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Quality of service
3.0 out of 5 rating
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Average response time
1.0 out of 5 rating
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Professionalism
4.0 out of 5 rating
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Value
1.0 out of 5 rating
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Flexibility
1.0 out of 5 rating
Day of Coordination
I had hired eternally yours events for day of coordinator and DJ services. I want to say that the DJ service was wonderful and the DJ was energetic and even suggested the shoe game which was a big hit. I had no issues with the dj service.
However, the wedding day coordination did not go so well. This is a new service that has been added. Unfortunately, a couple of days prior to the wedding I was told I was a charity bride from the coordinator and she was trying to do the bare minimum. I had no communication prior to two days and my contract said two weeks of email/phone communication prior to wedding. There were services that were initially offered and then I was told how much I should be paying for them. I felt so bad that I ended up having my entire bridal party do all the tasks that I hired the wedding day coordinator for. I was told several times my wedding was going to be a “disaster” prior to the wedding and I ended up having to take time off from work because I was so upset as I had worked so hard on my wedding! I can’t go into much detail because my contract prohibits me to do so. I debated on writing anything on this service but I would hate to have a bride go through this.
I was 99 percent ready to forgo this service if it hadn’t been for the dj package we also had obtained through this company. I was told too many unrealistic recommendations only DAYS before the wedding even though I told the coordinator I had everything completed she insisted it was wrong. I was told to have 50 gallons of water for a party of 40 guests on a cool 65 degree day. I was very stressed as my wedding was only two days away and I had already made a different calculation! We ended up using less then 5-10 gallons of water. I ended up doing my own wedding timeline and put up 90 percent of the decorations in the morning of my wedding even though I hired a wedding day coordinator to help me. I was also told directly from my wedding coordinator that my wedding party of 40 would create a huge mess and wanted us to pay over $450.00 -550.00 for cleaners (2 people). I told her no and she still persisted and messaged my husband that she had a “good deal” of $50 off. In addition, she was persistent that we needed another $500-1500 shuttle for our guests even though we told her that everyone was staying in different locations and it wouldn’t even be possible. We had people coming from Seattle, the island, Everett and Vancouver. Washington. In the end she was professional but I was made to feel like a charity bride and I could tell she did not want to be there. It was heartbreaking for me as I am a very caring person and just wanted some support on my big day.
But I do want to say that we had the BEST wedding day assistant through eternallyyoursevents weddings, Bridget. She went above and beyond and actually wanted me to be stress free! I would recommend Bridget if you do go through this company! She had wonderful ideas on decorating ceremony chairs and my welcome table! She worked her butt off.
I had hired eternally yours events for day of coordinator and DJ services. I want to say that the DJ service was wonderful and the DJ was energetic and even suggested the shoe game which was a big hit. I had no issues with the dj service.
However, the wedding day coordination did not go so well. This is a new service that has been added. Unfortunately, a couple of days prior to the wedding I was told I was a charity bride from the coordinator and she was trying to do the bare minimum. I had no communication prior to two days and my contract said two weeks of email/phone communication prior to wedding. There were services that were initially offered and then I was told how much I should be paying for them. I felt so bad that I ended up having my entire bridal party do all the tasks that I hired the wedding day coordinator for. I was told several times my wedding was going to be a “disaster” prior to the wedding and I ended up having to take time off from work because I was so upset as I had worked so hard on my wedding! I can’t go into much detail because my contract prohibits me to do so. I debated on writing anything on this service but I would hate to have a bride go through this.
I was 99 percent ready to forgo this service if it hadn’t been for the dj package we also had obtained through this company. I was told too many unrealistic recommendations only DAYS before the wedding even though I told the coordinator I had everything completed she insisted it was wrong. I was told to have 50 gallons of water for a party of 40 guests on a cool 65 degree day. I was very stressed as my wedding was only two days away and I had already made a different calculation! We ended up using less then 5-10 gallons of water. I ended up doing my own wedding timeline and put up 90 percent of the decorations in the morning of my wedding even though I hired a wedding day coordinator to help me. I was also told directly from my wedding coordinator that my wedding party of 40 would create a huge mess and wanted us to pay over $450.00 -550.00 for cleaners (2 people). I told her no and she still persisted and messaged my husband that she had a “good deal” of $50 off. In addition, she was persistent that we needed another $500-1500 shuttle for our guests even though we told her that everyone was staying in different locations and it wouldn’t even be possible. We had people coming from Seattle, the island, Everett and Vancouver. Washington. In the end she was professional but I was made to feel like a charity bride and I could tell she did not want to be there. It was heartbreaking for me as I am a very caring person and just wanted some support on my big day.
But I do want to say that we had the BEST wedding day assistant through eternallyyoursevents weddings, Bridget. She went above and beyond and actually wanted me to be stress free! I would recommend Bridget if you do go through this company! She had wonderful ideas on decorating ceremony chairs and my welcome table! She worked her butt off.
Eternally Yours Weddings & Events's reply:
Well, I am SINCERELY sorry that you feel this way, Stephanie. I appreciate the compliment regarding the DJ service, but your other feelings are beyond mind blowing to us.
1. Regarding the “charity bride” comment you believe I said. I never said that. What I did in fact say was this- The going rate in Washington state, for a Day Of Coordinator starts at $1500. You paid substantially less than that. You felt that your budget was sufficient to warrant what you asked for. I countered your offer clearly and concisely in a professional manner when you retained our services- as I genuinely believe that every couple deserves to have a phenomenal Wedding Day.
I said “For the ABOVE BUDGET... I can definitely coordinate all vendors, SUPERVISE help set up/ help clean up for your wedding day for that budget; HOWEVER, the labor for more people would DEFINITELY go over your budget. To stay UNDER BUDGET, may I suggest 2-3 “artsy” family members or people that follow directions well. For cleanup, maybe a few of the guys or sturdy gals who don’t mind pitching in?”
This does not mean we do ALL THE CLEANING. This means we supervise and help a bit with a team of people from your wedding guests. I think that was more than abundantly clear.
Regarding not being responsive- There are over 50 emails between us from April to May alone, not counting June- not counting the 44 text messages between myself and your husband; 83 between myself, your husband and you in a joint text, and 184 Facebook Messages. Apparently, this is not enough communication to warrant “being communicative”. I apologize. I will sincerely try and touch base more than twice daily with all of our brides from now on.
I think what you feel a Day Of Coordinator was/ does and what a Partial or Complete Wedding Planner ( who makes THOUSANDS of dollars per wedding because of the hundreds of hours of work into it) was very confused, and at times, completely intertwined when they are two VERY DIFFERENT things
A Day Of Coordinator CAN do all of these things - when and if the budget accommodates this.
+takes over your planning job so you can enjoy yourself
-but in order to do this, you have to allow us to do so- this “ step back” was never done.
+meeting vendors and deliveries, handling any no-shows
+solving other last minute emergencies
+running the Rehearsal - we didn’t do one, against my wishes and per your request, as you didn’t want to run it without the officiant, and didn’t want to see Mike with full face makeup and hair done ( I don’t blame you, but during the day of, due to an insanely tight hair and makeup timeline- that is all the time we had to accommodate your previous wish.
+setting up the ceremony and reception spaces
( this was just one miscommunication- as we do not do floral design- we were asked to do 25 floral pieces for the ceremony the day of, by you- for no extra payment, no extra labor, and it was just assumed that we would do this and so much more)
+making sure the wedding party is on time and in the right places- I think that you can agree that your wedding party/guests OPTING to stay off island is out of my hands- as is traffic, coming up from Seattle to Camano. Add young children and as a mother of a 5 year old, Everything goes awry quickly. Nothing before the wedding was in our control- we did everything we could to try and control the chaos.
+Coordinating the reception timeline
- To say that you created the timeline and I did not, is NOT at all correct. In Day Of Coordination, we do this TOGETHER- in order to make sure all of your wishes that we CAN accommodate, are accounted for. In the EXTREMELY detailed, 5 Page, down to the minute timeline for both Day Of and Hair/Makeup that I spent almost 6 hours on- I am blown away that you felt I did nothing. My word document time stamp would disagree.
+Dealing with Wedding Crashers and Unruly Guests- didn’t need to happen. Your guests and family were wonderful.
+Ensuring your venue space is left clean and that you’ll get your deposits back-
THIS was the other “main point” of contention for us. We discussed our supervising your chosen team and us NOT doing everything.
Why? Because an all- hands-on-deck approach was needed since we had an original timeline end of 9:20 pm- this left us EXACTLY 70 minutes to be completely cleaned up and picked out. Set up and tear down done by ANY OTHER company charges $300-$800 for these services. Mike asked me specifically on the phone about 3 days prior to your wedding, to get him a quote for the labor for a team of teardown. I did not "persist" after " you said no." I was asked to do so. When a vendor lowers a previous offer, it is my duty to report it to you, even though I'm fairly certain I said " I know you said no, but I just wanted you to know they lowered their offer"... or something pretty darn close to that. It WAS NOT through our company, but another which I trusted to do a good job. That was THEIR RATE, not mine- but was EXCEEDINGLY AFFORDABLE, considering the commute from their home base to your venue on Camano Island.
+Collecting personal items, and making sure they get back to you safely-
I felt this would not go over well considering the animosity between us. I didn’t want there to be a question in your mind that we could be accused of untoward behavior. So in everyone’s best interest, I opted to have your sister and mother in law do this service, as they are people you know, love, and trust.
+Returning Rentals/Borrowed Items to the appropriate parties.
- as all the Rentals were from Venue and Catering, I left that to those vendors, as they are financially liable.
We did not assess travel fees, despite a 2 hour commute from Federal Way and an almost 3 hour commute from Enumclaw. A much needed hotel stay was paid for out of pocket. We didn’t ask you for any reimbursement.
There was no poteable water source at the venue. At the time, your caterer ( I incorrectly thought) was cooking/prepping some of the meal there and would need water. It wasn’t a cool day- it ended up being 80 degrees and almost all of us were sweating profusely. Even you yourself decided to stop waiting for guests because your bridal party was “ so hot”. If you recall, you held the ceremony for 1 additional hour, in order to accommodate guests- since you were all from out of town. I suggested 50 gallons of water, because I know Washington gets hot on a whim. Obviously not Arizona hot, but still hot. This was a discussion and not a demand, however. I was making this assertion based on the idea that the caterer, guests and decor would require “non-sulphurous smelling water”.
You asked us to pick up the floral decor, at no extra charge. I said sure to be helpful- because I was ORIGINALLY told everyone was on the island- which is why I suggested a shuttle to begin with, so your guests could enjoy themselves. It again was not through my company, but a company large enough to accommodate a very last minute ask. I did not get ANY benefit from them for suggesting them to you. I simply suggested it. It wasn’t EVER mandatory, OR even suggested as such.
When I realized you had people opting to stay in Seattle, and you were still asking us to pick up floral decor for the day of, this crossed the line. It seemed very much like you wanted us to do a ton of extra tasks and not be compensated for any of it. I had almost 80 hours into your event, and when you average that out, I made nothing. I lost money on your event. I still approached the day, professionally and happily, and was treated very coldly. I realized very quickly that nothing positive was coming from our interactions. So I sent Bridget to be at your side. You are absolutely right about her. She IS AMAZING!!! However- All of her actions the day of, were at MY request- as she was a new hire for us in February- but you couldn’t or wouldn’t see that. You were too determined to see me as something I wasn’t- someone who was sent here to destroy your perfect day because I wouldn’t let our staff or myself be taken advantage of. A good planner delegates when she hits a brick wall at 90 mph, with a personality conflict, which this VERY OBVIOUSLY was. Flat out, I never felt you liked me very much- which is very odd to me, as just about everyone in our industry speaks very highly of me and thinks I'm a very hard working, kind individual.
From the VERY BEGINNING, your budget was not a full service kind of budget and we did our VERY BEST to accommodate every single ask, through our multiple platform in-depth communications. We just could not be a full wedding planner for you on the budget you retained us for. It was extremely unfair to ask us to do the amount of work and then slam us for saying “ No- it’s not in your budget.” This isn’t making you a “charity bride”- this is simply trying to rein in your VERY UNREALISTIC expectations for the cost point you were at. I sincerely wanted to help you, and never wanted to “ ruin your day” as you were heard to say several times throughout the last week and day of the event. Someone distinctly even called me a nasty name after I went down the stairs. Very kind of your party after all of the hard work we put in to your special day. I should have told you that what you were REALLY looking for was a Partial Wedding Planning Service and Event Staffing. My company offers neither of those services. Unfortunately, I realized this way too late and for that, I am sincerely sorry.
To slam us on here for doing EXACTLY what our contract, which you both signed and agreed to multiple times, is amazing to me. Chalk it up to a learning experience for us.
In the 15 years that I have been in the wedding industry, I have never had someone be upset for exact services rendered. If you were being honest with yourself, you would truly see how we went above and beyond to try and accommodate you.
From all of us here, we are deeply committed to making a couple’s day, and I’m sorry that you felt wholeheartedly enough about your “poor service” to write this mostly unfair, inaccurate and horrible review. We wish you and Mike the best.
