An Outer Banks Affair

onths before our big day. Sondra helped set up meetings for us with local vendors and we got a lot of big decisions made early, but then we felt that she checked out. It would take days, sometimes weeks, to get a response to emails. We would set up times to check-in via phone or zoom, and those meetings would get postponed. At one point, I asked if she could help compile all of our vendors onto one document with all of the payment deadlines (we were stressed about the COVID-19 situation and needed to know our drop-dead dates to make decisions). She did this, but there were vendors missing from the list she compiled. With a weekend's worth of. events being planned for more than 100 people, we lost confidence that Sondra could be the person to make it all come together.

d, etc.) so we decided to go with her day-of coordination package. Leading up to the wedding, Sondra helped me with some minor questions. I did have trouble getting in touch with her a few times and would have to circle back to get a response. When Sondra and I did connect, she was always friendly, helpful, and professional. However, Sondra TRULY pulled through the week/day of the wedding. Sondra communicated with all our vendors the week-of to get them coordinated, ran our rehearsal with our officiant, and came the morning of the wedding to set up all décor and run the show. I could not have asked for more on the day of! We had to make a game-time decision with our outdoor space due to the potential of rain. Sondra had a great plan B and made me feel confident in it. Luckily, we were able to do everything outdoors and Sondra did a great job of getting EVERYTHING set up- from our guest tables to décor to our amazing donut wall and dessert table! We had a MAJOR issue with our transportation, and Sondra dealt with it, so we didn’t have to and we got to enjoy our day stress-free. Although our ceremony was about 30 minutes late due to the transportation issue, Sondra got us back on schedule for our 7PM dance floor opening (which was very important to us). She knew many of our vendors personally and had worked with most of them before, which was awesome to see and it made our day seamless! I would recommend Sondra for day-of coordination to other couples getting married in the area. Sondra- thank you for helping us create the perfect day!

times, but she made sure everything was taken care of and made it a fun and easy experience. Even with all of the hiccups due to Covid-19 she made sure we had everything we wanted and more. Our wedding day was absolutely perfect thanks to all of her hard work. You couldn't find a better wedding planner. Love you Sondra!

xcellent reviews, we decided to reach out to Sondra at An Outer Banks Affair. After an initial 20-25 minute phone call describing her services, we decided to hire Sondra for her “Full Package” because we did not want to have to have the stress of of planning the wedding ourselves from out of town. We really are pretty easy going people. Many of you reading this review are probably thinking “oh that couple was probably so difficult to work with.” Based on this review compared to all of the others, we’d think the same! But TRUST us.....something must’ve changed. There is no way in hell that Sondra has earned anything close to a 4 or 5 star review. Like we said, our initial phone call with Sondra was fine. She explained her services to “sell” us on her so to speak. After signing her “non refundable” contract (yes, our mistake!) , we had 1......yes 1, 15 minute phone call with Sondra after that. She recommended a couple different vendors.....that’s IT! We asked her to get us a quote on tables and chairs on that phone call. Radio silence from Sondra for A MONTH! We then emailed her once again after the month had passed to ask for the quote on tables and chairs that we discussed....again, NOTHING...no response. AGAIN, 2 weeks after that we emailed again asking for that same quote she kept ignoring us on.....guess what? Still no response. At that point, we we getting very nervous as we were were about 5 months away from our wedding and we still had no vendors booked and our wedding coordinator was not getting back to us after we paid her $1500! We decided to take matters into our own hands and reach out to vendors, set up meetings, review our own contracts, etc. All things that were described in Sondra’s contract that she would provide. Finally, after a third email to Sondra asking for a quote for tables/chairs, she responded with the information we already found out on a basic Google search. Not a quote from the company itself. Know what we did? We got a quote within 24 hours from that vendor with absolutely zero help from Sondra. That’s when we realized we’d made a huge mistake and needed to terminate Sondra. We couldn’t let her be in charge of coordinating our special day when she can’t even take the time to respond to a simple email. She might have spent less than an hour working on our wedding and has $1500 of our money. When we had the discussion to terminate our contract, she noted all of her personal issues and and lied to us about the work she had put into our wedding. Sondra has quickly built a reputation for herself in the wedding community down there as other vendors have noted this isn’t the first instance they have heard about Sondra. BEWARE! Your money is non refundable the instant you sign her contract no matter how much work she puts in. We understand the need to protect herself in the event clients cancel with her after she puts in hours and hours of work, but this wasn’t the case. She is a huge BS’er. We wouldn’t recommend anyone hire her.

re everything ran smoothly and on time.

e planning process and was extremely caring and attentive to our wedding details. #1 vendor in our books!

ull of good tips and advice. Pretty much every large decision we made we advised with Sondra first and almost always went along with her suggestions. The week of the wedding she was always available to answer my calls and emails, and when I was stressed about the weather she came up with a plan that completely calmed my nerves (although it thankfully ended up being unnecessary). Not to mention she stayed at the reception venue for hours the night before and morning of the wedding to personally hang fairy lights all across the ceiling, and I really think that made it one of the most gorgeous weddings I have ever seen. She communicated with all of our vendors to make sure everything went flawlessly, which is exactly what ended up happening. Everything was beautiful and perfect and if anything did go wrong, I would have no clue because Sondra dealt with it all and handled it like a champ. I'm so thankful that we chose her for our wedding planning services and would recommend her to anyone!

d working together she took my ideas and helped bring them to life. I tend to be a control freak especially when it comes to something I have been working so hard on and is so dear to my heart, such as my wedding - so letting go was extremely hard. I spent the week before my wedding in the town where I got married and she responded so quickly to all of my calls, texts, and emails. When I walked into my wedding venue I was instantly calmed by what I saw - Sondra had done an amazing and I knew I had made the right decision hiring her.