I did not complete the full planning cycle with Pearls Events and Aletha VanderMaas. Our contract was severed 3 months prior to the wedding.
I have struggled with how to describe our experience with Aletha in a way that is constructive to future brides. I have read all the glowing reviews of Aletha, and honestly just cannot believe them. The only review that rings true to me is the other bride who gave her zero stars. I have contacted that bride (after the fact) and found our experiences to be very similar. Unfortunately, when I read her review prior to hiring Aletha, I assumed she was just one of those people who could not be pleased or that her expectations were out of line with reality. I now know that is absolutely not the case based on our discussions and also on her experiences with her other vendors, which were all extremely positive, as were mine. I challenge wedding wire to verify the other positive reviews of Aletha, as many of these brides ONLY reviewed Aletha, no other vendors… isn’t that unusual? How many brides can afford a wedding planner but don’t use any other vendors? And with Wedding Wire’s gift for reviewing 5 vendors, it just seems very suspicious to me about whether those reviews are real. Maybe I am unnecessarily suspicious, but after my experience I just cannot understand how she could have made this many people happy.
As I prepared my review of Aletha, it grew to 3 pages single typed. So I will summarize here in the most constructive way I can. If you are interested in more information from me, please email me and I will send you the full detail.
What went wrong:
1) Aletha was not clear during our initial interview that she was referring to her full planning services when she answered my questions about what she would do for me. She has since (probably due to this experience, maybe others too) more clearly defined the differences in her packages on her website, hopefully this helps people.
2) I desired an efficient use of wedding budget money – expected her to help do some décor and setup to avoid paying a lot of costs for vendors to travel to northern Michigan for setup.
3) I expected more constructive design input from her that was within my budget. She seemed more inclined to agree with what I was saying than offer creative options I hadn’t already considered. A lot of brides need this reassurance. I was looking for more than that.
4) When she was pressed (by my Mom) to make a design proposal, I priced it out and it was DOUBLE my stated design budget to her which we reviewed at our first meeting. If our budget was that out-of-line (low), the first meeting would have been the right time to give me that feedback. In the end, my wedding was gorgeous, exactly what I had envisioned, AND within budget – thanks to my Mom and her amazing friends, not Aletha.
5) She was not familiar with vendors local to my venue, and therefore recommended vendors who would charge a large fee for travel. She used wedding wire to look for local vendors – I could do that without paying her. She called my photographer for recommendations – creative, but again, something I could do (and did do) without paying her.
6) She did not understand my style. Her website now describes her as the planner for the “modern bride”, I think that is appropriate. You can look at my pictures to see what you think my style is. She struggled with this, and the deposit I lost because of her recommendation for invitation vendor proves it.
7) It is possible, (although it is impossible for me to know for sure), that Aletha’s approach to her business has changed since she made the decision to start her family. This is the only thing that might explain all the positive reviews from a previous time period. Her personal blog used to be full of excitement about her work as a planner; it is now 100% about the baby.
8) It is also possible that she just didn’t like me and could not separate that from her professional behavior.
I think Aletha MIGHT be able to satisfy you if the following apply – note, this is based on my assessment of why things went wrong for me, and the (maybe bogus) positive reviews from other brides:
1) Your wedding is in Grand Rapids.
2) You use a traditional wedding venue – a hall, banquet center, hotel/resort.
3) You plan to hire everything out – linens, chairs, décor – or the venue takes care of it.
4) You have a relatively large budget due to all this hiring of vendors – and her fees.
5) Your style is modern using a trendy color palette.
I highly recommend against hiring Aletha if any of the following apply to you:
1) Your wedding is outside of Grand Rapids.
2) Your wedding is in a non-traditional location (mine was in a barn on a golf course).
3) You plan to incorporate a lot of hand-made decoration or special details to save money.
4) You have a classic, elegant style, not wanting your wedding to look dated.
I will leave you with one choice quote that speaks to Aletha’s attitude about work. This is from an e-mail she sent to me after Eames was born:
“Aah, if I had it my way, I wouldn't have to work at all! Unfortunately, I didn't marry Greg for money, so instead of working some LAME office job, I run a business I love. I'm not really ready to work, I'd rather just stare at Eames all day. Too bad that doesn't pay the bills - hahaha!”
I didn’t find this very funny, as I read it after coming home from working 14 hours at my “LAME office job”.
Best of luck with your choice and especially with your wedding and planning!
Pearls Events responded with the following comments:
It is not ideal to end a working relationship with a bride before her wedding day, and Shannon was no exception. It was upsetting to hear Shannon decided to discontinue working with Pearls Events, but after her mother yelled at our team at an on-site visit, I was not surprised.
We worked with Shannon for six months to try and bring Shannon's wedding dreams to reality. Because her budget did not match her inspiration, nor her "wish list", it was difficult to bring her ideal wedding to fruition.
In the initial proposal, it was very clear what the differences in our services were, as well as the pricing difference. However, I know she interviewed several planners and realize she was most likely confused on what Pearls Events does. She did not ask any questions before signing her contract, so I assumed she understood what she agreed to.
Unfortunately, she assumed she had hired Pearls Events to save money during installation of lighting, chair covers and tabletop decor, when in reality, her contract stated we were to be there as coordinators, not a set-up crew. The Pearls Events team are not lighting experts, chair cover installers or florists - all of which Shannon hoped we could do to save her money.
I wish Shannon & Scott nothing but the best and am relieved to hear their wedding day was a success.
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