I want to start by thanking you for the feedback on your experience and trust that we have learned from it. We had spoken in October right after the wedding and I thought had ironed everything out with the full refund being issued. I was assured that was an agreed upon compromise by an email response to the check being mailed out saying “Thank you for your professionalism and taking care of things.”
While some of the things mentioned are completely correct and we take full responsibility for, I do want to respond with things I have since found out to be untrue after confirming with Kaydee and text messages sent to me throughout the night, her assistant that day, other vendors at the wedding and the venue.
You are correct about not needing a planner – however you needed a full coordinator. It is impossible to understand the full vision the bride and groom want with “day-of coordination” and we unfortunately learned this the hard way with your wedding. We are no longer offering this service as it is not fair for blame to be placed on us if we aren’t involved in any of the prior planning.
It also was not mentioned in the review that Amber (the original coordinator) had a death in the family and had to travel back to Wyoming for the funeral. This is obviously not something we have any control over. We had talked about this prior and the response from you was “family comes first always!” I do take full blame for not telling you this was Kaydee’s first wedding on her own, however she has assisted me with 15-20 weddings and does a fabulous job. Because of this I felt she was ready to be on her own and in this situation we didn’t have much of a choice other than for you to be left with no coordinator at all and still lose your retainer fee. We also sent an assistant (though not included in the package or fee) to make up for the last minute change. Kaydee and I have talked about the situation many times since it happened and we both agree she is not “coordinator” material and will continue with what she excels at, assisting.
There were many “behind the scenes” things that took place that day prior to the ceremony that Kaydee had to fix, which is why she wasn’t in contact until right before the wedding. It had been requested that Kaydee take care of the ceremony set up, which is what she was doing up until that time. The chairs were delivered late and set up incorrectly, which needed to be fixed. The reserved signs for the front row of chairs that we were told would be there, were not so she had to make flower arrangements to mark the reserved seats. Yes, Kaydee should have at least called or text to let someone know she was there and was in the process of setting up, she knows this now. Kaydee had sent me photos on the wedding day of the décor she was in charge of setting up and from my understanding of the conversations beforehand, it was correct. The size of the table may have been the issue, but again that was not in our control due to only being involved day-of and she did her best with the items she was given to work with. Unfortunately with the ceremony musicians not being at rehearsal, the timing of the music was off. Kaydee was copied on an email the morning of the wedding to the ceremony musicians with the timing requests. They arrived right before the ceremony was to begin so there was no time to confirm that was all good to go.
The issue with the place cards has been confirmed with the Watermark that they were not all there. Both Kaydee and the venue manager looked through them and made the executive decision that it was better to have the few cards made up with non-calligraphy hand writing than to not have any at all. It’s possible those cards were misplaced when the father took them from the ceremony (without Kaydee knowing) and brought them to the reception in a box that was all thrown around and messy. Had Kaydee not been gathering items for and helping with a champagne toast after the ceremony (that she was also not aware of), it may have been possible for her to snag the items she was supposed to take to the reception venue before they were taken away by someone else.
The cocktail hour did not run over by 75 minutes. This has been confirmed with multiple vendors who were there on the wedding day. The venue said if that had been the case, they would have taken control and that it was over by 30-35 minutes max. The tables had to be set up in a different room per the venue since it was windy and rainy on the patio, which made the original seating chart confusing. Things had to be adjusted and seats moved very last minute. The combination of that and missing seating cards did understandably cause some panic on Kaydee’s end.
The final bill was not double what was expected. They were quoted $3800-3900 and it ended up being $5100. Yes, that is a little over $1000 higher than quoted, but multiple employees of the venue said there was HEAVY drinking going on with this group and that it was somewhat like a frat party. That is NOT under our control. Could some of the cost been saved by the 30 minutes it was running over, absolutely, but that was remedied by the full refund of our services. The reception also ended at the planned on time, so whether the cocktail hour ran long or not, all the same people were there the same amount of time, drinking the same amount of drinks.
We would in no way make excuses for things that were indeed our fault. We take complete blame for the few things that may have been caused by or could have been fixed by us. I thought we had taken responsibility for those things with the conversation after and the full refund. Our contract states that “Clients agree that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, VIW’s maximum total liability for any claims, breaches or damages by reason of any act or omission, including breach of contract and negligence, shall be limited solely to the dollar amount of the fees paid by Clients to VIW. Clients agree that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, VIW shall not be liable for any claims for punitive damages, consequential damages, emotional distress, mental anguish, lost profit, loss of enjoyment, lost revenues and/or replacement costs.”
I have been working with Kaydee the last couple months and the couples from weddings Kaydee has assisted on since have all said she did a great job. It is unfortunate that she was thrown into this wedding the way that she was and for anyone to be unhappy with our services, but with the unforeseen circumstance of a death, we did the best we could.
The attack on Kaydee’s character was not fair and uncalled for. Others who were involved in the wedding day have read the review and agree that it was fabricated and false in many ways. We even had text messages from the MOH that Kaydee did a great job considering the circumstances.
I apologize for this being long-winded but I feel as the owner of the company that I have a right to stick up for myself and prove fallacies when reviews are fabricated. Again, I am sorry that you had this experience as we think the 2 of you are a lovely couple and wish you all the best.
