DAY-OF COORDINATORS
& WEDDING PLANNERS
All About You Events - Cindy Marotta (Washington, NJ)
All Events Perfect - Sarah-Jane Bennett (Hasbrouck Heights, NJ)
REVIEW: January 2011. Let me preface this review by saying that our wedding has not happened yet but I'm writing a review for All Events Perfect because they were so bad that we actually had to fire them in the middle of wedding planning. It was clear that they did not have our best interests at heart and through a large part of the process, we often felt like we were assisting them rather them assisting us.
There were SO many things wrong with each part of the planning process that we went through. There was not ONE vendor we hired where it was a smooth process with AEP. From the beginning, when Sarah Jane emailed us the contract THREE times because it was missing pages (the contract itself was 3 pages) to the end when all we wanted was Sarah Jane to respond to our emails in a timely fashion, each step was a disaster. Each time we were hopeful that the next time would be better or that AEP's inattention to detail was a fluke. We were wrong.
Venues: We told AEP our budget and the number of guests we expected (100 - a lot out of town), they sent us a list of venues that they recommended. We had concerns about if it would fit our budget and was assured by both Sarah Jane and Kim that Sarah Jane would not send us places that did not fit our budget. The first 3 places we saw wanted guarantees much higher (more than 50 people) than we anticipated along with a price per person that exceeded our entire wedding budget. Sarah Jane had sent me Westmount Country Club as an option that (surprise!) did not fit into our budget or guarantees but when I asked her about The Tides she told me that based on her “passed” (her spelling error, not mine) experience, it was out of budget (WCC quoted us almost 50% more than the Tides per person with a much higher guarantee). We went with a venue recommended by knotties. When we booked our venue, Sarah Jane told me she had just done a wedding there last month! So nice of her to forget to recommend a place that actually fit into our budget and guarantees.
Kim was the person originally assigned to our wedding. We found out she was no longer working on our wedding not by a nice email or phone call from either Kim or Sarah Jane. We found out by emailing and calling Kim. The email gave us an out of office. The phone call went straight to voicemail. It wasn’t until we emailed Sarah Jane that we got an answer. It was unbelievably unprofessional.
Florist: Sarah Jane sent me to a florist who’s language through our entire meeting was “the prices for X start at $Y”. When I wanted to meet other florists who would be more in budget, Sarah Jane sent me to a place in New York City (where prices are already generally higher) and told the florist that our floral budget was about $1000 more than Sarah Jane herself had estimated for us on our budget sheet. We went with a florist I found through knotties.
Lighting: I emailed Sarah Jane to ask about lighting for the reception. Her response? Daytime weddings do not require lighting. WOW! Shouldn’t wedding planners have details like what time our reception starts (5 PM). Sarah Jane told me that she misspoke once and it was because she emailed me from her blackberry and didn’t have my file in front of her. The email she sent me most definitely did not come from her blackberry.
The last straw was that, based on our contract with AEP, they were supposed to maintain our budget sheet. There was never ONE time where Sarah Jane sent me the budget sheet without my asking for it. When I pointed this out to her towards the end of our business relationship, she LIED and cobbled together an email and said basically said she sent an updated budget sheet in July. It was quite disgusting. If you’re going to fake an email header, you might want to check that it’s consistent with the format of actual forwarded emails. Hers was not along with other errors.
We felt scammed by AEP. If you want someone who is unorganized and frequently lies (albeit poorly) to try to cover herself (she calls it misspeaking), then All Events Perfect is the perfect wedding planning company for you. Sarah Jane told me she would sign a release as long as I understood I was not to write a review about her “tarnishing” her company. If Sarah Jane actually did her job well, or in many instances, did her job period, I would have nothing bad to say about her and her work would speak for itself. Well this was her work and this is why we fired her.
There were SO many things wrong with each part of the planning process that we went through. There was not ONE vendor we hired where it was a smooth process with AEP. From the beginning, when Sarah Jane emailed us the contract THREE times because it was missing pages (the contract itself was 3 pages) to the end when all we wanted was Sarah Jane to respond to our emails in a timely fashion, each step was a disaster. Each time we were hopeful that the next time would be better or that AEP's inattention to detail was a fluke. We were wrong.
Venues: We told AEP our budget and the number of guests we expected (100 - a lot out of town), they sent us a list of venues that they recommended. We had concerns about if it would fit our budget and was assured by both Sarah Jane and Kim that Sarah Jane would not send us places that did not fit our budget. The first 3 places we saw wanted guarantees much higher (more than 50 people) than we anticipated along with a price per person that exceeded our entire wedding budget. Sarah Jane had sent me Westmount Country Club as an option that (surprise!) did not fit into our budget or guarantees but when I asked her about The Tides she told me that based on her “passed” (her spelling error, not mine) experience, it was out of budget (WCC quoted us almost 50% more than the Tides per person with a much higher guarantee). We went with a venue recommended by knotties. When we booked our venue, Sarah Jane told me she had just done a wedding there last month! So nice of her to forget to recommend a place that actually fit into our budget and guarantees.
Kim was the person originally assigned to our wedding. We found out she was no longer working on our wedding not by a nice email or phone call from either Kim or Sarah Jane. We found out by emailing and calling Kim. The email gave us an out of office. The phone call went straight to voicemail. It wasn’t until we emailed Sarah Jane that we got an answer. It was unbelievably unprofessional.
Florist: Sarah Jane sent me to a florist who’s language through our entire meeting was “the prices for X start at $Y”. When I wanted to meet other florists who would be more in budget, Sarah Jane sent me to a place in New York City (where prices are already generally higher) and told the florist that our floral budget was about $1000 more than Sarah Jane herself had estimated for us on our budget sheet. We went with a florist I found through knotties.
Lighting: I emailed Sarah Jane to ask about lighting for the reception. Her response? Daytime weddings do not require lighting. WOW! Shouldn’t wedding planners have details like what time our reception starts (5 PM). Sarah Jane told me that she misspoke once and it was because she emailed me from her blackberry and didn’t have my file in front of her. The email she sent me most definitely did not come from her blackberry.
The last straw was that, based on our contract with AEP, they were supposed to maintain our budget sheet. There was never ONE time where Sarah Jane sent me the budget sheet without my asking for it. When I pointed this out to her towards the end of our business relationship, she LIED and cobbled together an email and said basically said she sent an updated budget sheet in July. It was quite disgusting. If you’re going to fake an email header, you might want to check that it’s consistent with the format of actual forwarded emails. Hers was not along with other errors.
We felt scammed by AEP. If you want someone who is unorganized and frequently lies (albeit poorly) to try to cover herself (she calls it misspeaking), then All Events Perfect is the perfect wedding planning company for you. Sarah Jane told me she would sign a release as long as I understood I was not to write a review about her “tarnishing” her company. If Sarah Jane actually did her job well, or in many instances, did her job period, I would have nothing bad to say about her and her work would speak for itself. Well this was her work and this is why we fired her.
REVIEW: sfennell. August 2011. - F
This was the worst vendor ever. She sent me a questionnaire to complete a few weeks before the wedding. I was very detailed in my responses regarding the times the vendors would arrive photographer, videographer, Limos, make up & hair and. I gave details about when we would take pictures , where we would take pictures and who needed to be there. She had all that she needed to put together a very detailed and thorough timeline. She sends me back garbage.
First off she listed the wedding date as 08/13. WRONG....... My wedding date was 08/14. The timeline was the most pathetic thing that I had ever seen. She had left out all the vendors prior to the start of the ceremony. There was no timeline of their arrivals, what time we needed to be where....nothing. She started at Ceremony starts at 2:30. WRONG....again. The ceremony starts at 2:00. The rest was pretty basic first dance, cake cutting and go home. Which once again she had the wrong time. I quickly pointed out all that was wrong and she basically said oops. At this point I was annoyed and pretty much knew that this was going to turn out bad.
Fast forward to Friday August 12, 2 days before my wedding. She calls me and says that her grandmother is in the hospital and may pass away at any minute. Therefore she will not be acting as lead planner on the day of my wedding. She will be an assistant to someone else just incase she gets called away. I immediately felt for her situation but on the same hand this is my wedding day. I hired Sarah Jane.......I've never met or had any contact with anyone else. I'm now wondering did she book another wedding on my day and is now skipping out on me? She did have the wrong date on my timeline. I told her that I wasn't happy. Later that day the new person calls me and says " I'm the planner for your wedding on August 13" I quickly told her that my date is Aug 14.....She said she was in her car and didn't have my info on hand but would call me later.
At that point I called Sarah Jane and said I wanted a meeting with the 3 of us to discuss what my day should look like. I was very nervouse about this. I had corresponded with Sarah Jane for over a year and now a new person is coming in 2 days before that never had any involvement. Well, Sarah said that she would set up a meeting the next day. She text me that evening and said that she couldn't get in touch with the new person. Well guess what, I told the new person that Sarah was trying to reeach her and she told me that she never left her any messages. This was really starting to look shady. At 4am I received an email from Sarah Jane that the grandmother passed away. So you know what that means right....She's now off the hook to meet with me.
The next day, the new person met with me at my hotel room. You got it, the day before my wedding. She was a very sweat girl and told me that she has her own wedding planning business and was doing Sarah a favor. She asked if everything OK because I seemed a little annoyed. While talking about what was going on she tells me that she was surprised that I didn't know months ago that she was doing my wedding. She told me that Sarah Jane asked her to take on my wedding in May. Mine and 6 others. She said that Sarah Jane had approached her while they were both covering an event at the Manor and told her that she had just had a baby and had some complications afterward and could not do weddings that she was booked for. The new girl agreed to take on some of her weddings to help her out. She told me it wasn't for the money because Sarah Jane is ony paying her $350.. ...per wedding. What a kick in the face. I paid her $1k she pays someone else $350 and pockets $650 for nothing. She is a scam artist, a con and anyone that has booked with her should cut their losses now before she gets you too. I just wonder how many other people she has done this to.
From speaking with the new planner my guess is that Sarah Jane sub contracts smaller weddings and those she feel are not as exstravagant as the "Destination Weddings" that she's always bragging about doing on her Facebook page. I am really curious to see how many other brides that she has done this to. If she also pulled this scam on you please pm me
Celebrations by Jillian - Jillian McLaughlin (Burlington, NJ)
REVIEW - dinnaming: July 2011 wedding. Jillian is young, bright, and full of energy. She’s little and as cute as can be but still manages to take control in any situation. She had the ability to take charge when necessary and was virtually invisible on the day of when she wasn’t “needed.” It was invaluable for me to be able to tell people to go to her with any questions/concerns. I don’t know how many she actually had to field but the fact that I don’t know is testament enough. She not only acted as our DOC but did all of our centerpieces, bouquets/flowers, place cards, menu cards, and programs. We met once, early on in the process, to go over my ideas/vision. We met again when she had a mock up of our centerpieces ready for us to see. She was there with us at our final meeting with the caterers so we were all on the same page. She was available by e-mail for countless questions and changes. She had recommended our DJ and photographer to us--- which both ended up being wonderful. I cannot say enough marvelous things about Jillian. Here’s an example, our cake was almost ready for cutting and I thought the table looked a little scant. She asked if I wanted flowers on it and just like that she stepped away for a second and returned with several flowers. She was there whenever I needed anything-- even when I was freaking out before the ceremony and needed water immediately. She took my vision and made it come to life. I feel like I can consider her family now, whether or not she likes it. She’s incredibly awesome- enough said.
Guide the Bride - Merri Salzman (Manalapan, NJ)
REVIEW - N/A: July 2011 wedding. Merri is one of the nicest, most organized, and most calming people I’ve ever met and she was nothing short of a God send on our wedding day and in the days leading up to it. Our wedding day went as smoothly as it did because of Merri and all that she did for us (in fact, I’m sure I’m not even aware of some of the things she did because she made it her mission to keep me as calm as possible and she was 100% capable of taking care of things without bothering me). We only had her up until the start of the ceremony, but she was with me all morning leading up to the ceremony and, of course, helped us with planning before the wedding day. Prior to meeting with her the first time we had already hired all of our vendors and I thought I had everything under control with planning because I’m always super organized. However, I couldn’t have been more wrong. During the last month or two before the wedding I was emailing her constantly with questions and problems and she was amazing at keeping everything organized, finalizing details with vendors, setting up a day-of timeline for us, answering all of my crazy bride questions, and just keeping me calm. On the morning of the wedding she arrived bright and early and when I showed her my half-finished paddle fan programs (I had run out of double-sided tape the night before and was only able to finish putting together 75 of the 150 I needed), she and my makeup artist (who also arrived early) got right to work with a regular old tape dispenser she had brought with her to finish up my programs while the girls and I ate breakfast and started getting ready. Prior to that, I had just given up on the programs and resigned myself to the fact that half our guests wouldn’t get one, but Merri made it a point to get them done for me and I couldn’t be more grateful. On top of that, she kept everyone on time the entire morning and she did a complete run-through of our ceremony (since we didn’t have a rehearsal the night before) with the wedding party in our ceremony location. I wasn’t at the mini-rehearsal but everyone there said she did an amazing job. I love Merri and am so grateful for all that she did for us and I would recommend her in a heartbeat to anyone in search of a coordinator!
Just Perfect Events
WEBSITEREVIEW - jcg98: November 2011. A+ I decided I wanted a DOC because I am a control freak, and wanted to feel secure that someone was overseeing my vision and DIY projects, and ensuring that things would run smoothly from the start of the day to the finish. Dana was the perfect match for me, she is very easy to talk to, and has a lovely, friendly personality that puts people at ease. Her energy and organization were just what I needed in the last couple of crazy weeks before the wedding. She contacted all of our vendors and followed up as needed, and was instrumental in making everything run smoothly. On the day of she checked in with me at the salon before making rounds at the church and venue, and her smiling face helped keep me calm. I loved working with her, she is thorough, efficient and committed to the highest quality of service. I only wish I had brought her in on the process sooner! Highly recommend.
Madison Affairs - Gisselle Munoz (Fort Lee, NJ)
Pampered Bride Weddings (Springfield, NJ & Shrewsbury, NJ)
Plan it with Debs - Deborah Chen (Livingston, NJ)
REVIEW - Babycakes SE: May 2011 wedding. Deb was the best decision we could have made. Like I said, I’m living in MD now and it would have been too hard the day of to do the last minute things at the venue. I crafted a million things that needed to go to our wedding for setup. Deb handled it all and met with us a couple times to go through all of the details. She called me and kept me up to speed and answered all my emails when I needed her. And her price was pretty damn good too!
REVIEW - rlavach: April 2012. A+ I didn’t intend on hiring a DOC but once I found out that there was an event in our ballroom that morning & I only had the 2h before our reception to set up, I realized I needed a DOC to set up. I contacted Deb who was priced way below the other DOCs I was looking at. I honestly feel she is grossly underpaid. The amount of time and effort that she devoted to my wedding is worth waaaaaay more than her fee. We met once in person for 1h to discuss what I needed and I signed on the spot. We corresponded several times via email regarding my questions and to give her more pictures and info on my day. Her worksheets were very helpful and she was a lifesaver for our rehearsal. She ran the whole event and really left me, my husband and all of our family totally at ease knowing exactly what to do. She is firm, but not pushy. She knows what to do & how to get people to do it. She gladly accepted my millions of lists, spreadsheets & diagrams. We met for another 2h meeting to go over a minute-by-minute timeline. I gave her my ceremony décor that she put up exactly to my specifications. I gave her pictures of my centerpieces that were all arranged perfectly (it was quite elaborate). On the day-of, she took care of coordinating all of my bridal party, vendors & payments. She even brought me my shoes when I was tired & gave the reception a list of foods for me to be served. Really, I can’t say enough good things about Deb. She was fantastic.
Private Receptions - Nerissa (New York, NY)
REVIEW - Laurms15: The PR girls were great she had 3 girls supporting her. Her paperwork
and time lines were fantastic. Everything was so organized and the day
moved along on schedule and without incident. The only problem I had was
the girl who was supposed to be making sure all of the photos we wanted
were captured wasn't paying much attention. I didn't get photos alone
w/ either of my grandmas which made me sad we only did group shots. But
other then that they were really great to work with!
Pure Ambiance Event Planning (Fairfield, NJ)
WEBSITE
REVIEW: October 2011. (Kisha) (C) This is the only vendor than underwhelmed me with their services. It started in the beginning when it took days for Kisha to get back to emails but I chose to ignore the little red flag I felt in my gut… We technically hired her for “partial planning” b/c by the time I found her, I had already booked all the big pieces including: ceremony venue, officiant, reception venue, caterer, photographer, hair & make up. So the only vendors I needed some help with were the florist & the DJ. She included in her “partial planning” was the “event design” where she presented me with 3 options for flower arrangements, escort cards, etc. I wasn’t very impressed with all the design elements & I DIY all of the pieces for wedding. Nothing she presented me with was creative or anything I had never seen before on this website or wedding blogs. Either way, I knew I needed someone to set everything up & take everything down the day of the wedding so I still ignored that red flag that was now growing. The day of the rehearsal, she didn’t do anything. She sat at the chapel while Anne (the student coordinator) & the deacon told us what to do. She did pick up all of the stuff for the ceremony & reception that night & DH put everything in her car for her. The day of the wedding, our ceremony & reception were set up perfectly. I was very happy with how everything looked. Kisha had 4 girls working at the wedding & although I do not know how much they did & how much the caterer set up, it all looked exactly the way I wanted it to. That being said, there were FIVEpeople from Pure Ambiance working our wedding. Yet, many of my guests were not directed where to go for cocktail hour, they were not instructed on what to do with our “thumbprint tree” (and I was told someone was going to stand next to it to go over it), and when questions were asked, they weren’t always answered nicely. My mother asked one of the girls where I was & she shrugged & said “How should I know?”. All of them ate before all of my guests got to go to the buffet line. MY SISTER was behind them in line & I think it was completely inappropriate. If I were working at someone’s wedding & noticed that the MOH was behind me in line, I would have moved. At one point, I was pulled aside from dancing with my guests to be asked if any of the desserts had nuts (I did not know) & then I asked if any of my guests were allergic. No… one of the girls wanted to eat dessert & wanted to know. Isn’t the solution to that question very simple? Just don’t eat dessert. Yes, I have to feed you & I did but you aren’t a guest & really don’t need to sample all of the desserts if you aren’t sure which ones have nuts. And who stops the bride to ask that type of question when you are the planner? So many of my guests made comments about how all of them sat the whole night & looked like they were guests at our wedding, eating, drinking, & chatting it up all night. At the end of the night, we had already discussed having them pack everything up so my parents could bring home. I had 26 lanterns that were put together & they wanted to put all the lanterns in the car w/o breaking them down. My mother had to tell them, “Um no, please take them apart & put them back in their boxes”. I emailed Kisha yesterday about my feelings especially since I was going to be writing a review & I got an email back full of excuses. I do not think their services are up to par to the cost & I would not recommend her or her “staff” to anyone.
REVIEW: October 2011. (Kisha) (C) This is the only vendor than underwhelmed me with their services. It started in the beginning when it took days for Kisha to get back to emails but I chose to ignore the little red flag I felt in my gut… We technically hired her for “partial planning” b/c by the time I found her, I had already booked all the big pieces including: ceremony venue, officiant, reception venue, caterer, photographer, hair & make up. So the only vendors I needed some help with were the florist & the DJ. She included in her “partial planning” was the “event design” where she presented me with 3 options for flower arrangements, escort cards, etc. I wasn’t very impressed with all the design elements & I DIY all of the pieces for wedding. Nothing she presented me with was creative or anything I had never seen before on this website or wedding blogs. Either way, I knew I needed someone to set everything up & take everything down the day of the wedding so I still ignored that red flag that was now growing. The day of the rehearsal, she didn’t do anything. She sat at the chapel while Anne (the student coordinator) & the deacon told us what to do. She did pick up all of the stuff for the ceremony & reception that night & DH put everything in her car for her. The day of the wedding, our ceremony & reception were set up perfectly. I was very happy with how everything looked. Kisha had 4 girls working at the wedding & although I do not know how much they did & how much the caterer set up, it all looked exactly the way I wanted it to. That being said, there were FIVEpeople from Pure Ambiance working our wedding. Yet, many of my guests were not directed where to go for cocktail hour, they were not instructed on what to do with our “thumbprint tree” (and I was told someone was going to stand next to it to go over it), and when questions were asked, they weren’t always answered nicely. My mother asked one of the girls where I was & she shrugged & said “How should I know?”. All of them ate before all of my guests got to go to the buffet line. MY SISTER was behind them in line & I think it was completely inappropriate. If I were working at someone’s wedding & noticed that the MOH was behind me in line, I would have moved. At one point, I was pulled aside from dancing with my guests to be asked if any of the desserts had nuts (I did not know) & then I asked if any of my guests were allergic. No… one of the girls wanted to eat dessert & wanted to know. Isn’t the solution to that question very simple? Just don’t eat dessert. Yes, I have to feed you & I did but you aren’t a guest & really don’t need to sample all of the desserts if you aren’t sure which ones have nuts. And who stops the bride to ask that type of question when you are the planner? So many of my guests made comments about how all of them sat the whole night & looked like they were guests at our wedding, eating, drinking, & chatting it up all night. At the end of the night, we had already discussed having them pack everything up so my parents could bring home. I had 26 lanterns that were put together & they wanted to put all the lanterns in the car w/o breaking them down. My mother had to tell them, “Um no, please take them apart & put them back in their boxes”. I emailed Kisha yesterday about my feelings especially since I was going to be writing a review & I got an email back full of excuses. I do not think their services are up to par to the cost & I would not recommend her or her “staff” to anyone.
Something Social, Wedding Planner and Day Of Coordinator, (Hoboken, NJ)
WEBSITE
REVIEW - McJays: November 2011. (Jan Stephens) Jan was a life saver. I had hired another day-of coordinator and had to end my contract just 8 weeks before my wedding. Jan stepped right in and really took charge. She gave me a checklist of things that I still needed to do and helped me research things like table number holders and a nail salon in Montclair that could accommodate all the women in my family the day before my wedding. Since most of my family lives out-of-state, Jan came to my final fitting and learned how to do my bustle. She took a lot off my plate during the final days and was truly an asset the day-of.
REVIEW - McJays: November 2011. (Jan Stephens) Jan was a life saver. I had hired another day-of coordinator and had to end my contract just 8 weeks before my wedding. Jan stepped right in and really took charge. She gave me a checklist of things that I still needed to do and helped me research things like table number holders and a nail salon in Montclair that could accommodate all the women in my family the day before my wedding. Since most of my family lives out-of-state, Jan came to my final fitting and learned how to do my bustle. She took a lot off my plate during the final days and was truly an asset the day-of.
The Unruffled Bride (Various NYC/NJ)
WEBSITE
REVIEW: September 2011. A - Pros: Rebecca and her assistant (and husband) Luis were extremely sweet. Rebecca met with me although she had a rehearsal/wedding in Pittsburgh – she took the bus for 16 hours for a 30 minute meeting!!!!!!! (I didn’t know this until the meeting, otherwise of course I would never make her do that!!) and really cared about me and the wedding. She contacted me several times prior to the wedding, always checking in and offering her help. Luis was also very knowledgeable with technology which helped ease my dads nervous about displaying his movie at the wedding. Day of ran very smoothly, everything was set up pretty much how I requested, and they helped us pack everything up (including things I forgot about).
Cons: At the rehearsal/day of Rebecca seemed a little bit out of her element – they ended up arriving late because of a transportation issue and she seemed a little flustered. There were also a few times where I was looking for her and couldn’t find her or asked her to do something and she said she would but when I saw it still wans’t done me or my husband ended up doing it ourselves.
Bottom Line: Rebecca is really sweet and cares a lot but I would have liked for her to be a little more on top of things during the reception.
REVIEW: September 2011. A - Pros: Rebecca and her assistant (and husband) Luis were extremely sweet. Rebecca met with me although she had a rehearsal/wedding in Pittsburgh – she took the bus for 16 hours for a 30 minute meeting!!!!!!! (I didn’t know this until the meeting, otherwise of course I would never make her do that!!) and really cared about me and the wedding. She contacted me several times prior to the wedding, always checking in and offering her help. Luis was also very knowledgeable with technology which helped ease my dads nervous about displaying his movie at the wedding. Day of ran very smoothly, everything was set up pretty much how I requested, and they helped us pack everything up (including things I forgot about).
Cons: At the rehearsal/day of Rebecca seemed a little bit out of her element – they ended up arriving late because of a transportation issue and she seemed a little flustered. There were also a few times where I was looking for her and couldn’t find her or asked her to do something and she said she would but when I saw it still wans’t done me or my husband ended up doing it ourselves.
Bottom Line: Rebecca is really sweet and cares a lot but I would have liked for her to be a little more on top of things during the reception.