service standards of such a big company in the wedding industry. I wish I had read the reviews before even bothering to enquire. We enquired on a venue and it took repeated phone calls to get an email response. In addition to this, the email received did not even address what was queried (including pricing) and we were told that they will only discuss over the phone. It is absurd expecting couples to make time for an inspection in the middle of the week and attend phone calls. We would rather spend our money overseas and get the service to compensate.

Jacky L.

WARNING: TO ALL COUPLES LOOKING TO GET MARRIED AT LE MONTAGE!!!!

I am writing to provide feedback on our wedding from September 22, 2024. While we had high expectations for a smooth and memorable day, several issues arose that significantly impacted our experience.

Coordinator Changes: Throughout the planning process, wedding coordinator changed three times. While we understand staff turnover, lack of communication between handovers meant we had to repeatedly relay our plans over and over again.

Ceremony Delays: Our ceremony was scheduled to start at 3 PM in the Glasshouse. However, all our guests were kept waiting outside until 2:55 PM. I called Le Montage wedding coordinator for an explanation and rectify the issue. To my surprise, I found out that she was not working. We met the Monday before and was assured that we would see her on Sunday. Despite my brother inquiring at 2:30 PM and being rudely told to leave, no reason was provided. This caused delay to ceremony and disrupted agenda.

Room Preparation: On a hot day, the ceremony room was extremely stuffy as the air conditioning was not on until requested. No common sense.

Reception Setup: During MY break on MY wedding day between 4-6 PM, I found several issues in the reception room, including dirty chairs, jumbled name cards, and missing seats/cutlery sets. I had to address these issues myself and spent more than 1 hour of MY TIME on MY WEDDING DAY. I asked the manager, why is everything all incorrect and not prepared correctly, was responded with ‘Sorry, I am not 100% across your wedding as I was only assigned today’.

Cake Delivery: One hour before reception, we were asked about the cake delivery by the assistant. I asked the manager where is the cake and he found it in the fridge, causing unnecessary stress. What kind of company have their employees not check before asking?

Entree Timing: We were asked to move our entree time earlier due to other functions running simultaneously. This showed poor planning and foresight.

AV Issues: Hired TVs with AV team from Le Montage for $3,000 to display videos (baby photos and a surprise for my wife) and translations for speech to parents. Initially videos did not work, and I inquired why the TVs were not on. Manager informed me that videos were not working, despite sent them a week prior and asking my coordinator to ensure they were functional. When I asked if the videos had been checked before the event, response was, "no, sorry". I then spent 20 minutes in the back trying to resend the videos via email, wasting valuable time on MY wedding day. They offered me a bottle of scotch and a full refund for the hire, which I assumed it would still be available to take after the wedding. Although the issue was partially resolved, the videos stop start throughout the night and ultimately it caused significant stress for the night.

Complaint Handling: Took a week to receive a response. COO's reply was dismissive, and the reimbursement offered was inconsistent with original offer. COO offered $750 refund for a night that should have been memorable but was instead stressful. To add insult to injury, the COO's behavior and responses were repulsive:

- "I can say sorry to you. I apologize you feel hard done by."
> Inappropriate response from COO of a supposedly well-respected company.

- "Sometimes things happen like in all walks of life, and as said it is the remedy that truly matters."
> Remedies are important, but mistakes should not have occurred.

"The blame towards staff I can understand your direction, however no one can know for certain if the stacks were incorrect or the placement was incorrect or something happened in between."
> Lack of accountability, as it was clearly their mistake. Insufficient sets of cutlery and chairs led to jumbled seat cards. Additionally, they lost two name cards.

Expected accountability and a sincere apology, but never once got a callback.

The point for this review is let every couple that are considering to have your wedding there to AVOID it. They are just money grabbers!

Hardik P.

Extremely Disappointing Service – Not Recommended

My experience with Navarra, Lilyfield has been highly unsatisfactory. During our initial meeting, they were very persuasive and promised to accommodate all our requests. However, once we signed the contract and made the initial payment, the quality of service drastically declined. The initial contact, Domic, was sidelined, and the event coordinator took over, introducing numerous restrictions and a “No, you must do this and that” attitude. We are now left feeling frustrated and unsupported, as we were paying to celebrate our event, not to face constant limitations.

I strongly advise against booking this venue. Even a community hall would offer better service than what we encountered here.

Jennifer H.

Due to the price tag and reputation of Navarra, I expected great service for our wedding but it really felt the small details on the day did not matter to Navarra. Here is why:

How our wedding day started:

On arrival, I noticed a floral arch from the previous wedding.

After our wedding photos, the Event Coordinator took my arm, led me to a different suite, asked me to sit down and told me that the champagne tower had been smashed.

I asked for two flavours of the arancini balls served in our food station but they had run out.

The venue decided to delay the entry to the reception by 40 mins as the cake supplier was delayed. This meant we missed out on 30 minutes of our entertainment.

This also meant that they ran out of beer and wine glasses at the outdoor drinks reception and some of our elderly guests were left without seats and in the cold for almost two hours.

They resorted to serving sparkling wine in warm tumblers.

Even though we had provided spirits, staff tried to charge one guest $250 for a bottle of spirit and tried to charge me $24 for two vodkas - there was not meant to be any bar staff, just table service.

Some guests did actually pay for the spirits we provided - this took weeks to be returned to us.

On the night staff:

The spirits on the tables weren’t replenished and staff had to be asked multiple times to refill.

The bridal party dinner was served last and during the first dance so we didn’t get to eat at the same time as everyone else - it was also cold by the time we managed to eat.

On the mezze, I asked the waiter to serve me first but he refused so I had to eat the mezze during the speeches - not a good look from the bride.

Staff did not know where the bridal suite was.

The bridal suite we were given was covered in tissues from the previous event - my brother thought there was blood on them - yuck!

The mezze that was meant to be replenished wasn’t.

Despite this, the grounds are beautiful, the food was great and the Event Coordinator tried to resolve the angst caused on the night. To be honest, it was too late by then.

The owner of Navarra was also there so it was a nice touch to meet him.

Fiona K.

I was trying to get in touch with the event organizers venue to inquire about their all-inclusive package. I was contacted twice by the venue, once by phone and once by email. The phone call came during my work hours, and the email response said that they would prefer to talk by phone and were unable to send me the price range in writing.

I was very disappointed with the customer service I received from the venue. I understand that they may prefer to talk by phone, but it is not professional to call someone during their work hours without an appointment. Additionally, I was unable to find any information about the all-inclusive package on the venue's website, so I was hoping to get some basic information in writing.

The venue's marketing plan also seems to be outdated. They are still using cold calling as their primary way of generating leads, which is a very ineffective strategy in today's digital age. I would recommend that the venue update their marketing plan to focus on online channels, such as social media and search engine optimization.

Overall, I was very disappointed with the customer service and marketing at the event organizers venue.

Victoria O.

I attended a wedding at Curzon Hall and was part of the bridal party. The staff that the bride and groom dealt with were rude, unprofessional and unresponsive. This created unnecessary extra stress for the bride and groom. On the wedding day, the staff member we dealt with was rude and seemed intoxicated. The bridal suite was dirty and smelt of cigarettes. The wrong welcome sign was put up at the ceremony area which caused confusion for the wedding guests. There was a lack of management and direction on the day. It was raining on the day and there was no plan B.
Although this is a beautiful venue, I would not recommend this venue to anybody due to the unprofessional and rude staff.

Jasmine Y.

I was the maid of honour for a wedding here. For a premium wedding venue, it didn’t feel premium. The manager on site was unpleasant to deal with and was rude to the groomsmen and photographers upon arrival. The bridal suite smelt like cigarettes and the drinks and canapés weren’t served before the ceremony begun. The staff were disorganised and not communicating with the bridal party before walking down the aisle. There was no plan B for the outdoor ceremony when it was forecasted to rain, so guests were either sitting in the rain or standing under the shelter 150m away. One of the entrance songs for the reception wasn’t changed after receiving unprofessional confirmation and the set up of the bridal party table was incorrect. There are better and more professional wedding venues and organisers out there so choose them instead.

Andre M.

Navarra venues at Le Montage delivered an absolutely incredible experience for my wedding. They were very organised, communicated regularly in the lead up, kept us fully informed along the way, and made us feel like superstars on our special day. They did a great job coordinating the suppliers and gave us peace of mind. Cate was very professional and friendly and showed genuine care towards our big day! All service staff were friendly, efficient and sharp. Thank you Navarra team.