My wife and I live in NYC, working in professional event design and management. We wanted someone who we could trust to execute the details we carefully put together over our two-year engagement so we could fully enjoy our wedding day. Nicole w...as an asset to us in her execution of the majority of the day-of responsibilities we as the bride and groom couldn’t handle.
However, there were significant difficulties in the process that required us to take a much more active role than we had expected. At the two week-out mark, we had not heard from Nicole since our intro meeting one month prior, and I asked that she get in touch with our vendors who were emailing me directly. Based on the timeline and division of responsibilities she shared with us, this was to be managed by her. She apologized and explained that another wedding had taken her time during the first two weeks of our month, and that vendors were on her to-do list. When she did reach out, our wedding date was incorrect in many of the emails (1 week off). There continued to be incorrect or partial information distributed to our vendors or added to our timeline. For example, we handed her a complete shuttle schedule organized down to the minute and she translated it into her timeline software with only a start time. We went through round after round of revisions, communicating the exact same details until it was accurately reflected. I think Nicole sensed our frustration and was quick to make the adjustments and move forward with an ever-positive attitude. She was quick to respond and make herself available for phone calls. Unfortunately, these repeatedly missed details only two weeks away from our wedding made us lose trust in Nicole and nervous for the wedding day.
Nicole’s assistant was not helpful. I asked that she direct my grandparents, who were confused where to be for the ceremony, while we were needed for wedding party photos. She disappeared and I was left to deal with the issue myself. She arrived at our black-tie optional wedding in a bright orange jumpsuit and is in the background of a lot of photos. She interrupted photos later to ask a bridesmaid for pens for our guest book but left without the pens. Small details, but on the day-of these things added to our unease.
At 11:59pm, security came in to alert the band that they needed to wrap up and my wife and I were unable to find Nicole or her assistant. The music stopped, and it was up to us to take the lead and direct all our guests out of the venue. It was pretty uncomfortable for everyone. After about 30 minutes of checking in with our vendors and doing a thorough sweep of the venue, Nicole and her assistant showed up with our personal belongings. We would have liked to leave the venue with our guests and leave the vendor coordination to her. Instead, we were the last guests to leave the building after our long wedding day, almost an hour after the party ended.
Nicole managed the load-in of our venue and went out of her way to help us pick up our cake when it could not be delivered. She and her assistant moved all of our décor and remaining alcohol back to our hotel room at the end of the night, above and beyond what we expected. She met all of our feedback with grace and positivity. With more attention to detail and support during the full, contracted 4 weeks before our wedding, many of the frustrations could have been avoided, and would have made us feel more at ease on the wedding day.