BEWARE! DOC Tina Pope

laurakay0705

Just thought I would share this article in the local news today regarding Wedding Coordinator Tina Pope, Weddings by Tina.  I almost hired her but got a funny feeling about her and after reading several horrible reviews, I decided to go elsewhere, thank goodness I did.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/investigations/Wedding-Planner-Woes-266525671.html

I can understand having a random bad review, but to have half of your reviews be horrible, that should tell you something.  Just beware ladies, I know none of us can afford to have someone scam us out of $500-$1000.  Poor brides

And just to be clear, this is Tina Pope the wedding coordinator, Weddings by Tina www.weddingsbytina.net

NOT the wedding officiant Tina, www.weddingsbytinadfw.com.  I hear this lady is awesome.

TXWalker

Holy cow!  I almost hired her.  That's really scary and sad.  Who did you hire?

almorine2014

Our coordinator was Valarie Meier with Day of Bliss. She was amazing!

www.dayofbliss.com

professorscience

I used Meredith Commender with Significant Events of Texas and she was amazing and I still talk to her on a regular basis.  

A lot of girls have used Jen Ashford with Altar Ego Events and loved her.

TXWalker

I'm using Amy Lacey with Amy Lacey Weddings and she is affordable (Less than $1,000 for Day Of with Rehearsal and so much more!), fun, reputable and knows her stuff! She calls herself "Not your typical DOC" because she does roller derby, rides atv's with her family, sings in a band and has a really fun personality.  She's been doing this a LONG time, not an overnight wannabe.  amylaceyweddings.weebly.com .  I saw Amy in action at a friend's wedding and she is on the BALL and was always smiling!!  She definitely doesn't charge enough for what she does but she told me if she charged any more she wouldn't get the brides she gets!  (Like Me!)  I'm really happy with her so far, she has great ideas, answers my texts and emails and is even helping me find other vendors!

I think Tina Pope is the coordinator that asked Amy to do weddings that Tina booked and couldn't do, Amy was telling me a little it about helping out another DOC that double booked herself and Amy stepped in and took over a few weddings. This story is heartbreaking, though.

laurakay0705

@TXWalker I'm using Amy Lacey as well

rdhoward84

We did hire Tina & since then she has done ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to help with wedding planning. After several red flags, including randomly asking for $$$ to book bartenders, we fired her. Of course no refund was given. I've have gotten in touch with many of her unsatisfied brides to try and put her out of business, I'm hoping this news story does just that. I have sent this article to all my vendors & every Wedding venue in McKinney. She is fully responsible for her marred reputation. A couple of the brides including myself have filed charges against her. Even though no money will ever be returned (b/c she is flat broke!) at least it will be on her record.

laurakay0705

I'm really sorry this happened to you :-(

TXWalker

Oh WOW!  I can't believe she asked for money for a separate vendor!  Sounds fishy, and I would rather just pay the vendor.  She was probably charging you more then they asked for and keeping the difference.   Shame on her!

almorine2014

Upon some research I found out that Tina Pope did nothing wrong. Apparently two brides who work for a law firm wanted money so they sued Tina, although Tina did nothing wrong. So the story is baloney

TXWalker

I'd like to know what research you did and what information you got to come to this conclusion. Upon my research, there are other brides that have complained about her on wedding wire and other places that are dated before the news story.  Many of the vendors that I met with warned me about her before this story hit, too.  And now every vendor I meet with still warns me about her.  (I'm still trying to find florist, caterer and linens).  rdhoward84 from above stated her issues with TIna, and she wasn't one of the brides that came forward.  So I think I'm going to have to say I respectfully disagree with you, almorine2014.

almorine2014

TX, that is fine..I actually spoke to Tina and she gave me the names of the brides so I was curious and I did a little digging and that is what I found.

In fact a friend of mine is using her and said she is amazing and has done everything as asked so far.

Try Coco Fleur regarding a florist. She did my wedding and was amazing.

TXWalker

Sorry, I'm just a little skeptical on what she says.  Of course she'll be defensive about it.  I met another bride who recently fired her for not following through with what she said she was going to do.  I'm curious as to why you would reach out to Tina?  Didn't you already have your wedding?  How did you approach her about the situation if you weren't looking for a planner?  And the brides names were on the news report, you could have gotten them that way instead of asking Tina.  Just some detective work on my end has led me to nothing but lies, her having friends pretend to be brides and post nice things about her, and other shady things.

laurakay0705

@TXWalker I hired A&L Floral Design and I'm super happy with the pricing and with the plans we have in place for my arrangements, you should check them out.

In regards to the Tina Pope thing...I agree that there are people who will review a situation terribly and are totally biased.  That is why I did not base my decision not to hire Tina on this news story alone.  I took the totality of all the reviews I found online and found that the majority of the reviews were not just bad, but terrible, like 1 star because they had no choice but to give her one star because that's all the review system would allow.  You are correct, there are brides that rave about Tina, however I was not willing to bet my special day that I would be one of the lucky FEW that was happy with her service.

almorine2014

TX, I spoke to Tina because a very good friend of mine is using her. Unfortunately because of all the false negative comments, she is retiring after my friend's wedding. I have researched those brides and found out they are teaming up to try and get money from her. So far, my friend is very happy with her.

10Littlebeck10

@almorine ... I hired Tina about 1 1/2 weeks before the news story was aired; and although skeptical of paying her asking price in full up front, I did so to get this expense off my plate.  

My fiance and I did meet with Tina with reference to the bad publicity on her and her business practices, and she claimed to have several references she would sent us.  I did pay her some additional money to help in *some* planning, not just *day of* services, so set met me at my event location to discuss details.  She was on-time and did take notes on the venue.

It's now been nearly two weeks since she promised to send me her references, and although I text'd her 8 days ago to remind her about it (with a response from her), I still have not seen an email with the references.  As a matter of fact, I have not heard back from her again, and I tried two other times (on separate days) to text her, with no response.

Now I am in *very concerned* mode, and have no funds to hire another coordinator; knowing for one, I will not get my money back, and two; my wedding is in two months, so I'm sure most are booked up by now.  

I feel I need a serious back up plan now, which is asking my friends for help.  I did not want to impose this on my friends, so hiring a day-of coordinator was to eliminate my stress and free up time for everyone.  Now that is not the case; I will be hands on the day of to set up, and hopefully my friends have the bandwidth too.  

Has your friend spoken with Tina in the past week or so?  

almorine2014

@10littlebeck. My friend spoke to her a couple of weeks ago as part of the planning process as she already booked. I know of a day of coordinator that has been given a lot of positive reviews and happy brides. I wasn't too thrilled with her using Tina but she seemed to do ok so I left it alone. Call Valarie Meier with Day of Bliss. I have heard great things about her and she can help you out.

TXWalker

@10LittleBeck10 my coordinator is giving brides that have hired Tina a BIG relief in the form of her services. email amylaceyweddings@hotmail.com and she can tell you more about it. She's not charging her full price to help alleviate the mess those brides are in.

msabanos

@almorine2014

When was the last you or your friend spoke to her?  Do you know her current whereabouts?  She sent out a mass email on August 7, 2014 cancelling her outstanding contracts and announcing the closing of her business.  The phone number she listed is no longer operational and she took and misappropriated thousands of dollars from a significant amount of brides.

If anyone reading these posts is one of those who Tina took money from before breaching contract, please reply so that we may organize our efforts.  A class action lawsuit may be to our greater benefit than individual complaints.  This woman has committed civil wrongdoing and must face the consequences.

laurakay0705

That's not good :-(

At the risk of making my wedding coordinator super busy and pay less attention to me...I still highly recommend calling her if you need help.  @TXWalker said she is offering special help to brides who were left in the dust by Tina Pope.

Amy Lacey Weddings

832-248-2691

amylaceyweddings@hotmail.com

msabanos

Thank you - we are in talks with some coordinators already and have nearly replaced the services we were robbed of.  

We were lucky enough to have 2.5 months notice of her failure - I can't imagine what other couples may be going through.

almorine2014

My friend's wedding is this weekend and she is using Tina Pope. It is true Tina is closing her business due to the misinformation that is on the net about her. It's a shame that people actually believe things without evidence. I will know at the wedding this weekend how Tina is.

TXWalker

@almorine2014‌ is your friends wedding Friday or Saturday? It's interesting that she's doing your friend's wedding this weekend when I know for a fact that she was scheduled to do a wedding this weekend and the bride let her know she wouldn't be using her. Was she just going to not show up at one of those weddings if they were scheduled the same day? And a brides review of awful service is not misinformation. Most of those reviews were way before this story came out.

almorine2014

The wedding is on Friday. I will let everyone know after that how the wedding went. If the reviews were falsified then it is misinformation. I could be wrong about Tina but I will see what happens on Friday and let everyone know.

laurakay0705

I don't think anyone is trying to say that Tina has never been a good coordinator.  There is a chance that she will show up for your friend's wedding on Friday and everything will go well.  It's obviously happened before or she wouldn't have a few good reviews.

What we are saying is that she has an overwhelming majority of unhappy customers.  I find it extremely hard to believe that these brides on the review boards and on the news are just out right lying about their experience with Tina.

I know FOR A FACT, that another wedding coordinator has stepped in for Tina on several occasions when Tina overbooked herself.  This has happened more than once that this other coordinator has been the only wedding coordinator present for a wedding that Tina was contracted for.  Tina basically subcontracted out the wedding to the other coordinator.  That alone is unsatisfactory behavior for a professional in my opinion.

You're friend is pleased with her so far...awesome.  I genuinely hope everything works out, I would never wish bad on a bride just to prove a point about Tina.  All we are trying to say is that other brides who have not booked her yet should be informed, and those that have already booked her and are not pleased, we are just making recommendations for other coordinators that may be able to help.  BTW, the old saying "Where there's smoke, there's fire" had to come from somewhere :-)

I wish your friend all the best.

msabanos

@almorine2014

I think the only misinformation is coming from you - I paid Tina money for services and received the email from Tina as well cancelling my outstanding contract without that payment being returned to me (illegal).  I have reached out to Tina over the last week without hearing back from her.  Her phone is disconnected.  Since you seem to have a beat on her schedule, by all means provide me with a working phone number so that I can track her down.

According to my venue (which has been trustworthy and extremely helpful), she was already a no-show at a wedding that occurred there this past weekend, leaving the bride 48 hours to scramble and replace 31 (!!!) tables worth of decorations.  The bride's mother had to coordinate the event.

almorine2014

msabanos, again, I will see what happens at my friend's wedding on Friday. I am curious what will happen. I will report my findings after the wedding sometime.

I do not have her phone number and have no desire to call her. So far, my friend has been very impressed with her but all will be seen in a few days.

laurakay0705

@almorine2014...you said earlier you actually spoke with Tina.  If you don't have her contact info...I guess was this in person because you came along to a meeting with your friend?

Even if she does a stellar job at your friend's wedding this weekend, I hope you don't decline to share any additional contact information you may have with these brides who are seeking a refund.

TXWalker

good call, Laurakay!  almorine did mention she spoke with her, and she obviously asked her a lot of questions and got brides names, so how can she not have a contact number or get it from her friend? almorine, I do hope your friend's wedding goes well and she isn't left freaking out at the last minute because her coordinator was a no-show.  Give her my coordinators number just in case: 832-248-2691

almorine2014

laura, I spoke to her when she visited with my friend. I am her maid of honor so I was asked to attend. I am focused on the wedding coming up. If I get her contact info I will pass it along but that is not my primary purpose. I am there to be with my friend and to have a wonderful time.

almorine2014

Well, I was at the wedding where Tina Cope was the coordinator. I arrived in the morning and she was there decorating the tables. She worked all night long and did what she was supposed to do.The only objection I had is she wore jeans the whole night. I didn't like that. Otherwise, she did a good job. I am not fully confident she stiffed other brides just because I have not seen proof of that..and she showed up at Friday's wedding.