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Kristee resigned as my wedding planner 11 days before the wedding, refused to share her vendor contacts and left me scrambling to replan my Mexico wedding in 10 days
This is a review of:

Fresa Weddings Mexico

Detailed Ratings
Communication:
0.0
Performance:
0.0
Value:
0.0
Megan Lau

By Megan Lau, · 1,995 Views · 11 Comments

Pros: Kristee seems sweet- but is not to be trusted
Cons: Takes advantage of brides planning weddings in Mexico, no transparency, adds cost, doesn't return calls or get online, ineffective communication via email, doesn't show her true costs

Kristee from Fresa Weddings resigned as my wedding planner 11 days before my 100 person wedding at Grand Coral Beach Club in Playa del Carmen. She resigned because my fiance (who is Mexican) was not willing to pay Kristee for the Grand Coral Venue costs, preferring to pay them directly. We had found GCBC and negotiated our food/drink package with them on our own and he wanted to pay the club directly as per his communication with them. We had told Kristee this from the VERY beginning as we'd decided on the venue prior to hiring her services. However, less than 2 weeks before the wedding, she demanded that we wire transfer her the full amount to pay all the vendors or she would quit. Rolando, being Mexican, and with a Mexican bank account, felt it was ridiculous to have to make wire transfers to Canada (Kristee's Account) and then have her transfer it to Mexico. All of it was making us very suspicious of why she was being so adamant about us paying her directly. . .was she going to take a cut from the funds? Was she inflating some costs? It all felt really nerve wracking and terrible. I agreed with Rolando not to make the wire transfer of over 20K to Kristee- and she QUIT! Leading up to this awful moment, she had been really flaky- sometimes she would email back right away, sometimes she would email back with partial answers. Spelling, grammar, clarity were all wanting in the communication, but usually I could gleam what she was trying to say from her emails. However, trying to get her on the phone was next to impossible despite the fact I was offering to call All the Time!

Before the awful moment where she quit, there were MANY other times when I lost faith in Kristee and wasn't sure how to proceed, but as a bride planning a 100 person wedding in Mexico, I wanted to have an advocate on the ground and was reluctant to fire her as we'd already paid $500 as a retainer for her services. A prime example of her sub par wedding planning was that I had sent a thorough brief to her regarding exactly what I wanted included in the wedding and asked her to provide a quote based on this information. 8 weeks later, I still had NO quote! She went to Canada for around 6 weeks and was rarely, if ever, available. I asked her to show me linen options and she sent me awful photos that looked nothing like what I was requesting and tried to "convince" me that I needed to do her option as it was the only thing I could afford. 

I had a budget (around 20K for the wedding event) that was MORE than enough for an amazing wedding in Mexico and Kristee kept making me feel like it was completely inadequate. She tried to push me into options like a "welcome juice bar" for $4 per person when the venue was more than willing to serve fresh lemonade and juice to guests upon arrival. She tried to charge me $3pp for late night Chilaquiles when it was ALREADY INCLUDED in my quote with Grand Coral. 

One of the WORST things she did was regarding hair and makeup. I had asked her who she would be contracting for hair and makeup and after about 4 emails to get the names, she finally sent the names of Yukatan Brides. When she resigned, I found their info and contacted them to see if they would still be willing to do hair/makeup for me and the bridal party. The lovely people at Yukatan Hair informed me they had let Kristee know they weren't available for my wedding. So Kristee was going to have someone I had never heard of, never checked the portfolio of, had no idea about DO MY HAIR & MAKEUP for the MOST important day of my life!!! I can't imagine how it would have turned out as my MIL and SIL had their hair done by a local vendor and it was AWFUL! I am so glad I found out in advance and was able to book Fernando Fuentes from Makeup Pros and my hair/makeup turned out amazingly well. 

In fact, my entire wedding turned out amazingly and well under budget. Every vendor we hired on our own did an incredible job at a fraction of the majorly inflated prices Kristee was charging. For example, transporting our guests from PDC to the venue cost around $250 instead of the over $600 Kristee was charging. 

On a side note, I recommend to any Grand Coral brides that they just work with Luis and Alejandro directly as they ended up coordinating everything and my wedding was a flawless, gorgeous, amazing experience blessed with love and so much happiness. 

I hate to have to write this review, but I want future brides to know that they should not waste their time and money on Kristee. She is super friendly and sweet and makes it seem like she's going to help so much, but she will make your wedding more expensive and much more complicated than it needs to be. Feel free to PM me for any recommendations on how to do it on your own. If you do it at Grand Coral, you aren't on your own, they can totally take care of you and I also have another contact who is an amazing, professional Mexican wedding planner named Amelia who blows Fresa Weddings out of the water because she gets great deals and owns a lot of her own decor.

11 Comments


Wow thank you for your review!! I talked to Kristee about florist recommendations in Cancun months ago. I was in contact with her recommendation for about a month and then they fell off the face of the earth and apparently the person I had been talking to quit. So then I was talking to this other guy for about a week and then he never contacted me back. Yes their prices were cheaper, but I'm so glad that I ended up going with Marvin at Maya Floral because I knew he was reliable and I would have been so upset if my flowers were not delivered on my wedding day!!

I'm so glad everything worked out in the end- the resort knows what they are doing!

 

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That is very strange. I have worked with Fresa Weddings over 2 years and I have not heard anything like this before, in fact all I have experienced and heard are great performances and reviews. I am glad your wedding turned out well in the end :)

 

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Im surprised to hear your experience. We had our wedding at Grand Coral (you can read my review of Fresa). We tried to do everything ourselves online and then decided to get a planner...right off the start Kristee saved us thousands of dollars on the food and drink by negotiating with Grand Coral. We were so pleased with the efforts and attention to detail that we felt she was worth double her fee for what she did for us and told her as much. It seems that you wanted to do everything yourself...why did you hire a planner at all in the first place. It looks like she quit because you and your fiancé were so well organized and good at negotiating that you did not need her services after all.

 

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I was quite disheartened after reading the following post. The happiness of my couples on their special day (and in the months leading up to it) is always of paramount concern for the entire Fresa team and myself.

 

That being said, I do not believe it serves either myself or the newly weds to engage in a lengthy “she said, she said” regarding the facts of this particular (staggeringly rare) situation.

 

I will say only this: I did not resign from the planning of Megan and Rolando’s wedding, but rather was sidelined by the couple. It was my sincere hope that their wedding would be as flawless as all the other weddings Fresa has had the distinct honor of planning. I did everything in my power to make that a reality.

 

Publicly, that is all I am willing to say regarding this matter. I have evidence of how events actually unfolded in the form of several emails between the couple and myself; and, I am more than happy to discuss them privately with my current and future brides regarding any of the concerns raised by Megan.

 

 

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To my current couples: I am confident that you know I would never resign from planning something so incredibly important. Fresa and its partners work diligently day in and day out to make all of our couples’ dreams come alive. For those of you who know Fresa and know me personally: you know that it is my sincere desire to make my couples happier than they ever could have imagined.

 

At Fresa no request is too great, no task is too difficult—we will do everything in our power to plan the perfect destination wedding. But please, don’t take my word for it. Visit my website at fresaweddings.com and check out all the wonderful testimonials. Like one of my most recent couples describes: “Fresa Weddings was ‘on it’ from beginning to end. Kristee and here team took care of all the little details and kept us running on schedule. Me and my groom were stress free!”

 

I absolutely love what I do and feel so lucky and so honored to be part of the happiest day of my couples' lives. I am committed to working every day with the same passion I had the first day we opened our doors here at Fresa.

 

 

 

 

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Kristee, I hope you don't mind if I jump in, BUT I can not sit silent after reading this review. I hired Kristee to do my renewal. I am an event planner in the U.S.A. I absolutely could not of coordinated my own event. Kristee made sure everything I wanted was exactly perfect. Mexico is my 2nd home. I go whenever I can, I have had the pleasure of helping Kristee on a few of her weddings. I have witnessed her work endless hours & spend her own money, going over & above, to make sure her brides have the wedding of their dreams.

I also have first hand knowledge of this couple, as the groom, was demanding to have conference calls during my scheduled events. Kristee was upset having to leave to take the calls ( no contract & no commitment). I understand, why Kristee goes beyond expectations, it's her nature to make sure hers brides are happy.

There are things you should know about Mexico. 1st, it's not the U.S.A., believe it or not things work WAY different in Mexico. You NEED a wedding planner like Kristee. She has lived in Mexico for many years and understands how things work, but she is Canadian. She realizes the level of service expected N.O.B.

The bride above was quick to point out that her husband is Mexican. I know this will be hard for you to believe, but the culture in Mexico is different. Basically a Mexican will always give a Mexican a better price. I know it makes no sense but it's true.

In Mexico it is considered rude to tell someone no, there are times when the vendor has no intention of doing business with you but will not tell you. I know this sounds crazy but it is just the way it is. It happened at my renewal. I hired (not Kristee) a guitarist to play during cocktails and dinner, Kristee was worried & took it upon herself to contact him to confirm. He just decided not to show up! I was disappointed but Kristee as always was ready & had already organized are DJ to be there early. Ready in case this was to happened. My guests never knew the & the reception went on without a hiccup. Girls, it's Mexico & anything can happen. Kristee is always on it & one step ahead of the game.

As for the refusal to pay! They signed a contract with Kristee. Making her RESPONSIBLE for payment to all vendors. Think about it, would you have phone only contact with someone, take on a 20 thousand Dollar liability & just trust them to show up and & pay. I DON'T THINK SO! I work face to face with my clients & payment is always made in advance. That's just smart business.

I too am happy they had a wonderful event but this is one couple I would have walked away from.

 

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Sorry about the grammar. My post was to long. Tried to shorten it and while checking to see that I hadn't exceeded the characters, it just send.

 

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My fiancé and I have known Kristee for over 20 years on a personal level, and more, recently, professionally, with us planning our destination wedding. While we did not end up utilizing Fresa's services- which was ONLY because our resort does not allow outside wedding planning vendors and was going to charge us INSANELY to bring Kristee's team in, she has provided us with advice, support, information, and her wide knowledge base, which has been immeasurable. For those who may not know Kristee, she has been deeply involved in the destination wedding industry for YEARS and LOVES what she does- which is evidenced by her constant blog, Facebook, Twitter posts. She treats each couple as family, and truly CARES about making their day as wonderful as it can be. Even though we didn’t end up hiring her, we still go to her for advice about many details of our wedding, whether it’s suggestions about favours, or excursions, or anything. She is not obligated to help us and is not obligated to even respond. From other reviews I have read, this is not exclusive to us, and is not because she knows us personally. This is just who Kristee is.

 

A couple of points regarding the above review:

 

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- Kristee was HIRED, therefore is required to be paid. Perhaps not everyone is aware, but as a vendor, Fresa Weddings absorbs the costs up front and then obtains reimbursement from the couple. If, at two weeks out, she hadn’t received payment, I don't know what else would be expected other than her "demanding payment". $20k is a sizable amount for a business to have to cover.

- Regarding your comment about it being "suspicious" that Kristee wanted the funds wired to her bank account- you hired her, you are responsible for paying her. I'm assuming these details were outlined in a contract of some sort. And again, she fronts the costs for everything, so she needs to be directly reimbursed. It sounds as though you wanted to deal with GCBC directly, which you absolutely could have done, and not included Kristee in the equation. If you wanted to plan your own wedding, there is nothing wrong with that, but to imply that shady business dealings are happening is not appropriate- not without something to back it up.

- If the communicated budget was $20k, which I agree, is very generous, perhaps Kristee was only trying to enhance your day by adding special touches like juice bars and hors d'oeuvres. If this wasn't something that was desired, this could have been communicated to her professionally, and not by blasting her on a destination wedding forum, for thousands to see.

This brings me to my last and final point. As an outsider, and whether I know Kristee personally or not has no bearing, I feel that you have severely depreciated the value of this review by attacking her on a personal level- calling her flaky, subpar (one word, by the way), attacking her grammar and spelling (By the way, I think you meant GLEAN what she meant in her emails, not GLEAM).

It’s very unfortunate that things didn’t work out between you and Fresa, and as a fellow bride-to-be, I am very happy that your day turned out perfectly (as it absolutely should be). This website is a fantastic resource for brides, and vendors count on the feedback to maintain and obtain new business. While I do agree that everyone has a right to an opinion, and is free to post as they wish, I just feel that more value could have been taken from this review if it wasn’t written in such an antagonistic tone. Just my “opinion”.

 

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As I review this thread I am compelled to comment! Mexico is my second home literally and I felt that I would be capable of designing my own wedding last October. As any bride does, I started well in advance as to not leave a thing unorganized. For one solid year, I faced wedding planners who would come and go from the venue which resulted in starting over with planning, deposits not recognized, business's folding, musicians disappearing, transportation prices and other various price points constantly changing.( Just to name a few of the problems I was up against.) With October just a few months away I contacted Kristee in desperation. From that moment she took care of everything! Not only was she upbeat, positive and excited to be working with us but the professionalism and customer service was outstanding. I felt relaxed for the first time since I started planning a destination wedding. Over the next few months the communication with Kristee was timely, informative and enjoyable. Her spirit is out of this world! Fast forward to our wedding.....fabulous! She and Melanie were there just after dawn to start the set-up and remained at the venue until the last guest left. They handled everything throughout the day with ease and professionalism. I never saw a smile leave Kristee's face the entire day. Everybody Kristee hired was first rate, from the florals, venue decor, photography, table designing to the musicians. In addition she added so many personal touches to the day I will be forever grateful! Thank you Kristee!

Now moving on to the budget and not releasing funds to Kristee, Oh my! A wedding planner is responsible for hiring all the ancillary services needed. This includes payment of deposits and the final payment, which is done in advance of date of service. This practice is worldwide and not unique to Mexico. Kristee does hire her own vendors, who she's knows are reputable and will show at the wedding. Her vendors prices are slightly below market in the area. I know that from all the planning I did prior to Kristee stepping in and saving us. She became responsible when the contract was signed. I had no qualms about giving her the money in advance to cover the added services. To withhold payment because you felt there was a better way to do it was absurd and questionable. For those planning weddings I welcome you to PM me and would delight in sharing photos and my experience with Kristee. She IS TO BE TRUSTED, IS UPFRONT IN ALL BUSINESS DEALINGS and has become a member of my extended family since the wedding due to her vibrant, caring spirit! Thank you Kristee.

 

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We received our final quote from Kristee on January 29th, which was already months later than we'd expected- and over budget! We tried to organize a transfer to Kristee of all funds except Grand Coral (The venue we had contracted on our own, negotiating our menu/prices/etc. prior to ever hiring Kristee). We made arrangements to pay her for everything except Grand Coral on the 30th. She then sent the following email (Jan 31) " full payment for ALL services including Grand Coral must be remitted within 24 hours in order for us to proceed with the planning process." We had told Kristee from the onset that we would be paying GC on our own and she'd said it was no problem until January 30th. She had not fronted any money nor made financial reservations on our behalf. We were still open to using all her chosen vendors, but she chose to back out and leave us without any contacts for anyone. I'm just one person with one experience with Kristee, but I will make another VERY valid point about planning a wedding in Mexico.

You want someone who speaks Spanish. Kristee doesn't even speak a basic Spanish- and this was my husband's concern from the onset. How will she get preferential treatment and operate a successful business where she can't even communicate??

I'm so happy with how my wedding turned out, but from the beginning, it would have been less stressful, less complicated, I would have felt BETTER about my budget, and saved thousands of dollars had I not hired Kristee.

 

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