Blue Fancy (BF), unfortunately, did not meet our expectations. I don't think it's necessary to go…read moreinto detail listing all of the things that went poorly, and I, of course, want to give them credit for the things that did go well.
Context: we are both from Wisconsin, but are currently living out of state with stressful, time-consuming jobs, which is why we wanted to hire a planner. Our budget was lower than what I'm guessing BF is typically used to working with (less than $60,000), so I'm not sure if that was a factor. We got married in Fond du Lac and most of BF's contacts/experience is in the Milwaukee area. We had a backyard wedding at our family members' homes (a small ceremony at one location and a larger reception at a second location) over a holiday weekend. We hired BF 1.5 years prior to our wedding date leaving plenty of time.
Pros:
-BF was very helpful with providing structure (a to-do list, timeline) and recommending vendors.
-They were insightful when finalizing the rental company contract in terms of backyard wedding details that we would not have thought of. For example, generator needs, water hookups, etc.
-Day of set-up. They provided us with 3 team members, which was incredibly helpful with setting up chairs, tables, a few decorations, etc.
Cons:
-All together, we had a total of 3 planners. Our first planner quit and our second planner had to take a step back due to a serious personal matter. This resulted in poor communication, confusion, and stress. It was often unclear who was taking lead on what and we felt the team did not have the bandwidth to actually manage our wedding. We constantly felt like we had to double-check everything and take care of things ourselves because it was unclear who was doing what and we did not want things to fall through the cracks. Despite this, things did fall through the cracks. For example, we did not finalize our catering contract until 1 month prior to the wedding, which ended up being $8,000 more than we originally agreed because we had no other choice. Additionally, the band that BF recommended pulled out 6 weeks prior our wedding. This was not their fault and they found a replacement within one week, but this was still stressful .
-They seemed to take a 'copy and paste' approach as in they just replicated what they did for previous weddings instead of really listening to what was truly important to us. More of a you fit us instead of we fit you. For example, although they provided recommendations for vendors, we ended up having to find some on our own because their recommendations did not align with our preferences/budget. Examples: photographer, videographer, and hair & make-up team. When we mentioned wanting a videographer within a certain budget, we were told this was unrealistic and received no help. We did find a videographer within our budget and he did a great job! So happy we found him.
-Poor attention to detail. This was pretty concerning and prevalent throughout the process. A couple of examples: (1) they neglected trash removal and only had solutions for the Milwaukee area when we brought it to their attention. We ended up coming up with a creative solution on our own; (2) at the rehearsal dinner, the lead planner did not know the location of where to tell the hair and make-up team to go the following morning (day of).
In sum, we're hoping our experience was abnormal. Nonetheless, we never received an apology, acknowledgment, or a thank you for using their service or any sort of contact after the wedding, which we find unprofessional. We were extremely sympathetic to the series of events that were out of their control, but ultimately, the way it was handled was subpar and the planning process/day of execution was stressful. We wish them the best and hope things are improving.
