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Quality of service
1.0 out of 5 rating
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Average response time
1.0 out of 5 rating
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Professionalism
1.0 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
NIGHTMARE! 2 months after, still nightmares.
This is long but I highly encourage anyone who is remotely considering hiring (or has hired) Brittany of This is long but I highly encourage anyone who is remotely considering hiring (or has hired) Brittany of Soiree 99 to read. If you do not hire the vendors in her circle, you will see the repercussions leading up and the day of for it, especially her photographer best friend. If she determines she doesn’t like you for some reason, you will see the repercussions on your special day/weekend.
After not hearing from our Brittany following our wedding, and hearing from other vendors that Brittany had in fact reached out to them, apologizing for her poor performance and attitudes.. blaming us (the bride and groom). We finally reach out to her for her remarks on the execution of our wedding. It was CLEAR to just about everyone that things did not go as planned and the shortcomings that happened. We were hoping we would have a professional that we put our one day, life moment, 100k wedding in the hands of, that she would reach out to us. SILENCE. So, when we let her know we were extremely upset and hurt by what had happened. The response was, in summary, ‘you failed to provide these details’ and QUOTE, “I completed all contractual obligations for your wedding weekend.” The following was sent to Brittany for her failures as a professional and person who we hired putting our wedding in her hands.
‘You completely misled us throughout our entire wedding planning process and wedding weekend. When concern and distress was expressed to you about exceeding the agreed upon budget, you responded, “Really appreciate you trusting that I've got this handled Kelsy! Encouraging you to take a breather this weekend. A number of the questions listed in your emails are ones I've got going and your vendors will handle as well. It feels like you might need to take a step back and have a little "me time"-- take a long bath, get a massage, etc. You hired a planner for a reason and we've got this!”
My unease and stress was clearly warranted since we were unequivocally misled by empty promises and your failure to perform. Examples of your breach, non-performance and omissions are set forth below; this is not a comprehensive list but only some of the examples:
· Failure to provide back up plan for either Rehearsal Dinner or Wedding [in case of weather changes, which were noted as a possibility given the time of year (end of August) and in the forecast the entire week]
· Failure to Coordinate and Execute the Rehearsal Dinner –
o Failure to oversee and the execution of decor - incorrect lighting was installed for the rehearsal dinner, as a result lights had to be removed and correct lighting installed.
Your failure resulted in additional costs to which we were not consulted nor did we agree.
o Rehearsal tables were not properly or correctly set up for the caterer and as a result our guests felt compelled to come to our rescue by moving tables and placing linens - a job that you were charged to do and for which you were responsible.
o Misrepresenting the beer selections available to guests. Ordering a beer product that was not what was agreed to and paid for - a Red Ale instead of a Lager.
o Failing to oversee and assure that the beer provided by our family, the Hazy IPA keg was not tapped and served to guests.
o Failure to put out all beverage selections discussed, non-alcoholic beverages.
o Failure to move heat lamps into place for the rehearsal dinner to warm the guests then failure the following day to have the heat lamps picked up and returned to the vendor
o Failure to move the desserts out of the rain, with no back-up plan - our guests again were the one who scrambled to transport the pies across the grounds to the gazebo. During this time frame you were sitting on a sofa inside the arena with your family.
· Failure to be present, both physically and actively, for the contractual 10 hours on the day of the wedding and direct the activities. You texted advising you woke up "very sick.. and keeping a distance”.
· Failure to provide a substitute in your place. Per the contract, under this provision, “UNEARNED fees will be refunded”. This payment should have never been collected given the abandonment of your duties and failure to provide someone in your place to perform the duties and responsibilities for which you contracted.
• Failure to not only meet but to even remotely manage budget and provide the reliable guidance as advertised.
• Failure to provide regular, routine and reliable communication throughout the planning process and the events on the weekend of the wedding.
• Failure to provide a backup plan (in case of rain, etc. for which it was raining the week and day of the wedding. Not until a few hours before the ceremony did you even raise the subject, when rain had been forecast for days. Equally egregious, you failed to prepare the ceremony site and wipe down the rain soaked benches which meant that our guests sat on wet benches or were required to dry their seating themselves.
• Failure to discuss/confirm the final timeline. Why were there question marks ‘?’ on the final timelines.**See below issues with the sparklers for the bride and groom's send-off.
• Failure to organize the wedding rehearsal.
• Failure to “manage the wedding couple”. It is still inconceivable to us and our parents/families and friends that even the most basic task you did you perform, i.e. on the day of the wedding you did not interact with either of us the entire day or night.
• Failure to provide a suitable, knowledgeable substitute for your duties when you failed to appear on the day of our wedding.
• Failure to be the liaison and reliable contact to vendors.
o You clearly misrepresented yourself as being a planner that is fully involved and present during the day of and with your vendors, keeping track of timelines, in sync with the (bride) and vendors. This simply did not happen.
• Failure to assist in negotiating contracts (i.e. vendor contract that states only a 20% variance from initial quote is allowed).
• Failure to provide flower petals for the three flower girls with the full knowledge that there would be flower girls for the ceremony. Not until I inquired the morning of the wedding did you advise that this was not set forth in the proposal. Here is another instance where a guest came to the rescue, at considerable inconvenience, by locating faux flower petals.
• Failure to clarify other key details and information with vendors needs/key information for the day of the wedding:
o 1. Assistance for our cake vendor by providing a cart to transport the heavy confection which resulted in the cake toppling.
o 2. Asking Travis immediately prior to the start of the ceremony why there were two entrance songs selected thereby demonstrating a complete lack of understanding of the ceremony, which demonstrated your lack of involvement and participation in the rehearsal itself, which you should have been choreographing.
o 3. Catering specifics – Au Jus and Horseradish (made very clear this was important and a ‘must’ to be served, to the point we had offered to bring it from California though were assured it was going to be provided). This was again confirmed during the second tasting/meeting, for which you were not present. Your failure to follow up with the caterer and confirm this was there the day of. Seating plan/ meal charts * Bride having to print out during photos/cocktail hour
o 4. Failure to serve children their meals at the reception. Not until we walked into the kitchen to inquire where the meals were, and get them finally served.
o 5. Failure to follow the seating chart that was entered in your program, Aisle Planner. Bridal party spouses separated from their significant others
• Failure to maintain the timeline for the day.
o Failure to communicate with the bride/bridal party
o Failure to communicate with groom/groomsmen correspondence (in suite)
o Failure to orchestrate the “first look” between the bride and groom. When it did occur, it was behind schedule.
- Zero assistance for photographer/videographer during first look, family photos, bridal party photos, sunset photos. All coordination efforts were on the photographer/videographer.
o Failure to track time allowing the bride to return to the bridal suite to freshen up before the ceremony
o Failure to communicate with the hairdresser to remain in the bridal suite to pin the veil in place. The veil could not be located. Your assistants were missing.
o Failure to print out the meal selections for each guest, requiring the bride to leave the cocktail party in order to do this job which was your responsibility.
o Failure to choreograph and direct the bride and grooms entrance into the cocktail reception,
o Failure to direct and notify speakers during the reception
• Failure to ensure other important aspects of a wedding are executed, to include– SIGNING A MARRIAGE LICENSE
• Failure to initiate/execute other key factors of the night, such as the timing and serving of late-night snacks. If it were not for another vendor, you wouldn’t have even put it out for guests to eat, it would have remained in a corner.
• Failure to provide the guests with the sparklers for the bride and groom’s departure
• Failure to inform vendors of the requirement of vendors that their duties and services included clean-up, not merely “striking” the equipment.
o This failure resulted in threatening texts and additional charges being invoiced to the bridal couple.
o Failure to be present for your 10 contractual hours on our wedding day. Other vendors confirmed you arrived on site well after 11am and were not seen after 9pm. Throughout the day/events, vendors said they were looking for you all over and could not find you. You were not with the photographer/videographers, family or bridal party, clearly not in the vicinity where the events were taking place or where assistance was needed.
Overall, your complete failure to acknowledge or take accountability for the abysmal manner in which you conducted yourself and failed to perform the duties and tasks for which you were engaged is disturbing and disheartening. We relied on you. We trusted you to implement and execute the rehearsal, wedding and reception that we envisioned and which you agreed to do.
It is our understanding that you have apologized to other vendors for your shortcomings and lack of performance while at the same time making slanderous remarks about us. In addition, 2 months following our wedding, hearing from other guests, the negative remarks you made about us throughout the wedding day, that you didn’t realize our friends and family was behind you and heard. This is inexcusable and unprofessional.
to read. If you do not hire the vendors in her circle, you will see the repercussions leading up and the day of for it, especially her photographer best friend. If she determines she doesn’t like you for some reason, you will see the repercussions on your special day/weekend.
After not hearing from our Brittany following our wedding, and hearing from other vendors that Brittany had in fact reached out to them, apologizing for her poor performance and attitudes.. blaming us (the bride and groom). We finally reach out to her for her remarks on the execution of our wedding. It was CLEAR to just about everyone that things did not go as planned and the shortcomings that happened. We were hoping we would have a professional that we put our one day, life moment, 100k wedding in the hands of, that she would reach out to us. SILENCE. So, when we let her know we were extremely upset and hurt by what had happened. The response was, in summary, ‘you failed to provide these details’ and QUOTE, “I completed all contractual obligations for your wedding weekend.” The following was sent to Brittany for her failures as a professional and person who we hired putting our wedding in her hands.
‘You completely misled us throughout our entire wedding planning process and wedding weekend. When concern and distress was expressed to you about exceeding the agreed upon budget, you responded, “Really appreciate you trusting that I've got this handled Kelsy! Encouraging you to take a breather this weekend. A number of the questions listed in your emails are ones I've got going and your vendors will handle as well. It feels like you might need to take a step back and have a little "me time"-- take a long bath, get a massage, etc. You hired a planner for a reason and we've got this!”
My unease and stress was clearly warranted since we were unequivocally misled by empty promises and your failure to perform. Examples of your breach, non-performance and omissions are set forth below; this is not a comprehensive list but only some of the examples:
· Failure to provide back up plan for either Rehearsal Dinner or Wedding [in case of weather changes, which were noted as a possibility given the time of year (end of August) and in the forecast the entire week]
· Failure to Coordinate and Execute the Rehearsal Dinner –
o Failure to oversee and the execution of decor - incorrect lighting was installed for the rehearsal dinner, as a result lights had to be removed and correct lighting installed.
Your failure resulted in additional costs to which we were not consulted nor did we agree.
o Rehearsal tables were not properly or correctly set up for the caterer and as a result our guests felt compelled to come to our rescue by moving tables and placing linens - a job that you were charged to do and for which you were responsible.
o Misrepresenting the beer selections available to guests. Ordering a beer product that was not what was agreed to and paid for - a Red Ale instead of a Lager.
o Failing to oversee and assure that the beer provided by our family, the Hazy IPA keg was not tapped and served to guests.
o Failure to put out all beverage selections discussed, non-alcoholic beverages.
o Failure to move heat lamps into place for the rehearsal dinner to warm the guests then failure the following day to have the heat lamps picked up and returned to the vendor
o Failure to move the desserts out of the rain, with no back-up plan - our guests again were the one who scrambled to transport the pies across the grounds to the gazebo. During this time frame you were sitting on a sofa inside the arena with your family.
· Failure to be present, both physically and actively, for the contractual 10 hours on the day of the wedding and direct the activities. You texted advising you woke up "very sick.. and keeping a distance”.
· Failure to provide a substitute in your place. Per the contract, under this provision, “UNEARNED fees will be refunded”. This payment should have never been collected given the abandonment of your duties and failure to provide someone in your place to perform the duties and responsibilities for which you contracted.
• Failure to not only meet but to even remotely manage budget and provide the reliable guidance as advertised.
• Failure to provide regular, routine and reliable communication throughout the planning process and the events on the weekend of the wedding.
• Failure to provide a backup plan (in case of rain, etc. for which it was raining the week and day of the wedding. Not until a few hours before the ceremony did you even raise the subject, when rain had been forecast for days. Equally egregious, you failed to prepare the ceremony site and wipe down the rain soaked benches which meant that our guests sat on wet benches or were required to dry their seating themselves.
• Failure to discuss/confirm the final timeline. Why were there question marks ‘?’ on the final timelines.**See below issues with the sparklers for the bride and groom's send-off.
• Failure to organize the wedding rehearsal.
• Failure to “manage the wedding couple”. It is still inconceivable to us and our parents/families and friends that even the most basic task you did you perform, i.e. on the day of the wedding you did not interact with either of us the entire day or night.
• Failure to provide a suitable, knowledgeable substitute for your duties when you failed to appear on the day of our wedding.
• Failure to be the liaison and reliable contact to vendors.
o You clearly misrepresented yourself as being a planner that is fully involved and present during the day of and with your vendors, keeping track of timelines, in sync with the (bride) and vendors. This simply did not happen.
• Failure to assist in negotiating contracts (i.e. vendor contract that states only a 20% variance from initial quote is allowed).
• Failure to provide flower petals for the three flower girls with the full knowledge that there would be flower girls for the ceremony. Not until I inquired the morning of the wedding did you advise that this was not set forth in the proposal. Here is another instance where a guest came to the rescue, at considerable inconvenience, by locating faux flower petals.
• Failure to clarify other key details and information with vendors needs/key information for the day of the wedding:
o 1. Assistance for our cake vendor by providing a cart to transport the heavy confection which resulted in the cake toppling.
o 2. Asking Travis immediately prior to the start of the ceremony why there were two entrance songs selected thereby demonstrating a complete lack of understanding of the ceremony, which demonstrated your lack of involvement and participation in the rehearsal itself, which you should have been choreographing.
o 3. Catering specifics – Au Jus and Horseradish (made very clear this was important and a ‘must’ to be served, to the point we had offered to bring it from California though were assured it was going to be provided). This was again confirmed during the second tasting/meeting, for which you were not present. Your failure to follow up with the caterer and confirm this was there the day of. Seating plan/ meal charts * Bride having to print out during photos/cocktail hour
o 4. Failure to serve children their meals at the reception. Not until we walked into the kitchen to inquire where the meals were, and get them finally served.
o 5. Failure to follow the seating chart that was entered in your program, Aisle Planner. Bridal party spouses separated from their significant others
• Failure to maintain the timeline for the day.
o Failure to communicate with the bride/bridal party
o Failure to communicate with groom/groomsmen correspondence (in suite)
o Failure to orchestrate the “first look” between the bride and groom. When it did occur, it was behind schedule.
- Zero assistance for photographer/videographer during first look, family photos, bridal party photos, sunset photos. All coordination efforts were on the photographer/videographer.
o Failure to track time allowing the bride to return to the bridal suite to freshen up before the ceremony
o Failure to communicate with the hairdresser to remain in the bridal suite to pin the veil in place. The veil could not be located. Your assistants were missing.
o Failure to print out the meal selections for each guest, requiring the bride to leave the cocktail party in order to do this job which was your responsibility.
o Failure to choreograph and direct the bride and grooms entrance into the cocktail reception,
o Failure to direct and notify speakers during the reception
• Failure to ensure other important aspects of a wedding are executed, to include– SIGNING A MARRIAGE LICENSE
• Failure to initiate/execute other key factors of the night, such as the timing and serving of late-night snacks. If it were not for another vendor, you wouldn’t have even put it out for guests to eat, it would have remained in a corner.
• Failure to provide the guests with the sparklers for the bride and groom’s departure
• Failure to inform vendors of the requirement of vendors that their duties and services included clean-up, not merely “striking” the equipment.
o This failure resulted in threatening texts and additional charges being invoiced to the bridal couple.
o Failure to be present for your 10 contractual hours on our wedding day. Other vendors confirmed you arrived on site well after 11am and were not seen after 9pm. Throughout the day/events, vendors said they were looking for you all over and could not find you. You were not with the photographer/videographers, family or bridal party, clearly not in the vicinity where the events were taking place or where assistance was needed.
Overall, your complete failure to acknowledge or take accountability for the abysmal manner in which you conducted yourself and failed to perform the duties and tasks for which you were engaged is disturbing and disheartening. We relied on you. We trusted you to implement and execute the rehearsal, wedding and reception that we envisioned and which you agreed to do.
It is our understanding that you have apologized to other vendors for your shortcomings and lack of performance while at the same time making slanderous remarks about us. In addition, 2 months following our wedding, hearing from other guests, the negative remarks you made about us throughout the wedding day, that you didn’t realize our friends and family was behind you and heard. This is inexcusable and unprofessional.
There is even more I can say and would be happy to talk to anyone, feel free to email/call me - stay away. There are PLENTY of other wedding planners in the area that will certainly treat you with courtesy and professionalism that you and your family deserve.
This is long but I highly encourage anyone who is remotely considering hiring (or has hired) Brittany of This is long but I highly encourage anyone who is remotely considering hiring (or has hired) Brittany of Soiree 99 to read. If you do not hire the vendors in her circle, you will see the repercussions leading up and the day of for it, especially her photographer best friend. If she determines she doesn’t like you for some reason, you will see the repercussions on your special day/weekend.
After not hearing from our Brittany following our wedding, and hearing from other vendors that Brittany had in fact reached out to them, apologizing for her poor performance and attitudes.. blaming us (the bride and groom). We finally reach out to her for her remarks on the execution of our wedding. It was CLEAR to just about everyone that things did not go as planned and the shortcomings that happened. We were hoping we would have a professional that we put our one day, life moment, 100k wedding in the hands of, that she would reach out to us. SILENCE. So, when we let her know we were extremely upset and hurt by what had happened. The response was, in summary, ‘you failed to provide these details’ and QUOTE, “I completed all contractual obligations for your wedding weekend.” The following was sent to Brittany for her failures as a professional and person who we hired putting our wedding in her hands.
‘You completely misled us throughout our entire wedding planning process and wedding weekend. When concern and distress was expressed to you about exceeding the agreed upon budget, you responded, “Really appreciate you trusting that I've got this handled Kelsy! Encouraging you to take a breather this weekend. A number of the questions listed in your emails are ones I've got going and your vendors will handle as well. It feels like you might need to take a step back and have a little "me time"-- take a long bath, get a massage, etc. You hired a planner for a reason and we've got this!”
My unease and stress was clearly warranted since we were unequivocally misled by empty promises and your failure to perform. Examples of your breach, non-performance and omissions are set forth below; this is not a comprehensive list but only some of the examples:
· Failure to provide back up plan for either Rehearsal Dinner or Wedding [in case of weather changes, which were noted as a possibility given the time of year (end of August) and in the forecast the entire week]
· Failure to Coordinate and Execute the Rehearsal Dinner –
o Failure to oversee and the execution of decor - incorrect lighting was installed for the rehearsal dinner, as a result lights had to be removed and correct lighting installed.
Your failure resulted in additional costs to which we were not consulted nor did we agree.
o Rehearsal tables were not properly or correctly set up for the caterer and as a result our guests felt compelled to come to our rescue by moving tables and placing linens - a job that you were charged to do and for which you were responsible.
o Misrepresenting the beer selections available to guests. Ordering a beer product that was not what was agreed to and paid for - a Red Ale instead of a Lager.
o Failing to oversee and assure that the beer provided by our family, the Hazy IPA keg was not tapped and served to guests.
o Failure to put out all beverage selections discussed, non-alcoholic beverages.
o Failure to move heat lamps into place for the rehearsal dinner to warm the guests then failure the following day to have the heat lamps picked up and returned to the vendor
o Failure to move the desserts out of the rain, with no back-up plan - our guests again were the one who scrambled to transport the pies across the grounds to the gazebo. During this time frame you were sitting on a sofa inside the arena with your family.
· Failure to be present, both physically and actively, for the contractual 10 hours on the day of the wedding and direct the activities. You texted advising you woke up "very sick.. and keeping a distance”.
· Failure to provide a substitute in your place. Per the contract, under this provision, “UNEARNED fees will be refunded”. This payment should have never been collected given the abandonment of your duties and failure to provide someone in your place to perform the duties and responsibilities for which you contracted.
• Failure to not only meet but to even remotely manage budget and provide the reliable guidance as advertised.
• Failure to provide regular, routine and reliable communication throughout the planning process and the events on the weekend of the wedding.
• Failure to provide a backup plan (in case of rain, etc. for which it was raining the week and day of the wedding. Not until a few hours before the ceremony did you even raise the subject, when rain had been forecast for days. Equally egregious, you failed to prepare the ceremony site and wipe down the rain soaked benches which meant that our guests sat on wet benches or were required to dry their seating themselves.
• Failure to discuss/confirm the final timeline. Why were there question marks ‘?’ on the final timelines.**See below issues with the sparklers for the bride and groom's send-off.
• Failure to organize the wedding rehearsal.
• Failure to “manage the wedding couple”. It is still inconceivable to us and our parents/families and friends that even the most basic task you did you perform, i.e. on the day of the wedding you did not interact with either of us the entire day or night.
• Failure to provide a suitable, knowledgeable substitute for your duties when you failed to appear on the day of our wedding.
• Failure to be the liaison and reliable contact to vendors.
o You clearly misrepresented yourself as being a planner that is fully involved and present during the day of and with your vendors, keeping track of timelines, in sync with the (bride) and vendors. This simply did not happen.
• Failure to assist in negotiating contracts (i.e. vendor contract that states only a 20% variance from initial quote is allowed).
• Failure to provide flower petals for the three flower girls with the full knowledge that there would be flower girls for the ceremony. Not until I inquired the morning of the wedding did you advise that this was not set forth in the proposal. Here is another instance where a guest came to the rescue, at considerable inconvenience, by locating faux flower petals.
• Failure to clarify other key details and information with vendors needs/key information for the day of the wedding:
o 1. Assistance for our cake vendor by providing a cart to transport the heavy confection which resulted in the cake toppling.
o 2. Asking Travis immediately prior to the start of the ceremony why there were two entrance songs selected thereby demonstrating a complete lack of understanding of the ceremony, which demonstrated your lack of involvement and participation in the rehearsal itself, which you should have been choreographing.
o 3. Catering specifics – Au Jus and Horseradish (made very clear this was important and a ‘must’ to be served, to the point we had offered to bring it from California though were assured it was going to be provided). This was again confirmed during the second tasting/meeting, for which you were not present. Your failure to follow up with the caterer and confirm this was there the day of. Seating plan/ meal charts * Bride having to print out during photos/cocktail hour
o 4. Failure to serve children their meals at the reception. Not until we walked into the kitchen to inquire where the meals were, and get them finally served.
o 5. Failure to follow the seating chart that was entered in your program, Aisle Planner. Bridal party spouses separated from their significant others
• Failure to maintain the timeline for the day.
o Failure to communicate with the bride/bridal party
o Failure to communicate with groom/groomsmen correspondence (in suite)
o Failure to orchestrate the “first look” between the bride and groom. When it did occur, it was behind schedule.
- Zero assistance for photographer/videographer during first look, family photos, bridal party photos, sunset photos. All coordination efforts were on the photographer/videographer.
o Failure to track time allowing the bride to return to the bridal suite to freshen up before the ceremony
o Failure to communicate with the hairdresser to remain in the bridal suite to pin the veil in place. The veil could not be located. Your assistants were missing.
o Failure to print out the meal selections for each guest, requiring the bride to leave the cocktail party in order to do this job which was your responsibility.
o Failure to choreograph and direct the bride and grooms entrance into the cocktail reception,
o Failure to direct and notify speakers during the reception
• Failure to ensure other important aspects of a wedding are executed, to include– SIGNING A MARRIAGE LICENSE
• Failure to initiate/execute other key factors of the night, such as the timing and serving of late-night snacks. If it were not for another vendor, you wouldn’t have even put it out for guests to eat, it would have remained in a corner.
• Failure to provide the guests with the sparklers for the bride and groom’s departure
• Failure to inform vendors of the requirement of vendors that their duties and services included clean-up, not merely “striking” the equipment.
o This failure resulted in threatening texts and additional charges being invoiced to the bridal couple.
o Failure to be present for your 10 contractual hours on our wedding day. Other vendors confirmed you arrived on site well after 11am and were not seen after 9pm. Throughout the day/events, vendors said they were looking for you all over and could not find you. You were not with the photographer/videographers, family or bridal party, clearly not in the vicinity where the events were taking place or where assistance was needed.
Overall, your complete failure to acknowledge or take accountability for the abysmal manner in which you conducted yourself and failed to perform the duties and tasks for which you were engaged is disturbing and disheartening. We relied on you. We trusted you to implement and execute the rehearsal, wedding and reception that we envisioned and which you agreed to do.
It is our understanding that you have apologized to other vendors for your shortcomings and lack of performance while at the same time making slanderous remarks about us. In addition, 2 months following our wedding, hearing from other guests, the negative remarks you made about us throughout the wedding day, that you didn’t realize our friends and family was behind you and heard. This is inexcusable and unprofessional.
to read. If you do not hire the vendors in her circle, you will see the repercussions leading up and the day of for it, especially her photographer best friend. If she determines she doesn’t like you for some reason, you will see the repercussions on your special day/weekend.
After not hearing from our Brittany following our wedding, and hearing from other vendors that Brittany had in fact reached out to them, apologizing for her poor performance and attitudes.. blaming us (the bride and groom). We finally reach out to her for her remarks on the execution of our wedding. It was CLEAR to just about everyone that things did not go as planned and the shortcomings that happened. We were hoping we would have a professional that we put our one day, life moment, 100k wedding in the hands of, that she would reach out to us. SILENCE. So, when we let her know we were extremely upset and hurt by what had happened. The response was, in summary, ‘you failed to provide these details’ and QUOTE, “I completed all contractual obligations for your wedding weekend.” The following was sent to Brittany for her failures as a professional and person who we hired putting our wedding in her hands.
‘You completely misled us throughout our entire wedding planning process and wedding weekend. When concern and distress was expressed to you about exceeding the agreed upon budget, you responded, “Really appreciate you trusting that I've got this handled Kelsy! Encouraging you to take a breather this weekend. A number of the questions listed in your emails are ones I've got going and your vendors will handle as well. It feels like you might need to take a step back and have a little "me time"-- take a long bath, get a massage, etc. You hired a planner for a reason and we've got this!”
My unease and stress was clearly warranted since we were unequivocally misled by empty promises and your failure to perform. Examples of your breach, non-performance and omissions are set forth below; this is not a comprehensive list but only some of the examples:
· Failure to provide back up plan for either Rehearsal Dinner or Wedding [in case of weather changes, which were noted as a possibility given the time of year (end of August) and in the forecast the entire week]
· Failure to Coordinate and Execute the Rehearsal Dinner –
o Failure to oversee and the execution of decor - incorrect lighting was installed for the rehearsal dinner, as a result lights had to be removed and correct lighting installed.
Your failure resulted in additional costs to which we were not consulted nor did we agree.
o Rehearsal tables were not properly or correctly set up for the caterer and as a result our guests felt compelled to come to our rescue by moving tables and placing linens - a job that you were charged to do and for which you were responsible.
o Misrepresenting the beer selections available to guests. Ordering a beer product that was not what was agreed to and paid for - a Red Ale instead of a Lager.
o Failing to oversee and assure that the beer provided by our family, the Hazy IPA keg was not tapped and served to guests.
o Failure to put out all beverage selections discussed, non-alcoholic beverages.
o Failure to move heat lamps into place for the rehearsal dinner to warm the guests then failure the following day to have the heat lamps picked up and returned to the vendor
o Failure to move the desserts out of the rain, with no back-up plan - our guests again were the one who scrambled to transport the pies across the grounds to the gazebo. During this time frame you were sitting on a sofa inside the arena with your family.
· Failure to be present, both physically and actively, for the contractual 10 hours on the day of the wedding and direct the activities. You texted advising you woke up "very sick.. and keeping a distance”.
· Failure to provide a substitute in your place. Per the contract, under this provision, “UNEARNED fees will be refunded”. This payment should have never been collected given the abandonment of your duties and failure to provide someone in your place to perform the duties and responsibilities for which you contracted.
• Failure to not only meet but to even remotely manage budget and provide the reliable guidance as advertised.
• Failure to provide regular, routine and reliable communication throughout the planning process and the events on the weekend of the wedding.
• Failure to provide a backup plan (in case of rain, etc. for which it was raining the week and day of the wedding. Not until a few hours before the ceremony did you even raise the subject, when rain had been forecast for days. Equally egregious, you failed to prepare the ceremony site and wipe down the rain soaked benches which meant that our guests sat on wet benches or were required to dry their seating themselves.
• Failure to discuss/confirm the final timeline. Why were there question marks ‘?’ on the final timelines.**See below issues with the sparklers for the bride and groom's send-off.
• Failure to organize the wedding rehearsal.
• Failure to “manage the wedding couple”. It is still inconceivable to us and our parents/families and friends that even the most basic task you did you perform, i.e. on the day of the wedding you did not interact with either of us the entire day or night.
• Failure to provide a suitable, knowledgeable substitute for your duties when you failed to appear on the day of our wedding.
• Failure to be the liaison and reliable contact to vendors.
o You clearly misrepresented yourself as being a planner that is fully involved and present during the day of and with your vendors, keeping track of timelines, in sync with the (bride) and vendors. This simply did not happen.
• Failure to assist in negotiating contracts (i.e. vendor contract that states only a 20% variance from initial quote is allowed).
• Failure to provide flower petals for the three flower girls with the full knowledge that there would be flower girls for the ceremony. Not until I inquired the morning of the wedding did you advise that this was not set forth in the proposal. Here is another instance where a guest came to the rescue, at considerable inconvenience, by locating faux flower petals.
• Failure to clarify other key details and information with vendors needs/key information for the day of the wedding:
o 1. Assistance for our cake vendor by providing a cart to transport the heavy confection which resulted in the cake toppling.
o 2. Asking Travis immediately prior to the start of the ceremony why there were two entrance songs selected thereby demonstrating a complete lack of understanding of the ceremony, which demonstrated your lack of involvement and participation in the rehearsal itself, which you should have been choreographing.
o 3. Catering specifics – Au Jus and Horseradish (made very clear this was important and a ‘must’ to be served, to the point we had offered to bring it from California though were assured it was going to be provided). This was again confirmed during the second tasting/meeting, for which you were not present. Your failure to follow up with the caterer and confirm this was there the day of. Seating plan/ meal charts * Bride having to print out during photos/cocktail hour
o 4. Failure to serve children their meals at the reception. Not until we walked into the kitchen to inquire where the meals were, and get them finally served.
o 5. Failure to follow the seating chart that was entered in your program, Aisle Planner. Bridal party spouses separated from their significant others
• Failure to maintain the timeline for the day.
o Failure to communicate with the bride/bridal party
o Failure to communicate with groom/groomsmen correspondence (in suite)
o Failure to orchestrate the “first look” between the bride and groom. When it did occur, it was behind schedule.
- Zero assistance for photographer/videographer during first look, family photos, bridal party photos, sunset photos. All coordination efforts were on the photographer/videographer.
o Failure to track time allowing the bride to return to the bridal suite to freshen up before the ceremony
o Failure to communicate with the hairdresser to remain in the bridal suite to pin the veil in place. The veil could not be located. Your assistants were missing.
o Failure to print out the meal selections for each guest, requiring the bride to leave the cocktail party in order to do this job which was your responsibility.
o Failure to choreograph and direct the bride and grooms entrance into the cocktail reception,
o Failure to direct and notify speakers during the reception
• Failure to ensure other important aspects of a wedding are executed, to include– SIGNING A MARRIAGE LICENSE
• Failure to initiate/execute other key factors of the night, such as the timing and serving of late-night snacks. If it were not for another vendor, you wouldn’t have even put it out for guests to eat, it would have remained in a corner.
• Failure to provide the guests with the sparklers for the bride and groom’s departure
• Failure to inform vendors of the requirement of vendors that their duties and services included clean-up, not merely “striking” the equipment.
o This failure resulted in threatening texts and additional charges being invoiced to the bridal couple.
o Failure to be present for your 10 contractual hours on our wedding day. Other vendors confirmed you arrived on site well after 11am and were not seen after 9pm. Throughout the day/events, vendors said they were looking for you all over and could not find you. You were not with the photographer/videographers, family or bridal party, clearly not in the vicinity where the events were taking place or where assistance was needed.
Overall, your complete failure to acknowledge or take accountability for the abysmal manner in which you conducted yourself and failed to perform the duties and tasks for which you were engaged is disturbing and disheartening. We relied on you. We trusted you to implement and execute the rehearsal, wedding and reception that we envisioned and which you agreed to do.
It is our understanding that you have apologized to other vendors for your shortcomings and lack of performance while at the same time making slanderous remarks about us. In addition, 2 months following our wedding, hearing from other guests, the negative remarks you made about us throughout the wedding day, that you didn’t realize our friends and family was behind you and heard. This is inexcusable and unprofessional.
There is even more I can say and would be happy to talk to anyone, feel free to email/call me - stay away. There are PLENTY of other wedding planners in the area that will certainly treat you with courtesy and professionalism that you and your family deserve.
