Should I fire my wedding planner?

Off with her head!

Erm... Just got done watching Alice in wonderland..

She's fired.

Next! Move on and get your deposit back asap! Ugh.

@allysia02, I've only given her the deposit and nothing else.

So I followed your advice ladies,

I slept on it and sent her the following this morning:

I understand due to the weather that you couldn't make it yesterday. But I'm starting to worry that you wont be able to deliver for our day. It seems as if you have a lot on your plate, every meeting we've had there has been some type of issue. I understand things come up, problems arise. But not being prepared for the show has nothing to do with us. I want to be confident that you will be available to us, that paying $1,750 for your services will result in a beautiful day. But I can honestly say from what has been delivered so far, the confidence is not there.

Maybe there has been a miscommunication as to what our needs are. I was under the impression that we would be a guest at our own wedding. That you would suggest vendors, review contracts, conduct rehearsal, arrange flowers, etc. Attend vendor meetings but instead I have booked all vendors on my own. I understand that most of the work will not be done until closer to our day. At this point I feel as if I'm paying $1,750 for Day of Coordination. On top of paying whole sale for flowers.

At this time, I wish to discontinue our contract. I do not feel that I am receiving the service I was promised and I cannot in good conscience go forward. I respectfully request the prompt return of my deposit in the amount of $250 paid on 03/15/2014. I thank you for your time and wish you the best in the future.

Thank you,

Summyya

Um, yea. Fire away!

Definitely a vote for fire her.

If she has done nothing so far, I would fire her. She does seem very unreliable and I wouldn't want to HOPE she pulls it together for the big day.

I just read your recent comment and you were very professional. Good job! I think you made the right decision.

Very nicely done. I would have done the same. I love our planner so far. We're still a little over 2 years out, but she is scouting reception venues for us, so that when we're in the area this summer we have it kind of narrowed down (via emailed pics), so we can visit sites that we want to really see.

Definitely fire her. She's not going to get better with time.

Good letter. It sounds like all you need at this point is a really good DOC. If you're in my area, NY/NJ, I can recommend several that I work with who are great.

Oh my, glad you fired her. I would just go with a DOC as others have suggested.

Fire her. I am also from the Indianapolis area and there are a MILLION reliable DOC's you can find.

Completely just not showing up for meetings??? No way. I would call her and fire her. Check your contract first. I'm sure you can still find someone to hire.

Fire. Too unreliable. My planner was shaky in the beginning, but has been 100% on top of everything the last couple months. You're close to your wedding; you don't want someone unreliable. Good luck!!

Good job. The email was direct and professional. I an imagine how hard that was but I'm keeping my fingers crossed it all works out for you.

Very nice.

Her response:

Summyyaa,

again, i am really very sorry about yesterday.i know you were very excited about the tasting. But i really want to assure you that I am committed to your day to make it better than you thought it would ever be. And i promise you and give you my word that you will get everything promised to you. Lets get together this week and go over everything, down to the tinyest detail and then you can make your decision if you want to continue. We have already planned quite a bit together and i don't want you to have to start over with someone. I will contact the venue tomorrow and make arrangements to go over there Monday or Wednesday and if you can't meet me when i go, then I'll take pictures and we can go over them together. I truly want to make this up to you, let me know your thoughts.

Former event planner here.....glad you fired her. So many red flags. She sounded overwhelmed and I doubt it was going to get better. If you are organized (and it sounds like you are), you can get by with just a good DOC.

Finding a new DOC at this point is scary. I contacted my second choice for a planner, she is booked for the entire month a May. I contacted a florist and she is on Vacation on my wedding day. I asked both if they suggested someone else. The florist did.

I sent the email because I didn't want to chicken out in person. Part of me is saying stick to firing her, part of me is saying maybe that email was fire under her ass. And maybe now she will do as promised, but does she deserve the full fee.

I talked to my Aunt and her biggest advice was, I will be the only one crying and upset on my day because it was not what I envisioned.

If she is this way now, imagine how unreliable she will be when it's go time...

And even if she does everything 100% perfect from now on, you will still have doubts in the back of your head that she is not reliable enough to come through. You will be worried on your wedding day - do you really want that? It's obvious that THE TRUST IS NOT THERE, and now that you already threatened to fire her, she is not going to be your best pal - and it may show down the road in her work. It's almost like staying at your job after threatening to quit - the relationship just isn't the same, and there is no mutual trust between the two parties.

Also, from her email, it sounds like she only thought she messed up with the tasting, and totally disregarded the previous times she forgot about you. So either she thinks it's ok, or she's too scatterbrained to remember it. Either way, those are NOT good qualities for a wedding planner, and are really big dealbreakers.

At the very least, I think you should amend your contract for her to be only a DOC, since it doesn't sound like she is doing much other than that anyway. But it really would be best for you to fire her, and then tell her exactly why. Maybe she will get her act together for the next person.