Weddings by April Steele

that she can execute on the day of the wedding. Unfortunately, we never got that far.  April ultimately dissolved our contract, two months before my wedding via email, feeling that too many people (i.e., two-three family members) were “questioning” her abilities/competency and “overstepping.” She mentioned concerns during our last meeting about having my family being overly involved in the wedding but never requested that we have one-on-one meetings, moving forward.  My family (albeit strong personalities) asked about her actions taken in the wedding process because we were looking to receive more concrete direction and information as we got closer to the wedding date. We were seeing samples from other people's weddings instead of drafts, based on information that we provided at least a month prior. (Also -  Who knew that the bride's family couldn't ask a wedding planner questions on her behalf? Like, I literally never knew that.) Effectively, April was paid nearly $1,000 to conduct a handful of email conversations with vendors, share defunct referrals, respond to the bride's emails and attend four meetings over the span of eight months. She certainly brought a level of expertise to conversations and asked meaningful questions, but that was the extent of her assistance.  Information was sent only when prompted to do so by the bride vs. information being proactively shared. Referrals were shared but they were not all reliable or up-to-date. I also had to schedule all of the meetings with the planner, instead of any of that owness being on the coordinator.  Her timid approach to her own business finances and perhaps her passive (aggressive) nature lead to: the responsibility of invoicing being shucked onto the bride, subpar performance (whether intentionally and unintentionally), and ultimately withdrawal from her role (over email) less than sixty days before my wedding. I, at least, respect her for not waiting until a week or so before the wedding. I also wish her post-contractual gumption replaced the lethargy she presented when she was contracted as a wedding planner. Finally, when someone declines to provide further support for an event, with short notice, they typically provide a referral. This was also not the case. instead I had to scrounge for alternative support.  Ultimately, it was a disappointment. My advice to the planner for the partial planning package would be to - Proactively provide brides with list, timelines, recommendations etc (without them having to request those items). Routinely check in with those referrals and verify contact information to ensure that they still offering servicesSchedule the meetings with the bride and groom (and indicate whether the planner prefers to work directly with them as clients one-on-one). Come prepared with a printed or tentative agenda for meetings. Generate automated invoices to the client (with built-in time frame, deadline and/or reminders). I believe that Paypal and similar vendors offer this service. Provide clients with disclaimer if responses will take more that 24-48 hours, possibly setting up an automatic reply on the email saying that their communication was received and responses will be delayed.