Wedding planner crisis

JessicaPop · May 2012

Let me start off by saying that my wedding is August 5th, 2012! Everything is pretty much planned out but we've hit a huge wall. My wedding planner has been deported to Mexico. He planned my friend's wedding and did such a great job that my dad hired him for my wedding. We gave him a $2,000 deposit and he was responsible for pretty much everything except for the catering and a few decorations that I wanted to do myself. Well now this guy had fallen off the face of the earth and his "company" is no where to be found. He assured us that if anything were to happen he had a back-up and we even signed a contract! I looked the company up online and called them but the numbers are all disconected!! I have no way of getting in contact with anyone!! I'm afraid that if I go to the police they won't be able to do anything because he is illegal and deported. I did not know he was illegal and he seemed so legit, I mean we trusted him he goes to church with us and did so many of my friend's weddings. Anyways we are now out of $2,000 and I have no DJ, linens, decorations, servers, bartender, silverware, centerpieces, nothing!!! It's almost 2 months before the wedding and I am freaking out! Could someone please help me and tell me where did you find your natural flowers, table linens, and what did you use for silverware and drinkware?? I'm having to start all over and the wedding is in like 2 months!

Strv2perfection · May 2012

Can your reception venue provide your linen and china and flatware? Ask your friends what DJ they used also. Didnt you sign contracts with the other vendors also. Do you have their info.

pokepoke27 · May 2012

You mentioned in the beginning of your post that you have everything planned out - yet from wha tyou say you need it sounds like you don't have much planned at all. Did the planner book anything at all for you? If he has then try to contact the vendors directly. However, if he has not, I would honestly suggest hiring a different planner if you can afford it. They will be able to get you things at the last minute.

MrsKathyC · May 2012

Does your missing wedding planner have an office? Can you go there and see whats up?
Email?

If not, here are some links you might find helpful. I know nothing about Atlanta/Georgia but wanted to help you.

http://www.thumbtack.com/ga/atlanta/wedding-planning/

http://voices.yahoo.com/interviewing-wedding-planners-atlanta-georgia-36577.html

Good luck!

baptiste2010 · May 2012

I can only imagine how you must be feeling .This is a very unfortunate matter. I am so sorry that you are going through this. Take a deep breath, we are available to assist you in planning your wedding. We are based in Charlotte, NC but do travel to Atlanta, GA.

Contact us asap so we can help you finish planning your wedding.

Tameka Baptiste
Certified Wedding & Event Planner
6th Sense Events, LLC

info@6thSenseEvents.com
www.6thSenseEvents.com
www.facebook.com/6thSenseEventsLLC
www.twitter.com/6thSenseEvents

704-921-9327

JessicaPop · May 2012

Thanks guys. I'm already hiring a new wedding planner. I signed a contract with him and he takes care of the flowers, dj, servers, and clean-up. His company provides all those things themselves not from other vendors. He's the only one in charge and right now everything is a mess and everyones confused because he didn't have anyone who could do this in his place. We should have looked into it more, but because we knew the guy we gave him the benefit of the doubt. I'm just so glad im not one of the people whose wedding is this weekend and lost ALL of their money. Oh and all the office numbers are diconnected, He is deported though I called and made sure no one was lying about that. Guys please do as much research as possible, I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

Strv2perfection · May 2012

Good to hear. It will all work out in the end.

DanieKA · May 2012

In Response to Re:Wedding planner crisis:Let me start off by saying that my wedding is August 5th, 2012! Everything is pretty much planned out but we've hit a huge wall. My wedding planner has been deported to Mexico. He planned my friend's wedding and did such a great job that my dad hired him for my wedding. We gave him a 2,000 deposit and he was responsible for pretty much everything except for the catering and a few decorations that I wanted to do myself. Well now this guy had fallen off the face of the earth and his quot;companyquot; is no where to be found. He assured us that if anything were to happen he had a backup and we even signed a contract! I looked the company up online and called them but the numbers are all disconected!! I have no way of getting in contact with anyone!! I'm afraid that if I go to the police they won't be able to do anything because he is illegal and deported. I did not know he was illegal and he seemed so legit, I mean we trusted him he goes to church with us and did so many of my friend's weddings. Anyways we are now out of 2,000 and I have no DJ, linens, decorations, servers, bartender, silverware, centerpieces, nothing!!! It's almost 2 months before the wedding and I am freaking out! Could someone please help me and tell me where did you find your natural flowers, table linens, and what did you use for silverware and drinkware?? I'm having to start all over and the wedding is in like 2 months!nbsp; Posted by JessicaPop I'm on my phone so I'm sorry if there's formatting/spelling/punctuation errors in this. The mobile site blows chunks! Anyway, I'm totally confused by your post. I don't mean this to sound harsh, but WTF?!?! The first line of your original post, that I quoted, says that everything is pretty much taken care of. Okay, great. If that's the case you should be able to hire a "day of" coordinator to step in and make sure the day goes smoothly. At 2 months out shouldn't you already have a caterer??? Well, they would provide flatware. As far as linens, your venue might have standard linens with the rental. If not, getting linens isn't an "OMG! My wedding is Ruined!" issue at this point. You also said you wanted to do some decorating, so I'm also wondering why you're freaking out about the florist. I understand your DIY might not have been floral arrangements, but if you were counting on having a florist, shouldn't you have, again, had one by now, and had a contract signed with them?? So what is it? Is everything "pretty much planned" like you said in your first post, or is everything confusing and mess like you said in your second? As far as using an illegal immigrant as your wedding planner, that should have obviously been a nogo from the start. I actually don't doubt that he did a great job at the other wedding, but hiring someone that could be unexpectedly and quickly deported is kind of a buyer beware situation in my book. You took a risk with the investment and it didn't work out. It's not like he ran off with your money. Yes, you should have probably gotten a contact for him in his country, but that's on you. You didn't do your due diligence. That's no one else's fault. I guess your post was kind of a rant, but I'm not seeing anything in it that seems insurmountable of terribly devasting that wasn't your own doing. I guess, according to you, everything is pretty much done and there are several wonderful "day of" planners around atlanta that can step in and iron out The rest of what you described although I see you already hired one. So I guess that's that.

MrsSmith2Be02 · May 2012

From what I understand is that everything was taken care of by the original planner who was supplying all the other stuff. So basically, he wasn't just a planner, but he served in a vendor capacity as well. Now that he is deported, she doesn't have those pieces together anymore. Correct?

First off, I'm going to give you a BIG hug! Where are you getting married? Most venues provide standard linen UNLESS you are having your wedding somewhere and you have to bring in everything. Who was doing your catering? It seems as if you needed to get all the specifics on each 3rd party vendor as well, BUT not to beat a dead horse, if you let me know where you are getting married and when I can help you try to put together some other catering and vendor options you're missing. I'm a planner in the area, so I have a lot of resources I can share. Seeing that I'm getting married myself and have young children, I just help people how I can

In regards to linens - renting them can sometimes be more costly than purchasing. You can purchase them on cvlinens.com or linentablecloth.com as well. They also have chair covers and sashes if u need them.

JessicaPop · May 2012

Yeah this guy had kind of a team thing going on. He takes care of the DJ, servers, bartender, linens, dinnerware, cordinates everything. I signed with him and ever since he got deported everyone has disappeared. The numbers are all disconnected, the office is always empty and I know he is deported because I called cobb county myself and found out that he is in fact deported. I'm having my wedding at The Roswell River Landing which doesn't have anything, its just a blank slate and you come in and do whatever you want so no help from them. Catering I'm just getting food from a local cuban resturant and my dad is roasting 2 pigs, we are of course keeping it a traditional cuban wedding. But I've already started talking to other wedding planners in the area and it seems likes it's going to be just fine, although I think I owe that to my wedding being on a sunday so there arent very many other weddings to begin with. Thank you all for the advice.

Wedding planner crisis

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