I want to start by saying I have taken time to allow myself to process everything I am about to share and I am writing this review after a over a month of consideration.
First, I want to point out that Kevin and his wife, Krista, were pleasant to work with leading up to the month of our wedding. Although, when I emailed Kevin the first time his wife responded which threw me off because I was not aware I'd be communicating with someone other than Kevin. Nonetheless, Kevin corresponded with me over the phone on a couple occasions to discuss our wedding entertainment and was very flexible with what we wanted. He seems like a laid back kind of guy and loves what he does. Unfortunately, due to the global pandemic, my fiancé and I were forced to cancel our wedding which was supposed to happen at the end of April when their was a mandate of no gatherings of more than 6 people. Obviously, the service we paid Kevin for could not be performed per the regulations put forth by our country and state. I was very open about our situation with Krista who handles communication from time to time. They continued to ask for us to pay in full despite the issue of Covid-19 surging since our wedding date was approaching and we had to make a split decision. My fiancé and I held off as we made the difficult decision to cancel our wedding within days of the lockdown. Once I communicated the fact that we couldn't move forward with our celebration, they offered for us to choose another date. The fact that there is know knowing when gatherings would/will be safe or allowed put us in a position where we felt we could not simply "choose a future date". I asked Kevin and Krista if they'd be willing to work with us in refunding even a portion of our deposit which was $300 just to be fair. To my surprise, they weren't open to that idea. The response I received was that the deposit was non-refundable and was asked to show compassion and understanding since they are a small family business. They did offer to book a future date, but it just wasn't a practical offer for us since there's no telling when that can happen. Many of my other vendors willfully offered to refund my deposit despite their "non-refundable policy" based on the simple fact that this situation was completely out of our control. With that said, I'm not here to bad mouth Mountain Echo and I really can't speak to the skill or services they provide, but I want to warn others who may be considering booking with them among the uncertainty of our current state that you may not get your money back in the future if you have to cancel. I would discuss this before providing your deposit to ensure justice if you also have to face the devastation of canceling your wedding.
***Hi Krista,
Thank you for your response. Everything you've said is true and forthcoming. I was mistaken -- it was $300, not $350 for the deposit! Sorry about that. I want to mention that it didn't bother me that others were involved in the communication, I was just thrown off because I was emailing Kevin and received a response from you, that's all. I want to be clear that I didn't feel hounded for my full payment, however, I was asked to pay amid the crisis in order to keep my date since it was a month out (per the contract policy). You did offer to travel at an additional fee, which was something for us to consider.
You are right, everyone is navigating this situation the best they can. I will say that you have only expressed kindness and professionalism in your communication throughout, it's just unfortunate that both parties aren't able to get what they feel is right out of this. Sometimes it's just the way things play out. From a business prospective, I see where you're coming from. Best of luck to you and Mountain Echo. read more