If you missed part 1, check it out here. 


So, I order the dress from another retailer, and I of course, need to get it altered. Though I loved the shop where I bought the dress, I read many bad reviews regarding the seamstress so I decided to do some research and get recommendations for a different seamstress. One in particular was recommended over and over so it looked like we had a clear winner.  

As soon as I walked in the door she made me feel like we were inconveniencing her. (I called ahead of time to ask if I needed to make an appointment and was told no.) She immediately asks me if I brought in the shoes that I was going to wear with the dress, I said yes the ones that I was wearing. She rolled her eyes and told me that I was supposed to wear heels with a dress. I bit my tongue, I didn't need to justify the fact that Converse were the more logical choice for a wedding on a waterfall. 

As she pinned the dress she simultaneously scolds us for bringing the dress in so early (we brought it in 10 weeks before the wedding. Assuming there would be at least two fittings. And I live 150 miles away.) She laughed and said she hoped I didn't gain or lose any weight. (And in a comment that I didn't hear and wasn't told until after I left the shop, she said that under her breath she said "or get pregnant".) 

I fumed and was guided out of the shop by my mother. She already had the dress. We already went through all of the fitting and pinning. She wanted to make her exit fast. So, I left it there. I did walk out of there with an entire tote bag full of dresses that I wanted fixed, but there was no way that I was giving her any more business. 

In the end, the dress was fixed correctly. I never took anything else back there and I believe that she  since went out of business. I suppose that she never learned that customer services is a big part of retaining customers. And I may have gotten some mean sense of vindication, from seeing the FOR RENT sign in the window. 

So, an event planner may seem like a luxury, but if you have the room in your budget, an event planner can 

become your best resource. Event planners can not only make your event look beautiful but we can also 

alleviate the stress of being the host or hostess and free you up to spend time with your guests and enjoy your 

own party.


Event planners work with you from the beginning to create your customized ideal look for your event. We 

can make your ideas a reality or help you create a theme and color scheme. We are able to take your nugget of 

an idea and create a whole world or just help you find the best vendors in your area to make your dream a 

reality. Think of us as your personal design assistant, we are available for as much or as little as you need.

Event planners work with both sides of their brain, we need to be creative and we also need to meticulously 

keep track of contacts, schedules and details. It is a balancing act that we have mastered, yet is not fun for 

everyone. We love each stage of planning an event, from looking at a venue as a blank canvas to meeting with 

the host/hostess and collaborating on ideas to the logistics of creating that vision to the rush we get when the 

host/hostess sees it all come together.


All this artistic talk is great, and it is one of the most important aspects of a wedding planner (who would 

want to hire a wedding planner that had awful taste or no creativity?) But there is also a far more practical side 

of hiring a wedding planner.


One of the main attributes about wedding planners is that we have planned events before. I know, I know, 

you are all shaking your head at me now, but stick with me, what we have is experience. Most of people don’t 

plan and execute large scale events every day, so when you begin to plan a large corporate dinner or your 

wedding reception there is often a moment of, “Where the hell do I start?” Planning a large event isn’t easy, 

there are many issues to consider, vendors to hire, and accidents to plan for. Event planners though, have this 

down pat. We know exactly where to start, we have worked with numerous vendors in the past (and know 

who is the best and the worst), and we know what to plan for. (At Taffeta & Tattoos, we, no joke, have an 

“Oh Shit Sheet” that has possible pitfalls [some that have happened and others that we only fear for] and 

how to best be prepared to tackle them.)


Have you ever gotten to the point of yelling at your computer screen after hours of searching for something, 

only to finally make a decision, then stumble on the worst review you have ever read. Think about doing that 

with every vendor that you will need from your event from caterers, to florists, to table clothes, to servers, to 

bar, to your wedding cake, your dress, your hair, your makeup…talk about a nightmare. Wedding planners, 

on the other hand, know how to find you reliable vendors and negotiate a fair price. Some event planners will 

even mange the vendors for you for a small fee.


If you are thinking about going with an Event Planner, we suggest you at least set up a meeting with one to 

find out about their services and if hiring someone is a realistic option for you. Who knows, you might come 

out of the meeting even more energized for your event than you were in the beginning.

Okay. So this is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. It stems not only from my days as a bride, but my 

childhood. I had a mom who boycotted businesses. Not in a loud annoying way, but in a “we will never go 

back to that store/restaurant/business again” way. She knew the value of her dollar and her voice.

Long before I was an event planner, I was a bride. And several, yes several, potential vendors ruined many of 

my days. Let me start this off by saying that each of these encounters (whether it be my 

personal experience or that of someone who has shared their story with me) happened before I partnered up 

with Clarissa and we became professional event planners. Also, these vendors actions helped shape our 

customer service practices today, they taught us never to let a personal bad day effect the business or even 

how we say hello to someone.


I simply don't understand poor customer service. I don't understand employees who don't care or employers 

that don't fire them. I don't understand store owners who make it clear that they don't care if they get 

business. In an age where there are 50 options to choose from where everyone has a GPS/Internet enabled 

phone to research, find an address, and navigate directly to the competition (and then blog about their 

experience or write an online review) businesses should be bending over backwards to 

provide exceptional customer service. 


We at Taffeta & Tattoos are a small business and we do our best to support other small businesses. But we 

also work our butts off to make sure that every client gets more than they expect, so we expect that same 

dedication to business from other vendors and are surprised when we encounter (or hear stories) of vendors 

who chastise, judge, reprimand, or flat out deny client requests.


Every so often, especially after a first meeting with a (potential) client (especially those who tell us how 

'refreshing' our attitude or meetings was), flashes from my wedding planning nightmares come back to me. 

And I get sad for all these brides who are being bullied by their vendors. So this series is for those who need to vent, those who stood up for themselves and told vendors that they were not ruining their event. 

By the time I went dress shopping I had already found my perfect wedding dress online, all I needed was to 

find a dress shop where I could purchase it. I gathered a list of retailers that carried the designer and line, 

printed out a photo of the dress, and went on my way. I started at a local shop that had been around for years 

and years, a place that I thought I would feel good about supporting. I showed the woman who was working 

there that day the picture and gave her all the designer info, and she looks at the paper then looks me up and 

down and goes, "Just so you know, that isn't going to look good on you." I was shocked. SHOCKED. Who 

says that to a customer? I muttered a disbelieving "Excuse me?" before she went on to tell me that I was too 

short for it, trying to convince me that it was made for girls like the model in the photo. (Really? It is made 

for that tiny portion of the population that is 6' and taller?) I protested for a bit, trying to reason that I would 

be wearing a smaller size and there for it would be more proportional, but she insisted that the smallest size 

they make was a 2 and that the bodice would be measure for someone like the model (someone 6') and that it 

would look atrocious on me. Needless to say that I didn't buy my dress there and I got a morbid sense of 

satisfaction when she bent over and I saw her Spanx sticking out.


I walked out of the store. I will never return. I also made it a point to share my story with several locals, from 

family and friends, to brides, and bridesmaids, basically anyone I knew who would be looking for a specialty 

dress. I am from, and this store is located in a small enough town where word of mouth can travel, but not so 

small that people don’t have other choices.

One of our most favorite things to do is create one of a kind elements for our clients. We always get so excited when we are designing an event and the client asks us if we can create a one of a kind element. 

This weekend is Oscar Weekend and we have created some really great elements for the annual Oscar party at the office. This year we created a classic candy cabinet in order to house the snacks.