We used Shaded Celebrations based on a recommendation from friends who own a business in town and use this company for all of their events. Our experience started out great. However, once we realized the weather wasn’t going to cooperate and we needed a larger tent and sidewalls, everything went downhill. I first emailed requesting a larger tent, sidewalls, and chairs in addition to our original order of high-top tables, linens, and a smaller tent. My email went unanswered for two days. I eventually called and was able to reach Tom. They couldn’t provide the size tent we needed, which I completely understood, but Tom suggested adding another tent onto a larger tent with gutters. Great! He also told me they would arrive the day before our event between 2:00 and 4:00 PM to set everything up. Perfect. We all took time off work to be there and ready for them. At 4:15 PM, I still hadn’t seen or heard from anyone, so I called Tom. When he answered, I got the typical, “Oh, I was just about to text you.” He then asked me to map out exactly where the tent was going because they were going to be late. “How late?” I asked. His response was 8:00 PM. I understand that things happen, especially when the weather forces multiple events to change plans. What bothered me was the complete lack of urgency, sympathy, or even an apology. He sounded very matter-of-fact about the entire situation. He eventually showed up around 7:15 PM and set up the tent in the dark. He then left without saying anything, and two other guys arrived to install the sidewalls. They didn’t finish until around 11:00 PM. At that point, I noticed that the linens we received were white, even though we had ordered colored linens. I texted Tom immediately, explained the issue, and asked that the correct linens be brought over by noon the following day. No response. I texted again at noon. Still no response. We finally received a response about an hour before our party stating that “they” must have ordered the wrong linens and that we would be receiving a $150 refund on our card. My biggest issue with this entire experience wasn’t even the weather-related delays or the incorrect linens. It was the lack of communication and the feeling that our business simply didn’t matter. I would estimate that 70% of the time I reached out, I received no response at all. When I did receive a response, it was often hours and hours later. I honestly felt like we didn’t matter because we were a smaller party. We weren’t a large wedding or a business event. But every customer should matter, regardless of the size of their event. A bit of advice: Even if you don’t care, pretend you do. Pretend every customer matters—not just the big ones. A simple response, an apology, or a little communication would have made a huge difference in our experience.
Posted on Google 
