The following was mailed to A-1 on 10/3. We have not received a reply or apology:
Dear A-1,
My husband, Adam, and I were married on September 10. For 13 months, we meticulously planned, re-planned and perfected what would be our perfect wedding day.
At times, it was difficult. We rented an almost too-good-to-be-true venue in Jackson, Mich. We were lucky enough to get an absolutely gorgeous, dream-like space for our big day, but that meant we would have to arrange everything else--yes, from the fork to the decorations to the sprinkles people threw at us--all by ourselves. Since we're both planners, it was a challenge Adam and I were up to...and our goal was to make it the smoothest experience for everyone involved along the way, including our vendors.
Fast-forward to the week of the wedding and everything was going as well as we could have hoped for. Thursday night, we hung all the lights, stuffed vases with fairy lights and set up the soccer net that would be our altar. All of this so that Friday would be a breeze. Because, on Friday, you were scheduled to arrive then with everything we couldn't provide ourselves: tables, chairs, linens, napkins, dishes, silverware, coffee makers, water pitchers...basically everything to make our venue feel like an oasis for our big day.
Adam confirmed with you on the phone that the ideal time for arrival on Friday was between 10 a.m. and noon. We understood that our contract said anytime after 10, but after Adam's touch-base, we were in good spirits and feeling confident. That was our first and only mistake. We should have gotten the 10-12 arrival time in writing.
Because we are planners and were so humbled to have family and friends volunteer to help with setup, we were organized. We had a group of 10-15 people at the venue at 11 a.m. on Friday morning, ready to set up with more than enough time to make our rehearsal at 5:30. The only problem was you didn't show up between 10 and noon...
I waited until 12 to call you. I was greeted by a very gruff, un-empathetic voice on the other end, who told us your trucks wouldn't be there until 2. I know it was 2 because I wrote it down. You see, I was in a weird Zen-like wedding state at that point, but I am a manager by day, one that typically doesn't deal with crap, so I knew that, at some point, I dreaded, I might need these records.
2 rolled around and still no sign of you. Adam called this time. Trish had bad news: you wouldn't be getting there until 4:30.
I called at 4:40 to figure out where the heck you were. I was less than lucky and got the unfriendly woman again. "They left 10 minutes ago. It's Friday at rush hour, you know." No apology.
Our rehearsal time rolled around at 5:30. Sweaty and in street clothes, we rehearsed in an empty venue with the crowd of people who had been sitting around all day with nothing to do.
A-1 didn't arrive until 6:45. Our rehearsal dinner was at 7. Thank God we hired an absolutely amazing, indispensable day-of wedding coordinator. After you completely ruined our entire Friday, her day-of responsibilities crossed over into two. She stayed with your delivery team and managed to have them help set up the tables on Friday night while we went to dinner--sweaty, thanks.
Saturday came. Saturday, what was supposed to be the greatest, most calm and worry-free day of our lives. That didn't happen. Though mine went as planned, Adam's was chaos. He, our wedding coordinator and an assortment of lifesaving family members and friends busted their butts to set up that space. Because he and I had chosen not to see each other before I walked down the aisle, I did not step foot into our venue until that very moment.
Our wedding coordinator, being the amazing woman that she is, managed to negotiate $400 off our bill for your ineptitude. She told us you had fought her on even that amount. Well, let me tell what $400 meant to us. It meant paying our coordinator for the extra hours she worked. And I can tell you, what was left over after that came nowhere close to compensating for what you took from us, from me. I am a huge stickler for detail; I wanted to be leading venue setup. I wanted to be saying little things like, "Can you please move that table a little to the left," arranging keepsake items on our welcome table, admiring the layout of the 20 thrift store pieces I purchased to make our donut ice cream sundae bar table just right. I didn't get any of that. There were no moments for me before the wedding where I got to stroll around, in awe of the room we spent 13 months conceptualizing, organizing and creating.
You stole that from us, A-1. And we'll never be able to get it back. For the rest of our lives, you will be the reason our wedding day wasn't perfect. So, the next time you have a client--as large as the University of Michigan or as "small" as a wedding--I hope you think about that. You owe us a lot more than $400. I hope another client never has to go through what we lost. read more