Wedding Kiss Officiant & Planning Services — Local services in Philadelphia

Warning: Long post but worth the read if you want to save money, time, and anxiety!!! This review is solely based on my experience. I emailed the owner in February to ask questions about the venue. She didn't respond so I emailed her again and after chatting for a bit I scheduled my wedding for July 3rd. I paid $500 for the deposit and was sent an invoice for monthly payments. I had additional questions but could not reach Traci for six weeks; no response to my phone calls, text messages, and emails. I drove to the venue in April, worried that she may have gone out of business due to the pandemic. There was a wedding reception in progress and she told me she's been busy and thought her assistant had followed up with me. She told me to call her so that we could meet. We met and it seemed like she understood the importance of timely communication. Fast forward a few weeks later and my fiance and I broke up. I was devastated and contacted Traci for a refund on May 20th. I was told that I would forfeit my deposit but get the rest back. I had reach out to her again to send the refund paperwork and finally got it on May 25th. She got to keep $875.50. You'd think this would be a smooth process but it was not. The refund agreement says it takes 30 days. Okay fine. On June 25th I still had no money. I felt like I was STALKING her because she would go days without responding to me. I sent multiple emails and was told it was processing and she would check with her accountant. I received $282.37 on June 30th. When I asked her about the amount I was told it was 3 different invoices and would be received in 3 different transactions. Umm.. Okay. On July 1st I sent her a long email about my displeasure as a consumer and that I would be posting reviews and contacting the BBB (and a lawyer if necessary) because of her lack of professionalism and unwillingness to effectively communicate. I was then sent $423.56 on July 2nd. The accounting practices need to be reviewed because as of today, Friday July 9th I am still owed $423.56. After more text messages, emails, and a voicemail she finally responded on July 7th and said it's pending on her end and no one knows why. She texted me she's off this week due to a personal matter and that she's done everything on her part and right now her focus is on healing herself and her family. I'm a fair customer but this has been so stressful!!! No bride wants to cancel her wedding and chase after a refund initiated SEVEN weeks ago. I try to support small black-owned businesses but I would not recommend this venue for ANY event. The building looks nice but great SERVICE is what counts whether I'm a potential customer, current customer, or a former customer. Why should I have to send 13 emails and 23 text messages to both of her phones to get a resolution? There hasn't been ONE proactive outreach to let me know what's going on. Has she done that I wouldn't be upset. However, all communication has been initiated by me. OH AND IT'S STILL UNRESOLVED. Refund pending for a week but an ACCOUNTANT doesn't know why? I'm not a tyrant. I have compassion but since she's "done everything on her part" I feel like I'm left hanging so I'll see if the BBB can help me. I'm done reaching out to her.

Book at your own risk!!!

Response to Owner's reply:

I'm not insensitive and chose not to post why the owner was out this week. If this had been handled efficiently when it was supposed to then the 3 year anniversary of her son's death would not have needed to be addressed. I have updated the screenshot of the full text because I'm not mean. My comment about supporting black-owned businesses is a good thing. I simply stated I would not recommend THIS business. When I canceled the wedding she offered to keep me in prayer but did not pray with me on the phone (don't embellish). I will not go back and forth and will continue to wait for my refund. I sincerely wish Traci well. God bless anyone reading and as previously stated book at...

Honest review here : 1 star is being nice, words cannot describe the disappointment for Traci who runs this wedding service. PAID 100$ pp to have food catered and be provided with full service FOR MY WEDDING DAY and it was a disaster. From the beginning when entering the venue to noticing noting was finished and guest arriving shortly so of course i had to jump in and help. The dj did not have any music downloaded so my entrance song was played from YouTube on a phone to the mic. Sand blending moment to unite both my and my husband’s kids did not happen. To no cocktail food or drinks, the bar catering service was serviced by someone who explained she did not know how to make mixed drinks, to finding out between 5-6pm that there was NO FOOD to serve my guest. Complete devastating day for me. The venue was available from 10am to 10pm for us and come to find out the dj was paid until 7pm which i did not find out until i had to have my mom coordinate my wedding since Traci was gone most of the night. Rushed to do wedding dances never tossed my bouquet . The flower arches were paid until 8pm and of course my photos of special people in my life giving their speeches were of the individuals taking down the arches in the background. So sad. LASTLY, i was not legally married until a week later which gave me anxiety because at this point i could not trust her professional judgement. The one thing that could make this right was for her to repay me back my money. I gave her grace and enough time for her to show me i can trust her words. Understandably she did not have all the money so she recommended paying me 300 every 2 weeks and guess what I COULDN'T EVEN GET THAT, what i got was 200$ and a card. I do not recommend using this service because the end result was a disaster and honestly i hate my wedding day because of how it all turned out which i was told i had nothing to worry about but that was lie. I am still waiting to my payment again not even 300$ ever 2 weeks to pay off the 6300 she owes me for not abiding by our contract and the refund form we both signed. Respectfully do more research in wedding coordinators because this service could not uphold to there services. I am just waiting for this Christian woman to do the godly thing and start to re pay me back my money and live the god fearing and bear the fruits...

Where do I even start? This place is a SCAM! DO NOT BOOK! The only reason I even gave it one star is because I don’t have the option to give it a ZERO! I’ll have to assume that the good reviews are PAID reviews because the service I received does not match up to the reviews AT ALL.

I will start with - this is the most unprofessional, distasteful, degrading venue I’ve ever worked with in my entire life! The owner sold my family and I A DREAM when we first inquired about this space. A dream that was completely opposite from what our reality was. There are so many things I want to discuss but I would be writing a book.

The owner is a prime example of throw the rock and hide your hand. She did an awful job and left her employees to deal with us. She ran away from the venue, told her workers she was coming back to solve our issues and NEVER showed up! Her workers are disrespectful, unprofessional, degrading people who have no respect or regard for ANYONE.. the way they treated my family and I was extremely DISTASTEFUL!!!!!!! Oh, let’s get into the WORST PART, my family and I paid almost $3k for the all inclusive package that included decor and a CAKE!!! Let’s get into the plates that were used for the decor were from DOLLAR TREE!!!! Absolutely tacky and cheesy. The balloon arch was INCOMPLETE. Oh and the BEST PART, there was no cake!!!!! My grandma had to celebrate her 70th birthday party with NO cake.. They told us the owner was on her way with the cake. Ha! Jokes on us, she NEVER came. Then she had the nerve to lie and say we said we were bringing a cake. A cake is the MOST important part of a birthday … why would we lie about bringing one? Then after she offered us $100 back for not having a cake? Miss lady, I thought you said we were bringing a cake.. why are you now offering us $100 back? SHE LIED ABOUT SO MANY THINGS!

This venue is full of DISRESPECTFUL SCAM ARTISTS. RUN WHILE YOU CAN!!!!! They will surely ruin your special event as they...