Brad's at it again!

brad1431

that is part of the problem, the mentality that society puts onto women.  You are not a princess, he is not a prince, it is not a dream wedding, it is not a fairy tale.  There will be mistakes, it will not be perfect, you are a normal couple having a normal wedding.  Which is perfectly normal and good and happy.The wedding industry does a great job of feeding that princess mentality, I see it on the my fair wedding show, we will transform your wedding into a perfect dream princess blah blah blah.

Lola Minnie

Brad if that is truly how you feel about the wedding industry and women's special day, then why the F are you on this website and why don't you elope? You are such a hypocrite! I hate that I even waste a half calorie typing a reply to this nonsense.

jen629

Brad get over yourself if you think you Fi doesnt want to feel  like a princess on her wedding day you are probably wrong I can only speak for myself and no matter what did go WRONG that day to me it was perfect because I married the person I loved and my family came from out of state to see it....I may just have to be like Melissa and block you because you are truly miserable nothing makes you happy..nothing

mrs.spunky1508

you didn't answer my question about the F reviews. I am curious to see if you'd agree with my assessment or not.

brad1431

Dana, nice Adam Sandler reference Yes I would love a F review cause that would let me know not to use that vendor, I get more info from a "real" F than  a "fake" A++++++ and yes it is hard or impossible to ber 100% unbiased, but most people are the opposite and are SOOO biased that their review is worthless.  I am waiting for an I got married at the Tides, everything went smooth, all my guests are raving about the food, overall I give it a, B I cant give them an A cause they did everything I wanted perfectly, but did not go above and beyond my expectations.

mrs.spunky1508

Bridal Gown - Alfred Angelo Company Store, Lancaster, PA - F I decided to go to the Alfred Angelo store after seeing the dress I loved at Russell's in Linden. However, I thought I could get the dress directly from the company at a better price, which I did. However, in the end, I don't think the money I saved was worth the trouble and pain I went through to actually get my dress. I ordered my dress in April 2007, and was told it would arrive within 3 months. I called in July, then August. I was told the dress wasn't in yet and not to worry, that I had plenty of time. When I called at the end of September, I got an assistant manager who really tried to help. When I told her the style, color and size of the dress, she went to the store's back room and found my dress, which had been there since JUNE. The tag that had my name and phone number on it had been lost and no one had thought to do some sort of cross-reference to figure out whose dress it was. I called the store for the last time on a Thursday and drove out (2.5 hours) to pick up the dress on Saturday. When I arrived, I asked to try on the dress, and found that the zipper had been ripped from the dress. I complained and received a new dress within two weeks, as well as free alterations. When I went to pick up the dress it fit very well, but it was not steamed. They wouldn't steam it until a week before the wedding, but I couldn't spend another day traveling again, so in the end, my mother, aunt and I carefully ironed it two days before the wedding. Bridesmaid Dresses - One Special Evening, Toms River, NJ - F My five bridesmaids were located all over NJ, so I tried to find a shop that wasn't too far a drive for any of them. I found One Special Evening while looking on the website for stores that carried Alexia Designs dresses. They had a 20% discount coupon on their website which we utilized. We went to the store on 7/7/07, without my maid of honor, who had a wedding to go to that day. Everyone tried on the sample, got measured and paid in full. I was told my maid of honor could call in her measurements and give her credit card for a deposit or payment in full over the phone. She called on that following Tuesday and I was told the dresses would be ordered as soon as they had all my maid of honor's information. I assumed everything was under control, which was my mistake. I received a phone call on September 10th saying that my maid of honor had called in her measurements but had not paid and I needed to get her to do so. I said this was impossible, because she paid in full. They argued with me, and finally I said that I even knew which credit card she paid with. They found her paperwork, with full payment, in another part of a folder. Whomever had taken her order hadn't put it with the other four and no one caught this for more than two months. The dresses were expected in October and I was told that now they weren't going to be in until December 4th at the earliest. They arrived the week before Thanksgiving, and the girls had their fittings over Thanksgiving weekend. They also received free alterations. When John's cousin picked up her dress on December 15th, it was still too big - she lost a lot of weight between when she was measured and the dresses came in, about 30 pounds - and the seamstress REFUSED to fix the dress, in spite of her (and her mother) pleading. I was unaware of this until the night of the rehearsal, which was too late to actually do anything. We ended up having to pin her into her dress, which needed to be fixed several times during the day and night, because the top was so big it would not stay up. I am not talking about a half inch or something. It was nearly two inches on either side that still needed to be taken in. I am so disappointed in this store, although the dresses were gorgeous. If you have already ordered dresses from them, call and make sure they have been ordered and get an estimated delivery date.

yusi196

Ditto Lola! Obviously he cares enough about the day that he comes here asking for advise. Perfect example Brad, you were overthinking the details of your wedding favors. You were trying to please everyone by having something chocolate and jelly beans for non chocolate lovers. Listen to your own words: There will be mistakes, it will not be perfect, you are a normal couple having a normal wedding. Yet it seems to me that you wanted the "perfect" wedding favor.....

brad1431

wow, now that is a really helpful review, I will send to FI and she wont even visit them.  That is the most helpful review, since it give us information that we are actually going to make use of. And I am sorry you had to go through all that stress and problems, that must have sucked.

mrs.spunky1508

I also think it should be a sliding scale, as to what kinds of "glitches" happen and the effect on the grade. For instance, we purposely chose no chafing dishes, appetizers (other than what was on the list of passed items) or courses that contained shrimp since my H is allergic. We told them he was allergic over and over. In the bridal suite, they brought a tray that had coconut shrimp on it. I asked them to make a special shrimp-free platter for my H and they did. Ok, small glitch, easily fixed. My H didn't have a reaction, I took what I felt was a necessary precaution. It had absolutely NO EFFECT on our guests, or even my H or I since it wasn't consumed. I should bring their grade down because of a simple mistake? No. Also, one of my cousins is allergic to fish. We had caesar salad, which may have anchovies in the dressing. We casually mentioned it at our final meeting. Usually, she just doesn't eat caesar salad, no big deal. The maitre'd went up to her and personally put her salad with a different dressing at her place. THAT is above and beyond, IMO.

mrs.spunky1508

... and I didn't finish my thought. Had they not brought her out a special salad, she wouldn't have cared, she just wouldn't have eaten it and we would not have noticed a difference. There would be no consequence, kwim?

cher1980

go tell your FI she is not your princess! my hubby is my prince, i am his princess, we had our dream wedding...please also tell your lil neice that she is not a princess nor will she ever become one and also that there is no santa clause - please go awaythanks - and have a fabulous day!

kewltif

Alright- I didn't even read the original reviews in question here.Brad- You're right, I'm not a pretty pretty princess, but I have to say, on my wedding day, it was the closest I ever felt to one.  It's like your birthday on crack.  You really do just feel super important and loved.As for reviews- I find objective ones with multiple grades to be the most helpful. From the quick look I took of her reviews they seemed to have a variety of grades. It wasn't all A+++++++ and A++++++++++++++ that really start to mean nothing to me.I tried to give a little variety of grades in my reviews (thesis, lol), but I'd really say I more curved to a B or B+ because they all did good jobs! I consider a C to be more like eh-ok, where an F is awful.  I just couldn't in good faith give vendors who did a good job for me a C or D because they made one little mistake. They are human after all and nobody is perfect.

brad1431

exactly Tif, I am reading a review to get useful objective information, not to listen to you rant about your perfect dream pink princess day. The review is not the place for that, start another thread and rant all you want, but the review is not the place for trying to convince me you had your perfect dream pink princess day.

Laurms15

I am waiting for an I got married at the Tides, everything went smooth, all my guests are raving about the food, overall I give it a, B I cant give them an A cause they did everything I wanted perfectly, but did not go above and beyond my expectations.I never really jump on the brad train but this really bugged me.In school Perfect = 100% and if I remember correctly 100% = A+(95%=A, 90%=A-, 89%=B+, and so on down the line)With that being said if everything was as you state above "they did everything I wanted perfectly" shouldn't they get 100% and an A+? Additionally if you answered the extra credit on a test or went above and beyond and did an extra credit report then you got points added on to your origional score. If the origional score was 100% then you could wind up with 105% or if you had an origional score of 90% and added points you end up with a 95%.Now if there was an issue coconut shrimp was delivered to the grooms room and promptly removed without any negative effect and no one ate it fine remove a point or two but add on a point or two for bringing the fish allergy cousin a special salad. So maybe something wasn't perfect but maybe something else made up for that imperfection.

simplycee

An average grade of "C" is only relevant when comparing that type of vendor to others that do the same type of work, such as your florist compared to other florists. When grading their services for the day of, you can't grade your florist "C", who met ALL your expectations, because your photographer went over and above your expectations.The teacher who posted before was spot on...if someone meets All the expectations, they deserve a high grade. Those who went over and above your expectations deserve the 'exta credit' of pluses.  Would you really think it fair if all your college professors gave you a "C" because you only did what was expected of you, and only gave an "A" to those who did extra credit?Several years ago, my employer implemented a 1-10 grading system for employee reviews. I received a "5" for attendance. When I questioned why I got this, I was told  it was because I used all my vacation & personal time and higher #s were reserved for those who didn't take all their time and lower numbers were reserved for those who took more time or were late. I was allowed to 'defend' myself and wrote about all the unpaid overtime I gave the company, unused lunch hours and how I was never late or left early. The following year, still taking all my vacation time, I got a "10".

brad1431

ahh, maybe that is the issue, all the teachers,. that grading system doesn't exist after school, and I assume we have all graduated high schoolIn the real world, you get a review at work every year.  Just doing your job gets you average, which would be a C, to get an B you have to go above and  and beyond your job, for an A- learn a new skill, and accomplish something that was most likely to fail from the start.

Laurms15

Well where I work and where FI works we don't get "grades" we keep our jobs for a perfectly performance. When we go above and beyond we get promotions and raises.

brad1431

at my last job they said just doing your job in unacceptable, and would be a negative review and the following year you would be on an action plan and if you kept just doing your job, you would eventually get fired.

Laurms15

Fine different work places have different systems just as different knotties have different grading systems. My point is that doing a perfect job (what you want, contract for, and expect) should NOT get someone an average (C grade) rating. Perfect does not equal average.If your eyes if it does equal average I feel horrible for your vendors, FI and children. Obviously perfection is not good enough for you.

jen629

wow it must suck where you work ..I would get a different job if that was me

jen629

sorry worked

brad1431

most people I know that is how their jobs are.  I try to tell my sister who is a teacher how great she has it.  That is why I get annoyed when teachers complain, they have the best job possible, get paid a ridiculous salary, have a ridiculous pension, and have ridiculous job security.  A teacher who makes 60K only works 5-6 hours,  180 days a year, gets tenure after 3 years and gets their ridiculous pension and benefits is like someone who makes 200K in private industry, one of my coworkers says more like 250K

cvl105

At my work we are graded as follows:Far Exceeds ExpectationsExceeds ExpectationsMeets ExpectationsNeeds ImprovementMaybe this is a better way to do vendor reviews, rather than the letter system. Not being snarky, actually being serious.I think the the letter system may not be the best.

jtheiss

Wow. Brad, I wish I could slap you in the face right now. You are so disrespectful. You have no idea how hard teachers work. They don't work 5 hours a day and go home and sip wine all night long. They put in a full day at the school (often arriving well before 8am) and often have work to do in the evening such as grading papers, parent/teacher conferences, etc. I personally am a college professor and I work 60-80 hours a week. Not to mention, teachers are doing really important work educating the youth of America. And everyone has the right to complain about their jobs once in a while. I would never tell someone who makes 200K that they're not allowed to complain because they make so much money, you should not tell teachers they can't complain about their jobs because they get so much time "off". You are totally clueless.

brad1431

exactly chelsea and the easiest way to do that is At my work we are graded as follows:Far Exceeds Expectations -AExceeds Expectations - BMeets Expectations - CNeeds Improvement - Dor if the knotties who still love their A++++At my work we are graded as follows:Far Exceeds Expectations - A+Exceeds Expectations - AMeets Expectations - BNeeds Improvement - C

mscutieri

Oh I'm in this now. I am a high school teacher at a private school and barely make half that. Also, I work 8am-230pm everyday in the building, but take so much work home EVERYDAY that I start it when I get home and up most nights between midnight and 2am finishing it. Maybe I personally have so much work to do because it is a high school and I teach A.P. level courses, but I work damn hard for those kids. It is unfair of you to make such a blanket statement.

brad1431

mishy that sucks you need to get in a better school or something, most teachers I know are laughing their way to retirement.  They work their 6 hours a day, have no homework, have ridiculous health benefits and the most ridiculous thing a pension, which is non-existant anymore in private, and they pay keeps going up contractually.My sister got a new contract and got retro pay for 3 years and at like 4%, that is insane!!!  tenure after 3 years, pension - which is ridiculous to even have one, unbelievable benefits, all unheard of in private industry.  They would pay for her to go back to school, but she is too lazy.  She had off 3 of the last 4 mondays for holidays like Eid, yom kippur, and columbus day, who gets any of them off, nevermind all 3. 

brad1431

incorrect use of that word annoys me.  It is supposed to imply a lack of knowledge on a subject, but since my sister, brother in law, aunt, friend, and my sisters friends are all teachers, I have knowledge on that subject.

yankees320

I usually don't comment on the while Brad drama, but this is really struck a chord with me. Would you like to know why I'm only commenting now, at 5:42 in the evening? I am a teacher...I started work this morning at 6:30. Then, I had an after school meeting, and then a student came to make up a test. Then, I made my copies for the next day, tidied up my room, and left at 5:00pm- TEN and a half hours after I began my day. It's amazing that a man who presumes he knows so much can really be that ignorant. It's so annoying to make baseless claims when you have no experience in the matter. Amazing.

brad1431

maybe you are all the exceptions.  the whole point was there are a lot of teachers here, so they are trying to apply the school grading system, where others in the real world are not.