Wedding planner question

[icgymnast]

Hi! i am having trouble with my wedding planner (i don't want to give her name b/c i am wondering if people had trouble with the same one!). It seems like it is a chore for her to get back to me. I was wondering if anyone has had trouble with theirs and what they did about it? I asked for more save the dates on November 5th and asked about to make our planning session for our marathon trip in January (she's still checking her schedule) and I still haven't seen the save the dates, so i wrote again and she responded asking me if i wanted 20 more for guests or for us to have??? I mean, did i want to make wallpaper??! i emailed her more questions yesterday and her message said she will be out until wednesday with weddings. i am very frustrated and don't know what to do, please tell me i am over-reacting!!!!! b/c June is coming quickly! Thanks so much for all your advice!

 

[hmgolden]

You should email your SM and ask them for the STD. When we needed extras, we just talked to our SM, and we had them quickly. Have you tried talking to your EM's assistant about scheduling your planning session? They may be able to help you with that, as well as answer questions that you have. Unfortunetly the way Disney weddings go, the EMs only start to REALLY pay attention to your wedding about 2 months out. Your planning session will be a great time to get all your questions answered. Good luck!

 

[megan926]

I had trouble with mine too...I had to repeatly try to contact her. She seemed to get back quicker to DH!

 

[marn913]

It seems that every bride will feel this way at some point in their planning with FTW. After it is all over you will realize why those EM's are so hard to reach. It is important to keep in mind that they are not "wedding planners" you do the planning and let them know your choices - their job is to make sure that things go off without a hitch on the big day! They literally spend their entire day at events - not at a desk! I found that email was the best method to reach my EM - and for things that I needed an answer to right away I got ahold of my EM's assistant (you can call your sales manager too!) I really wouldn't worry - planning a Disney wedding is so "hands off" that you feel paranoid at many points along the way. The most important time to contact your EM will be in the last 45-30 days prior to the wedding when you are making additions/subtractions to your final budget and wedding day schedules. Other than that up to that point you may only speak to your EM two or three times total! Don't worry - pretty much every Disney bride feels this way, no matter which EM or sales manager they are assigned (and the feeling goes away immediately after you have your site visit or your actual wedding day!)

-Marne
06-16-03

 

[wildernessbride52105]

i am having the same issue. i booked back in may and the sm told me who my em was in july. well i had to contact her first by email. she responded right away. then several weeks later, in september, i emailed her again, it took forever to get a response. i've never spoken to her on the phone and she never emails me. oh well, at this rate i'm not getting her anything as a thank you!

oh yeah. the 2nd time i emailed her, i wanted to know if my mom(she's at disney now as i write this!luck girl!) could stop bye and meet her and give her my planning info. she said no. no explianation, nothing!

 

[ahutton]

What Marn913 said is so true - at one point in planning we all felt like you do now. It was very hard for me, as my MOH was planning her wedding at home at the same time as I was planning mine, and hers was 3 months later. I saw her have her location, menu, music, flowers all planned; I hadn't had a conversation with my EM yet. What I realize now is that because all they do is service brides, you tell them what you want and then they make it happen. You are not competing for resources the way you would be at home. If you want a string quartet, they will have one there, and if you've selected what music you want heard that is what is played. I was not so specific in most areas, and they did a beautiful job. It was perfect for the non-planner type like me, if I had a specific request and voiced it, it happened. Otherwise I asked they use their professional experience and handle it. I was not disappointed.

My EM changed the week of my wedding, and that would have given most brides a stroke. By then I had my schedule, knew who was supposed to be where and when, and how it was going to happen. We had one challenge to our day, an error on the transportation plan that was wrong from the first schedule and apparently the corrected copy did not get delivered to transportation in time. But it was worked around and resolved.

 

[liquidsky88]

It sounds like most of the wedding planners are very relaxed on how fast they get back to people. I had an issue with my wedding planner and asked to have her changed. It took her a week to get back to me most of the time. When time is of the importance, a week can feel like a year. I was assigned to another wedding planner by the name of Adam Tidd. He did a very good job and I must say was impressed how well he handled our wedding. Good luck!

 

[LUVTGR]

I had Maxine at first and was not happy so I changed ti Lynn who was wonderful. Very accomadating and always responded quickly. If you're not happy ask for someone else.

 

[Fantasia Sam]

It's soooo frustrating isn't it ?? I remember when I was assigned my first EM less than 8 months out and I was ready to "go, go, go" but I didn't get that same feeling back from her. Very quickly I worked out that if I wrote down all my questions and emailed her every week I would get my answers back in a timely manner - I guess we both managed each other's expectations. It's so hard because of course, as brides we know that they are planning other weddings as well, and I had to kick myself to remember that I wasn't my EM's only customer. My first EM then got promoted and moved to another department I was worried at first but I had to say that my new Em hit the ground running and was a perfect as I could have asked and always answered my Emails and phone calls in a more than timely manner.

If anyone has problems with their SM or EM please please address it with them first - tell them what it is you are expecting from their service they'll soon tell you what they can or cannot achieve - if after this conversation you are still unhappy about the service levels then please ask to speak to one of the Managers so that you can discuss either changing or other issues.

What I will say is I have heard some brides talk about issues with their EM in the early days but nearly all have come back from their wedding giving nothing but "praise" for that same EM.

 

[lmhannon2004]

I've been having the same problem with my sales manager!
It takes him about a month to respond to my emails and when i took a week off work and travelled over from the UK for my site visit he double booked us and only told us when we turned up on the day. He then said he'd call us for rescheduling so we could see the sites requested in two days time and never called. This means i now have to return to disney ( shame) next week when i 'm supposed to be saving for my wedding. Oh and he also changed my wedding date without letting us know until I finally got hold of him in order to book january's appointment. I know disney weddings are supposed to be hands off, but i'm really starting to worry!

 

[vixi]

They change dates on you?? After you have paid, and basically have that date on your invitations? Oh my God, I think I will have a stroke if that happens to me.

- Vixi

 

[ahutton]

While it has been a while... I believe once you reach the 8 month out point your date, time and location is locked in stone. The previous poster mentioned a Sales Manager, rather than an Event Manager which (while I may be incorrect) leads me to believe it is further out and the contract has not been finalized yet. Our date was "reserved" at about a year out, but we were informed that we could be bumped from a location until 8 months out when our contract was done. It didn't happen to us (being bumped) but we did not get our first choice of dates because one of the areas we wanted to use was not available even at a year out. Since Save the Dates go out at about 6 months out, and invitations for us were about 3 months out, we didn't have a problem with dates at that point.