I know that this has been said before, but oh, how I hate the weekend wedding planners. Two of them this week alone have given me problems with deposits (one said it was sent, but it wasn't, and one had to be prodded to send one) and another is suddenly sending me a barrage of emails that are totally unnecessary. When I didn't respond within 15 minutes to her first email this morning, she even sent me another one telling me to respond to the first one! The funny thing is that the emails are coming not from a planning business email, but from her day job's email address, which is a large corporation that has nothing to do with weddings. I hope they don't monitor her correspondence

I hope they do monitor it.

Seriously, I have a new policy. I will not even make an apointment thru a planner. That's almost a guarantee for a no-show. I must speak to the bride directly.

ugh, I hate working with planners.

Professional "real" planners are a dream to work with. God save me from the "friend" who suddenly decided that the fact she LIKES planning wedding makes her an expert!

I used to be a professional planner independently, for a caterer and then at a high end hotel resort. So I see both sides, but I know you're talking about the "moonlighters" that have only done a wedding here and there and think they know their stuff. However, in all of my experience as a planner, I always made it clear to the client that they were responsible for all details, appointments and payments. My role was strictly "project manager".
From the cake side...I can't stand it when planners try to tell me how much a cake should be and what their clients will and won't pay for., or they tell try to tell them how my process works. I don't think so. If its done right, it could be a win-win situation for both parties.

I agree with the pros vs. amateurs thing...There are a few really good planners around here who I love working with. They call me ONCE to check details, then they know that I know what I'm doing. You can tell the difference between them and someone who is just a control freak with a clipboard.

Did anyone see the episode of Whose Wedding when the planner went to the bakery the day before the wedding? He was really upset that the cake wasn't done, and kept asking the baker if it was going to be finished (she was working on it at the time.) He had some friends of the bride with him, and he got them all worked up talking about how he was so concerned about the cake being done on time. He then spent a bunch of time moaning to the camera that he was REALLY WORRIED about the cake being done for the next day. That's the kind of drama that know-nothings create so that when the cake DOES show up, they can say that they personally solved the "problem" by monitoring the baker's activities. I wanted to smack him...

Just curious, is it standard practice for wedding planners to dole out the bride's money for wedding expenses?

Even when I work with wedding planners, the money comes directly from the couple.

I have one planner I work with, and she's a dream too, but she's very pro. I wish I could always work with her...

Most of the planners don't handle the money as far as I know. This is the first time that I've ever had a planner say that they'll be sending deposits, but it's been twice in the last month that it's happened, so it's kind of weird. I'm hoping that it's not a trend.

Okay, so I delivered the cake today, and sure enough, the"excellence" continued into the reception setup. She'd been emailing me all week with non-problems, so I figured that something would happen at the reception. I got there, and the cake table was all set up with an overlay that someone had obviously spent some time pinning up, laying out napkins, etc. I put the cake on it, and noticed that the table seemed a little tilted So I looked at it closer, and it was tilted at about a 10 degree angle. Not so much, but when I looked underneath the two front legs were propped up with napkins to try to stablilize it. I pushed on the front of the table, and the whole thing started rocking! I had one of the serving staff try to tighten it up, but that made it worse, and they had to go get another table.

So while I was waiting, then helping the staff transfer over the draped cloth, I asked them if the planner had come in to set up the table. Sure enough, she was the one who came in and set everything up. How did she not notice a leaning table that rocked? For pete's sake...

I work with one specific planner who is a pleasure to work with. She brings all her brides to me exclusively. She schedules them all to come in on a specific day for their tastings and then stays there until all her brides come in to meet with me. She even picks up the plates and silverware and takes them back to the kitchen while I finish wrapping up the meeting, she washes and sets everything up for my next tasting appointment. I then go back to the kitchen area to set up the next plate while she says good bye to her client and greets the next one coming in. She even brings me lunch! Her reward? She gets to help herself to all the leftover cake and fillings I have on that given day (usually 6 different cakes and about 10 fillings).

My other experiences have been similar to many of you here. Most planners will call and set up an appointment, and it ends up being a no-show. I won't book an appointment without speaking to the bride directly as a result. Ever since I started doing that, I haven't had a problem.

Good planners are indeed a pleasure to work with, but they tend to be few and far between.

What a dream planner, Designer Cakes! I wish they all were like that.

I've worked with a few planners (professional) and I've never had a problem. Actually, I'm somewhat surprised to hear about all the complaints! I'm glad that I have not run into any of these unprofessional people!

One of our well known planners around here always causes more problems than she solves. I cringe every time I see her name on the bride's list of vendors.

And another planner had a cake under contract with another cake designer, came to me to get me to make the cake. The bride was a bridezilla plus and the contracted baker was tired of her. When I found out the story, I certainly didn't want anything to do with it.

And those are two of the most professional I deal with.

Spare me.

What gets me is wedding planners expect a percentage (at least the ones I have dealt with) of the cake as a referral fee. So I only meet with the bride and only accept payment from the bride on my terms, not theirs. I know that when I have referred clients to a wedding planner in the past they have never given me a referral fee. Guess they don't feel they should reciprocate the offer I could have sworn that the couple pays the planner for her services which usually includes finding vendors! Don't get me wrong, I'm not against giving referral fees, I do it all the time with brides, and other wedding industry vendors, but other wedding vendors that I have worked with give back in kind, the old "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" addage, ya know.

There is only one planner I love working with, and we send each other equal amounts of business so we don't give each other a referral fee, we just keep sending each other business. I have her info on my website, so if someone requests a planner, I turn the name over to her, and they just assume she works with me, which actually in a way she does