Member- MrsDavistobe
- 4 years ago
- Wedding: August 2014
Ok. This is mainly a (long) vent but can I also have your opinion/guidance?
I hired a wedding planner to help with actually planning my wedding. I know I have the final decision on things but I need help with theme/decor/vendors, etc. I’m getting married 4 hours from where I currently live and I thought it would help to have someone local to that area help me. Also, we picked our date with only 3 months of planning to plan!
The planner talked a good game up front but I’m so not impressed and have lost confidence in her ability to plan my “dream” day. (To me) She really doesn’t seem at all interested in planning. I selected the full planning package because I need(ed) everything. I signed the contract and send the deposit a month ago and I still don’t have anything lined or vendors booked. She hasn’t really said much about my wedding or has even really asked me what we want.
Maybe I have the wrong expectation of what a “planner” does. I’m ready to part ways with this “planner”. She’s causing me more stress and I feel like I probably would be further along if I was doing it myself. Here are just a few of my complaints.
1. I only get an email from her either late at night (11pm) or early in the morning (6am) and usually her emails to me are a response to an email I’ve sent.
2. Her communication with me has been very reactive instead of proactive. She only sends me an email or calls after I’ve emailed or called her.
3. Because nothing was “happening” (no talk of caters, cakes, etc) I asked her for a checklist of sorts to keep everyone on the same page. She emails me a generic checklist PDF that I can find online. Silly me for thinking she would send me something pertaining to my situation (it didn’t have to be a formal checklist). The checklist she provided had a list of things to which should be done 9 – 12 months before your wedding, etc etc. Ummm… I don’t have 9 months I have 10 weeks (at the time of that email). I spoke with her about that and she said that I could just ignore the things that don’t pertain to me.
4. I ask her suggestions on color palette, decorations, flowers, etc and she tells me to go on Pinterest or Google images for ideas. Ummm….I’ve posted things on Pinterest (which she’s following my board). I’m not good with “designing” so I know everything on my Pinterest board won’t “go” together.
5. I asked her to explain to me again each of our roles and responsibilities. She told me she handles the big things which is making sure the vendors arrive on the wedding day and that they set up. She doesn’t set up the reception site (tables, chairs, etc). She can put out our centerpieces and favors if we’d like. *sigh*. So, everything before the vendors arriving are “little details” which I’ll do.
6. She sent me a couple of cake bakers whom she’s worked with in the past. I told her I’d love to set up a tasting with them. She then tells me neither are available on my date. Why even send them to me if they aren’t available.
7. I asked her for an update on everything and she said that we had plenty of time (15 weeks) to “get our ducks in a row” since my wedding is September 27th. Actually, we only had a little less than 10 weeks – my wedding is August 23rd.
Ok, my list can go on and on but I’ll stop there. I really want to part ways with this planner. At this point I don’t trust that anything will get accomplished since 4 weeks in, I’m still at the same spot as before we started.
Has anyone “fired” their planner before? How did you do it? The contract doesn’t state any termination clauses. It just states that there is a non-refundable deposit which at this point I’m willing to sacrifice for my sanity.
