We scheduled our initial meeting to see if we would be a good fit, which she canceled just a few moments before. The next day I thanked her for her time and informed her we were going to go a different route. She pulled out all the stops trying to get us to change our minds. Stephanie drove to our home that night with gifts and a vision board. Of course we were blown away and thought the initial interaction was a misunderstanding and proceeded. She claimed we needed to sign the contract asap, as we'd get right to work and be in touch multiple times a week since there was so much to do. After an executed contract and full payment (we payed in full to get $500 off the total- second worst decision we've made after hiring her. DON'T EVER PAY IN FULL because if it doesn't work out you'll end up losing it all, as we did) we didn't hear from her for over a week. I reached out multiple times with questions regarding how we'd proceed. She told me to be patient, we will get to it. In her pitch she promised as a full service bride we'd basically be 'best friends for the next year'. From what many of the other planners we met with have said, we needed to make moves- we had less than a year to plan a wedding in the middle of peak season. Every time I asked about the timeline, on when we needed to have a venue secured, she told me to calm down, we will get around to it. She constantly blew off my calls, and text messages. The few times she did acknowledge my calls she'd reply with a text asking if I needed something. I felt so swindled, by being treated as if my wedding, and concerns were just insignificant to her. I can't tell you how many nights I cried to my husband. People might forget what you've said, but never how you've made them feel. My husband and I contemplated canceling the entire wedding ceremony due to this terrible experience. Everything she stood for and prided herself on before she got that signed contract felt like a complete lie to me. The ONE and ONLY venue viewing day she showed us three hotels that didn't fit our vision or budget. She basically told us these were our only options for our wedding date (keep in mind she previously told us we had plenty of time to secure a venue). One of the venues the food and beverage minimum was far more than half of our entire budget. She had no regard for our budget. She kept pushing her friend's businesses on us, who's prices turned out to be on the very high end of industry standard. She never gave us any other options, just told us this is normal, turns out it wasn't. She previously said she can save us as much money as it costs to hire her. Yeah, right.. Our wedding budget doubled with these unnecessary expenses, and every time we questioned her about it, she called us "cheap". I felt so belittled. We had a privacy clause in our contract. I was later informed she often told vendors what my husband does for a living, posted our engagement photos on her social media sites, and mentioned our names, wedding venue and even date. With that, she broke our contract, and enough was enough. I called her and let her know I'd like to part ways amicably, after she had broken terms of our contract. I was hoping for a portion of our money back as we had only met about 3 times in nearly 6 months. After informing her of her contract breach, Stephanie had her lawyer call me and claim I was bullying and intimidating her. I felt as if she hadn't even done 1/8 of her job up to this point. Cutting ties with Stephanie was the start to some of the best decisions I have made in the wedding planning process, even though she kept all of our money. I was able to find the most amazing team and regain the excitement and joy I had for planning my wedding prior to working with Stephanie Antoinette. read more
