As a newly engaged couple, you feel incredibly overwhelmed with planning, so you get a wedding coordinator to give you a sense of instant relief. However, the relief was very short lived after hiring Natalie.
Her contract included the followi...ng roles, “vendor management, review of vendor contracts, venue walkthrough, monthly email check-ins, answers to etiquette questions, unlimited phone, text, and email, precise timeline delivery to bride, wedding party, and vendors, etc.” However, I had to research and choose vendors on my own, manage all vendor communications, handle contracts, create/update/deliver the timelines, figure out etiquette answers, etc.
Months had gone by without hearing from Natalie. With only a month left before the wedding, I was incredibly nervous about what to expect from her considering she had never worked with my venue nor any of the vendors. I urged we have a final venue walk through. This is something a coordinator should see as an opportunity to prepare for the job, so I, personally, felt it was inappropriate that I was the one initiating the walk-through. Not to mention it was a contractual duty of hers. She got a flat tire on the way, (which I understand is out of her control), but did not come to the venue once the tire was repaired, or reschedule. She only attempted to FaceTime as an exception, but that was too little too late.
The day of, she spent the morning in the bridal suite watching us get ready. At noon she went to the venue to “oversee” the set up. I was told by the venue coordinator that Natalie again just stood there waiting to get tasks assigned to her. She was unaware of the vision, so she wasn’t able to catch certain issues like the floral aisle markers missing at the ceremony. Also, I completely forgot to wear my veil, which in my opinion is a detail a wedding coordinator should notice.
Natalie is very nice, but unfortunately personality isn’t what you’re hiring a coordinator for. I considered confronting Natalie for some sort of refund because in my opinion her work was not worth $2800, but I thought it was more important to pay it forward to all of the brides out there stressing about wedding planning. I would not recommend Natalie’s Brides to any bride. A word of advice, talk with the venue coordinator, they’ll be your biggest advocate during the planning process.