During the ceremony there were many hiccups that Deborah should have prevented.I didn’t notice them at the time, and thankfully my guests didn’t notice them either. Following the ceremony we began all of the usual photos while the room was bein...g flipped for the reception. It really would have been helpful if Deborah could have stepped up and taken a little more charge to keep things on track. Her contract clearly states that she helps organize the family for pictures. After all the posed photos were complete, and the wedding party and family went downstairs for the cocktail hour, I had to hunt all over the place to find Deborah to bustle my gown. There is nothing like sweating and dragging a dress and a long veil around a room packed full of people. I would have expected her to be there and ready to bustle my gown as it states in the contract. It also would have been nice to have her there when I switched my veil, but thankfully I found a willing bridesmaid to assist me before I ever found her.
The reception is when things got really stressful. As a bride, I should never have to say that but seeing my mom upset was stressing me out and taking away from the experience. Once again, Deborah really should have stepped up and taken charge of the events. It would have been nice if she had actually ANNOUNCED the cutting of the cakes. However, half the room didn't even know that the cakes were being cut. I'm not even sure if our parents were present during this time. Once again, I don't think there was a TRUE announcement of the bouquet toss and the garter toss. I am my parent’s oldest daughter and my husband is his parent’s only son, and I think these are things that they would have liked to have seen.
The contract states that she would pack up the designated car at the end of the night. I didn’t really appreciate finding that one of my veils was shoved in a bag. Even worse than that, I didn’t appreciate learning the morning after my wedding that my ceremony veil and MARRIAGE LICENSE were nowhere to be found. Maybe if she had been there to bustle my dress and swap my veils she would have known where my ceremony veil was. Instead it got left behind hanging in the venue in plain sight. A red flag should have gone up when I handed her my marriage license after we signed it and she said “What do you want me to do with this?” I asked her to put it with all of my things assuming they would all make it into the car at the end of the night.
At the end of the day, my wedding day was perfect. It truly was the day I have always dreamed of, but I really feel like none of that is owed to Deborah Simmons. Everything was my planning and agonizing for many months with the devoted help of my mother. I was really looking forward to relaxing and enjoying the day we planned for for so long, but I still spent most of the night completely stressed out. I’m not sure if Deborah was disinterested in me and my wedding because of my smaller budget or the fact that I’m not one of her usual Jackson socialites. I really expected more from her. Thirteen percent of my already tight budget went towards hiring Signature Occasions. At this point I don’t see any benefit from this decision. This is money that could have gone towards the flowers that came out of my own pocket or we could have not spent it at all. $1,950 might not seem like a lot to you, but I know it’s a lot of money to my parents who work extremely hard and it is a lot of money to me.