We really did not want to and were not planning to write this review on Joelle. The unprofessionalism, the incompetence and the lack of communication wasn't enough for us to make us feel ok about writing a bad review about someone's business, BUT. The more we think about it, even months after the wedding, the way Joelle has handled herself (or lack thereof) on all the things she messed up on, we feel we need to give feedback so other couples don't make the mistake of entrusting her with one of the most special days of their lives.
First off, Joelle was hired as our month-of-coordinator, not a planner, so the responsibilities we were expecting of her were very minimal. We didn't rely on her for any creative help, it was just a matter of us hiring someone who can take care of logistics for the day of. Even with those minimal expectations, Joelle was a total disappointment.
Everything done by Joelle was messy, not planned out properly, and unprofessional. Just a FEW of the examples - she listed her own cell number wrong on the timeline which was to be sent to all of our vendors (I had to correct her), she charged us an extra few hundred dollars to make our table signs for the reception - we had a very specific idea about putting famous quotes about love on wooden signs (I sent a great example of what we were thinking from Etsy to Joelle, and when asked if we should go ahead and use the Etsy vendor, Joelle said she could do them instead and charged us EVEN MORE than what the Etsy vendor was charging, but we just used her since we thought it would be easier to have her do them). We pored over the internet looking for quotes for these signs and sent them to her weeks in advance. She said they were great and note, had almost a MONTH to make them. It wasn't until our wedding reception that I realized the wooden signs were literally not even close to the ones I asked her to replicate, but most importantly, the quotes weren't even on there. When I asked her what happened, she nonchalantly replied, "I have some bad news. Do you want me to tell you now or later?" When I asked her to tell me, she proceeds to tell me that the NIGHT BEFORE, her Pay Pal account was hacked and she and her husband lost $3000 and that's why she couldn't get the signs done. WE HAD ASKED HER TO DO THESE A MONTH BEFORE THE WEDDING. How did this person think it was a reasonable excuse to tell me she couldn't get the signs done because she was distracted the NIGHT BEFORE? It's almost insulting that she thought this was a viable excuse. So she told us she would send us a check in the mail to refund us for the signs she did not make, and after we checked in with her since we hadn't received the check after months, she said it "slipped" her mind (which is a perfect example of everything she represents as a wedding coordinator), and that she would send the check. Well, it's been over a week and we still don't have the check.
Also over a month in advance, we told her we really wanted a sparkler send off, she said that would be no problem and that she would take care of it. Well, we found out on the DAY BEFORE our wedding, after the rehearsal, and only because I asked her, that she couldn't find sparklers near our venue and that sorry, but the sparkler send off isn't going to happen. Again, she said this so nonchalantly.Well, after learning of this situation, one of my friends literally made one call, and we found sparklers within 15 minutes. And that's the only reason our sparkler send off happened.
Can't leave out the part where she tried to have me walk down the aisle while the bridesmaids' song was still playing, and that mishap was only prevented because I had to TELL her I'm going to wait until the bridal music plays.
Also - my bridesmaids had a very hard time getting a hold of/finding her on our wedding day. Thank goodness my bridesmaids were so on top of everything, they helped the day go smoothly. Truly, if it weren't for my amazing bridesmaids and our other very professional and efficient vendors, who knows how many more glitches there would have been under the supervision of this woman.
When we finally sent her a respectful and detailed email after she asked us for feedback, her reply was literally one sentence long saying she understands our "frustration," but would still really like to use our photos from our wedding day. Unbelievable.
We are SO disappointed with Joelle and feel that we wasted so much money in employing her for "month-of" coordination, when what we got was DAY OF at the very most. Even that, she didn't fulfill. We feel like this review needed to be shared so other couples can make an educated decision before possibly making a big mistake of hiring her. All of our vendors for our wedding were PHENOMENAL, and the only mistake we made was hiring Joelle. She did the absolute bare minimum - she coordinated the timing of the day, made a few signs, but we didn't pay almost 3k for a day of assistant. read more