Happily Ever After Weddings, Events and Boutique

We live in NJ and we hired Kate Bentley as a wedding planner. The importance of having a good planner who is on top of things is crucial for a destination wedding. Some of the things she did at the wedding were so careless that even the guests noticed she was simply not paying attention. Here are just a few things that were done incorrectly the day of the wedding that truly highlight her neglect for attention to detail.

• She wrote the wrong wedding date on the cake table. Not only that, but she wrote her own birthday instead. Everyone at the wedding was whispering about the wrong date and the photographers only got pictures of the cake with the incorrect date on it.

• She showed up with the “steamed dress” and it was full of deep wrinkles. This stalled the entire getting ready process and first look. The photographer was paid extra to be there early for the first look and we had to wait 45 minutes for Kate to bring the steamer back to the room.

• On the day of the wedding, the bridesmaids were forced to provide their own transportation to get photos done at the ceremony site, and then bring their car back to the hotel before the ceremony so they could join me on the trolley to the ceremony.

• Kate was nowhere to be found as the photographers rushed to take professional shots. It started to downpour and thankfully the photographer had an umbrella and a car there or I would have been soaked.

• I requested a very important locket that had a picture of my deceased father in it to be included in the bouquet. Not only did Kate not do this, but she totally forgot about it until seconds before I walked down the aisle. COMPLETELY CARELESS and unacceptable.

• The lighting at the reception was harsh and bright and she refused to dim it for the first 45 minutes of the wedding. No one danced because of this. Keep in mind Kate was supposed to provide special "up lighting" which was discussed in the planning. There was no special colored lighting at all.

• Kate didn’t book the DJ for the full time of the reception so one of my bridesmaids had to make a playlist on her ipod.

• We had special champagne glasses that were purchased by my mother. Kate never brought them to the reception. Funny thing is before the wedding I told her I would just ship them to the reception venue so they wouldn’t be forgotten and she insisted I just send them to her.

• There were a bunch of décor details in our plans that never happened. For example, rose petals in paper cones for the guests to toss after the ceremony, sparklers at the end of the reception, ivory cushions on the bamboo chairs, menu cards listing the buffet items.

• There was no one overseeing the schedule for the day. Photographers and other vendors had no idea what was going on. As soon as we arrived at the reception the groom and I were bombarded with questions about walking in, first dance, who is giving speeches when etc. The point of hiring Kate was so we didn’t have to worry about that.

I addition to the problems on the wedding day, there were various other things that came up the week before the wedding. There was a major financial typo in the contract. There were also many mistakes/ overcharges on our décor invoice. We found out that the vendor we thought was doing the flowers, lighting and décor was not doing it and that Kate was doing it herself. We went down there in the fall to meet with all of the vendors so this annoyed us because that means our trip was a waste of our time and money. We had guests staying at 4 hotels. I sent Kate all of the welcome bag materials which were supposed to be dropped off with the weekend itineraries. She only left bags at one hotel so half of my guests missed all of the weekend events because they had no idea what was going on.

Thankfully, our family and friends that attended still had fun. But Kate did not do her job. She was hired to be a coordinator of events and make sure that everything was working on schedule with me the day of my wedding. That is not what she did. She was too busy running around worrying about the décor. As a result the entire day was chaos and very stressful for me, the groom our bridal party and parents. I have been trying to get answers from her about her shortcomings since I returned home from Key West. Her lack of response further proves her unprofessionalism.

We live in NJ and we hired Kate Bentley as a wedding planner. The importance of having a good planner who is on top of things is crucial for a destination wedding. Some of the things she did at the wedding were so careless that even the guests noticed she was simply not paying attention. Here are just a few things that were done incorrectly the day of the wedding that truly highlight her neglect for attention to detail.

• She wrote the wrong wedding date on the cake table. Not only that, but she wrote her own birthday instead. Everyone at the wedding was whispering about the wrong date and the photographers only got pictures of the cake with the incorrect date on it.

• She showed up with the “steamed dress” and it was full of deep wrinkles. This stalled the entire getting ready process and first look. The photographer was paid extra to be there early for the first look and we had to wait 45 minutes for Kate to bring the steamer back to the room.

• On the day of the wedding, the bridesmaids were forced to provide their own transportation to get photos done at the ceremony site, and then bring their car back to the hotel before the ceremony so they could join me on the trolley to the ceremony.

• Kate was nowhere to be found as the photographers rushed to take professional shots. It started to downpour and thankfully the photographer had an umbrella and a car there or I would have been soaked.

• I requested a very important locket that had a picture of my deceased father in it to be included in the bouquet. Not only did Kate not do this, but she totally forgot about it until seconds before I walked down the aisle. COMPLETELY CARELESS and unacceptable.

• The lighting at the reception was harsh and bright and she refused to dim it for the first 45 minutes of the wedding. No one danced because of this. Keep in mind Kate was supposed to provide special "up lighting" which was discussed in the planning. There was no special colored lighting at all.

• Kate didn’t book the DJ for the full time of the reception so one of my bridesmaids had to make a playlist on her ipod.

• We had special champagne glasses that were purchased by my mother. Kate never brought them to the reception. Funny thing is before the wedding I told her I would just ship them to the reception venue so they wouldn’t be forgotten and she insisted I just send them to her.

• There were a bunch of décor details in our plans that never happened. For example, rose petals in paper cones for the guests to toss after the ceremony, sparklers at the end of the reception, ivory cushions on the bamboo chairs, menu cards listing the buffet items.

• There was no one overseeing the schedule for the day. Photographers and other vendors had no idea what was going on. As soon as we arrived at the reception the groom and I were bombarded with questions about walking in, first dance, who is giving speeches when etc. The point of hiring Kate was so we didn’t have to worry about that.

I addition to the problems on the wedding day, there were various other things that came up the week before the wedding. There was a major financial typo in the contract. There were also many mistakes/ overcharges on our décor invoice. We found out that the vendor we thought was doing the flowers, lighting and décor was not doing it and that Kate was doing it herself. We went down there in the fall to meet with all of the vendors so this annoyed us because that means our trip was a waste of our time and money. We had guests staying at 4 hotels. I sent Kate all of the welcome bag materials which were supposed to be dropped off with the weekend itineraries. She only left bags at one hotel so half of my guests missed all of the weekend events because they had no idea what was going on.

Thankfully, our family and friends that attended still had fun. But Kate did not do her job. She was hired to be a coordinator of events and make sure that everything was working on schedule with me the day of my wedding. That is not what she did. She was too busy running around worrying about the décor. As a result the entire day was chaos and very stressful for me, the groom our bridal party and parents. I have been trying to get answers from her about her shortcomings since I returned home from Key West. Her lack of response further proves her unprofessionalism.