Chatelaineevents Reviews 

Julia was our wedding planner for our wedding last year, and dealing with her was, without question, the most stressful part of the entire wedding.

From the outset, it was clear that she was extremely disorganised. Unfortunately, because our venue included her as part of our contract (despite us paying separately for her services), we didn't feel we could change planners.

The problems started immediately. Her very first email had our names wrong and even copied in another bride by mistake. Throughout the planning process, emails regularly contained information intended for other clients, appeared to be poorly copied and pasted with inconsistent formatting, and often felt rushed and chaotic. Meeting times were frequently incorrect, and communication was erratic and unnecessarily panicked.

We were also told by another wedding vendor that she had fallen out with the florist they had previously worked with, resulting in cancellations for her clients. While I cannot verify the reason myself, we did have to deal with the consequences of those cancellations.

Communication with vendors was another major concern. She repeatedly sent emails asking questions that vendors had already answered, and I was constantly worried that her manner of communication would damage our relationships with them.

When organising our planning weekend for tastings and trials, the itinerary she produced simply didn't work. Several appointments overlapped, making it impossible for us to be in multiple places at once. Eventually, I took over organising almost everything myself, leaving only the catering arrangements with Julia because she said she wanted to handle those as she "had other clients to fit in with the caterers too”.

Unfortunately, even that went wrong. Julia repeatedly confirmed, both verbally and in writing, that our catering tasting was booked for 7pm. I even sent her our full itinerary and specifically asked her to confirm the tasting time, which she did. When we arrived in Cognac, the caterers called us shortly after 10am asking where we were. Julia had told them 10am while continuing to tell us 7pm.

Her attitude could also be surprisingly dismissive. When we suggested allowing guests to help themselves to wine and beer during our pool party, she responded that this was "a luxury wedding, not a DIY wedding." I found this rude, unprofessional, and inappropriate. It was our wedding, and our suggestions should have been respected.

The most stressful incident happened two days before the wedding. We had just arrived in Cognac and were about to begin celebrating with our families when Julia called to say the coaches could no longer collect guests from the agreed location because the road would be closed for the annual festival. We had guests with limited mobility who had specifically booked a certain hotel to be close to the pick-up and drop-off point. She claimed this decision to close the road had only just been made. However, local hotels later told us they had known about the closure for months. One of the reasons for hiring a local planner is to anticipate issues like this and make alternative arrangements well in advance.

What made matters worse was her response when I asked whether she could notify our guests. She said, "I can't contact 100 people!" Instead, she expected me to do it as I was beginning my wedding celebrations. We eventually agreed that I would send her everyone's email addresses and notify guests via WhatsApp to check their emails while she sent the official update. When that email arrived, she had omitted the most important piece of information: the new coach pick-up location.

By the end of the process, I felt that every task Julia handled created additional stress rather than reducing it. I found myself trying to keep her away from as much of the wedding as possible because I had lost confidence in her organisation and communication.

The one bright spot was her assistant, who was excellent throughout the wedding day—calm, organised, proactive, and incredibly helpful. We were also fortunate that all of our other vendors were professional, spoke excellent English, and worked seamlessly together.

I cannot recommend Julia as a wedding planner based on our experience. We invested a significant amount of money expecting expert guidance and support, but instead found ourselves correcting mistakes, managing logistics ourselves, and dealing with unnecessary stress throughout what should have been an exciting and enjoyable time.
We had a wonderful wedding thanks to the venue and our vendors, and despite Julia’s chaos.