My wife and I purchased the Champagne package, which is the rehearsal and day of coordinating package with Cherish Events. Lauren and Ashley were very professional and friendly in person during our one in-person meeting, but we ultimately felt ...they were checked out throughout the entire process. My wife is an event planner herself, so she was very organized and may have given the impression that we had everything under control, but we were really looking for more support and collaboration out of our $1,400 package. We kept trying to convince ourselves that since we only got the day-of coordinators, that when the actual day of the wedding came, that we would finally feel "oh, this is why we hired coordinators." That hope never really came to fruition.
As a groom, I felt it was especially necessary to hire the coordinators, because I didn't want to put all of the pressure on my wife. Unfortunately, she still carried a lot of the load.
We hired Lauren and Ashley over a year before our wedding, but they, unbeknownst to us, booked 5 other wedding events the same weekend. It was clear that we were not a priority for our special day.
In summary:
1. We did not receive rehearsal coordination, which was part of our contract due to the planners having another wedding.
2. Multiple vendors did not receive necessary timeline or contact information prior to the wedding, resulting in the vendors calling my wife the morning of the wedding in a frenzy. The coordinators said they called every vendor that morning, but at least two of the vendors reported to us that they didn't even have a phone number for the coordinators.
3. The coordinators arrived an hour and a half after the designated time and the vendors did not have access to the venue for set up.
4. Some materials of ours were left at the venue and the remainder of our items where haphazardly packed back in the boxes resulting in broken and bent items and melted wax on items upon unpacking. Tissue paper, bubble wrap, and more were initially provided and was not used. We had to pay for the items that were left behind to be returned.
5. We did not want to leave a public review, so my wife and I detailed our constructive criticism via email for the sake of letting them know we felt like we were just one of their six weddings that weekend, and we were met with a laundry list of excuses turning responsibility on us as customers. We had hoped they would hear us out and reflect upon their successes and focus on how they could improve for the future brides and grooms who scraped money together and made many sacrifices to pay for coordinators, but we both felt that with every concern we had, we were met with, it was either the DJ, the vendors, the venue or our fault that things did not go as expected.
All in all, we never felt like they kicked in. We and our immediate family and wedding party felt like they were in a rush during our day, especially during break down. It was clear to us that they were extremely busy that weekend, and unfortunately, some of our wedding coordination was a casualty of their success.
Our wedding was beautiful, nonetheless, but I hope to provide a male perspective and hope that future couples who decide to use Cherish Events have a better experience than we did. They are very nice ladies, our wedding just happened to be in the midst of all their successes.