Is (Has) anyone getting (been) married at the Ritz in Sarasota?
I don't want to bash, at all. There would be no reason for it. It's not that the experience hasn't been amazing so far- it's been wonderful. Frankly I am 100% positive we made the right choice for us.
That being said, I'm getting VERY strong reason to believe that the coordinator "assigned" to take us through the process feels that we are so "less than" her usual clientele.
At first I brushed things off as a difference in personality. Fine. No biggie. Some background- My Fiance and I are similar in that we do joke, are sarcastic, enjoy the little things, etc. We don't take ourselves too seriously and feel as if this process should be one we enjoy and have fun with. Apparently that makes us strange.
I feel like I need to justify ourselves! We're both 30. We both have professional jobs. We have friends and family that are just like us- work hard, play hard- and we want our wedding to be that of a celebration. It's a chance for both sides to meet, and enjoy each other- I'm sure EVERY bride feels this way. ALL of that being said- we walk away each time (from emails, meetings, etc) feeling like she thinks we are naive, ignorant, and insignificant.
It has become a running joke between FH and I. We dread having to communicate because it just makes these lingering feelings more and more true. I guess I am unsure if it's me being sensitive, or over-reacting. I've never been married, but I know that with my own clients, I would NEVER pull some beauties that she has with us. What I'm most put-off by, is that for someone with such an air of professionalism, she sure is rather unprofessional with US.
When we first booked- the gentleman who took us through the process couldn't have been more amazing. He was kind, sensitive to our budget, thoughtful, great follow-up-the whole package. He won us over. Their policy is that once you get the contract set, you are passed to a "coordinator" to take you through the actual planning process. Then we got her*
-1st meeting (July'10-one year out)- Going through the contract. She made it clear she's very busy. Lots of phone calls, texts ,etc. to other people. OK. We get that (she chose the time). No expectations were set as to what the meeting was going to accomplish- fine. We asked questions to fill the time. Nothing was accomplished.
-2nd meeting (January'11-I called to check-in, no word from her since) She says lets set a time for tasting, layout, re-go-over contract. She said we could invite up to 4 additional people. Great! FH, myself, my Grandmother, his Mom and her friend all go and we arebuzzing with excitement. It turned out to be so somber. She repeatedly corected us (and my Grandmother who let it be known she wasn't having that with kicks under the table), at one point FH's Mom's phone rang and she quickly silenced it. She was reprimanded with, "Could you possibly turn that off? We're in a meeting". We made our choices on the food and that's where it got (more) strange. She began to ask me about timelines, linens, my vendor info, why don't I have a coordinator, readings for ceremony, do I need a ready-room, 6 MONTHS OUT, and after every question- which were quickfired- no room to answer- everything came down to our budget.
"Our Budget" (with a lack thereof tone) came up with every breath. Our budget had only been discussed with the original gentleman. "well with your budget...", and "sometimes when you're so limited on your budget".. and "other brides with such stronger budgets"... it got to me and I teared up. I can only be laid back for so long. I couldn't stop it. The weird pressure from questions that were not even appropriate for the timeline, coupled with her impression of us was too much.
- Email Sent (early March)- thought we could avoid another unproductive meeting with a lengthy email including a list of questions in bullet form (for her ease) and it was replied to two weeks later after two voicemails to inquire about it. The response had the original email copied and the questions answered with "yes, or "no". That's it. Some of the questions were open-ended. We followed up by asking for a face-to-face since it might be easier for her, and to get our questions answered.
-3rd meeting- March 20ish, we came prepared with printed questions, specifics, EVERYTHING- it was a similar meeting. FH's mom, and Aunt (1st time meeting her) came with us that time and the Aunt goes," Is she always like that?"
(I love her now) Certain things like room layouts, updated contract, and bagpiper recs, were promised to be emailed. They were not.
Again, I've been taking it, thinking, maybe this is how it goes, but I'm paying (for us) a substantial sum of money. Heck, for anyone. No, I'm not having a 400 person, international affair, but I am shelling out over 20k. I haven't bombarded her with incessant calls, emails, multiple meetings, barely anything! The above touches were IT. We almost fall over ourselves trying to be nice. No dice. My long, and drawn out post ( I do feel better actually) is to ask- Is it me?! This is odd, right? All our other vendors have given us such a great experience so far. Each one has gotten us even MORE excited for the wedding. I just want some honest feedback before I call the Ritz to see if there's anything I can do about switching to another coordinator (if there even is one) I don't even know that I can. It's fine for the planning process to deal with her, but now I'm nervous for the DAY. I don't want the day to be colored by her opinion of us.
Thoughts?
Thanks for reading!