Spotting Wedding Vendor Scams and Ensure Your Big Day is Safe: Cautionary Tales of Booking Vendors in Facebook Groups

Are wedding nightmares keeping you up at night? Fear not, as wedding planners Kathy Piech-Lukas of Your Dream Day and  Angela Lemke of Angela's Premier Event Designs guide you through the minefield of vendor selection and scams. In our frank conversation, Angela, a seasoned expert and Facebook wedding group administrator, opens up about her encounters with the darker corners of vendor sourcing on social media. We shed light on the tell-tale signs of fraudulent vendors, like too-good-to-be-true pricing and a conspicuous absence of credentials. Through the woven tales of last-minute DJ disasters, photography scams and the saga of a counterfeit florist, we arm you with the knowledge to demand detailed contracts and verify vendor legitimacy. And for an extra layer of security against the unforeseen, we introduce the concept of wedding insurance to keep your special day safeguarded.

The second segment of our discussion shifts focus to the unsung heroes of a flawless wedding—the vendors who meet and exceed professional standards. We recount chilling narratives of a horror story of food safety gone awry, underscoring the absolute must-haves such as Serve Safe certifications and the hazards of skimping on expertise. Angela and Kathy tackle the miscommunications that lead to wedding day letdowns, from photographers who ghost newlyweds to the misunderstood scope of licensed bartending services. With an eye for professionalism, these ladies elucidate the importance of experience and education in the wedding planning arena, mapping out the journey from the initial rush to the potential for burnout in the trade. This conversation is your compass to navigating the vast seas of wedding planning, ensuring you reach the shores of matrimonial bliss with your joy and wallet intact.

Transcript

00:00:08.950 --> 00:00:31.339
Kathy Piech-Lukas: Hi, welcome to Your Dream Day. Podcast I'm your host, Kathy Piech-Lukas. And today we are talking about a topic that I have been itching to talk about for months, and I have the perfect guest to talk about this particular topic. Angela Lemke, from Angela's Premier Event Designs. Who is a fellow wedding planner serving the Dayton market. She and I today are going to talk about being responsible, booking your vendors using tools like social media, including Facebook groups. Angela, thank you so much for joining us today.

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Angela: Thank you so much for having me.

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Kathy Piech-Lukas: Like I said, I am so excited about this particular podcast. Because for
at least the past year or 2, I've sat on the sidelines watching in some of these Facebook groups, what's been happening? And you actually not only are you a wedding player, you admin a Facebook wedding planning group? Correct? 

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Angela: Yes, we my husband and I started the Discount Wedding Everything Ohio wedding Facebook page.

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Angela: and we unfortunately get a lot of messages. We get a lot of posts. We get a lot of questions about some of these. Not so aboveboard vendors. And so we see a lot of it. And we do a lot of monitoring and a lot of investigating on our own just to try and protect our clients.

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Kathy Piech-Lukas: So what are some examples of things that you have seen recently with these vendors that are posting, and they're actually not a vendor. They're a scam.

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Angela: So the biggest one right now is neon signs. I know that they're huge. I know that they're popular. But on all of these Facebook groups and all the wedding groups on Facebook marketplace, everything else they are advertising as they're perfecting their craft, and for a small donation they'll make you a free neon sign, and you send them 2530, $45, and then you never get a neon sign back. That's been the newest and and easiest one. And then they just disappear. They change their, they cancel out their Facebook group and they're done.

00:02:10.009 --> 00:02:34.369
Angela: That's been the newest one that we have seen. But the biggest one that we see is just vendors that aren't real aren't licensed. They're not insured, and they're gonna tell you that they'll dj your wedding, or they'll photograph your wedding. F for like less than a quarter of the cost of what a normal wedding vendor would cost, and then they either cancel on you. The day of you get really bad product, or they just don't show up. And that's the one I've been seeing. A lot like a couple of Djs in particular, are very guilty of this, where they'll they're charging a bride something like $400, like some some bargain basement price. And they're not licensed. They're not insured because there's no way you could charge that price being licensed and insured, and then, 2 weeks before their wedding, something suddenly comes up and they can't do the wedding, and then they leave their couple in the lurch with no Dj, what really is going on behind the scenes. So I think a lot of that is, first of all, they're going to advertise at that super cheap rate, and tell you to pay it all off in full. And then they'll probably still come and do your wedding. But if somebody else offers them $600 or $800 or $1,000, or they've got something else that they want to do that day. They're just gonna cancel on you. They're gonna eventually tell you that you'll get your money back. Oh, you know, whatever the family emergency, my dogs in the hospital, whatever it is that they're giving out as that story, because I have actually heard my dog has to go to the vet. As as an excuse, but you don't ever see it. Or they'll change their name, and then they'll just come right back into the business, as you know, ABC, Dj. Instead of DEF, and that's kind of how it works, and you won't get your money back. And they're not license. So there's really nothing that you can do, and they always want you to pay through venmo or Facebook pay. and they just go. Hmm! You shouldn't have paid them that way, and you don't get your money back.

00:04:09.240 --> 00:04:15.200
Kathy Piech-Lukas: Well, the other thing is that you need a contract. Any vender, that you sign for your wedding, have something in writing, even if it's a family friend. You need something in writing, and it's not just for them. It's for your protection, too.

00:04:23.760 --> 00:04:35.749
Angela: That's exactly what I tell everybody that that message is us. If you don't have a contract that protects the both of you, your contract should stay the date that you sign the contract. It should say your name, the company name it should say the date of service where it's at, and it should list exactly what they're gonna bring. It should not just say we're bringing a sound system. It should say we're bringing speakers and a sound system, and what they're gonna do and how long is in there, even if it's to be determined at a later date, it should be in there what they're gonna bring who's gonna be there and all of that information. And if you don't have a signed contract there's nothing you don't have a leg to stand on. You can't go to Paypal. You can't go to your credit card. You can't go to your bank. You can't do anything. Apparently you've just given them a very big tip to do nothing.

00:05:12.930 --> 00:05:36.070
Kathy Piech-Lukas: Wow! Well, and there was a situation. There have been a couple of situations the last few years here in Ohio, and one of them the florist one which we're gonna talk about that actually even made it to Wedding MBA. If you can believe that there was a there was a wedding insurance company, and we could talk. We could talk a little bit about wedding insurance as well on this on this podcast. But it was a wedding insurance company that was giving a presentation, and he said he had so many filings of complaints from in Ohio for this one particular floors who now is in jail.

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Angela: Yes. that was a nightmare. It was a Ponzi scheme, was a total Ponzi scheme, basically. She was taking money. She was doing it at a fraction of the cost of what it would actually cost you to buy flowers and she was turning around and then putting that money in paying a little bit of a deposit to the wholesale florist or the flower companies, and not actually paying off her debt with them, but continuing to rake in cash until they called in their debt. And then she just abandoned everybody, and she told a lot of stories. There was a lot of lies that were told, and she had decided that she wasn't just going to be a florist. She was gonna be a wedding planner, and she was going to be a day of coordinator and all of these things, and she just dodged everybody and then left them standing there and didn't like that. Everybody went on social media and complained. And that's how the story got out was, everybody went on Facebook. They went on Instagram, and there's even TikToks about it, about what she did to these people, and some of them she called on the day of and told them that she wasn't gonna be there some she just didn't show up. Some she told the day before, and others she promised them the day before that they would be there and then still didn't show up.

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Kathy Piech-Lukas: And then the Attorney General came calling, yes, so, and that's why she's sitting in jail today.  Yup, and there was a also an incident during the past year of a photographer that was doing the exact same thing, and the one thing both of these vendors had in common was the bargain basement too good to be true, pricing

00:07:31.510 --> 00:07:32.710
Angela: exactly

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Kathy Piech-Lukas: What was the situation with the photographer? What? What were some of the things that she was pulling on on these these couples. Who are? This is their first rodeo. So they they don't know to to be aware of these types of things.

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angela: Well, there's several red flags with the photographer. She wasn't even using her own work to advertise. So she was stealing other photographers' photos. So you're which is trademark violation. That's bad. You're not supposed to do that. So she was stealing other people's photos. So you thought you were, gonna get a great photographer, and you didn't. She was also advertising in about 6 different states all around. And so she was advertising, and she was booking multiple weddings in a day
 when you're only one photographer. You can only shoot one a day, maybe 2, if you're really good and get them close together. And then she just wouldn't show up on the day of, or she would had an emergency. She was telling people that all of her equipment was stolen, and she started to go. Oh, I remember that I remember that one. So everybody was feeling bad for her. So we've already paid you $450 to do our wedding. But now I'm gonna go help your go fund. Me! Because, poor little you, you got all your equipment stolen and that touches based on the fact that if her equipment had actually been stolen and she'd had insurance insurance, it would have been covered. Yup, but because she wasn't a real vendor, she didn't have insurance.

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Kathy Piech-Lukas: Well, and what you're we're hearing this more and more cause more and more venues are requiring this, that vendors be licensed and insured, and I know that Angela's Premier Event Designs is licensed and insured. Your Dream Day is licensed and insured. What exactly does that mean?

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Angela: So for me to be insured. It would cover me if my vehicle I bring a car and trailer or vehicle, whatever I need to bring. If I got hit by a car on the day of the wedding, or the day before the wedding loaded up, my insurance would cover us to go to a rental company and rent everything that they requested for their wedding. It would also cover me if someone trips over my linen and breaks a leg or a hip, or you know, an arm or anything else they're covered. It would also cover the venue if I backed into the venue, or if I hit someone in the parking lot, or any of those things. I would be covered if anything happened. If I caused a fire at a venue, my equipment, everything would be covered, but it would also protect my clients for any of those things. So that way, if I didn't run over a guest in the parking lot they couldn't be sued, they would. My insurance would pay for it. And that's why so many of these venues are requiring insurance, because it proves that you're a real company number one. It also protects them, and it protects the clients. So you have to choose vendors with insurance. You just have to. And I love the fact that the venues are requiring it and requiring proof. So you can't just say that you have insurance. They wanna see it.

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Kathy Piech-Lukas: One thing I've been seeing with wedding planners in particular, they are the most guilty of this:  Offering to serve food, which is a huge huge no, no, you! In order to serve food. Even if you purchase it from a restaurant, you have to have somebody that is serve safe certified to do that. And there was a Facebook post the other day. It was a bride who is asking for referrals of a company that would take care of serving food for her, and I think at least 20 wedding planners put their hands up in the air, and I'm thinking to myself there is no way that all 20 of you are served safe certified.

00:11:09.190 --> 00:11:16.349
Angela: Not only that do they need to be served safe certified, but their insurance has to cover it. because my insurance will not cover us if we touch food. That's why we don't serve. We don't we? It's in our contract that we do not handle food, liquor, or trash exactly. And I just I can. And I actually got on that same post. And I told them, like as the admin of the group and a wedding planner that is illegal. And if anything were to happen, if they're if that wedding planner does have insurance, it's not going to be covered, and neither are they

00:11:43.450 --> 00:12:03.259
Kathy Piech-Lukas: Exactly. And that's important, because food has to be kept at a certain time, because we're like, technically, I'm Serv Safe certified. But I just did that more so for backup purposes, in case there was ever an emergency, and I had to handle food on the fly. But we we have it in our contract that we won't but you have to keep food at a specific temperature for a specific amount of time. If it drops below that, it actually can grow bacteria and make people very, very sick. And if you have just a family friend who's doing that for you, and somebody gets sick, or your entire room gets sick. Guess who's gonna be liable? You!

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Angela: We actually had that happen. We did a wedding in Toledo. and the bride decided that she wanted to hire friends here in Dayton to cook the food. They were supposed to purchase the food in Toledo. We had a full kitchen that they could have used the day of the wedding. They decided they didn't want to cook in Toledo. They cooked in Dayton. Then they drove it in rubbermaid totes.

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Kathy Piech-Lukas: Yup. So to interject, it should have been hot boxes, not rubber made totes keep going keep going. 

00:13:10.690 --> 00:13:15.290
Angela: They got a flat tire on the side of 75 on the way to Toledo and sat on the side of the highway for an hour and a half, waiting on AAA, then brought said food into the venue. Now they're 3 hours late. And they threw everything into the chafers and served the food anyways.

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Kathy Piech-Lukas: Oh, my God! 

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Angela: I warned everyone involved in the wedding that this was not good, and that they could get sick, and they told me I wasn't the caterer not to worry about it. So I told my staff, don't eat the food.They had 125 guests. 70 of them ended up with food poisoning. Oh, my God, and hospital visits for the elderly and the bride and groom.
And when they called me the next day, I said, this is why I don't touch food, and this is why I told you not to do it. And that is a true story, and that's why we do not touch food.

00:14:04.930 --> 00:14:29.860
Kathy Piech-Lukas: And that's why we don't touch food either. And it's and it also goes back to licensed and insured bartending. That is a big one that you need to make sure that you have a mobile bartender that is licensed and insured. And just because somebody works at a restaurant as a bartender does not make them a licensed and insured bartender, because the restaurant is the one who holds the insurance and the registration and the licensing for that, not the individual.

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Angela: Yes, and I. We steer clear of anything to do with the alcohol. It's not something that we do. We don't touch it. We don't unload it. We don't load it. We don't anything, because if something goes missing and they come back and go. Hey, we had a case of vodka, or we had a case of champagne or something. Where did it go? We're not covered for that. so we don't have it

00:14:51.940 --> 00:15:14.360
Kathy Piech-Lukas: exactly. Well, and I think it's also important that when you're booking your vendors, you need to ask them exactly what they are and are not going to do and find out, are you? We're asking you to do a specific task. Are you able to do that? And you need to find out? Are they actually licensed, insured, and capable of doing that specific job definitely. I think that's something people just assume.

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Angela: They they assume the bartender is going to refill the lemonade. They assume the bartenders are going to refill the cans of soda or the bottles of water. They just assume it because it's it's liquid. and they don't always do that.

00:15:36.220 --> 00:15:47.729
Kathy Piech-Lukas: They also don't always throw out the trash. They don't always throw out the trash either. I had that happen with with a mobile bartender. Well was a bartender at a wedding and it was a mobile bartender, and I asked her, Well, can you please take out the trash? It's overflowing. And she said, "Oh, we don't do that." And I said, "Well, we don't either. Who's going to be doing this?"

00:15:57.640 --> 00:16:14.999
Kathy Piech-Lukas: Because, this particular bride, even though we had requested copies of all of her contracts. She only gave us the contact information for this particular bartender, which now, looking back in retrospect, was probably not licensed and insured. But you have to make sure that everything, every task and every duty is accounted for on the wedding day.

00:16:19.690 --> 00:16:30.600
Kathy Piech-Lukas: I'm gonna kind of pivot here a little bit and talk about wedding photographers. Now there's one going on bright. There's a couple going on right now. There was a bride in, I forget which Facebook group it is. There's at least at at least for Cincinnati Dayton area. There's at least a dozen of them. But this particular girl had paid, I think, was like $500 or something for her wedding photographer, and an album, and a year had come and gone. Her anniversary had come and gone. They still hadn't received their wedding photos, had not received their wedding albums, and the photographer made up a story that her supplier was backlogged on their albums, and it was a very, very reputable, reputable company called Miller's and Miller's does not have supply chain issues. They get you the albums within 2 to 3 days, and she basically fabricated this story. The bride ended up getting an album from Shutterfly from this photographer. And that's not what she was promised in the contract. And so now this bride is at a at a loss like, what do I do? Do I sue her? Do I just take my pictures and move on like. Luckily this particular bride had the the printing rights to her images. And so she was in a position where she could have made her own album later on. But some brides don't even get that.

00:17:49.420 --> 00:18:12.539
Angela: We have had a lot of brides that only get a quarter of their pictures that they're promised. I think part of the problem is, is some of these bargain basement photographers, videographers, and all of that. They promise them the world to get that money, and then they under deliver. And that is a huge problem right now. And that's one of the problems with these lower cost. Bargain, basement vendors, if everybody else's quote, and you $2,500 and you get a $400 quote or a $500 quote. It's not always a great deal.

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Kathy Piech-Lukas: And I see that a lot. Unfortunately, it's such a cliche to say you get what you pay for. But in the wedding industry. You do get what you pay for. You really really do. And weddings it's it's not like, oh, we could celebrate a birthday next year. Weddings are a one time shot. You either get it right? Or you don't.

00:18:43.770 --> 00:18:59.719
Angela: and we see it unfortunately, all the time with the we were working a wedding this year. We had a morning wedding, and all call went out on Facebook from a photographer who the Dj. Cancel on the bride that morning. and I mean, literally like, Oh, I'm sick. I can't come. But then he turned around later on that evening and posted that he was working a club of it. and it took 6 or 8 weeks for him to promise to give her the money back. But I don't think she ever got her money back like we kept checking in, and she never got her money back, and he just turned around and changed his business name and moved right on. And we see that a lot.

00:19:30.820 --> 00:19:51.980
Kathy Piech-Lukas: And yeah, we touched on this earlier about there are also wedding photographers that will take other photographers work and share it as their own. And there's one particular photographer that is very, very guilty of this. And there's actually a group of there's probably about a dozen wedding photographers in Cincinnati that are always keeping their eye out for this person, because she's so notorious for doing it, and she has changed her company name 3 times she's back again.

00:20:03.480 --> 00:20:23.440
Angela: I've had people do it as a wedding planner for my my own personal stuff, and it just boggles my mind. I mean, it's not that difficult to set up a pretty table somewhere and say, it's your work, but that's something that I know is happening. It happens all the time. We get notifications at least once a week that somebody stole somebody else's work, and we have to go and double check it, and then somebody gets deleted off of Facebook group. And it's scary for the couples out there looking for a vendor.

00:20:34.340 --> 00:20:38.410
Kathy Piech-Lukas: It is so how can they avoid running into this type of trouble? What are your suggestions?

00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:43.190
Angela:  So my first thing is, Google is your friend. Search engines are your friend, Google the names. If you see a lot of bad things popping up, or you see them being criticized by other vendors. I'm not talking about the one off. There's always a Dj. Or a photographer, or a wedding planner that don't get along, and they may make a complaining post. But if you're consistently seeing somebody's name run, you should run. And I mean, if people would have researched the florist, if they would have researched the photographer, they would have caught on a lot quicker. But nobody did because you trust them, because they say that they're a vendor. And you really look at social media, and you also need to double check and see how long they've been in business. How long has that Facebook page been out? If it's been less than 6 months? That's a red flag for me. It doesn't mean that they're a bad vendor. but it may mean that they've changed their name. It may be that there's some other things going on backstage, I mean, I, personally, I changed my company name. but all my social media stayed the same. I just had a name change. But if you're starting and stopping Facebook pages. If you're starting and stopping Instagram pages and that sort of thing. That's definitely a red flag.

00:21:59.080 --> 00:22:09.169
Kathy Piech-Lukas: absolutely. And the other thing, too, is you're the vendors you are booking like, for example, your venue they have a lot of them have vendor lists that they hand out to people who have booked their venue, and that is also a good place to start, because those are vendors that that venue has worked with and had a good experience with it's not an end. All be all so I mean, don't feel bad if you're like, well, I'm going to this particular venue, and I wanna book, B wedding planner, but only A. CDE. Are on their preferred list. Does that mean she's bad? It doesn't mean that that person's necessarily bad. It just means that those particular vendors work that venue a lot, and they're very familiar, and the venue is comfortable with them. But one thing that can also be a red flag with a list that you get from like a venue or cater, or somebody like that is glossy, full color booklet, because odds are that vendor paid to be in that book.

00:23:02.760 --> 00:23:17.260
Angela: That's definitely a question that you wanna ask, how are you on the vendor list and I tell everyone we don't pay to  be on any preferred list. We are on the list because the venue prefers to work with us doesn't mean that they only work with us. But because they know that we're gonna show up. We're gonna follow our rule all, all, all of their rules, the bride's rules, and we're there to make for a seamless, easy day for everyone, not just the client, not just the venue we want. We wanted to go smoothly and everything easy, and that's what you want The other thing that we always tell you is, get vendor referrals. Ask your Dj, ask your photographer ask everybody because they're gonna recommend the people that they like to work with. They're going to recommend the people to make their day just as easy as we want it to be.

00:23:51.470 --> 00:24:15.299
Kathy Piech-Lukas: Well and as a planner, you're almost like the quarterback of a vendor team on the day of the wedding, I mean, because you basically set the pace for the day. You call the plays, so to say, and it needs to be a well oiled machine that just moves seamlessly, and every single vendor on that team has a very specific role, and the photographer's job is to document the Dj's job is to keep the party schedule, and if we have to make modifications to that schedule, we check in with everybody. We don't just
do it for the sake of doing it. There's there's there's a rhyme and reason to it.

00:24:27.520 --> 00:24:53.109
Angela: and it works so much better if you hire real professionals. I tell every single one of my clients. I tell everyone we meet at weddings shows II don't care if you book me book professionals make sure that you're working with people that can work with other people because there's DJS. Out there that don't want to work with other people. There's planners out there that don't want to work with other people. There's photographers that want to run the show, and I get it. We all wanna be the boss. But we all have to understand we can be the boss of our own piece, not. I'm not going to tell the DJ. What song to play next unless the bride goes hay. Make sure he plays XYZ. Next. other than that it's the Dj's job to keep the party going

00:25:06.540 --> 00:25:07.750
Kathy Piech-Lukas: absolutely.

00:25:07.770 --> 00:25:18.509
Angela: There are some of these new vendors. They have seen one too many movies or watched one too many Youtube videos. And they don't understand how to make the night go smooth and easy

00:25:19.260 --> 00:25:36.040
Kathy Piech-Lukas: well, and to defend some of the wedding professionals who are new to the industry, and may be a diamond in the rough. Is it possible that you may find a bargain basement wedding planner, who is charging very little because she's trying to build a portfolio. It is this, it doesn't. They're there. But again, they need to be licensed. They need to be insured. They need to be a legitimate company. They need to have a vendor's license. They need to have a tax license, I mean, that's a legitimate business. And I mean, I remember the first year I was in business. I had very low pricing, but I did that for 6 months, and then after that I jumped it up. Once I had those client testimonials, and I started making my network of wedding professionals. And you know, people were able to see. Oh, you're you're serious. Okay, you're not just a fly by night vendor, because that's the other thing that we see, too, is that you'll have a lot of people who get married, and they had so much fun doing their own wedding that now they're a vendor.

00:26:24.230 --> 00:26:44.769
Angela: Yes, we see a lot of that. You know. I everybody said my wedding was perfect. So now I'm gonna be a wedding planner. I'm gonna be a photographer. I'm gonna be a Dj, you know. They buy. They buy a really cool laptop and a set of speakers. And now they're a Dj, they buy a really cool camera. And now they're photographer. The biggest thing is is you have to have some education behind your name. Whether that is, you know, an online course. Whether that's schooling that sort of thing. You have to know something more than just. I plan my wedding and my kids, birthday parties. And that's what we see a lot of on these Facebook groups. And that's why in our group, you're required to be a business. You can't just say my name is Suzy Q. And I'm a wedding planner. We don't allow you to post in our group. Your, we tell you you need. You have to have a Facebook and an Instagram business page. There's you've gotta be something more than just a name out there. So that's what we see a lot of, and then those are the ones that either do a horrible job and quit after one or 2 weddings, or they end up running off with other people's money.

00:27:35.470 --> 00:27:57.540
Kathy Piech-Lukas: So I have this. I have this "Kathy-ism" about the life cycle of a wedding planner. You might get a kick out of this one. So with the life cycle of a of a new wedding planner. If they plan their own wedding, their daughter's wedding, or their friends wedding. All of a sudden they're a wedding planner. Ta da, they throw up a website. They throw up a Facebook page. And now they're "legit." Then they book their first client. That gives them a hard time, because they are trying to inflict their ideas upon this couple, and that's not what the couple wants. So then they don't have a fun experience. And at that stage you do have to charge a little bit less, because people who are more seasoned who have been around the block. We do charge more because you're not just getting. You're not just getting planning. You're getting all of our expertise and all of our resources and all of our experience and our ability to handle things. So they're not making a lot of money, and no new business is going to turn a profit for at least 5 years. I mean, that's you. You can Google small business administration. They'll tell you that most businesses are not profitable. The first few years. So then, they're doing all of this work, because, being a wedding planners, a lot of work, getting very little pay. And now they have a client who's not being so nice to them. So I'm gonna go do something else. I quit. So there's that's life cycle one. Then life cycle 2 is I had a baby, and the baby's more fun than planning weddings. Then they quit. Then at the 5 to 10 year Mark, there's burnout. There are some vendors that just II mean being especially with wedding planners. I can only speak to that. It is a lot of work. Half of my job is therapy sessions, and it's it's a lot. And some people don't have the skin for that, and so that you see another drop off at the 5 to 10 year mark of the people who just get burnout. If you've got somebody who's been around for 10 plus years, odds are, they're gonna be in it for the long call.  But that's the life cycle of a wedding planner, according to Kathy. No, and I agree. And I think the other thing that comes with being a real professional is there's always something that's gonna happen crazy. I mean, no wedding is exactly perfect. There's always gonna be something.

00:29:51.630 --> 00:30:09.069
angela: last year I had a wedding that was wonderful. The couple was wonderful. It's our dream client, our dream, our dream wedding, wonderful, venue, wonderful vendors and everything else, and at 10'clock in the morning, the night before the wedding she got a phone call that the shuttle company that she had hired their bus had broken down and they could not shuttle everyone. Sorry! 1 am -- 1 am -- we get a phone call and are they? She gets phone call. The bride is now up till about 4 0'clock in the morning. When she finally texted me. I grab my phone. I see it. Everyone was being shuttled because the venue they were at had no parking, so the shuttle was taking a hundred 50 guests from Point A and Point B to Point C. The wedding bride's freaking out. The wedding party's freaking out. There's no way that this is going to be accommodated. So I said, Well, I've got contacts. Give me just a minute. At 8 0'clock in the morning they called me.  At 9 0'clock in the morning. I had them a better shuttle, a better Limo, and everything else, and got their money refunded from the other company, who was arguing with them that he could do a couple of vans and try and make it work, and we got the money back. And all of this, and the bride literally said that we saved her wedding day because we had a contact. I had somebody's cell phone number. I didn't call the business number and leave a message, and they could call me at 9 A. M. Because I knew this person. I called a cell phone. I'm like, Hey, I know it's super early kisses, hugs. Can you help me? And they were able to do that. And I think that's something that these newer vendors don't have.
which is why people get a bad taste in their mouth about the newer vendors, because they call them with a problem, and they go well, let me Google something. Let me let me see if I can figure out something where everybody who's been in the business, I mean, I've had Djs call me up and go, hey? I need pipe and drape. We're at this venue, and they need pipe and drape, and we have it in our office. I've been called by venues that somebody didn't drop off linens, and they're like, Hey, can we borrow some of your linens, because they know that we have it. And being in the business as long as we have, and as long as a lot some of these other vendors have. We can call up and ask for favors. Exactly. People don't see that, and they don't know that it's not. There is a lot of inviting, and all of that fun stuff, but we all want the events to go well, so we're all willing to. Might not be my client, but I can help them out.

00:32:20.570 --> 00:32:42.189
Kathy Piech-Lukas: And one thing people don't realize who are booking wedding vendors is we all talk. We all, I mean. For the most part we all get along really well, it's a very, very small community. I mean, the analogy that I like to use is, you know, think of people that work for a large company like Kroger, that's all under one helmet of employees. I think the wedding industry is all of like these little small businesses that are under one big helmet of wedding, because we all talk to each other. We go out for coffee. We share horror stories. If we've had a bad experience with a particular vendor or venue. If you're shopping us around and we happen to have a wedding planner networking event that month. Guess what? We're probably going to be talking about the girls who shopping, all of us. So we we know we know it what all the couples are up to.

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angela: If the Dj. Worked with a horrible plan or the weekend before we're gonna hear about it that week. if the planner was absolutely obnoxious at a venue. We're gonna hear about it. If the caterer's food was bad and people got food poisoning, we're gonna hear about it. And I think that's why, utilizing your vendors that you've already picked helps so much?

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Kathy Piech-Lukas: We do. We do, I mean, look at us. We're talking today. It's one of the most fun things about our job, Angela. Thank you so much for joining us today. How can people find you?

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Angela: I said, we are. Of course, we're on Facebook. We're on Instagram, where our website is Angela'sPremierEventDesigns.com. And of course, we have that we're on all the wedding Facebook groups.

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Kathy Piech-Lukas: Wonderful Angela. It is always such a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you for tuning into Your Dream Day Podcast please subscribe so that you can listen to upcoming episodes that could help you with planning your big day. This is Kathy Piech-Lukas, with Your Dream Day, happy, planning.