I am a big fan of small business owners, so I don't give bad reviews lightly. However, dealing with Elaine was such a frustrating experience that I felt I had to convince other brides to steer clear.
I came to Elaine because my dad told me at the last minute that he wanted calligraphy and/or new invitations. The ones I chose weren't fancy enough. So I went to Elaine for help and explained to her that time was of the essence. I was already way behind on the invitations and already felt rude to my guests, since it's a destination wedding and we're 6 weeks out (!). She keeps telling me that I'm fine on time, but frankly, I'm not. And it's inappropriate for her to tell me that despite my (very reasonable) concern about the time.
We chose to go with Elaine instead of another person because Elaine said we could get the invites in as few as four days after the order was put in. But it's been longer than that, which would be fine because she said "as few as" four days. The reason it's not fine is because she's now told me in an email how we're one week early from what she estimated. Which is not true. If I had known she expected it to take 2-3 weeks, I would've gone with the invitations I already had.
And I've felt nickel-and-dimed the entire way. I explained to her that I didn't want to spend a lot on my invitations. So she tried to sell me on the least expensive invite in the MOST expensive book. (FYI, NO ONE CARES if it's the same paper company the White House uses.) Additionally, she tells you to put things on multiple lines that should be on one line because--wait for it--she charges by line.
She has given me the run-around as to when I can pick up the invitations. She insinuated she would have them done by a certain day, but then I found out that she wouldn't have them to me by that day unless I paid a rush order.
It's not a one-star review because, again, I take this very seriously, and she did push the invitation company to move faster because I told her I was in a rush. She also seems to take her art very seriously, and she gave good advice on the artistic aspects of the invite. She clearly has an eye for this sort of thing.
However, I would not go back to her because of the complete unprofessionalism and lack of communication skills. She acts like she's doing you a favor, she treats you like you're an idiot (for the record--all I asked for was an estimate as to how long it would take), and despite her 20 years' experience, she refuses to even give an estimate as to how long calligraphy might take. I asked in multiple emails for an estimate, and she kept refusing to answer. ("It's an art not a science"--which is all well and good, but you should still be able to give an *estimate.*)
I am so insanely frustrated that I am going to pick up the invitations without calligraphy. That is, if she'll let me, which at this point is questionable. Despite telling me several times that she'd set aside today to work on my invitations, it's almost 5pm and she hasn't even *reviewed the order.*
She is not a business person, and she won't discuss business matters without getting offended. I mentioned to her that her pricing structure is illogical. I didn't even tell her I wasn't going to pay the way she asked (because I wasn't in the position to negotiate), but it doesn't make sense to charge for extra lines (because presumably they take more time and ink) but not charge less for fewer lines (because presumably that takes *less* time and ink). Even accounting for set-up, that makes absolutely no sense. If you're saying that time saved by not writing a line is negligible, then time added by writing an extra line should also be negligible. But don't mention that to her because she'll tell you how you don't know anything because you haven't been doing this for 20 years.
For a bride who's in a rush and on a budget, go elsewhere. With Elaine, you're getting someone who considers herself an artist, which she may well be, but I didn't have patience enough with her antics to find out. read more
