Okay, so we had our special day Saturday October 2nd, it was perfect and magical, we are both so happy, here’s a beautiful picture, blah blah blah. ANYWAY, who wants to hear some wedding planner drama?? 🍶🍵🫖
At first we were not going to have a wedding planner, but complications with the pandemic plus watching Jamie Wolfer’s videos convinced me to hire one 4 months before the big day. Most of the planners I contacted were already booked, but I decided on someone who had a glowing online endorsement from our hair/makeup vendor and a very professional looking website and social media presence.
Early on, I noticed the communication wasn’t great, and nothing would get done unless I booked a call with her, but because I’m non-confrontational I tried my best to be forgiving. She also wouldn’t follow-up on things she said she would do, like find us transportation/shuttle service vendors or communicate with our existing vendors, so I ended up doing pretty much everything myself with the help of my fiancé (now husband) and family. I still thought I would cut her some slack and hoped she would come through on the actual wedding day.
We found out the day before that our reception venue contact didn’t even KNOW we had a wedding planner, which means she definitely wasn’t communicating with her like she said she was. She showed up late on the wedding day. She didn’t bring a pop-up tent for the ceremony musicians like she said she would. She asked the groom to bring a tablecloth to the ceremony site a little more than an HOUR before it started. She did not do any tear-down of the reception space.
Of course, when the groom’s dad left a bad review online, she immediately contacted us, and we told her our concerns and feedback in a very kind and constructive manner. She replied very defensively, told us other planners would have charged us more for extras she provided such as water and juice at the ceremony for guests (which would’ve been maybe $5?), and she basically blamed us for having too high expectations. My mom wrote back in a much more up-front and blunt manner than us, and she has yet to respond.
WELL. In the past few days, she has received MANY more negative reviews, and it turns out our situation was not NEARLY as bad. One couple had rented a tent through her for their wedding and never received it, and another couple requested a refund due to poor communication and she never responded, so they are taking her to small claims court 😱😱😱
Luckily, our day was still absolutely incredible, our other vendors were amazing, and our guests all had a GREAT time.
Moral of the story: listen to your gut the moment something feels off, and don’t be afraid to communicate your concerns and find someone else if the working relationship is not compatible 🙂 Anyone else have any vendor horror stories?
(Photography by Emerald & Fox Photo)
