Firefly Occasions Inc.

Hello- this is Ciara Daykin, CEO of Firefly Occasions. I'm glad for the opportunity to respond to your experience with our company. First I am sad to hear that your experience was not what we would have hoped it to be. There are several reasons for that which I can identify by reading your comments which I will elaborate on here.

As your post did not contain who are you I am not going to assume that you were one bride or another but will rather address your specific comments.

Booking a meeting/ correspondence- I appreciate hearing from you about not feeling served upon your inquiry. It is always our intention to get back to interested brides promptly and while I am unsure of when your experience occurred, we have recently reviewed our process for getting back to brides and grooms. There may have been an issue with us working on an event at that time or being out of town and unable to respond but we have a very clear guideline now of who responds to inquiries, how quickly, and the process for booking appointments.

Meeting- We want our meetings to be a back and forth of getting to know one another. It is important that we get to know you and for you to learn about us. In your circumstance there was obviously not a fit and I hope you did find a planner to meet your needs. We all have our "off days" and if Simon and I came across as snobby or inauthentic in any way that was not our intention. We really love what we do but perhaps our enthusiasm for planning weddings and working with wonderful people came across as boasting but it was not intended that way.

Coaching- I do coach other planners and some of them do operate in Calgary. I view this as an example of our dedication to the industry on a whole. We have helped other Calgary planners grow their business around the brides that they will best serve. I am thrilled to hear that other planners in the city, regardless of whether I coach them or not, are receiving business. Wedding planning is a difficult business to do full time and when other planners are securing business it is good for the entire industry. Mentioning my coaching relationship is not meant to say I'm better than any other planner but rather that we have a wonderful community of connected planners here whom I respect. I plan in a certain way and other planners plan in their way. Brides need to choose planners who are the best fit for them as it is best for all parties involved.

Am I the best in the city?- I am the best at being myself and planning weddings in the Firefly Occasions style of planning. Other planners are the best when their style is based on who they are and what makes them the most happy. I am at my best when I'm planning and designing with a truly inspiring client with exciting ideas.

Awards- We did win an award a couple of years ago and we are very proud of the one that you reference but we have won other awards since then and I was nominated for Canadian Event Professional of the Year most recently. Many of the clients we work with value a high level of confidentiality and we therefore do not submit their weddings for awards out of respect for our relationship with them. We love when clients are excited about their weddings and want to share them with the world whether by submitting for an award, a magazine spread or a blog feature. The most important thing for us is that our clients love their wedding.

Pricing- We base our pricing every time on the services that the bride and groom describe that they need in our meeting. When you ask for a certain level of service we will tell you honestly what that level of service will cost if you want to work with us. We service a variety of budgets at different service price points. I personally limit the number of clients I work with one on one so that I can provide a high level of service. If you were quoted the price mentioned above it would have been our impression of your expectations that you required service at that level and it may have been at a time where we were unable to offer a lower priced program based on availability of our planners.

Making the Sale- We care a lot about the people that we work for but we also are running a business. We are at our best planning weddings and keeping our business healthy and successful when we properly quote people based on their expectations. I don't want to "make a sale" when the fit between us and the couple is not there and in your case I think you made the right choice not to work with us.

Contract- We have been in business going on 8 years now and have had our contracts reviewed by our lawyers many times over those years. The intention of our contract is to be incredibly transparent and when given the chance I walk each couple through the contract. The personal description of Simon and I in regards to explaining details of the contract does not sound like us but that was obviously your impression. We have discussed your review at length and have re-evaluated our contract terms and made a conscious effort to make sure that no couple leaves our office without understanding the contract and if time does not allow for it then we book a phone call to review.

Booking Immediately- I am always going to ask a couple if they would like to book right away with us if the situation warrants it. We have in the past included incentives for couples to make a decision immediately. Moving forward, we still ask for the business but discuss the timeline for signing with the couple that they would be comfortable with. I feel that if we are truly meant to be connected in planning a wedding with a couple that it will happen. Couples are invited to come in and meet with us to get to know us, no pressure to sign on, but rather truly to make sure this is the right fit for them.

Using Your Own Decor- The reason we charge a handling fee around using your own decor is from many experiences of being caught in a bind trying to get everything together on a wedding day with items that do not come to us as originally represented. Unpacking and assembling decor site unseen is not in the best interest of anyone. I also don't know if the quality of what you're getting is the quality we need and can ensure when we secure all decor. A large part of our business is event design and in order for us to do this to our best ability we do feel that all decor needs to be secured through us.

Decor Budget- I'm not sure who your friend is but I can tell you our process for discovering the event design that will please our clients. We have an initial decor meeting and have clients go through many magazines and design books showing us what they like and don't like with no budget in mind. If you showed us a picture and I immediately told you that you couldn't afford it then your creativity would be squashed. We then base the quote on the ideas from that meeting and make it very clear that it is a starting point and that now we know the style and atmosphere desired by the couple we can get this same look but at their budget if the quote is not aligned with their budget. Quite often clients don't know what their decor budget is because they are unsure of costs, the logistics of their ideas and even what they are going to end up wanting. The process of determining the final decor invoice is based on feedback from the client and there are many opportunities to go back and forth on this prior to the wedding. There are some things however that cannot be reduced in price based on the availability of materials and scope of the ideas. But it is always the client's choice whether or not those elements will be included in their final decor plan.

Thank you for the opportunity to improve our business based on your review. We love what we do and are lucky to work together as husband and wife each day supporting the people that work for us and our family unit which includes our 1 year old son.