More Than Words — Local services in Carnegie

Let me first say that my wedding invitations turned out beautifully. The end product is really, really gorgeous.

But I can't even stand to look at them. And every time I drive by Carnegie I get a wash of anxiety and anger at how much Barb manipulated and bullied me. I'm shaking just writing this review.

I ended up spending a little more than twice what I told her I wanted to spend. And I had no idea what the cost was going to be until all the invites were already in and assembled, in a box right in front of me, because she would not answer my direct questions about how much each element cost. She dodged and hedged, telling me a range of possible prices or just laughing and saying "not much!" As if worrying about cost made me cheap or stupid. She even ordered the wrong thing (more expensive) for one enclosure, and when I pointed this out she said she'd just charge me for what I had asked for. But I have no idea what she charged me for because I never once saw an itemized breakdown of the cost, despite asking for one repeatedly.

I didn't feel like I could refuse the invites after I'd met with her and picked the design because then she didn't contact me for two full weeks while they were being designed. She blamed problems on interns and by then we were past the date she had set as our goal to get them in the mail--so I couldn't go elsewhere because I didn't have time to start the whole process over.

So they were twice as expensive, late, and beautiful. I was taken advantage of and pushed around. I'm also very aware of the way she responds to negative reviews here (refuses to take responsibility for anything anyone criticizes) but I think it's worth it to share my experience with other brides.

Unless you have an unlimited budget and don't mind being heavily influenced, don't go to More Than Words for...

The owner of this shop is a terrible person. My dog and I were walking past her shop when my dog (Kairi) went to drink from the water dish outside her shop. This is when her wildly aggressive black lab (unleashed) came charging out of her shop and attacked my poor Kairi. Her dog was relentlessly biting at her neck and the owner was negligent in controlling her dog so I had to kick it off of my dog. The owner (Barbara Johnson) did nothing to help the situation but rather scowled at me. Barbara did nothing to smooth the situation over and made no attempts. I was originally going to press charges and sue but doing so might result in the lab being put down which I do not want. It is not the dog’s fault that it has a poor owner. Instead of taking legal action, I’m letting you all know If you are not a fan of dog violence and/or are fearful of aggressive dogs, steer...

Barb created our wedding invitations and we were blown away by how beautiful they were. She incorporated the same flowers/color scheme of our wedding and listened to exactly what we wanted. She also gave us a few different design options to choose from that suited our theme. We never felt pressured to go above our budget, and her work was fairly priced. Plus, Barb is delightful to work with. We liked the invitations so much that we asked her to make a matching seating chart and unplugged ceremony sign for us, both of which were done quickly and beautifully. I can’t wait to get our invitations framed! All photo credit: Anne...