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Hiring a helping pair of hands to help plan your wedding may be the only way you see the whole thing coming together without a hitch. But hiring a wedding planner can cost you big bucks and in the end, may be more of a hassle than a help. Here are 8 real brides who admit the real reason why they fired their wedding planners.
1. I couldn’t afford her anymore.
“I booked my planner before I set a budget. She was charging me $5,000 and I paid only 10% up front. About two months into working with her, I started setting a budget and realized that I couldn’t afford my wedding, let alone her. $5,000, in the scheme of a wedding, goes a long way. I took the rest of the money I would have paid her and used it to book a really awesome DJ.” — Hannah G., 27
2. I was always two steps ahead.
“I’m a total Type A person but I didn’t think I would have the time to plan my own wedding, because I just started a new job and was also focused on moving into my new apartment. I hired someone but two weeks in, I realized I was somehow finding the time to do the planning myself and it wasn’t worth the money or stress trying to delegate the wedding planning to someone else.” — Susan J., 29
3. She never answered the phone.
“I found with all my wedding vendors, that whenever I would call or reach out to them, it would take them days to get back to me. It was so annoying. I trimmed the fat and fired the vendors I didn’t need. That included a wedding planner who only spoke to me twice a month.” — Tammi W., 29
4. She called me a ‘bridezilla.’
“Maybe I was getting a little crazy with all the decisions and making sure everything was coming together perfectly, but I didn’t deserve to be called a bridezilla by someone I was paying to make sure I wasn’t a bridezilla.” — Beth M., 32
5. My wedding was becoming a mess.
“My mom hired me this fancy wedding planner and I thought like she’d somehow plan the wedding of my dreams. But I guess I didn’t tell her what I didn’t want because she was planning this wedding that looked like it belonged on TV or for someone famous. I’m super low-key and the vibe was off. I made my mom fire her a month in.” — Linda V., 26
6. She didn’t get along with my mother.
“To be honest, I wanted nothing to do with my wedding plans. I just wanted to show up and have everything taken care of. So I let my mom take control and she hired a wedding planner. They didn’t get along. It was constant fighting. My mom was micromanaging her. My mom was wrong in the end, but since she was footing the bill, she ended working with her and planned the rest of the wedding herself.” — Cassie B., 32
7. The price kept changing.
“Every single thing with my wedding planner cost extra. It’s like I was already paying her a couple thousand dollars but if I wanted one more session with her or for her to stay an hour longer at the wedding, she was charging me extra. It became too much and I let her go.” — Bianca N., 29
8. I knew I was calling the wedding off.
“About three months after getting engaged, I wasn’t feeling right about the person I was going to marry. I wasn’t ready to call off the wedding, I just needed some time to think. I decided to stop working with a wedding planner, because it was a waste of my money and her time.” — Caitlyn S., 29
See More: Hiring a Wedding Planner? Here’s How to Make the Most of Their Services
Jen Glantz is a “Professional Bridesmaid” and the founder of Bridesmaid for Hire. She’s the author of All My Friends Are Engaged and frequently wears old bridesmaid dresses to the grocery store and on first dates.