Let me start out by saying I HATE writing negative reviews. I found Marie on Yelp, and I didn't have the same experience everyone else seems to have had, so I feel obligated to share my honest feedback. If you are looking for someone who is very rigid, and who works entirely off of google docs and spreadsheets, she is your planner.
If you're looking for someone who is friendly, helpful, patient, and willing to hold your hand when you're making tough decisions...you may want to interview a few others.
Marie had (by far) the best reviews and the most stunning photos I could find when I started doing my research on wedding planners in Kauai. I talked to one other planner, but they seemed pretty old school, and I was impressed by Marie's portfolio. I felt at ease during the welcome call. Marie didn't seem rushed and seemed receptive to my questions and concerns. Unfortunately, once my deposit was paid, everything changed, and I found myself disappointed by having concerns and questions dismissed on several occasions. My husband asked to speak to the DJ several times, and Marie refused and told him he'd have to work off of her document. I asked questions about the officiant, and she told me I could "google" him. I asked if she'd introduce us and she told me to email him myself. Marie wasn't willing to do work outside of her templated spreadsheets, which was incredibly disappointing to us.
The reason I'm giving Marie 2 stars is because she truly did have a wonderful book of vendors to pick from, and I'm absolutely THRILLED that I was introduced to Brandi at Blend Designs (people couldn't stop talking about how incredible my flowers were), Mia Moriguchi for Hair and Makeup, Rachel Thurston for photography, Zest for videography, and Contemporary Flavors for catering. Now, the reason I feel so obligated to write this review is because interacting with Marie was honestly the ONLY stressful part about my wedding.
Marie was not receptive to simple questions or concerns. While I understand that she has coordinated many events, I had to remind her on several occasions that this was our wedding (our only wedding) and we had questions we needed her help on. I also found myself having to go out of my way to make things easier for her. For instance, I had planned a hair and makeup trial at 10am; and Marie wanted me to do the rehearsal during that same time. I had asked for a later rehearsal time; suggesting we do it before dinner, but Marie was unwilling to meet later in the afternoon because she didn't want to make two trips to our venue. She insisted that my entire wedding party plan around her, and because of that, my brother-in-law and mother-in-law were not able to join us for the rehearsal.
Regarding the actual ceremony, I was disappointed to find that there wasn't enough planned seating - even though our RSVP numbers had not changed. I had guests who had to stand, which I still can't believe. Our ceremony was beautiful (thanks to our wonderful officiant Kelvin Ho) but I should mention that it started raining during our outdoor ceremony. When the ceremony was over, my husband and I walked down the aisle and my guests stood around for a good minute in the rain waiting for any direction from Marie.
My husband is in the military and wanted to change out of his dress whites into a more comfortable outfit. When Marie found this out, she told him that wasn't on the schedule and that he would have to "hurry up". I'm all about communication and timeliness, but her delivery was terrible. She didn't care at all how that made him (or me) feel. She didn't care about our experience, she only cared about sticking to her timeline. When we sat down for dinner, I was (again) disappointed to find that Marie forgot the 3 highchairs that I told her we would need (via email - which she responded to). Marie told my bridesmaids that she was never informed of this - not true - and incredibly unprofessional. My poor guests had to suggest to Marie that she should ask the restaurant for extra highchairs. After much pushback, she did, but then asked my guests to personally return the highchairs after the ceremony. I paid Legacy Events thousands of dollars to coordinate my wedding. My guests should not have had to go out of their way due to Marie's oversight. Thankfully, Marie left shortly after the reception started. The experience would have been much more pleasant without her.
At the end of the day, my wedding truly was the best day of my life and I loved all the vendors that I met through Marie; however, those vendors are not tied to Marie and they work with plenty of other planners. I must re-iterate that the only unpleasant part of wedding planning was working with Marie and being disappointed by how she handled several situations. read more