Your wedding is supposedly one of the best days of your life with your partner, so it is important for the couple to wisely choose the wedding coordinator that will help them fulfill it.
That is the dream of these couples, whose hopes slowly faded after they claimed that a wedding coordinator scammed them.
More than 20 individuals visited the office of the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) on Friday morning to file their complaints against a wedding coordinator who allegedly scammed them by canceling their wedding packages.
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It was disclosed that the couples were made to sign an agreement to cancel their wedding packages even after they had paid the total or a huge chunk of the wedding package price.
With some of them having scheduled their weddings within this month, the couples were left with no choice but to share their frustrations on social media and file the necessary complaint to the authorities.
With the wedding season just starting, soon-to-be husbands and wives should remain vigilant when booking wedding packages and services for one of the most important days of their lives.
To help you make the right choices, CDN Digital reached out to a popular wedding coordinator to ask for tips on how to avoid getting scammed before your wedding day.
Help from the wedding industry
Reputable Cebuano wedding coordinator Carlo Abaquita disclosed in a Facebook post on Thursday morning, June 6, that he noticed a huge influx of brides-to-be messaging him to inquire about wedding packages, which is not unlikely during June.
Nonetheless, he noticed that some potential clients claimed to have been scammed by a certain wedding coordinator, so they had to look for an alternative package to cover their June wedding needs.
As much as he would like to accommodate them, he could only guarantee that he would handle some of them, considering that some of his dates had already been booked.
Fortunately, some people in the wedding industry jumped to the rescue and offered free and discounted wedding services to the couples scammed by the wedding coordinator. These include hosting services, hair and makeup, and other wedding packages.
A wedding coordinator’s advice
With the ongoing issue, Cebuano events host Arthur James Lee Aliazon posted his take on it by painting a picture of the current state of the Cebu wedding industry.
With the rising popularity and prestige of wedding coordinators, he claimed that some people would try to enter the industry even without proper preparations for the tempting sake of money.
This often results in a rising number of inexperienced and financially incompetent coordinators, who sometimes rob their clients during the day. They encourage couples to be wary of these types of wedding coordinators.
When asked what advice he would give future brides to avoid getting scammed by these kind of wedding coordinators, Abaquita said to research in numerous ways possible to ensure you book a trustworthy wedding coordinator.
“My only and best advice is to do your research. This includes looking at the company or business presence and background, previous client reviews and testimonials, and business reputation,” he said in an interview with CDN Digital.
As such, Aliazon also wrote in his post that couples should be bold and ask for insights from previous clients and constant colleagues of the wedding coordinator that they are planning to book.
He said that it would not be enough to search the business’ name online because testimonials from clients and colleagues would more than be beneficial for getting to know your wedding planner.
Wedding coordinators: Do not generalize
Amid all these controversies, people working within the Cebuano wedding industry urge people not to generalize one wedding coordinator’s actions to all wedding service providers.
“It is not just about the money — this is something scammers will never understand,” Aliazon wrote in his Facebook post, pointing out how some wedding service providers have even offered free and discounted help to the affected couples.
In that sense, a respected wedding coordinator or service provider is dedicated to fulfilling a couple’s wishes for one of the most important days of their lives.