(Part 1 of 2)
Hello,
My experience with Luana Events was both disappointing and mediocre. Her actions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that she cares more about her vendors than her clients. Please do not choose to hire Luana Events if you want a full-service wedding planner that is willing to weather the storm and go to bat with you.
My fiancée and I are currently long distance so we chose to have a destination wedding in Hawaii. We spent a fair amount of time researching wedding planners by reading reviews (WeddingWire, etc.), looking at social media (Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, etc.), and weighing the pros/cons of each vendor. We wanted a planner who was going to be hands-on and delicate in guiding us through this once-in-a-lifetime process. We didn't want to go with a company that would delegate the work out. After much discussion, we hired Justine in December 2019.
When we started the planning process, she provided a list of her preferred vendors. We chose from the list and paid our deposits promptly. We were the "perfect" clients because we didn't really question any of her guidance. Yet, she never updated us on site visits or in-person visits with vendors. Most of her correspondences occurred via the phone or e-mails. And when she offered options for leis, florals, tents, and lights, the pictures she sent to us were stock photos, with the exception of one photo. For how much we were paying, we expected more from her services, for example an in-person visit to the florist, where she could then show us a sample of the floral arrangements. You will be disappointed if you are expecting a personalized service, where the wedding planner keeps you updated with every aspect of the planning process and correspondences.
The planning process came to a halt in mid-March during the peak of the pandemic. My fiancée and I had to keep up with the news in Hawaii regarding regulations and closures. We would have to initiate emails and phone calls with Justine regarding the news. Not once did she reach out to us first. Neither Justine nor the venue reached out to us when the venue decided to close on our wedding date. We had to find out randomly while browsing their website. When we questioned Justine about this, she stated she found out the same day we did (coincidence?). Postponing our wedding was not an option for us, so we requested that Justine help us in getting back our deposits. She initially told us that we would lose over ~$10k in our deposits, which was ridiculous. We felt like this was a ploy to get us to postpone the wedding, so that her vendors would not lose any business. Not a single vendor (out of the eleven) was willing to give back all of our deposits. Every single one wanted to keep a portion; some wanted to keep 100% of the deposit AND the full payment. She failed to read through our vendor contracts, many stated that we were entitled to a larger percentage of our deposits. The cake, make-up, and rental sign vendors didn't even have contracts and still wanted to keep a portion of all of the deposits. Our deposits were paid to secure a wedding date that was no longer possible because the venue had literally closed its doors due to COVID-19.
Justine's excuse for these vendors keeping our money was that they could have hired clients who would've been open to postponing. So, they are losing money because we chose not to postpone. I'm not sure why these vendors believe they can make up their own rules, but it's clear that Justine made no effort to fight for us. We worked hard for our money and saved up for our dream wedding. We are the only ones that have put money into this wedding, none of these vendors purchased ingredients or food towards our wedding, and no services (hair, make-up, photography, videography) were rendered. I personally reached out to speak to a lot of these vendors, negotiated, and was able to recover more than ~$10k, which is what Justine initially told us we would lose. The fact that we had to get extremely involved undermined the service that Luana Events provided.
Although a pandemic occurred and our venue closed, Justine expected to get compensated up until the day before the wedding. She deducted the rehearsal and wedding day from her payment, but refused to pro-rate for the last month. If I am paying for a service up until the day before the wedding, we expect her to work and reach out to her vendors for refunds, which she failed to do.
(Part 2 is in the next review) read more
