KM
Kaitlyn Mendoza
Mar 14, 2025
We held our wedding reception on Nov 7, 2025 and NDA was the only vendor who stressed us out. To be fair, the food was delicious especially the filet mignon and hour’s devours. However, the lead up and post-event were so terrible, that it overshadowed our wedding.
We originally signed an agreement with NDA after working with Megan Golas, who was easy to work with. Megan worked with us to negotiate down some costs and most importantly, confirmed that our alcohol package—which was the highest package available at NDA—would include “His and Her” cocktails.
Shortly after signing the agreement, we were assigned a new event coordinator, as Megan stopped working for the Harwood District portfolio. We were assigned Lauren Mathis.
From the initial conversation to the actual reception, Lauren was incompetent, rude, and completely unavailable. Not only was she unprofessional, she began changing details within our reception that we previously agreed upon with Megan. When flagging this to Lauren, her answer was, “that’s just not how we do things,” or would blame Megan. Lauren took no ownership or responsibility. Lauren changed the alcohol ppp from $70/pp to $85/pp and said that “His and Her” cocktails were not included unless we paid $85/pp. Since we originally negotiated $70/pp with Megan, this was a significant change.
More-so, it was impossible to get into contact with Lauren. I emailed her time and time again and my emails were not addressed. Even in the last four weeks leading up to my wedding, both my wedding coordinator and I could not get ahold of her.
Due to the lack of communication, I began calling the restaurant and were able to get in touch with the GM, Linda. Initially, Linda was very helpful and revealed that Harwood District was down event coordinators so their team was swamped. We were very understanding and Linda helped us solved and confirm our event details. Linda shared verbatim, “we will honor the original contract and what Megan negotiated with you for your reception.” However, when we received the final BOE seven days before the wedding, not a single thing was honored and NDA changed pricing on us last minute (specifically the cocktail package) and gave us a swirl on why things changed. Both Lauren and Linda were on the emails for the final event confirmation, and when Lauren sent over a BOE that did not honor our original agreement, Linda did not step in. Linda was radio silent as if the conversation never happened. This generated anxiety and back-and-forth between the wedding coordinator, the restaurant, and myself. The last few days before your wedding, you want to focus on your last few days as a fiancee and spend time with family; not spiral over an unorganized and deceptive event team.
During our wedding reception, the drinks and food were delicious. The head chef was so lovely and came out to greet us (the bride and groom), before giving a tray of whatever food we wanted before the actual reception began. TY for this!
At the end of the event, as we were leaving at closing time, Linda yelled at our guests to get out of the restaurant. A black tie event, and yet a GM is screaming at people to leave
Not to mention, Lauren and Linda said we could have fire candles at the event. On the day of, they said it was “a fire hazard” so we had unlit candles everywhere instead of fake candles which we would’ve been more than happy to supply instead.
Let me be very clear, if our food was not so good at the event, we would have brought in our legal team. As someone who works in production, I’ve never seen such an unorganized, unprofessional, and unethical team and I’m glad the event is over.