Delicate Designs

There are two parts to this business, the planning services and the decorating services. I wish I could rate them separately because they were night and day experiences.
The decorations that were planned out after our meeting were really great and turned out exactly as I wanted. The table settings, gift table, buffet line, and other décor were really beautiful and went extremely well with the theme. She got the vision perfectly and really made sure it was what I wanted. One drawback was that she was late to almost every appointment I had with her which left me waiting around. I haven’t hired professional decorators before but it was pretty darn pricey for renting the items. If I had just used the decorating services and nothing else I would have had a good experience.
Unfortunately, I opted for the full service planning package as well and even now, long after the wedding is done, my biggest regret was spending a big chunk of my budget on the planning. I had more stress over how much I was paying for the planning and how little I was getting than I would have if I’d opted to do it solo. For getting the highest package offered I thought I’d be sitting back and making final decisions while they did the leg work of finding the best options for my budget, reminding me of what needed to be done, checking in with me to make sure I was doing ok, etc. That didn’t happen. I was the one emailing to make sure I was doing what was needed or asking if I could have info on the vendors that needed to be hired yet. They did schedule a few of the appointments for us to meet with vendors and attended some of the early meetings but they offered so little input and help in the meetings that it felt unnecessary for them to be there and I finally stopped asking them to come or even to schedule anything for me. Every project to make items for the wedding was on my own, I could have had their help or had them make the items for an additional charge of course.
When it came down to 3 weeks before the wedding and I hadn’t heard from them about anything in over a month I got really upset. I felt a lot of tension between us for the remainder of the experience which was unpleasant. On wedding day things did not go anywhere near as planned. I thought it would be the job of the wedding planner to make sure everyone was running on time, getting things done that needed done, solving last minute emergencies, but after seeing them once upon my arrival to the venue I didn’t see much of them at all until after the ceremony. I was in the bridal suite getting ready and didn’t get any reminders of time, updates on how things were going, or help keeping unnecessary people out of the bridal suite. I was assured I had all the best vendors but that wasn’t exactly the case either. The DJ that was highly recommended by the planner couldn’t seem to figure out timing, played the wrong song twice for our first dance (I had provided a CD, all that needed done was to push play) and they didn’t seem to listen at all to the kind of music we wanted since we requested top 40 and country and started hearing a lot of electronica and club music. (Not the planner’s fault but not sure how they are so highly recommended.) I had asked the planner to meet the baker when she delivered the cake and to keep the desserts in the fridge until the dinner service started so things wouldn’t melt in the heat. This wasn’t done at all, so our guests started eating the small desserts before the ceremony even started and the wedding cake was melting and extremely hard to cut and handle. I had forgotten to assign someone to cut the cake (another service not provided in the full service package) and when a family member asked her who would be doing that she was told, «the bride was supposed to figure that out», and the planner walked away without helping. In addition to all of this, I heard interesting things after the wedding about the decorator drinking with the bridal party. I have a problem with this for two reasons. 1. They are not guests, they are hired professionals and should not be drinking on the job. Especially not asking my new sisters-​in-​law to take shots. 2. That alcohol was paid for by me and was intended for the guests, not for the people hired to put on the event.
All in all I was extremely disappointed and, more than anything, upset that I felt that money was wasted and could have been put to much better use elsewhere. I honestly still can’t understand all of the glowing reviews I’d seen at the time and should have listened to the negative reviews. Weirdly, the other negative reviews I saw months ago no longer seem to exist. I’m sure every experience is different for every bride but I didn’t get what I thought I was paying for and would recommend that anyone thinking about a planner should ask tons of questions to make sure you are going to get what you want. I now get to look back on this part of the wedding experience for the rest of my life with regret.