WTF Wednesday!!

butterflyjumper1

vent here!!!!!

butterflyjumper1

I started this thread because I NEED to vent about my invitations.

we finally received the box with our envelopes in it last night. The envelopes are big and sturdy and great.

However....she ALSO shipped us the grey backing for our actual invites. WTF??? She is supposed to be assembling our invitations for us. We are paying her a TON of money to do our invites (even though she is sucking at it). Now we have to glue everything together too??? I am absolutely livid, because there is truly no time to ship them back and forth to each other, and gluing the backing onto our invitations is going to be extremely time consuming and a pain in the butt. Fiance and I are the least crafty people in the world, so this is going to add LOTS of hours to our invitation work time.  

ALSO, she special ordered our belly bands. They actually are beautiful and look fabulous. However, she only ordered 75 BELLY BANDS. we need 150. Since they were special ordered, it took about 3 weeks to get them. Apparently half of our guests won't be getting belly bands now...

I am seriously so mad about it all, I could cry. I emailed our invite lady yesterday as soon as fiance opened the box and figured out what was going on, and I still haven't heard back from her.

ceglare4

Wow. Just wow, I have no words butterfly. I can't believe this woman has screwed up so many aspects of your invites. I would feel the EXACT same way you must be feeling. And I don't really understand what an invitation backing is, or why it wouldn't be one piece of paper anyway, but gluing those onto 250 invites does not sound fun I'm so sorry she is so horrible. I would be drafting my bad review for her as we speak!

ETA: I meant 150 invites!

butterflyjumper1

Our actual invite is on ivory linen cardstock, but she was going to glue (or otherwise put together) a bigger piece of grey linen cardstock onto the back so it looks layered and incorporates more of our colors.  Apparently we now get to do that ourselves....

I think I am even more mad about the belly band, because it's beautiful and the "focus" of our invitation set, if you will, and now half of our guests will have invite pocket folds that are just flopping all over the place and not shut since we don't have enough belly bands.

BmoreBride311

Ahh, Butterfly - I'm so sorry! Seriously, after all of this crap, you should do more than write a bad review of her. Like... I have never had to do this so I don't know how it would work, but does Etsy have any kind of process for refunding you if you don't get what you ordered? Do you have a record of what exactly she was supposed to do vs. you?

I don't really have a WTF today, other than I can't believe it's only Weds. For some reason this week is totally dragging for me. Ugh, I just want the weekend already.

BmoreBride311

Is it possible she's shipping the rest of the belly bands with the actual invitations next week (or whenever they're coming)?

butterflyjumper1

She had the company who printed the belly bands for her (who also sells the envelopes) ship them directly to me to expedite the process so we could get started on addressing the envelopes....her order sheet that came in the box said I needed 3 packages of 25 belly bands, so it appears that I have received all of the belly bands she ordered

arunkumar

Oh no butterfly. This women is freaking ridiculous. How could she send you 150 invitations and only 75 belly bands? I would demand a refund for the belly bands you did not receive and for the assembly you now have to do yourself. And I would file a complaint with Etsy to have her store shut down. It could work and possibly prevent future brides from experiencing the same issues as you. She does not deserve to be in business.

I would consider double sided tape to adhere the ivory cardstock to the grey cardstock. No waves or bumps and it will be less of a hassle in my opinion.  I wish I could help you get this done   Perhaps ask a friend or bridesmaid (if you have one locally) to help with this project.

I would consider including belly bands with your invitations by social group. So one group of friends would receive the belly band rather than only a few. That way the rest of the group doesn't feel like they received an incomplete invitation. Just a thought. I'm sure your guests will love the invitations even without the belly band!

k8888

butterfly - W.T.F.  Your invite lady sounds like a completely incapable d-bag.  I DIYed my pocketfold invites, which meant tons of gluing, so I def feel your pain.  It took my mom and I an entire weekend to glue and assemble my invites (125 of them) because we had to wait for them to dry completely.  Use Zip glue (clicky) it doesn't wrinkle paper and it dries pretty quick. Also, you could always use an envelope seal in place of a belly band since she f-ed you on that aspect, as well.  Vistaprint has really nice ones (I uploaded our monogram and had them printed on envelope seals).  UGH, I feel so bad!  Good luck!

mbody

I am SO sorry! I can't believe this... there really is no excuse whatsoever about the belly bands. Or for her not to assemble them, for that matter. Question: Why is she ordering the belly bands from a company anyway? It's Etsy, doesn't that mean she should be creating them all herself? I mean, basically she was just the middle man between you and the company. Can you contact them directly to see if there is anyway to put in a rush order for 75 more? (I guess it may be worth a try?)

k8888

My WTF is that my trainer made me do 3478734938473 "compounded super-squats" (that's what he calls them) and now I can barely walk today.

Wah. 

mbody

I'll jump on the sore train with you K8. I did a strength class at the gym on Monday, and holy shiit, I could barely move yesterday and today isn't much better. I've done a boot camp 2-3 times a week for the past 6 weeks, but they are such a different workout! Ouch!

butterflyjumper1

mbody I was confused about that too. I THOUGHT she was designing/printing/assembling everything herself. Apparently all she is ACTUALLY doing are the invitation itself, and the insert pieces. 

I am going to wait for her to respond before I see if I can order some more of them.  I am really just in over my head and not sure what to do at this point!

k8888....that sounds MISERABLE!! Not to sound like a biiitch but we paid a lot of money to this lady, so it totally sucks that we will be spending that much time assembling ourselves. I thought that if we splurged a little on the invites, it would be worth it since we wouldn't have to work as hard. My fiance is really mad about it too - and he never gets mad about this sort of stuff. 

And lucky me - I actually ordered a set of big stickers with our names on them that match our return address labels. so k8888 good point about using those to seal the invites instead of just using nothing! at least we have a backup plan (although I am still pissed about the lack of belly bands).

arunkumar - good point about the belly bands and making sure all groups of friends/families receive similar invites. We have 142 invites to send out so it will take some math and logic to figure out which groups get belly bands! totally not something I wish I had to work on.

dramaqueen91087

Butterfly: That sucks. I can't believe she keeps screwing with you.

My WTF this week is about adressing the invites. Yesterday my mom and I worked the polls for the local school budget vote. It is normally a really slow day, less than 200 people over 14 hours. So we figured we'd have plenty of time to do it. Well they redistricted and added a ton of people to our site. We had almost 500 people and it was a steady stream. At more than one point we had lines out the door. So we only got like 10 invites done! I have no idea when we're going to have time to do the rest of them and they have to go out by the begining of next week. OY

michelle11988

Butterfly that is just unbelievable. If I remember correctly you and your FI's are lawyers, right? Write a good long letter about demanding refunds and compensation for her breach of contract, cite some UCC since it sounds like this was about goods over 500 and services and sign it butterfly, esq and FI, esq. maybe that will get her butt moving! I work for a lawyer and sometimes a nice firm letter gets responses in cases like this. My WTF is it is miserable weather here again and my computer is acting like a piece of sh this morning!

Amanda1443994

butterfly - that is so terrible! I would be so upset. We ordered our invitations with a color backing as well and we paid them to assemble it. When you're assembling yours, make sure you get the right kind of glue. I know when we ordered ours they said if we were going to assemble them that we needed to use a specific glue. If not, the cardstock may bubble and look terrible. I'm so sorry you have to do this ): And the bellybands!? She sounds horrible.

LADY324

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_july-2012-weddings_wtf-wednesday-41?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:066005ef-215f-48b1-8655-328b41e07c52Discussion:12e4195b-5c67-4a77-99c4-67364e499d21Post:cc77eba4-50e4-4b81-985a-cfff998a2303">Re: WTF Wednesday!!</a>:
[QUOTE]My WTF is that my trainer made me do 3478734938473 "compounded super-squats" (that's what he calls them) and now I can barely walk today. Wah. 
Posted by k8888[/QUOTE]

Yeah girl work it out :)  I didn't go to kickboxing on monday so I went on our elliptical at home and my calves are still sore today!!

I am sorry about your invites that totally sucks!!  Make sure you put up her bad review asap!!

bells24412

Butterfly that totally sucks. This lady sounds like a complete D-BAG! Hope you give her a bad review!

My only WTF is trying to find an indoor location to take pictures in case of rain is literally a pain in my a$$!  I thought this would be easy!

On another note, I finally decided what I want to do on my Bachlorette Party and my girls all have difference of opinion. wtf?! Shouldn't it be what the bride wants when you ask her? Either I am just aggravated at the whole wedding thing in general or this girls are getting on my nerves a bit. Oh and it is raining and thundering like crazy here and I just want to crawl back into bed with my furbaby!!

bridetobe71412

Butterfly, there are seriously no words to explain how sorry I am for what's going on with your invitation lady. I thought my situation was bad but mine looks like a walk in the park now! I really wish there was something I could do to help! This woman should be removed from Etsy - she's not even making the invitations! She's just a middle (wo)man!

And I agree with Michelle - once you actually receive the goods, send a strongly worded letter on letterhead and sign it Butterfly, Esq. That's what I do when I write letters (which I do more frequently than I should admit - I'm kind of a b*tch).

mbody/k8888/LADY - I am actually jealous of you. I've only been to the gym like 3 times this past week and each time was only elliptical, so I'm not sore, so I don't feel like I've done ANYTHING, which I hate. I like being a little sore. It makes me feel accomplished!

The only WTF I have for today is that I am going for my teeth veneer appt today at 1215 and my teeth aren't as white as I want them to be, so I am nearly positive he's going to make me make ANOTHER appt next week to do over whatever it is that we're going to do today. I'm also going to ask him about sanding/bonding just for the wedding day - see what his thoughts are on that. I'm still kind of undecided so I better make a decision in the next 2 hours!

colleenm18

Butterfly I am in shock by how awful this invitation lady is!  I am so sorry and wish I could help you with all of that gluing!!

My WTF today- So normally it takes me about 45 minutes to get to work on a normal day- today 2 hours!  at 830 (which is when I should be at work) I was only about 5 miles from my house! 

Also for some odd reason my eye is all swollen and puffy.  Last night out of nowhere it became extremely irritated and swollen and the irritation is gone but not the swelling.

butterflyjumper1

I actually feel better about it now that I have vented to you all :-D Luckily I have time this weekend to work on everything. if I don't have the invites and inserts and pockets by Saturday, I will SCREAM.

bridetobe - I am totally with you on writing letters/biiitchy emails and signing them esquire. I do it more often than I probably should - but luckily, it usually gets you more of a response than a traditional biiitchy email would. hahaha.

Michelle I am an attorney but my fiance is a pharmacist he doesn't know how to complain about anything, I am always the one who makes business-y and customer service related phone calls. He isn't really very good at human interactions hahahaha but I am a pro.  I think this is one of the worst things that has ever happened to me, customer service wise, so I plan on writing the worst letter in the history of the universe, in addition to a letter to Etsy.

I think I am going to post about her all over the boards and on wedding wire too, just to make sure she really gets black balled (black listed)? what is the right word for that? maybe i just have balls on the mind after our thread yesterday.

I am going to try to play it nice until we get the rest of our pieces back. She is already mad at me as it is for complaining about it taking so long. UGH. 

Nati05

Butterfly I am sooo sorry!! What a pain! All PPs have really good suggestions though! I hope this gets better I'd help you assemble if I were closer!!! ;-)

BmoreBride311

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_july-2012-weddings_wtf-wednesday-41?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:066005ef-215f-48b1-8655-328b41e07c52Discussion:12e4195b-5c67-4a77-99c4-67364e499d21Post:33a10fb0-224e-43a1-be71-0af7a96d2141">Re: WTF Wednesday!!</a>:
[QUOTE]II think I am going to post about her all over the boards and on wedding wire too, just to make sure she really gets black balled (black listed)? <strong>what is the right word for that? maybe i just have balls on the mind after our thread yesterday.</strong> I am going to try to play it nice until we get the rest of our pieces back. She is already mad at me as it is for complaining about it taking so long. UGH. 
Posted by butterflyjumper1[/QUOTE]

sorry, but this just made me LOL. I'm sad I missed that thread yesterday - I hate being in a different time zone and missing the silliness.

Glad the venting has helped a little!

AllyG303

Butterfly--that totally sucks.  She needs to give you some kind of discount or refund for sucking so bad.

My WTF is that our apartment complex needs to get some serious bug spray.  I'm getting tired of telling the management at least once a week to spray the gym.  I see at least one giant spider a week.  Lucky me, today was the spider's day to be out.  And this time it was under the door to get in, so when I opened the door...SURPRISE!  I got to jump over a spider standing right where I needed to walk.  I'm still in the process to trying to convince FI to wake up at 5am with me to go, so that if there is a spider, he can take care of it.  I'm such a wuss, but I can't stand spiders.  So much so, that I won't even get close enough to step on it.  Yuck.

ceglare4

OMG Ally I feel your pain! I am TERRIFIED! Terrifed of spiders! I can't step on them either. There was a small one crawling on my new gym bag this morning and after two repeated attempts of shaking it off and it hiding in the pockets, I gave up and brought my old one today. I am so lucky that I don't have run-ins with them at my apartment very often. I wouldn't be able to stay there if I did.

bridetobe71412

Ally, I am TERRIFIED of spiders, too! I have a somewhat funny, super long spider story (which wasn't funny at the time).

I came home from school one while living alone in college. There was a spider dangling from my only light in the middle of my studio apartment. It was just hanging there . . . and it was TINY. I mean, barely noticeable. I almost walked right into it.

Anyway, I sprayed it with Windex for about 2-3 min straight (I was NOT going to just kill it with a paper towel I could miss and it could run away and I'd never find it, and then I'd never be able to sleep). Eventually, it was so heavy with WIndex that it fell to the floor. I placed a full roll's worth of paper towels over it, approximately 5 textbooks on top of that and left it there . . .

FOR A WHOLE WEEK UNTIL MY BOYFRIEND CAME AND CLEANED IT UP FOR ME. I had a pile of textbooks in the center of my floor.

So, yeah. I'm scared of spiders.

ceglare4

HAHAHA bridetobe, I love that story!! I could tell a million of them just like it.

lvissers

Aww Butterfly, so sorry about your invites. Everything will hopefully come together in the end and your guests will never know if they missed out on a belly band. After hearing your horror story, I'm so happy I ordered from Wedding Paper Divas.

Nothng too much to vent about today other than it's so stressful at work lately knowing that lay-offs are coming. We thought Monday was "the day" but nothing happened. At this point I wish I would know one way or the other so I can make plans or stop stressing each day. It's seriously taking a toll on me mentally and physically lately. I have been a serious stress eater too :-( I think I'm 95% safe, but you never know. I started looking at "options" last night. Can it please just be Friday already!!!

k8888

Everything's coming up balls

AllyG303

Oh gosh me, too.  And for the record, the spider are only in the gym (than goodness, my ass would've been moved out of there if they were in the apartment).  I would hate to be the management though since the gym is in the same building as their offices.  Yikes...to think these giant creepy crawlies could be around their desks. Eww... 

And when I say giant, I really mean like 2-2.5 inches in diameter, legs included, but it's enough for me to spot across the room. Random spider story...when FI was deployed in the Middle East, he saw one of those giant camel spiders (size of a dinner plate) chasing a guy so it could be in his shade.  Of course the guy didn't know it...he just thought it was out to get him. I would flip out.  

k8888

Spiders are our friends!  They eat the pesky bugs!

Except for the brown recluse or the fast, jumpy ones that want to eat your face.