Missed the wedding and the rehearsal
I have been dreading writing this review and have talked myself out of writing it because I hate hurting people, especially those who do good in the world. I am only writing this fair and honest review because I want other brides and grooms planning and paying for their own wedding, like we did, to be aware that anything could go wrong and you could lose some money and have some heartaches no matter how well you plan ahead.
I think Reverend Nancy is a good person, but she failed to make it to both our scheduled and agreed upon ceremony rehearsal and the wedding day, yes both days, which we had paid for ($400 total - 200 of which is nonrefundable, even though she did not follow through with our agreement).
We hired Reverend Nancy and signed a contract and mailed payment to her in November 2018; our wedding was June 1st 2019. She never received the first check in the mail, or the second, which is pretty bizarre. So I contacted her again and we agreed to meet in person. I met with her at her house this spring and hand delivered our payment, which she did deposit. Reverand Nancy and I went over the ceremony I had written, sat together in her living room, and when I left we had a plan and both seemed to be on the same page.
A week before the wedding, she called to add some lengthy additions and changes to the ceremony, and sadly, we had to repeat ourselves and reiterate several important things in the ceremony that had already been finalized, as if she had forgotten our meeting... which caused a bit of last minute stress worrying that our ceremony might not go the way we planned. And sadly, it did not.
The day before our wedding, she did not make it to the rehearsal. Our family and friends were there waiting, I called the reverand a few times for an ETA- first she said she was stuck in traffic, then 45 minutes later said she thought it was an hour later than it actually had been planned... even though we had just discussed it on the phone the day before. So, she promised to be there early for the actual wedding ceremony the next day on June 1st. We had to rehearse the ceremony without her.
On our wedding day, I arrived at the venue in my gown, ready to go, the wedding party lined up on time to process down the aisle. We called Reverand Nancy a few times up until 10 minutes before the start time that afternoon to check that she was okay and on her way. She told me she was stuck in traffic again, then couldn't get the directions, got lost, was stuck in traffic still, then was close by and said she was just down the street at 3:50 PM.
4 PM passes... 4:10 PM passes, now later. I was hiding in the car in my gown so my groom wouldn't see me. Family and friends gathered around the car, keeping me calm, offering to take over for her. At 4:15 she still had not arrived, it was running really late, so we made the decision for our friend, who happened to be an officiant, to perform the ceremony. He had a digital copy via email and read our vows from his smart phone behind a podium. And we were married, finally.
It turned out to be a beautiful ceremony and we were married by one of our best friends, so in all honesty it probably turned out just the way it was supposed to.
But because the Reverend, for whatever reasons, failed to perform the agreed upon services we paid for, I did ask for our money back and we are only getting half. I forgive the situation and we are very happily married... but I feel this review needs to be shared for other future brides and grooms.
Please be aware you may not get what you paid for. Be safe and have a plan B. Additionally, she did not call or reach out to explain or apologize for 2 weeks- I had to call her to ask if she was okay, and I would rather not publicly share what she said because it would just make her look worse.
She also deleted an honest and truthful review written by my maid of honor, as our friends and family were very upset that our reverand missed the wedding with no excuse except for traffic and a failed GPS. So I am writing this because, as the bride, it is important to share my experience.