Food not cooked, so bride & groom ask
radio station to tell guests:
DON'T
COME
to our wedding reception
GONE TO WASTE:
(Above) Six packets of raw chickren and mutton being thrown
away.
SUPPORT: (Left) Guests came to give moral support
even though there was no food for them. Mr Alimuddin Senin and Ms
Siti Nurfitri (above) are grateful to these guests.
REPORT: NATASYA ISMAIL
IT WAS to have been their big day on Sunday, celebrating their
wedding with relatives and friends.
Instead, Ms Siti Nurfitri Hanafi, 21, and her
husband, Mr Alimuddin Senin, 24, had to suffer the embarrassment
that their wedding reception had been called off.
Then they spent the next day going to a police
station, the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) and the
Subordinate Courts to file reports. All because their wedding
planner. Enchanted Wedding, had allegedly not fulfilled what was
promised in the $15,000 wedding package the couple had booked.
Among their complaints: The stage was not set up
properly, there was not enough food on Saturday, and worse, the
food was not even cooked for the main celebrations on Sunday.
The couple, who had registered their marriage in
August, had no choice but to call off the reception.
And to make sure that their guests did not show up,
they asked Malay radio station Warna to announce on air that the
reception had been cancelled.
Their woes began on Saturday afternoon when the
families first saw the wedding decorations at a multi-purpose hall
at Block 772, Woodlands Drive 60.
Mr Alimuddin's mother, Madam Noraini Sabtu, 51 told
The New Paper yesterday in a mix of English and Malay: "They
promised that the dais would be nice, but when we saw it, it looked
like it would collapse any time.
"The cloth was torn and dirty. The chairs for the
bride and groom were rusty and looked like they had been used many
times."
Ms Siti said the chairs for the guests had not
arrived and the tablecloths were left in a heap on a table.
"It was very embarrassing for me to let the guests
see the place in such a mess," she said.
At 5pm, when about 150 guests had arrived, the 30kg
of sup tulang (mutton bone soup) that was promised was nowhere to
be found.
Mr Alimuddin, an auxiliary police officer with
Singapore Airport Terminal Services, said: "We didn't see any food
being cooked. From then on, we knew the ceremony wouldn't go on
perfectly."
He said they had signed up for the My Fair Wedding
package last September and had paid $13,000 of the total fee of
$15,200.
The package included invitation cards, a wedding
cake, dais and banquets on Saturday and Sunday.
The couple claimed that only 50 per cent of the
package was fulfilled.
Madam Noraini said that Ms Fiza Azmi, the owner of
Enchanted Wedding, had promised to prepare 30kg of sup tulang for
Saturday but the cooking had not even started at 5pm.
Ms Fiza left at 5pm and returned only at 7pm with
about 10kg of sup tulang in seven packets she had bought from a
stall at Beach Road, said Ms Siti.
"We didn't want to confront her at this point
because we didn't want to make a scene during the celebrations,"
explained Ms Siti.
Madam Noraini said: "Imagine this, nothing was
happening in the kitchen. The fire was not even lit, the
ingredients were not ready and there was no gas."
She had to cook some dishes herself at home and
bring them to the wedding venue as the sup tulang was not enough to
feed the guests.
Turned up with raw food
The cooking for Sunday's banquet was supposed to
have started just after midnight. But Ms Fiza had taken off, saying
said she would be back only at 1am, Madam Noraini said.
Ms Fiza turned up at 1am with raw ingredients, such
as chicken and mutton.
Madam Noraini, who works as a production operator,
said: "The cook, an elderly woman, came only at 2am. By this time,
Ms Fiza was gone again. At 3a.m, when she came back, the cook
suddenly fainted.
"Fiza kept calling her 'mak =, mak' (Malay for
mother) to wake her up. That was when I found out she had asked her
mother to cook.
"It seemed that the regular cook had quit."
The elderly woman returned home after refusing to
seek treatment for her fainting spell.
Madam Noraini was upset to see her son's wedding
celebrations in shambles.
At around 4am, she and her husband decided that the
reception could not go on.
Calls were made to relatives and at 8am, Warna
announced that the ceremony had been called off.
This is not the first time complaints had been made
against Enchanted Wedding. (See report above.)
TNP reported in January about another couple's big
day that was ruined when Enchanted Wedding allegedly failed to
provide enough food for their guests and what was served was
stale.
Ironically, Ms Siti had worked at Enchanted Wedding
for two years and chose Ms Fiza to plan her wedding because she
trusted her as a friend despite the complaints.
"She assured me that she was not going to repeat
what had happened in previous weddings that received complaints,"
she said.
Ms Siti and her husband were grateful to the 500
guests who turned up on Sunday to give them moral support despite
knowing there was no food.
"For now, we have decided not to have a wedding
reception. This incident has really opened our eyes to be more
alert in case such things were to happen again," she said.
Attempts to contact Ms Fiza for comment yesterday
were unsuccessful.
Salvaging the situation
1 The goom, Mr Alimuddin
Senin, cleared the multi-purpose hall which was in a mess.
2 His mother, Madam Noraini
Sabtu, fried noodles as the seven packs of "sup tulang" (mutton
bone soup) were not enough to feed the guests on Saturday.
3 Mr Alimuddin bought packet
drinks for the guests as beverages had not being prepared.
4 The couple chatted and
entertained their guests to make them feel comfortable and to
compensate for the lack of food.
5 On Sunday morning, an
announcement was made by the couple on local radio station Warna to
inform their guests that the main wedding dinner was off.
Case received complaints against wedding
planner before
REPORT: NUR
SHEREEN IBRAHIM
THERE have been five complaints against Enchanted Wedding to the
Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) this year, compared to
two last year.
Case executive director, Mr Seah Seng Choon, told
The New Paper in an e-mail that it is unfair practice for
businesses to make claims that their services are of a particular
quality or standard when they are not.
"A wedding is an once-in-a-lifetime event for most
consumers, and they expect the highest standard of service from the
wedding planner.
"Consumers who engage the services of the wedding
planner have placed their trust in the company and count on its
ability to provide the service as promised," he said.
"In this case, the company in question did not live
up to its promises, such as providing a proper lunch reception for
the guests.
"The failure to deliver is unacceptable and
consumers have a right to seek redress under the Consumer
Protection (Fair Trading) Act."
Enchanted Wedding, which has been around since
2009, was set up by a couple, Mr Ejay Reyzal and Miss Fiza Azmi,
who are in their 20s.
Their Facebook page can no longer be found but
their website indicates that "making a momentous moment to the
bride and groom are always (their) slogan in business."
Case reported a total number of 31 cases involving
the bridal industry last year and nine so far this year.
Madam Roslina Juri, 41, owner of Wedding &
Romance, a wedding consultancy established in 2005, warned those
planning to tie the knot to be wary of vendors who offer
"under-one-roof" packages.
"For packages, you must know who your
subcontractors are so you will know who is working (for your
wedding)," she said.
News, The New Paper, October 1 2013, Pg 2-3