Affairs in the Air

iew reflects my experience with this vendor, and you better believe I’m coming to the table with receipts. We rented Selby Gardens’ South Lawn for our ceremony and cocktail hour, and the North Lawn Ballroom for our reception. Since AFA is the exclusive lighting and décor vendor for Selby Gardens, we had no choice but to hire her. Unfortunately, this exclusivity left us at her mercy, and it quickly became clear that her priority was keeping our money—not providing service. Selby informed us 23 days before our wedding that, due to storm damage, the South Lawn was inaccessible. They offered us a partial refund if we moved our wedding to the North Lawn, which was also severely storm-damaged but still “operational.” We declined, as it was beat up, and we were only planning to use the indoor ballroom. Selby ultimately refunded us in full due to the circumstances. We found a new venue 10 minutes down the road that allowed us to keep our date. The new venue recognized AFA and said Carolynn had worked there before, so we were thrilled! But when we proposed relocating and renegotiating her services, she flat-out refused, claiming that she didn’t have insurance for the venue—a requirement never mentioned in our original contract. Despite a clear Force Majeure clause in AFA’s contract, Carolynn insisted we weren’t entitled to an adjustment or refund. Her reasoning? Selby was still hosting weddings on the salt-burned, leaf-bare North Lawn—even though our contracted space, the South Lawn, was deemed unsafe and unusable by Selby! Our AFA contract states: “If renegotiated, a full credit of your retainer will be applied to the new and updated contract. If your event is rescheduled due to a conflict on your part, we will only be able to accommodate you if the new date is available on our calendar.” We kept the same date and time, and she was available. This wasn’t a conflict on our part—it was Force Majeure. Up until her refusal to cooperate, we never asked for a refund; we simply wanted her to fulfill the contract. We even offered to pay for her insurance to retain her services and were happy to renegotiate the contract for any upcharges or changes. Instead of collaborating, Carolynn doubled down on her dismissive and rude behavior. Her communication was curt, unprofessional, and often grammatically incomprehensible. When it became clear she was going to deny service and keep all our money (we paid in full), we involved a lawyer. Carolynn suddenly offered us half of our deposit back if we signed an agreement not to leave a bad review. I obviously didn’t sign that or accept the offensively low offer because she DID NO WORK. Carolynn’s behavior was appalling. She showed zero regard for the contract, her professional obligations, or the difficult situation we were navigating. Every other vendor adapted with grace and compassion. AFA, on the other hand, was unethical, uncooperative, and showed no respect for their clients. Brides and grooms, my advice is to avoid Affairs in the Air at all costs. Never pay a vendor in full until services are rendered, and always buy event insurance. Wedding planning is stressful enough without dealing with someone who disregards contracts, customer service, and basic human decency.