5 replies to this topic

[steelpen80]

I had booked her for our wedding on May 2, 2009. We had to cancel because of the Swine Flu. She was great at helping but when it came to working with us and canceling, she stopped being so nice. We canceled on the Monday before our wedding when the government issued a travel warning advising no travel to Mexico. I emailed her right away and it took a few days to hear back. Once I did she told me that we caused her to cancel other weddings and that I was the only bride that canceled. She then followed up with an email telling us that she hasn't worked We understood that the situation was not ideal but the hotel and florist worked with us in working out a fair compromise. She did mention in the 2nd email that she wasn't able to work in weeks because of the Swine Flu and she hasn't been able to work and make a living. Obviously this email contradicted her first email to us. We told her that we understood that we canceled due to government warnings, but that we thought it would be faie for her to provide us with a 50% refund allowing her to keep the other 50%. She has never returned that email and as of now she has $1900 of our money for now work at all. She did agree to take our pictures at a later date but due to the circumstances we were not going to rebook our wedding there. She also referred us to a minister that she personally knows and works with named Monty, and he too will not return our calls or emails. He too is keeping the $400 for no work at all. My only advice is beware and do not pay her via PAYPAL OR MONEY TRANSFERS. I do not think that you should do business with someone who is unwilling to work with you. I have a feeling she spent the money and can not afford to work with us. Book her at your own risk.

[ACDCDCAC]

were these $ amounts the deposit? if so, you shouldn't expect to get that money back unless it was the vendor that cancelled on you.

I understand you have got to be horribly upset and heartbroken over the whole thing in the first place, but just because your other vendors worked with you does not mean they all are obligated too.

now, if it was MORE than the deposit that you paid, like $ toward the balance, then heck yes you should be livid!!

[TammyWright]

i have to agree with abbie that although it would have been nice if she refunded the deposit, she has done nothing wrong by NOT refunding it. The swine flu situation has been very hard on many people, both brides and vendors.

[isauraisabel]

It's a shame that you weren't able to use bridgecolor's services because they were great for my wedding. We got married at the Barcelo on the 27th of this month. Marissa and all her staff were so helpful that they really made my day very stress free. She covered every aspect of the event. She was very courteous and even made friends with my family and friends that attended the wedding. Before we left we met at the restaurant El Panorama where she showed us all the pictures she had taken at the event. She even gave us a dvd with all the pictures that weren't edited yet so we could have something to show back at home. She also did the video for my wedding. She and her staff contact me every day to give me the status of how everything is coming out and ask me about music for the video, etc. I couldn't have asked for a more professional photographer.

It's a shame about your deposit but just like every other vendor, company, retailer that asks for a deposit, it is always clear that in case of cancellation you will not get that deposit. A deposit is always used to ensure the vendor that while he/she has reserved a time slot for you, you will come through with the event. Otherwise, if they reserve their time for you and you don't show up that is business that is lost and could have been used by someone else.

To conclude, I was very happy with the end results. IF possible, you should still try to go to Puerto Vallarta and see about getting a small photo session with her. Puerto Vallarta is amazing and so is her work. The best photographer I could have asked for.

[steelpen80]

I should clarify my last post. I am not criticizing her work or the fact that we did not get our depsoit back. The issue was that once we had to cancel because the US Government told people not to travel unless it was urgent, I notified Bridgecolor right away. It took days to hear anything back from them, and when I finally did they informed me that they turned down many weddings to do ours and that we were out of luck. We understood the dillema but were looking for a little bit more consideration since it wasn't our choice to cancel. We then recieved and email a week later telling us that everything was shut down and that they lost all of this money because of the swine flu and people cancelling. In my eyes, that was unfortunate but made us feel as if that is why they were keeping the deposit. The second issue was that we had them get us the Mariachi and D.J as well and I was told that we didn't need contracts and to trust them. At this point we had given Bridgecolor $900 for the deposit and another $1000 for the Mariachi and D.J. We were told that they needed a deposit and to trust them. When all of this happend it looked as if Bridgecolor kept all of that money since there was no evidence that the Band or D.J were given the deposit since it was deposited directly to Bridgecolor. We also gave the minister that Bridegcolor recommended his fee of $400 2 weeks out since that is when we booked him. The real issue is that we trusted Bridgecolor and their vendors they reccomended and feel as if we were taken advantage of. In my eyes the only issue I have with them is how they dealt with the situation. When booking everything, we took all precautions and held up our end of the bargain when it came to payments, and when we asked them to be a little flexiable and understanding we got nothing. The minister still will not call us back and it just makes me wonder if people want to do business with someone and their reccomended vendors who treats their clients like this. FYI, the florist gave us back half of our deposit and the hotel refunded our entire deposit and were extremly understanding of the situation. I have no interest in bashing them, and this post is more of an FYI to give people a heads up on all vendors and to protect themselves from a similiar situation. We understood that we would loose money because it wasn't their fault either that the swine flu happened, but we were looking for a little bit more understanding, and communication considering we paid a total of $2300 and nothing to show for it.

[JenniferSS]

Actually the US goverment did NOT say to do not travel to Mexico and cancel your plans - they issued a statement that said to be careful but NEVER said to not travel to Mexico.

There were many threads on the forum that clarified the US goverments stance, and it was also clarified on the state departments website. Unfortunately there were many media outlets that hyped up the entire situation ( as they tend to do now for shock value) and provided erroneous facts saying that you could not travel. It was/is your responsibility to verify the information before you cancelled. So ultimately it WAS your choice to cancel as the US goverment never said to stay away from Mexico.

As for the complaint that it took days to return your call- did you consider that they probably received calls from all of their brides (plus grooms, parents of the bride & groom ect ect) - from all over the world and that they called you back as soon as they could. It was a time when initially everyone panicked. To call you back within a few days was actually very good customer service!

The vendor is definately with in their rights to keep the deposit. You should be glad that you had other vendors that were willing to work with you.

The other weddings that they turned down were likely between the time you reserved your wedding and when you cancelled.

You didn't ask for flexibility & understanding- you asked for a refund of a deposit you placed. Now you are trying to shame them on the forum to giving you back your deposits. And truly it doesn't matter if they gave the deposit to the other vendors -your contract was with them.

I also don't understand why they would keep calling you back- they stated their policy, offered to do another session and you refused. There is nothing more to say.

Sorry if this comes off harsh but they did nothing wrong or that they should be given a bad review or warning other brides to stay away from them from.