Devoted to You

coordinated over 35 weddings as the lead and assisted on too many to count. She (as well as all of the girls on my team) are well versed in how to efficiently run a wedding, coordinate with the venue as well as all of the vendors and the client. You and I talked in great detail about it, and you brought up some great points from a client perspective that I promised I would speak to Kristen about and I did. As a business owner, I think it's imperative for me to hear how the day went from a clients perspective because even though we may be doing our job, if there are things we can do better to grow as individuals and as a team I want to know about them. You laid a lot out here in terms of the day of and what you were unhappy with so I want to address it one by one... The marriage license was an honest mistake. She did not mean to take it home with her and she remedied that by dropping it off personally at the judges office the Monday following your wedding. I wasn't there to see how she spoke to the groomsmen but I can say that I've never seen her yell at a client, their wedding party, their friends and family or another vendor. And in terms of them not knowing where to go, we provide a detailed day of timeline and typically rely on the bride and groom to tell their wedding party in advance of the day of the wedding day where they need to be and when and we always reinforce that the day of the wedding if someone doesn't know where to be. In terms of the bus, they took the wrong way (which ended up being a longer way) to the ceremony. I don't know that there is a way to fix that other than to call the bus company and speak to both the manager and the driver directly to make sure that they know about the issue and also that the second driver didn't do the same thing. Both of which she did. She did not communicate that to you (which we talked about was one of the things she could have done better) but you also have to remember that on a wedding day, we can be coordinating and trouble shooting various different things all at the same time and we don't always report back to the bride to let her know that we made a phone call or addressed the issue...the client typically trusts that we know how to do our job and that we handled the situation. Because of the tight timeframe and the bus situation and Kristen trying to remedy that, she got to the venue after their staff had already started to put decorations out and my second assistant (who was there and I know this because I paid her to be there) was working on the escort card table and was focused on completing that before anything else was done. Normally the bride or groom or any of the family does not arrive at the same time so anything that has been set in the wrong place or not set up at all yet is remedied before you even know about it. Kristen did not have a chance to do that because you all arrived at the same time and as soon as you noticed things were out of place, you started mentioning them to her not giving her a chance to even get situated, check in with her assistant as well as the venue coordinator so that she could get started on what she needed to do. With that being said, once she did have a chance to do that, she did move the decorations to where they were supposed to be and where we had all talked about. The bathroom is the venues responsibility. If it dirty or locked or the toilet is overflowing, our extent of troubleshooting that is to tell the venue coordinator or maintenance staff about it (which she did multiple times) It cannot become our responsibility to provide maintenance on a bathroom. The timing of the thank you speech was absolutely a mishap on her part and I talked to her in great length about that. It is definitely our responsibility to make sure that things happen that are on the timeline and if they don't happen, it's because the bride and groom have chosen not to do it. Once the band started playing, she should have realized that the thank you speech didn't happen and went over to them to let them know to immediately announce it after that song. The fact that that didn't happen was definitely something she should have caught. In terms of all the question asking and not being able to find her on the wedding day, we are constantly moving around doing things and checking on things and talking to vendors (coordinating details) that you may or may not see. Which means we may or may not always be visible depending on that. And from what I know from what you told me and what Kristen has said, she spent a lot of her time that night dealing with things that should have been the venue's responsibility such as unlocking the bathroom and the bridal suite whenever anyone needed it. As I said earlier, I was not there that day, so I can not say exactly how the day went, but I can say that my company is built on principles of integrity, dedication, and hard work and my girls always give forth their best effort and do their best to please the client. Now I want to address what you said about me personally and your experience leading up to the day. I have to say that I am surprised by everything that you wrote here, because when we talked on the phone, you didn't mention anything about being unhappy with my services and the planning processes...everything that you were unhappy with had to do with the day of and Kristen. So when I opened this I was shocked to read what you wrote. Over the course of our planning (which was a month of coordination plus design package) our communication and my level involvement was definitely above and beyond what I typically do for that package. We had 3 consultation meetings with three different florists, a linen consultation, 2 on site venue meetings, a tasting with the caterer, a finalization meeting with the florist, several general planning meetings and countless emails, texts and phone calls throughout the process. There was a point in our planning that I switched email carriers and had an issue receiving some for a short period of time, but once I realized that I called and had it fixed. I pride myself on my response time to my clients. I never ever have taken multiple weeks to get back to someone no matter what it is. During busy wedding season, there were definitely times where I took up to 5 days depending on how urgent the issue and/or question was but NEVER took two-three weeks. And my general threshold for where I draw the line in between "work" time and "personal" time is pretty flexible and lenient. I always tell my clients that if you send an email and you don't get an immediate response from me and if you need one to please text me because that is quicker, especially during busy season. I answered your texts on Sundays after 5PM, on wedding days before 8:30AM, weekdays after 9PM and weekdays before 9AM. This is not typical and/or expected but this is how I run my business. I try to be available and answer things when I can because this is your wedding and I want you to feel like you are important and that I am a partner in your planning process. If there was a time that I didn't answer a text right away, it's because I was with family or away on vacation and I do draw the line there and try not to work when I am spending time with my children. In terms of the way I run my business and how I delegate, I was very upfront with you (and I am with every client) on that from the very beginning. If you were hesitant about me not being there the day of your wedding or "not overly enthused" with me even before we started to work together, then I'm just not sure why you signed the contract to begin with. I make it a point to tell potential clients that hiring someone to help you coordinate your day is essential and if for whatever reason you feel that we don't click or are not the right fit, don't let that stop you from hiring someone. Overall, again I am so sorry that Kristen and I did not live up to your expectations of what you wanted in a wedding coordinator but I can tell you that we worked hard and both were dedicated to you, your planning process and your wedding day.