Hiring At Your Door Events was the worst mistake.
PLEASE BRIDES: Do yourself a favor, and search for a planner who really cares! Or better yet, plan your wedding yourself.
The wedding was in May, so this is an overdue review. But I had to take a breath after all the wedding craziness before talking about it again because it makes me that angry. So I've revisited this draft time and time again in attempts to finish it without getting upset.
As maid of honor, I helped my cousin plan her wedding in Cerritos, CA. She was finishing med school on the East coast and didn't have the time for the phone calls, emails, nor the time to fly here to meet with vendors. So I came up with ideas, attended wedding expos, and found the venue and the main vendors for her. Come January, I was overwhelmed with juggling the planning and my work and convinced my cousin to splurge on a planner. I found At Your Door events on Yelp, called and Jenny set up a meeting with me.
It should have been a red flag when she was already passive aggressive in our first text convo. I'll post a pic of the screen shot. I didn't see her text confirming our meeting that evening (I was working) and she texted me: "Hello, since I didn't hear from you, I assume were not meeting. No worries. Have a good night!"
I was taken back by her response. It just seemed very unprofessional to me. I apologized for not replying to her text (again I was working) and told her I would still meet with her if she was still available.
We FaceTimed my cousin and her fiancé in our meeting. And talked about what we needed help with, what vendors we didn't have, etc. We talked about Jenny's prices and although my cousin was on a very tight budget, she agreed. After we hung up the phone, Jenny instantly said "Wow, you guys are really behind". She suggested started right away (January), instead of in February but for an additional charge. I really didn't think we were that behind, since the main vendors were booked already. However, her reaction worried me so the bride and groom booked her starting January..
There's so much to say but I'll try to sum up the main points:
1. She in fact did not start in January. She claimed she would and did but she didn't. By February, I had regret convincing my cousin to hire her because she had nothing done. If we were so behind, then why didn't she get started? All she had me do was email contracts from vendors we already booked.
2. WE COULD NOT GET A HOLD OF HER. I was being nice and thought I'd allow 72 hours for her to respond to the bride or myself. Nothing. No email, phone call, text. Then it turned into weeks of not hearing from her. The first time she said she got into a car accident. The second time, she had no excuse. She only finally contact us after I had to call her boss or "business partner".. who contacted me the same morning ironically. Ha! You guys do know how to respond. Of course Jenny texted me with a passive aggressive text message angry that I contacted Sara. Mind you we were WEEKS OUT FROM THE WEDDING DAY AND JENNY WAS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND! I even told Sara I don't want to make Jenny angry because I know her attitude and I'm afraid she won't show up on the day off. And she was already paid!! The bride should not have to be tracking down her planner that close to her wedding.. or ever!
3. I kept asking and asking for missing vendors that we were "so behind on".. She didn't even book them until weeks before the wedding!! Not to mention wedding invitations were not even made until March! For a May wedding. But she didn't seem to care.
4. Wedding day- she was unorganized and useless and LATE!! Thankfully the decorator was there early! She saved her ass! I called Jenny and she lied and said she was already there. But I spoke the my decorator and she said her crew arrived an hour early and the venue said that the planner was not there yet!!
Also, she told me the day before that she contacted the DJ and they discussed everything he needed for the ceremony and reception. But she forgot to ask the bride WHAT SONG SHE WANTED TO WALK DOWN THE AISLE TO!! I didn't want to stress out the bride so I was scrambling to find ceremony wedding songs. Jenny didn't even have any good suggestions of typical wedding songs and she's supposed to be an experienced planner?! She suggested songs that were not even wedding songs!! Thankfully 2 bridesmaids had suggestions because they recently got married!
Also, the servers Jenny hired last were useless! They didn't noticed empty trays at the buffet. I waked by an picked them up and hid them under the table! And had to tell the caterers myself to replace them!! Jenny changed into flats halfway through the night and family and friends joked that changing her shoes was unnecessary because she hadn't worked.
A planner is supposed to take the stress away from the planning and your big day. But all Jenny did was add to it. Please just save your money and DIY. read more