Not the best service... What did I pay for?

<p>I got married at Lourensford Wine Estate... What a breath taking venue. Myself and my husband decided to get a coordinator as we didn't want to stress about anything on the most important day of our lives...</p> <p> </p> <p>What a mistake.... </p> <p> </p> <p>Everything went great in the beginning we signed up with the Aleit coordination group a year and a half before our big day! We had our first meeting with them and everything went great we stipulated our budget and what we were looking for, and they seemed confident that they could pull it off. </p> <p> </p> <p>A few weeks later we received a budget proposal from them which was R50000 over budget leaving out important fees to be paid. Once we added all that in it worked out to R100000 over budget. </p> <p>We did not feel this was acceptable and asked them to revise and see what we could do because we had the budget for a reason and didn't wish to go that much over. </p> <p>We then recieved their revised budget which was still over, but they assured us that when we start getting quotes that it would come in within our budget as they were over estimating.</p> <p> </p> <p>As time went on we had done our food tasting... But that was it. </p> <p>Then a year went by... And still nothing. I then took it onto my own hands and started e-mailing them to ask what was next and what would the next step be in the planning... Was this really my job to do? 5 months before MY wedding? </p> <p>Yes I like to be organized and have less stress I knowing things are getting done... But they weren't. </p> <p>After not hearing anything for the next month or so I sent a long dissatisfied e-mail stating how I felt. And then only stated hearing back from them.</p> <p> </p> <p>In the end all the planning only happened in the month leading up to the wedding... Thats when the drama started... 2 weeks before we had our flower "mock up"... Everything was wrong the flowers were over budget and a complete rip off and looked nothing like we wanted... They even removed a few flower settings that were important to minimize on costs without our say so eg. All the ceremony flowers.</p> <p>We then decided to get our own quote as we have done so before with other service providers that we were not happy with...</p> <p>I then phoned and told them that we would be changing, they were not happy at all even though we had only received quotes but Never accepted any of them... I then got a nasty phone call about how I'm burning ties with their suppliers and that I can't do this so close to my wedding.. I then got quite upset and couldn't believe that they were putting me through this and placing so much stress on me so close to my wedding.  </p> <p> </p> <p>There are so many more I could tell you about how the coordinators mistreated us and just didn't care...</p> <p>This is just one of the many problems we had with their service providers as they were over priced and lacking in service, and so we had to find better service providers ourselves with a better price and that were willing to give us what we were looking for. </p> <p> </p> <p>In the end everything was left until the last month... We had to to try and find service providers in this time which was very tricky as they are all booked up months in advance. We ended up being R40000 over budget and would have been a lot more over if we had stuck to what they said and used their preferred suppliers. If we didn't care or take any action we would have been in serious debt and a lot less to show for it.</p> <p> </p> <p>I say this because my wedding planning experience was ruined by people who were suppose to make it an unforgettable and stress free experience... It was everything but. I enjoyed all the other aspects of my wedding when it didn't come to them. </p> <p> </p> <p>Our wedding day was amazing... But not without its faults all due again to their un- organization, we had specifically asked for certain things to be done in certain ways on the day before hand  but it was all thrown out the window. </p> <p> </p> <p>So i would not recommend using them as a coordination company as they are just a waste and don't do what they specify. You could plan your own wedding... I did but still had to pay. </p> <p> </p> <p> </p>