We are a family run business specialising in the hire of extraordinary giant Nordic tipis for weddings to provide a visually stunning alternative to a standard white marquee. At World Inspired Tents we are passionate about tipi weddings, and over the years have become somewhat expert in supporting brides and grooms to create a magical and memorable day!
Although we have held many hundreds of weddings in the tipis, we realise that every customer has a unique set of ideas and requirements. This is why a dedicated Event Co-ordinator is assigned to each customer, and works with them from receiving the initial enquiry to the take down of the tipis, ensuring that the little details are never overlooked.
Unfortunately our "unique set of ideas and requirements" were not looked after by this company. Initial communication was great but although we were assured that we could make changes until the final months before the wedding, there was no evidence of a "dedicated Event Co-ordinator" with our emails going unanswered for months at a time, it meant we incurred additional charges from other vendors as we were unable to add/remove elements of our order with this company. We also needed to arrange with our venue for additional staff to ensure a particular entrance was clear for the tipi (due to the weight of the vehicle bringing the tipi and the main entrance being over a small bridge) to be delivered. Frantically trying to make arrangements up to the morning of delivery and recieving no communication from world inspired tents that this was in fact not necessary as they had arranged another vehicle. Emails went unanswered and we didn't hear from them until requesting some of our photos to use as promotional material.
We booked a tipi from World Inspired Tents for our wedding. This review would be a five star review if not for a specific incident. One month before the wedding, we met with Xavier and discussed adding on a mini-tipi seating area, with bean bags. After getting back and measuring the space, we were not convinced the mini-tipi would fit, so asked how much the bean bags would be by themselves. Despite chasing, I heard nothing for two weeks, when we were informed that he had "been waiting for another client".
We were now two weeks away from our event, with no seating area. Under no circumstances do I find this situation professional or acceptable. Either he offered us the seating, despite it being booked, or offered it to someone else knowing that we wanted it. If it was first come, first served, he should have responded so that we could pay for it. If it had already been booked, he should have let us know so we could find an alternative with more than two weeks to spare. It felt very much like we were kept in his back pocket, in case the other client didn't work out, which I did not appreciate. What I found most frustrating what that I explained how I felt and he never responded.
With the exception of that, I was impressed overall. The booking process was simple and the fees / options clearly laid out. When the tipi arrived, it looked even better than I could have imagined and everyone was impressed. Plus, the guys who put it up and took it down were fantastic. I would absolutely use them again, but would urge Xavier to have a think about the above.