Wedding scam

Do you have a contract? Have you tried calling her or her coworkers? I would send messages, call, FB message.. everything.

Did you pay in full up front? Is this a random person or are they through a company? I would also search their venmo name/email address to try to contact them and make sure it's actually the person they said they were...

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No contract. I have messaged on Facebook and texted the number she provided. I was going to give her the day and then will try calling the number after work today. I know she has two young children so I'm trying to give her the benefit of the doubt that she is just busy and/or dealing with something that is taking up her time, but it's not looking great. We did pay in full. She offered a $100 discount to pay in full. I'm hoping since I paid over Venmo and had the protection on AND used my credit card that I will be able to dispute it. Their Venmo, Facebook, instagram all matches up and looks reputable. She had a convincing website with reviews but the link no longer works. I thought I was so careful about picking and choosing vendors... sad that people out there do this.

Without a contract, there is nothing to legally protect you against any snafus. Some vendors have reputations for not contacting the client after booking, because the wedding may be a long time into the future and they have closer weddings to work on. Never book any vendor without signing a contract.

Also, phone or in person works better than emails that get ignored or lost in the spam folder

I just thought that payment with old-fashion checks may be the right way to handle costs. The vendor then has to manually take action to deposit the check. This makes the vendor a tad more culpable if not doing their work. It may be a fraudulent handling of a security object (your check). Anyhow, hoping this works out well for you

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Yeah... with no contract I think you're out of luck. You should definitely try to dispute it but without any sort of written and signed agreement I don't know how far you'll get.

I’m sorry this happened to you! Yeah never book anyone without a contract. Since you didn’t get one you may not be able to do anything but I hope you’ll be able to get something back

Lawyer here, so I need to add the caveat that I’m not your lawyer/probably am not licensed in your state and cannot give you legal advice. With that being said, check your state’s contract laws and/or consult a local lawyer (many of them offer free or super cheap consultation sessions, which is all you need). Because contrary to popular belief, a contract is not a signed, written document and can be completed orally (but those ones are harder to prove). Presumably you were messaging this woman back and forth to establish your date, the fees and discount, and broadly speaking what you were paying her for. An actual written contract is definitely better because it’s easier to prove and hammers out all the little details. But as long as you have basic messages that are like I need a planner for my wedding on this date, and she said I’m available then and it’ll cost this much, and you said great here’s the money (and especially if she confirmed receipt of the money or there’s been further contact since then that implied to you that she was in fact moving forward with her services), you likely have a leg to stand on in most states. But definitely make sure you check the laws in your state and speak to a local lawyer.

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I was told to do most contact over email or text to have receipts of what was said. It's sounding like that is what's going to save my butt. I've got a dispute open through Venmo and my credit card company and the screenshots of our conversation were helpful they said. Fingers crossed!!

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Thank you, the screenshots with the dates and services and proof of payment were helpful for me to start disputes through Venmo and my credit card company, hopefully one or the other is able to help!!

I’m sorry this happened to you! I am 29 days away from my wedding date and just had this same horrible experience. What I am learning that vendors and etc they prey on new couples getting married. I have learned so much from this whole wedding planning experience! And I regret so much! If I could do it all over and get refunds, I would’ve stuck with my heart and gut to have a destination wedding! It would’ve saved me money, less stress and heartache going into our wedding.