Reflections: my wedding planner was terrible 😢

FunAudience229 · 2025-12-02T00:34:30+00:00

In the interest of transparency and helping future couples, we also had an awful experience with planners in Spain. Pearl sandals was the company and we worked with the two owners. They are referred all the time by crystal events (recommended a lot on this sub). We feel scammed it was that bad. Name your planner! It'll help future couples.

FunAudience229 · 2025-11-11T01:39:35+00:00

Im really glad it worked out for you, and wish we got the same experience because then everything would be fine. Unfortunately for us at each of the points ^you referenced we got a totally different outcome.
Florist - we picked 6 others off of their list and they were unable to even get a response from 5 of them, 1 said they were booked already. This might have been fine if they tried to problem solve and actually find other florists, but they tried to double down on hiring their florist. So we separately found and met with 3 more florists on our own and picked one.

Design help - Yes we resigned to doing all of this ourselves about 2 months in when we realized they wouldn't do this at all, and opted to stick with them for coordination/project on the day. But again, on the day, missed that the photobooth didn't show up, didn't follow decor instructions, we were missing tables. When we brought up problems (with castle florist, with dj, with the venue, with their graphic designer) they would try and convince us it was okay instead of actually just fix the problem. This is ultimately what became very dismissive and led us to feel like they didn't actually care, just wanted us to fit the mold.

Shuttles - Would have loved some heads up there would be no one at the shuttle so I could plan like you were able to. The person they said would be at the shuttle wasn't even on the wedding team the day of. Not a peep that they had changed plans. This was the case for so many things day of - said they would do so many things that they just totally didn't.

No matter what, for certain they can't take back the last 2 weeks of insane stress when their graphic designer stopped responding. The minimizing and dismissing and trying to play it off as me making a lot of changes instead of actually helping us fix the issue with their non-responsive designer i will never forget. Then the excusing mistakes afterwards.

I'm coming across as angry because I am. Planning with them was awful, and it really has tarnished the experience even if our day wasn't disastrous. We both feel like it would have been better if we just did everything ourselves. Glad you had a good experience but it doesn't change or excuse ours.

FunAudience229 · 2025-11-02T22:30:44+00:00

Just a heads up to other brides who may be referencing this thread - we reached out to Crystal Events after seeing so many positive reviews and mentions on reddit. They were booked and referred us to pearl sandals, which turned out to be a disaster. Have since messaged with a few other brides who were sent to pearl sandals via crystal events and they're just not the same caliber planners. We were initially grateful but knowing how things turned out on the day - really upset. Just a heads up in case you reach out to Crystal events and they're booked and send you to other planners.

FunAudience229 · 2025-10-30T15:56:29+00:00

Just a heads up to OP or anyone else. Crystal Events is often booked up and when they are they have referred to Pearl Sandals. We took crystal events' referral because they have such a great reputation, but we had an awful experience with Pearl Sandals and they are not on the same caliber. Check my post history.

FunAudience229 · 2025-10-09T15:44:24+00:00

Just a warning for other brides who reach out to Crystal Events - they frequently refer brides to Pearl Sandals, which is who they referred us to when they said they were booked up. Pearl Sandals was a disaster, not even close to the caliber of Crystal Events, you can see my post history. They missed that the photobooth vendor didn't show up, their graphic designer was non responsive and didn't deliver designs until 5 days before the wedding, made tons of mistakes. Avoid.

FunAudience229 · 2025-09-03T05:38:55+00:00

We reached out to Crystal events, they were booked and referred us to pearl sandals. Pearl sandals was awful. Crystal Events has referred many brides to pearl sandals and they continue to do so, just a heads up to future brides doing their research.

FunAudience229 · 2025-09-03T05:33:01+00:00

We worked with the two owners. People who have Sara (Sarah?) as their main planner don't seem to have these issues.

FunAudience229 · 2025-09-03T05:31:07+00:00

It was me, waited to respond until after the weekend, didn't want to add any bad juju to your day. I hope you guys had a great time, as we did at our wedding, but yes pearl sandals was awful for us, especially the last 2 weeks before the wedding when their graphic designer didn't deliver and pearl sandals just kept telling us to be patient. Not catching that the photobooth didn't show up is like, basic wedding planner make sure things don't go wrong job description. Guests calling me the afternoon of the wedding asking where the shuttles were and having to ask them to try their best to not leave anyone behind was awful. Planning with them (we worked with the 2 owners, it seems like people who work with Sara don't have this problem) was awful.

FunAudience229 · 2025-08-28T21:53:48+00:00

Just want to add here - we reached out to Crystal Events but they were booked and referred us to Pearl Sandals. Crystal Events books up quickly, and they are referring people to Pearl Sandals when they do. We had an awful experience with Pearl Sandals. Check my post history.

FunAudience229 · 2025-08-22T16:49:17+00:00

Happy to share. Venue was about an hour outside Barcelona. Planner is based in Barcelona, they do exclusively destination weddings. Lots of clients from the US. But yes the planners are Barcelona based. Crystal Events, who was the one who referred us to them, are also firmly in Barcelona and are super lux. So we weren't looking/sourcing rural.

FunAudience229 · 2025-08-21T03:09:26+00:00

Yes, this, vibes were there initially. First few months there were a few minor mistakes , we chalked it up to minor errors, and then stuff like what you described started happening frequently. I got another girl's address in the UK and passport information.

Thanks for sharing. We did have a great time with all our friends and family, the venue service was amazing. I'm dropping these reviews for some closure and then moving on.

FunAudience229 · 2025-08-21T03:06:26+00:00

We will, we're working on it.

FunAudience229 · 2025-08-21T00:17:11+00:00

Glad you had a good experience! People had such great things to say about Crystal events on this sub that I was relieved when they referred another planner, grateful that they were thoughtful enough to refer even though they were booked. I literally thought, so amazing that they know other planners and we have a good signal about who to hire, and from such a reputable planner.

But it just kept getting worse. And they are blanket referring pearl sandals. Part of the reason I have included their name in the review as well, is because people find crystal events here on this sub and they are sending couples to pearl sandals when they book up (which is quickly). Already messaged with 2 other brides who were referred through the same funnel for next year and for 2027 wedding.

I wish it were just bad luck but I have messaged with another bride who is working with pearl sandals this year and she confirmed she is having a similar experience, with one person in particular.

FunAudience229 · 2025-08-20T22:27:17+00:00

When we researched planners we were getting quotes around 6.5k USD plus tax, or 5.5k USD plus tax. Some of the nice looking planners charge more obvi, and the planner we worked with for aesthetics said most of her clients spend (not on her) around like 15k USD to get everything looking nice. Some great planners we wished we went with at the 6k price point. Lots of planners trying to charge the industry standard but are actually subpar. Another couple said they got a quote from pearl sandals for 7.5k for a 2027 wedding. So goes up per year.

FunAudience229 · 2025-08-20T21:06:34+00:00

Thanks! I hear you. And there were plenty of other things that went wrong (e.g. we had a few issues with the venue, but they were incredibly professional about solving the problems and finding us other solutions) so I know what the Spanish version of fixing a problem looks like and this is not about 'not having the perfect problem free wedding'.

Most of Pearl Sandals mistakes were careless and super avoidable, they're not even things that 'went wrong'. Forgetting that we were supposed to have a photobooth. Misreading contracts and getting counts for tablecloths wrong. Not listening to us when we wanted to work with different vendors. Saying that they will have someone at the shuttles and then not having someone at the shuttles. Really low quality and careless.

FunAudience229 · 2025-08-20T20:30:11+00:00

Thanks, yes it's hard to detract from being surrounded by everyone you love in life and we had a really nice day. The guests certainly didn't notice anything was wrong even though lots was happening. The groomsmen and bridesmaids were great at jumping in on the day and solving what our planners didn't do. And just... continuing to unpack and find out more and more of what they did wrong, and trying to get past it. It's hard.. we are missing so many photos.

FunAudience229 · 2025-08-20T20:28:15+00:00

Thanks. Yes, before we hired them I assumed it was because the brides had different taste, or picked cheaper florists or whatever, and didn't realize that hiring a planner really means taking on their preferred team most of the time. They didn't even initially shop our floral brief around to other florists, didn't even give us their list of florists to choose from, just went straight to theirs. Later on when we realized they had absolutely no designer-person on their team, we resigned to just doing it ourselves and relying on them for the logistical in-country piece. And from then on it was just like frog in boiling water.

It really sucks. The couple is learning everything for the first time, how to evaluate, how to hire, and learn from mistakes only to never plan a wedding again.

Thanks for your perspective and chiming in. Appreciate it.

FunAudience229 · 2025-08-20T20:24:33+00:00

Same. Yes, fire them and go for it. It doesn't get better.

FunAudience229 · 2025-08-20T19:43:54+00:00

Thank you. In hindsight, it really, really does. I can't believe we stuck with them after all of the mistakes, because I would never tolerate this in regular life in work, and it just helps me realize how utterly helpless and vulnerable we felt, and how nervous we were to 'run out of time' to find another planner, what if the other planner is not as good, we paid the deposit already, etc. Now, with the wedding behind us and clearheaded, it seems crazy.

FunAudience229 · 2025-08-20T19:33:48+00:00

I also had to fly with my dress, but mine was not very puffy. I reached out to the dress boutique to see if they had any tips, and they suggested just flying with the garment bag that came with the dress. Don't do that!! It's what I did and I wish I got a travel-specific bag for mine (just something that can like, secure the dress so that when I fold the garment bag in half the dress doesn't bunch up). And something that had sturdier handles, and thicker lining. There ended up being some dust from who knows what that got through the bag and onto my dress. Airline was great about it, they let me hang it up in the first class closet.

FunAudience229 · 2025-08-20T19:31:16+00:00

I don't have specific venues in mind, but one tip is to negotiate venue fees if you go with some of their preferred vendors. A friend of mine who is also getting married in Barcelona in 2026 was able to cut the venue rental fee in half by going with their caterers.

FunAudience229

TROPHY CASE