Hey everyone! This is a loooong post just so all of you know. Exactly how long? 1,950 words to be exact. Enjoy! 
Recently, I have been complaining a lot about the wedding industry. All of my complaining even led to Catherine publishing an article on her website about her similar views of the wedding industry and why people pay for bad service.
Don’t get me wrong, I have had some awesome luck with wedding planning, but I have also received some very bad service.
I am the type of person who will not pay for bad service, regardless of how cheap the service/products are. I value companies where they pride themselves on their good and personalized customer service.
I love my photographer, DJ, caterer, flower company (I’m getting these wholesale!), planner, makeup&hair company, photo booth, event rental and more, but I feel like it has taken a lot to get here. It seems like the past two weeks have been a complete turn around since the month before, where it seemed like so many people just hated the fact that they had a wedding business.
Also, if you want to completely skip my rant, just skip to the bottom where I talk about the good parts of wedding planning. And, I have some questions that I need help with at the end, so, please help me out!
My bad experience with one wedding company.
A few weeks ago, I went to a certain wedding company for my event rentals with a friend (one of my bridesmaids). I read the bad reviews online, but I just thought it was just picky costumers who liked to complain a lot who left these really bad reviews.
BOY, was I wrong.
If you are from the STL area and you are interested in who I am talking about so that you don’t make the same mistake of wasting your time, please e-mail me. I don’t feel like publicly bashing their name on my blog.
I’m not going to lie, the prices were cheaper than most, so I wanted to give them a shot because it meant that I would have saved a few hundred dollars for the exact same rentals.
Well, I walked in and no one greeted us. We stood there and still nothing, even though the workers were sitting there right in front of us (2 or 3 feet away) and were looking right at us. So, we walked up to them and still nothing.
Nope, nothing. I finally walked directly up to ONE of them and said hello so that this person would be forced to start working. It was obvious that neither was greeting us because neither wanted to be the one who would have to work. It was like a contest between the two of them to see who could not speak first…
There were a few questions that she could not answer, so she had to get the owner (he was maybe 10 feet away) to answer the questions (such as what the delivery fee would be, rental agreements, etc.), and that is when it got bad.
He stuck his hands in my face multiple times and called me a liar (when I wasn’t even speaking!). More than 10 times, he also laughed AT my face whenever he told me I was wrong, which was extremely infuriating.
He wouldn’t even look at me. In the middle of his yelling I had to say “I am the person renting your items.” He would only look at my friend or at the wall, and that was just very weird.
I remember he asked me a question about how flat the land was, and I said that there was plenty of flat land (acres upon acres of completely flat land – I believe there are a few hundred acres on the property). He then called me a liar and started yelling at me. He said that I didn’t know what flat land was and basically called me stupid about 25 times.
This is the spot on the property where we are having our wedding (just changed it last week). We changed our wedding to being completely outdoors with no tent except for the food area (unless it rains). This isn’t the flattest spot on the property (since we want the reception to not be under a tent anymore, we wanted a spot with lots of trees and shade in case it is too hot), but it is definitely flat! The spot where we originally were going to have it is even flatter, so it would have been no problem for them to lay a tent down.
He then stuck his hands in my face again to show me what hills look like. Yes, I’m not even kidding, he showed me what a hill looked like because he told me that I did not know…
He said that there is absolutely no way that the land is flat and that I have no clue what I’m talking about so that I should just stop talking. And then that’s when he started evil laughing at me again because I apparently have no idea what I’m talking about.
Umm hello? I’ve seen plenty of flat land. This is Missouri after all and there is flat land all over the place. I told him that there were no hills where the tent would be going and he said I was wrong (he has NEVER been to this property – I can guarantee that). I’m still not sure why he was yelling.
He also accused me of wanting to ruin his rental items. Then he started yelling at me about how to properly take care of his items. I understand that he doesn’t want his items ruined, but he does not have to yell at me and repeat that “the chairs should not be left in the rain” 100 times. I completely understand.
Trust me, I’m not the type of person who is going to let items get ruined. I am a nice person and I respect other people and their belongings.
He then asked me when the wedding would be, and I said June. His response was asking me why I would want to have a wedding at a time when everyone else has their wedding because that just puts more work on them because they will have to work. He then said that he would charge a higher delivery fee because he has to work. I am not kidding.
He actually said “UGGGHHHH WE ARE CHARGING YOU MORE!!!!”
OH MY GOD, I AM SO SORRY THAT YOU HAVE TO WORK MISTER.
He continued to yell at me for quite some time until the lady that we were originally talking to butted in and asked him to leave. Her specific words were “You are scaring these girls with all of your yelling, so I can take over now.”
Yes, it got so bad that his employee had to ask him to stop multiple times before he actually walked away.
When my friend and I hopped back into my car after that horrifying experience, neither of us said anything because the experience was that bad. I asked her what she thought (and this is one of my nicest friends who hates confrontations), and she said it was really bad and not to use them.
If she says someone is mean, then you have to believe her.
And, no, it’s not just me. I worked in customer service for over 5 years, so I know how to treat people and I know what is just plain wrong. The reviews online about this company were also extremely similar, almost like I was reading what happened the day that I went.
Whenever I tell people about my horror stories, almost everyone tells me that the wedding industry can be scary to deal with.
Which is very sad considering weddings should mean a fun time, not associated with people who are always angry and hate potential customers. Also, everyone who has provided horrible customer service has REALLY bad reviews. Why do people continue to use companies with such bad reviews? If you see that they have bad reviews, wouldn’t you want to run away?
Because of this, I researched the companies that I decided to use like crazy. Everyone that I signed contracts with have been a delight to work with, and I am so happy. Once the wedding is over, I will probably have one huge review post of everyone that we used to help other St. Louis brides.
We have now found a wonderful event rental company, and I booked with them. They were extremely nice and I can’t believe how different the experience was with them (more information on this below).
My wedding plans and spending in the past week.
Anyway, this month has been full of wedding planning, and this past week was full of signing contracts and paying deposits. I also paid for our champagne glasses, my garters, my 120 inch veil (WOOHOO!), and the boutonnieres last week, which are all being done by awesome Etsy owners.
Desserts Galore!
A friend and I went to a cake tasting (yes, just one!), and I paid for all of the cakes and desserts. We got an AWESOME price, and when I was shown the invoice we were both shocked by how cheap it was.
We are getting a two-tier wedding cake that I love, 3 other cakes (German Chocolate, Heavenly Hash, and another that I can’t remember – adding more cakes to that too), 3 pies (Peach, Cherry, Apple), brownies, cannolis, macarons, tons of cookies and more.
Price for all of that? A little less than $300! That is with us picking it up (delivery to where our wedding is would be ridiculous, I’m assuming since the cake place is around 1.5 hours away from the wedding).
Event Rentals.
That same day, we also signed the contract for our wedding event rentals. They only had us pay for a very small amount for the deposit (I think it was around $300), and the rest will be paid later of course. We are getting a white tent, round tables, 375 white chairs, linens, cocktail tables, dance floor and more.
We have also decided that the entire wedding will be outside, instead of everything being under a tent. The food and cocktail hour will be under a tent though because it may still be a little hot outside at that time. AND, the event rental company said that we could have the dance floor completely outside (whereas everyone else said that it had to be under a tent), so I am extremely happy about that.
Randomness.
I’m also in the middle of finalizing the contract for my photo booth. It’s a Fish Eye photo booth that costs $1,400 (but he is giving me a discount). I have seen them in the past at bridal shows and his photo booth is honestly the best ever.
Yesterday, I also met up with the wedding planner and she was super nice. We went through the contract and her just saying everything made me SO HAPPY that I am having a day of coordinator so that I don’t have to have a heart attack on my wedding day and also so that I don’t punch anyone
This week, I really need to start working on invitations. Also, I need to find someone to do alterations to my dress and also groomsmen outfits. When did you do your alterations? What about groomsmen outfits? How much were your alterations and groomsmen outfits?
Also, if you are looking for a gift for Valentine’s Day, check out my review of Datevitation. I have a $10 coupon code plus a free coupon book.