Unhappy with Wedding Planner

[CharmyPoo]

I am not happy with my wedding planner and wanted some suggestions. Some background .. I interviewed many wedding planners before landing on this one. Although no one I knew referred her, I took the risk as I was really impressed by our interview. She required full payment within 3 months which I have done. I know I have really high expectations but wanted to get your thoughts on what is reasonable or not. She hasn''t really done anything wrong but I am not sure what value she adds.

Some of the things I haven''t been happy about:
1. I asked her for help to find me a church - she sent me a link to wikipedia which I have already seen
2. I gave her my criteria for a videographer - the ones she recommended were so far off base. I ended up finding my own.
3. I asked her for unique venue options - she gave me the standard popular wedding spots. I ended up finding my own.
4. I have been asking for a wedding plan and finally received one after 4 months. On my first review, I noticed a lot of critical tasks were missing and a bunch of irrelevant tasks that I have already completed months ago.
5. I send her all my contracts and tell her what I booked. She forgot that I already booked a church and photographer.
6. I asked her for other vendor suggestions .. I got nothing.
7. I asked her to follow-up with my venue on a few items. All she did was forward them my email to her which I could have easily done myself. I ended up sorting it out with the venue event planner who is great.
8. She told me she would help me with negotiations and she was excellent at it. Well .. so far only I have been doing the negotiation as she hasn''t even spoken to any of my vendors.
9. She was suppose to help me design my theme but the most creative idea I have received from her was her contract!!

I feel like I am the one reporting to her for absolutely no reason. I am really not seeing what value she adds what so ever. To make it worse, I found a girl that used her and was really unhappy with her services and told me so many things gone wrong. Then another one popped up who said she just does the basics and doesn''t go above and beyond but was ok overall. At this point, I really don''t know how to proceed - she is paid in full. I also feel that I probably don''t need a full wedding planner and probably just a day of.

I am extremely happy with all my other vendors who have been so responsive - I spend a lot of time interviewing each one and selecting the best in the industry. The wedding planner is one of the most important vendors but I am just so disappointed. Am I out of line or expecting too much? Should I talk to her about this or would it make things worst? Should I wait it out and see if she gets better?

 

[4ever]

I have no experience with event planners but if it were me, instead of suffering in silence I would talk to her about everything you are unhappy with, out line your expectations and give her a chance to pick up her game. From what you have said, I have NO idea what you are actually paying for. Has she actually done anything for you which you are happy with?

If she does not get her act together I have no idea what you can do since she has already been paid.

Good Luck!

 

[marcy]

CharmyPoo, it sounds like you are doing her work for her. I would talk to her. She is working for you. I would tell her what you expect of her and if she doesn''t live up to that ask for some money back. Good luck.

 

[slg47]

is there any way you can get out of the contract? or get some money back? it seems like your wedding planner is not planning the wedding, so you have a right to be upset.

also, when is the wedding? do you have time to switch to another planner? it just seems like this one isn''t really doing anything, and others had similar experiences, so telling her what you want done might not help.

**dust**

 

[yssie]

Document everything she has done, everything she's forgotten or mistaken, everything you've done that she ought to have, everything she's done poorly. Keep records of all correspondence. Is she self employed? If not take it up with her agency.

Don't feel bad about talking to her and pushing what you want, she's working for YOU and she sounds to be doing a poor job of it.

 

[zoebartlett]

I think that you should speak to her. It sounds as if you've done so much of the things she should be doing (it's her job!). You're not happy with her services and she needs to know. Since you've already done much of her work, would you feel comfortable asking her for a partial (or full) refund?

ETA: I'd give her a copy of the list you wrote here. Document everything. There's no excuse for her not doing her job. I mentioned a refund. Maybe you could ask for a partial refund if she has come through on a few things, or just ask to be refunded for the total amount because she's letting you do *her* job. That's so frustrating!

 

[mary poppins]

What form of payment did you use? You may have some recourse if you paid with a credit card.

 

[CharmyPoo]

My wedding is not until next September so I have plenty of time to find another planner. This woman is smart though - she is the only wedding planner that required full payment up front. I should have known better but I was just so impressed by our interview - the truth is .. I think she is an excellent business woman and not an excellent wedding planner. We paid by checks so no backing out there - she cashes them right on schedule every time (about the only thing that is done when said to be done).

I am a really super organized person and my work involves managing very large projects and lots of resources. The wedding planning is relatively easy and I come to relieze that I don''t really need a wedding planner at all if they are like this. Perhaps, I just need an event designer who is creative and can come up with ideas.

I guess I just need to talk to her and see if she steps it up.

 

[lilyfoot]

CharmyPoo, is she in violation of your contract?

 

[CharmyPoo]

Date: 6/17/2010 12:40:22 PM
Author: lilyfoot
CharmyPoo, is she in violation of your contract?

No, she is not in violation as far as I can tell. The contract was just too high level - on retrospect, I should have been more deligent in adding in the clauses and expectations.

 

[Bunny007]

You may have not have any recourse if the terms of your contract are very vague/don''t outline your expectations. Especially if some of your complaints are somewhat subjective; i.e., her suggested venues weren''t very unique.

If I were in your position, I would make it very clear to her that she''s not meeting your expectations. In the end, you wouldn''t want her to say, "If you were unhappy with my services, why didn''t you tell me before the wedding when I was in a position to fix them. Now it''s too late."

If you really do feel like it''s too late for her to lend her services, I''d ask for a partial refund. No harm in trying, right? It seems as though she would rely on word of mouth and favorable reviews in this type of business, which may work to your advantage.

 

[lilyfoot]

Date: 6/17/2010 1:40:53 PM
Author: Bunny007
You may have not have any recourse if the terms of your contract are very vague/don''t outline your expectations. Especially if some of your complaints are somewhat subjective; i.e., her suggested venues weren''t very unique.

If I were in your position, I would make it very clear to her that she''s not meeting your expectations. In the end, you wouldn''t want her to say, ''If you were unhappy with my services, why didn''t you tell me before the wedding when I was in a position to fix them. Now it''s too late.''

If you really do feel like it''s too late for her to lend her services, I''d ask for a partial refund. No harm in trying, right? It seems as though she would rely on word of mouth and favorable reviews in this type of business, which may work to your advantage.

I completely agree with Bunny007''s post. Good luck, CharmyPoo, and I''m sorry you''re dealing with this

 

[havernell]

Date: 6/17/2010 1:40:53 PM
Author: Bunny007

If I were in your position, I would make it very clear to her that she's not meeting your expectations. In the end, you wouldn't want her to say, 'If you were unhappy with my services, why didn't you tell me before the wedding when I was in a position to fix them. Now it's too late.'

I agree you should tell her you don't feel like you've been getting your money's worth with her up to this point and ask her to step it up a bit. You could frame it as "I want to be able to give you positive reviews (on various wedding websites) and recommend you to future clients, but right now, I don't feel like I could, in good faith, do that. Can you work with me on meeting my expectations so I will be able to recommend you by the end of this process?" In other words, frame it as she's hurting HERSELF and her business by not giving you good service. See if that makes her work harder.

 

[CharmyPoo]

I came back to vent a bit. I haven''t spoken to my wedding planner yet but I have confirmed that she really isn''t doing her job. I was talking to my photographer and she was shocked that the planner wasn''t doing some of the things.

Anyways, I checked my email history and it has 16 days since my last email to her asking for recommendations for vendors and corrections to my plan. She still has not replied. I have now created my own project plan and my own budget tracking sheet. I am so frustrated because she is suppose to track my budget and payments and she sold me on the fact that she will keep me on budget. Anyways, she hasn''t but I have been keep track and I know I have been going way over budget - she did nothing.

My plan .. I am going to send her my plan with due dates for all the tasks I assigned to her. I will use some of the guidance in terms of messaging you guys gave me. I am going to start tracking everything she misses ...

I keep getting so angry because I am watching these wedding shows and hearing my friends say how much stress their planners took away from them. What''s wrong with mine