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Just Said Yes October 2020

How do i request refund from my wedding planner, after my wedding?

Scottie, on December 3, 2020 at 1:18 AM Posted in Etiquette and Advice 0 14
We hired a wedding planner from wedding wire 6-8 months before our wedding date. We interviewed several from the app that had responded to our inquiry. This one stood out particularly because it seemed like she “just got us”. We wanted a Halloween wedding but not the typical ghouls and goblins. We wanted a gothic masquerade wedding, mix of dark romance and 50 shades of grey. The service that was offered was “full service”. Meaning the planner would handle everything from research to production. Aside from paying each vendor. That seemed perfect for us due to our work schedules. We explained in the initial conversation that I am (bride) very indecisive and only want to be able to give an explanation of what color style etc. and have only three option presented for final decisions. Now I know this sounds far reaching but I will stay on a topic for way too long day and night trying to find the perfect whatever. There was no problem with the planner on this aspect. Well that never happened. Another thing we were glad about was the fact of payment arrangements instead of up front total. In all, with all the services offered and promised, we were not supposed to do anything but make final decisions from the three options in each aspect of the wedding, make payments to those chosen vendors and show up when needed. We paid almost $5,000 just for the planner. At first, during the first couple of payments everything was fine. Contact and communication between us was on point. Until it came time for decisions to be made, and requests were made from us to the planner on specifics that weren’t produced. There were a few times I would send an email asking for specific information on decor and other things that would not get a reply until a week or so later, not even addressing the issue but simply saying “I understand your concerns, don’t worry about those things I’ll take care of them” or “I will email you those things shortly” and never get the email. Things were progressively getting worse and at one point we consulted with another planner what our issues were and were told by several people that this planner was taking us for our money and there was no reason for the amount we were paying, just to have to do all the work ourselves. We were about 45 days to our date and had not even discussed a caterer. There was no help from our planner in any of the details that were promised. Contract and logistics were also to be handled by the planner and made sure they were legit. The only contract that was reviewed was the one from the venue. Looking back I now understand why that one was so important for her, because there were 99% of the decor was in that contract. Which was important bc the planner was to charge separately from her $5000 for the decor. I sent her several numbers for other vendors to contact to review contracts. I had to do all the research for each vendor and send her the information. I had to send pictures of the type of decor we wanted, which by the way wasn’t much considering we wanted to us the natural look of the venue we had chosen. I had to request several times for the budget because that too was to be handled and could not get any straight replies. So we didn’t know how much money we could set aside for our big day. We sent her a detailed email explaining our concerns and requesting one final time specific information and pointed out each thing that was incorrect. Such as the theme of our wedding, the date and time she had wrong. Along with other things. We at one point about 40 days before the wedding finally were fed up with no responses and so many details lacking, let her go. We sent a long email explaining in detail the areas of the contract she had failed to produce and requested our money back from her then. It wasn’t until then when she finally answered the previous email about our concerns. Not even addressing the fact of the email firing her. Which was extremely odd. Finally almost a week later we were able to speak cia phone with her, she explained at that point she had an assistant that she allowed to handle our event that was not very efficient. And because of that assistant and the mistakes that person made, she was no longer allowing her to handle our event and because of the stress that was caused she was going to be adjusting our contract and the remaining balance including the decor price in lieu of us being upset and firing her. So we kept her thinking she would fix what had been messed up and overlooked. Boy was that the worst mistake we made. The decor she promised was not what she promised, my flowers and bouquets for the wedding party she refused to show me and were not ready until my girls and I walked down the aisle. She was more concerned with what her 8yr old was doing than the details involved with the day of coordinating. She was extremely rude to not only my wedding party but to the guests that had arrived, causing them to leave before we were even able to cut the cake. She cut our cake for us, insisted we only hold it in position for pictures, then rudely stepped in to cut it for us and place it onto a napkin. She didn’t send the information containing alcohol license and insurance to the vendor causing us to not be able to serve beer and wine, bc her child was present. One of my guest over heard her and the venue owner discussing the fact and she stated she didn’t want her daughter around alcohol anyways so she wasn’t worried about the logistics on that. Which absolutely pissed me off during my wedding. There were so many details she left out that some would say might be petty, but these details were what brought everything together and I’m not sure if she intentionally left them out or if she really didn’t know what she was doing. She was supposed to have her “team” on the day of but it was only her and her 8yr old. At that point she was paid in full for her services that clearly she had not produced as promised. Now here we are almost a month after our date and I’m finally calmed to the point of asking assistance without reacting solely on emotions. She never adjusted her contract price and is now requesting another $1000 for decor and the only decor she provided was grocery store flowers that were completely wrong from what was discussed and promised. And I understand now why I wasn’t able to see them until right as I was about to walk sown the aisle. Any advise or direction from anyone who knows what my options are would be great. I am also sending this to admins of WeddingWire bc we hired her through them and on social media for advice from others in the industry without naming names but being as specific as possible. TIA.

14 Comments

Latest activity by Bubby, on April 5, 2022 at 6:59 PM
  • Michelle
    Champion December 2022
    Michelle ·
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    If you have documentation you should be able to take her to court.
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  • Michelle
    Master April 2021
    Michelle ·
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    I would definitely outline everything that wasn’t done, point by point according to the contract. Print off any & all emails. Take her to court!
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  • Yasmine
    Master October 2020
    Yasmine ·
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    I agree with this. It sucks that you have went through this, I definitely wouldn't have "rehired" her after the fact though because even if it was her assistant "messing up", at the end of the day you signed a contract with her, not her assistant. So that's really no excuse.

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  • Chrysta
    Master November 2022
    Chrysta ·
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    Yikes. I’m so sorry! This sounds incredibly frustrating! I agree she did not deserve the fees you paid her; but the fact that she is still requesting the extra $1000 leads me to believe she will not be giving you any sort of refund voluntarily. Unfortunately, you will likely have to seek legal representation and take her to court to recover your money.
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  • Katie
    VIP August 2021
    Katie ·
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    You aren't getting money from her unless you sue her. Make sure you have everything down in writing and print all the emails and text, if you have voice mail save them. I would reach out to her once stating how you are so extremely displeased with her service and you would like a refund. But I'd only reach out to her to make it look good for court.
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  • Mrs. Spring
    Master April 2021
    Mrs. Spring ·
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    As long as you have documentation of this, then take her to court.
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  • S
    Just Said Yes October 2020
    Scottie ·
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    The most confusing aspect is that up until that point of her saying that’s what happened, we never knew she had an assistant. Not once did she ever mention having one. Even when I sent out the change of contact to my vendors when we fired her, the one vendor she knows personally wasn’t even aware she had an assistant.
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  • S
    Just Said Yes October 2020
    Scottie ·
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    Would that be civil court? And would I file that with my local courts or the state she lives in? Would it be breach of contract??
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  • W
    VIP September 2020
    Willow ·
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    Small claims court would be the easiest, I think
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  • Elizabeth
    Dedicated April 2021
    Elizabeth ·
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    First I'm really sorry you didn't have your dream wedding, I agree with everyone else here, you will need to take her to court, but also I would suggest to also write a review if you're not willing to give her name publicly so other brides don't go through the things you did.
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  • S
    Just Said Yes October 2020
    Scottie ·
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    At first I didn’t want to write a review because I really don’t like to speak negatively about people, but the more I thought about it I realized I didn’t want other brides going through what I did. Women dream about and plan their weddings as young girls, at least I did, so when the day finally comes to make those dreams true, they should be enjoyable moments,exciting and memorable. Not stress ridden and heartbreaking. My only concern is that she lives in a different state and I have to find out if I need to file small claims in her county or mine seeing how she offers her services here also. I’m not sure on those legalities.
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  • Jennifer
    VIP August 2021
    Jennifer ·
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    A lawyer can answer that for you! Good luck!
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  • Cristy
    Master May 2021
    Cristy ·
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    You can sue in whatever state you signed the contract in. That's considered the "venue" for court purposes. If you're in CA, sue in CA. It doesn't really matter where else she may do business. Whatever county you did business with her in, is where you should sue.

    I'm so sorry this happened to you. This is one of the reasons I want to do everything myself. It might be more work, but I'll get what I want. I am scared to rely on anyone else!

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  • B
    Just Said Yes July 2022
    Bubby ·
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    I'm going through something similar right now as a bride and I'm wondering who is was your planner? I hate that on top of already so much pressures and stress that we have to deal with a terrible planner. If you can share the name and help other brides not ever go through this same turmoil.

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