qhaha's reviews

One of my main reasons for hiring a DOC for my wedding was to help deliver my flowers to the reception site. My florist was a wholesaler/distributor (huge money saver for me!) and while they created great flowers, they did not deliver. So my chief worry was to arrange for transportation.

I explained that to Erin and Cameron in my first meeting and thought it was clearly understood that was my main priority for their responsibilities.

While I think they understood, what wasn't helpful for me was the additional stress and worry it caused me when the whole flower transportation got a little complicated. What it came down to was them not having a enough space in their cars to transport everything. While I can certainly understand that (though I did emphasize it was going to be a LOT of flowers), the way the situation was handled was quite stressful.

Basically, it was the day before the wedding, I was driving to my rehearsal and I get a call from Cameron. Long story short, it came down to her saying they couldn't possibly transport all the flowers. What bothered me though, was that they didn't help offer any viable options or creative solutions to the problem. I asked if they had talked to my florist as to exact space dimensions needed for the flowers. Maybe they tried calling and couldn't get through, but whatever the case, they hadn't called the florist. So I did 3-way calling to do a conference call with them, the florist and me. What it came down to was me coming up with the solution (have my fiance and the groomsmen pick up half the order in the morning) after a long conversation and Cameron sounding, well, quite whiney on the phone and not very helpful. Isn't it the job of an event coordinator to try to help think of plan B? This was all during my drive to the rehearsal.

My fiance was driving us at the time and after I hung up asked why we hired DOC if they were giving me such added stress and worry. At that point, I was just glad the stupid flowers were going to be picked up.

On the day of, things ran semi-smoothly. Yes, the flowers got to the reception. And I must say they did do a good job setting up the room. It looked lovely. Our timeline got crunched during the reception because our venue was late with getting dinner out.

Anyway, perhaps the flowers situation left a bad taste in my mouth, because it colored my view of their work. Overall I didn't feel they were being all that professional in the way they handled the situation. Perhaps I shouldn't have expected them to help come up with a solution either, but I didn't expect such resistance and unhelpful attitude.

I feel bad for writing a negative review, particularly since they've kept asking me for an honest review to be posted on Project Wedding to help their business, but well, here it is. Overall my vendors were fabulous and unfortunately Elegant Soiree was towards the bottom of my list. They were the only vendors who made me truly upset/stressed during the whole wedding planning process.

Blanca was a pleasure to work with. She provided over 200 chair covers for my wedding in April. She was very responsive on email, efficient and friendly. Not only that, but her prices were the lowest I could find anywhere, particularly for a chair cover vendor that included delivery and pickup. I didn't have to worry at all!

It seems like Erica has a double personality - one where she seems to be an awesome photographer, but the other that is not responsive and unprofessional. I experienced the unprofessional side.

After looking at her portfolio online I was impressed by her talent and skill, not to mention her great price. Well, trying to arrange for an appointment to meet with her was another story. She canceled the first appointment and pushed it back for no reason. No problem, I thought, things change all the time. We reschedule for another date. Then she cancels again because she says she's going out of town to NY (which I guess is her hometown). Ok, that's fine. I still want to at least meet her in person. Well, then later she comes back and says she's decided to not be here in 2009 (my wedding year) to shoot any weddings. (very weird, since I think she's booking Bay Area weddings for 2009) She cancels on the day of the appointment, 3 hours before the time we were scheduled to meet (for the 3rd time). Good thing I didn't make the trip over the Bay Bridge without checking my email first.

Bottom line - her actions were not only unprofessional but just plain discourteous. After that experience, I didn't want to worry that she'd "reschedule" my wedding date and not show up. Her photos look great, but my peace of mind wins out. Perhaps if you catch her on a good day you'll get something better.