Weddings by Jennifer Laskey

ng shutdown. These clients lived in Asia so they didn’t want to travel as it was going to be hard on them as they were not citizens but working on a visa- Their ask or threat rather, to move dates, and to a popular Saturday, was granted to them due to ME, thou against the policy the venue owners and I had implemented for some 60 other weddings. We had a $21,000 loss in revenue due to granting them this exception but they seem to have forgotten all about that. What is also interesting is that they seem to have forgotten that my wedding planning company engaged in a 'month of+day of planning' contract for a discounted rate due to the venue they were using (back in Jan 2020). I planned their wedding not once, but twice, and also lost out on work/ revenue for allowing them to change dates without any charge, and worked with them for almost 2 entire years. Due to that, credit is given they did honor their contract /payment when deciding out of the blue with no explanation that they wanted to go in another direction 3-4 weeks prior to their new wedding date. They seemed to be expecting the service of a full service planning contract for a month of contract, all from a time zone across the world, during a national pandemic when the venue was short staffed handling 2-3 weddings a week after a year with millions of dollars of losses, and after my recent personal unexpected loss of my dad. And maybe that’s my bad because I did go above and beyond the NON full service contract from the beginning: referring them amazing vendors that know and love me, planning their post wedding brunch and securing a discount at a venue I was close with, re-planning things like florals when they changed their mind by the 2nd wedding date, finding them accommodations, etc. Sure, it’s true, I may have taken a little longer to reply due to this heartbreak and when 2021 was a year that 2 years worth of weddings happened to occur in 5-6 months time and any wedding professional felt the weight of this hardship but we all did out absolute best. It’s sad that some select clients like this one had a total change of heart, had poor communication about any feelings of unhappiness they had to the point of trying to remedy it like adults, and just really were mean vicious people with no sense of appreciation or understanding in a hard time. To top it off, I did come by their wedding for about 30 minutes before food service began (which the venue provided), in order to make sure it went well knowing they were so so detailed to a point of crazy, along with only the assistants of the approved wedding planner that had not previously worked at our venue running the day (and management had already called me complaining about them). Furthermore, the venue I have run sales for for 9 years but at the time we were without a GM due to covid hardships. so I wanted to make extra sure our amazing freelance manager was doing ok and the staff were on their best behavior as he is seldom ever managing without me by his side to share the duties. I also checked on the vendors I knew well and referred and said hi to the couple with the most positive vibes, because that’s just the kind of cheerleader type person I am. I also went to help the planning assistant who was locked out of the air bNb that’s under the venue as well, and was happy to do so as the bride needed her to get something there. Their comment is so untrue and misguided it’s very sad. Their wedding was essentially flawless due to my organization as a 20 year veteran event director. Clearly they came to have some unknown personal issue with me, I just I wish they would have communicated so we could resolve it, and I would always accept constructive criticism as even after 20 years of event planning, I always want grow and be the absolute best I can be, but their misinterpreting things and adding lies about me having any ill intensions to a review and placing it on every platform known to man is very low and a bad move karmically. I have hundreds upon hundreds of kind, grateful, smart, happy clients so I am ok, but I felt it essential to reply to my first review ever here – in closing some people allowed the pandemic to bring out their worst, I accept that as much as it’s so important to me every client is happy – if they don’t communicate it’s very hard to understand their sometimes unrealistic expectations – and even then I usually try my best to meet them as this is the job of a wedding planner :)

cool for school and would not do the normal pre wedding call I like to do to go over cues ( I tried and was directed to his assistant). The fact that he played the wrong song at one moment (that part is true), is not my fault- that's why clients sign contracts that they are responsible for the vendors they hire an their performance. If they were my referrals that might be a little different. This wedding went exceptionally well and the bride was actually quite cool. Thanks Mom, hope you and your kids are 'getting along' better now then when I met you at the wedding :)