Showing posts with label Do Wedding Coordinators Overcharge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Do Wedding Coordinators Overcharge. Show all posts

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Do Wedding Coordinators Overcharge?


Have you seen the reality show on VH1 called, "My Big Fat Fabulous Wedding"?

In my search for something interesting to watch this is what I found. Basically, the show is geared towards really rich people who have incredibly lavish weddings. Dina (seen above) from the reality show 'The Real Housewives of New Jersey', had a wedding extravaganza so I watched because I was familiar with who she is. 

Dina's wedding was huge, I mean HUGE! There were 602 guests on her list and she admitted that she only knew about 20 people there. A buffet of food and deserts adorned the hall where she had her reception, and she even had the music group 'The Stylistics' personally perform for them.

This entire event didn't have a wedding party; not one bridesmaid, flower girl, groomsman, nada. However, Dina did have her daughter by her side. The wedding was well over one million dollars. 

The second hour of lavish weddings introduced a Japanese bride named Mina, who was marrying Leroy an African American medical sales associate. 

Although Mina was adorable, it was obvious that material things were the center of her world. She had to have the absolute best of everything, nothing more, nothing less. But I guess when you have a wealthy father you can afford to have anything you want. 

This bride wanted a wedding coordinator to the stars, she wanted an eight foot wedding cake designed by famous cake baker Sylvia Weinstock worth fifteen thousand dollars, and the cake was being flown in from New York City -- with two first class seats of its own!

She only wanted a gown by celebrity designer Vera Wang, and throughout the whole show she bragged to everybody about how much she paid for everything. Talk about not eating enough of humble pie.

After the bride paid a retainer fee of $20,000 dollars to meet with celebrity wedding coordinator Preston Bailey, she was charged a little over $500,000 dollars and that total didn't even include the flowers! My mouth dropped open for about three minutes.

The price included special pink screens, lighting, crystal chandeliers, table linens, twenty-four centerpieces (which were $50,000 dollars a piece), and extra decor and labor.

If you pay a wedding coordinator over half a million dollars for your wedding, basically everything you paid for you bought, right? After the wedding is over everything you paid for you should own, correct? 

Because after paying that much money I'd be walking out with those crystal chandeliers, linens, centerpieces, and the lighting! The crazy part is, people actually spend that kind of money to rent these items. 

But if you spend that much money you're not renting, you paid for those items and if not, the wedding coordinator is allowed to keep everything only to charge the next client a lot of money for something the previous client already paid for!? All I can say is WOW!

At the end of the show, Mina was disappointed that her dear wedding coordinator Preston Bailey, wouldn't be able to attend her wedding personally due to a "family emergency." Ha! I guess she didn't have enough celebrity status to get him there in the flesh?

The grand total for Mina's wedding was two million dollars! My mouth dropped open again for another three minutes. For that much money they better stay married FOREVER!

The Things That Make You Go Hmmmm...

2009 LA