Texas-Austin

Advice? Re: Wedding planner

Hi all~

I just need some opinions of whether my expectations are too high or if I should just cut my losses and move on. We booked Becky Sosa with Stress Free Events as our wedding planner and now I'm not so confident in how she'll work out. I feel like every time I email her questions, she emails me back but doesn't anwser the questions or says she'll email me later and then never does. The other thing that drives me batty (and it may just be pet peeve) is that she cannot spell to save her life. I would think that someone running a respectable business would know how to use spell check before sending emails! I know other knotties have used her services because this is where we found her, so I wanted to find out if I'm just expecting too much too soon and things with her will get better closer to our wedding in March or if I should just let her keep the deposit we've paid and book with someone else. TIA!
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Re: Advice? Re: Wedding planner

  • edited December 2011
    Do you know if she is a professional wedding planner? I ask this because there are too many people posing as planners, who only do this because they planned a best friend's wedding, and thought they were wonderful at it.

     There are degree's and certifications that they should have to do this job. I am in school for Hotel and Restaurant Management with an emphasis in Special Events, so it kinda urkes me to hear people are making money with no education in it.

    I am using

    Rachel Stepanov

    Buon Affaré Events

    Wedding Specialist/Owner

    512.657.7209

    www.buonaffareevents.com

     

    She is a certified planner, and under 700 for day of.

  • edited December 2011
    Hey there,

    I'm using Becky as well and have wondered the same things as you. She mostly has gotten really great reviews, minus one person who I believe said her overall decorating/visual skills weren't as great. I think it's hard because even the best vendors get bad reviews sometimes and I just try not to let them worry me and just make sure I'm very specific with what I want.

    I have found that most of the vendors I've worked with are terrible at communicating via email (Becky included), but when you actually meet with her in person, she definitely knows what she is doing. You might just want to meet with her, because I was feeling hesitant after some short emails and then met with her and felt a huge sigh of relief. If you still feel uneasy after meeting with her, then you should look for someone else.

    What I really wanted in a coordinator is for someone to make sure all my vendors where there, that if anything went wrong there would be someone to deal with it and that my venue was set up and cleaned up the way it needed to be, and I know these things are her strengths. I have a very specific way I want my tables and everything to look, so will be taking photos of sample set ups to give to her. For me, I didn't want to pay a huge amount to have someone set up and clean up and keep everything organized and she fit this perfectly.

    I hope it all works out for you!
  • edited December 2011
    I don't agree with Vendors not being able to communicate via email. Mine has a firm 24 hour reply promise in her contract. Most wedding planners should own PDA's by now, where they get emails immediately. Just because they make good promises in person doesn't mean they are organized to keep up with all the brides.

  • edited December 2011
    I agree with you BabyBlue, especially since I prefer communicating via email, I guess I've just had a few vendors that have not been the best via email, not so much when it comes to responding, but just seeming to prefer to discuss details via phone or in person.

    FutureRamsay, Becky has been good at responding to me quickly, but I have found she's better to ask specific questions and discuss details in person or on the phone (so now I'll just email her if I have a quick question, but meet her every once and awhile to discuss where I am in the planning process)...she has received great reviews from many brides on how well she kept everything moving smoothly so I have confidence in her (not just from meeting her in person to discuss stuff).

    I did have one instance where I didn't get a response back to an email and just checked back with her and it had just been missed, so I'm not sure how many times this has happened with you.
  • edited December 2011
    Yeah, I also am using Rachael with Buon Affare and I've got to say, she's so great about keeping in touch and responding to emails ASAP.
  • edited December 2011
    Thanks ladies. I think I'm just going to cut my losses with Becky. I'm sure she probably does a good job on the day of, but I can't wait until then and be worried about it the whole time. Not to mention I really could use answers to my questions since we are trying to plan things right now. We did meet with Rachel in the beginning and I felt like she was more professional. We went with Becky because the groom felt she was more personable. I've been corresponding with Rachel today and her average response time to emails is about 30 minutes! Guess different personalities work for different people.
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  • edited December 2011

    If you're worried, it will definitely make you feel better to go with someone else!

    Good luck!

  • edited December 2011
    I'm using Rachel as well and so far I just love her!!!
    Planning Blog: www.JohnandSteph2010.com Wedding Countdown Ticker
    image228 Made the list!
    image 42 Are ready to party!
    image 6 Will be missing out!
    image 180 Can't find the mailbox!
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