coordinator help...advice please

CANDEE43

okay.  so I booked with a coordinator who had good reviews on the sites I checked and my florist recommended her also. 
Well, anytime I e-mail her she takes between 2-4 days to respond. I think that's kind of a long time to respond to your bride you are coordinating for. Am I wrong? Maybe that's a normal turn-around time? Also, she offered to get me a quote on linens on Feb 4. It is now going to be the 15th and I still don't have the quote from her. I asked her if she had it yet on Friday morning and I haven't had a response from her yet. I don't know maybe I am expecting too much? I thought she was going to actually come in handy, but I could have had quotes for myself within a few days. I've also sent her pictures of the basket/bowl [it's not a vase but it's going to hold our flowers] for our centerpieces asking her a couple questions about decorating them, etc. and she took 2 days to respond to that e-mail and didn't say anything about the pictures. We were supposed to do a walk-through of the venue and I told her work might call me in and if they do, I'd have to cancel. She said it was fine, she had nothing to do anyways. Well, I got called in that night before for the following morning so I emailed her and regarding my cancelation she emailed that same night [which was first for same day response]  Well, at 9 a.m. the job got canceled.  I called her hoping we might be able to meet for the walk-through since she mentioned she didn't have any other plans but she didn't answer so I left a message, and 3 hours later I got an email saying she was sorry but she took her car to get serviced and the next available date she has is March 5 or something. I'm starting to get frustrated. I mean, I know she can't wait on me and go anytime I want and I don't expect her to I just feel like I'm paying her to do nothing.  I almost want to cancel her services I'm so irritated but I don't want to overreact you know. Maybe because the wedding is still 4 1/2 months she isn't in a hurry to do things for me. Anyways, those are just a few examples of what's been going on with her.
Any advice? Is that normal and I just had higher, unrealistic expectations of a coordinator?
thanks in advance

xxquemirasxx

Sorry to hear you are frustrated with your coordinator... that really sucks!! All I could offer you are the experience I've had with our coordinator Christina Molina...SHE IS AWESOME!!!! She responds e-mails in a few mins and I've NEVER had an email take over 24 hrs....HONESTLY NEVER!!!!! She also checks in monthly to see if you need any help. I've been in contact with her since the day we hired her, she is creating our invites and in addition to that she's answered decor questions and anything else I may need.

As for your coordinator...maybe you should talk to her and express your concerns. Though your wedding isn't next week, I think everything should be coming together...like flowers, venues I mean final things need to be attended to so a week before the wedding your not worried about any of these things. I don't think you sound unrealistic or expecting too much but I think an email over 24hrs for a simple basket question seems a little too much. Do you think this coordinator is too busy meaning she's booked too many brides and doesn't know how to space them out? 

If you feel she isn't working out and she is causing you more stress than help then maybe it's time to change her...and to be honest Christina would be so awesome you would no regret that choice and I saw her in action at knottie Vans wedding!

HTH and GL!

BuildABride

Definitely talk to your coordinator about your expectations, her expectations and practices, and where the communication lapse is happening. If she's just swamped, I'm sure any good coordinator would be apologetic and resolve to do better. If her reaction is defensive, it might be time to look elsewhere. Your expectations are definitely reasonable.

I also booked Christina Molina for my wedding and she's everything xxquemirasxx says! She's awesome!

ready2bmrsP

Oh...sorry to hear of your stressfull situation.  Maybe she's just really really busy.  My coordinator responded almost immediately ( Blackberry, maybe she needs to invest in one to get her Emails straight away)

Do you know if she's currently working on one or two weddings that are in the near future.  That would explain why yours is on the back burner for the moment, but it does not explain why she responds 2 or 3 days later. 

Good luck with her.  I hope it works out, but you still have time to make changes.
If you decide to go with another coordinator, check and see if Kami is available.  She is super! www.plannedelegance.com is the website, if you need it.

bostontoLA

I'm sorry you are having so much trouble!  I was lucky- my coordinator (in Santa Barbara)  was so fast with getting back to myself and my husband.  She would never take more than a day and was on top of everything.  Definitely talk to your coordinator and tell her honestly what your expectations are.  She is there to help make the process easier, not harder and more stressful for you.

CANDEE43

Thank you, ladies!!  I took all of your advice and emailed her my concerns...turns out shes in the process of moving her husbands office and launching a new site etc and she apologized a bazillion times and said its not excuse she should have been on top of it.  Since then she's been awesome at responding and said she appreciated my feedback.
Thanks so much, Ladies!!