Halimah shares her COVID planning experience with Rightessential events

Hiiiiiii, Rightessential tribe, it’s a pleasure to bring this on here on the blog. Halimah is a dear friend turned client whose wedding was to hold 11th April 2020- but was postponed and then canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

She will be sharing with us today how the cancellation process was for her, how she was able to get vendors to refund her and most importantly how she eventually had her dream wedding.

First, a little backstory from ME

Halimah reached out in January for her then April wedding. After 3 months of planning, we were ready to slay the event  “beht” Mr Coro had other plans 

As you can imagine, this was not a great place for a planner to be…“Becuzz” that meant refunds and many uncomfortable conversations to have with vendors considering that the pandemic was no one’s fault.

Long story short sha, conversations held, some refunds were made, while it was concluded that some would be re-purposed for the couple’s future events…

It felt like that chapter had been closed…

Was it?

 

Let’s hear from Halimah before we continue.

 

Question: Tell us a lil bit about you?

Answer: I am Adeola Halimah Oluwakemi, an industrial chemist- a master’s student at University of Ilorin and a Forex trader. I also work as Chemical anaylst in a pharmaceutical company and I married to the love of my life!

Question: Great! Can you share what your wedding planning process was like, prior to COVID-19?

Halimah: Ok! so I got engaged in December 2019. I knew then that Dami was definitely going to be my planner because one, she is a friend and two, I have followed her work over years and I love how she does her events with evident passion. I reached out in January 2020 to discuss my wedding, so she sent me her bill and I remember my husband asking why/what we need an event planner for exactly.

He did not see the importance of hiring one but me ehn, I know myself, I hate stress & anything that looks like it. Viewing that I had my master’s exams around the corner, I couldn’t imagine trying to plan my own wedding and juggling studies as well which was why I called Dami. We agreed on a fee, she sent me a contract that stated in clear terms the service agreement, how vendors payment was to be made (30-40-30% – meaning we pay 30% as deposit, 40% 2 weeks to the wedding and then 30?ter satisfactory delivery by the vendor- I thought that was cool) and then planning started proper.

She recommended some vendors and corresponded with others I had in mind as well. She did all the negotiations, all I did was just pay her and she did the 30-40-30 from her end. This is where I should state out clearly that if I was the one managing the payments, I would have paid most vendors in full. Largely because I like to do something & tick it off my list but with Dami in the picture I was able to have that feeling of “I have completely paid for my wedding” and had the peace of mind of “my planner will ensure all vendors deliver excellent services before she pays in full”. LOVELY! 

Everything went smoothly. I mean I remember my roommate was always asking me, if I was sure my wedding was soon as I didn’t look any bit stressed, my answer was always “I have an event planner that is handling everything for me ooo. She has it covered”

Fast forward to FEBRUARY, Mr. Coro became a thing in Nigeria, then lockdown happened. Dami had mentioned that we might have to postpone if things continued the way it was or get safety precaution materials should it get better.  I was like NO, she should not bother that we could still go about the planning without sanitizer and mask because, by the week of the wedding, things would have improved. Hahaha like John snow, I knew nothing. I had no idea it was going to be messy or that the pandemic was going to take all year. But by the 1st of April (10 days to the wedding), it was obvious what needed to be done. 

 

 

It was a crazy time really and one of the things I am most grateful for was the foresight I had to hire an event planner. I can’t imagine how it would have been if I had to not only manage my disappointment over the postponement of my wedding but also manage my vendors as well. Dami did all that, sent out a memo to the vendors and then she constantly checked in on me. That is another thing I love about her; she is always calling, always in touch and she ended my call almost every time I called and she’d called back claiming I have paid for communication fee—I love it! 

I remember she had sent me a questionnaire at the beginning of the planning process just before she sent a mood board. One of the questions she had asked was to write what I wanted to have during the planning and on the wedding day.  I had said “peace of mind” and she said, “I got you”. Truly she got me!

When the pandemic/ ban of events continued, we decided to cancel the wedding. Dami refunded immediately 70% of all the vendor’s payment ( because she had only paid them the earlier 30?posit). My husband was so impressed! stupefied, astounded and every other synonyms of surprise. To cap it, we even got back from some vendors the earlier deposit we had made-save 10%. 

 

We honestly had thought that all was gone particularly because of the difficulty we experienced trying to get a refund from the hall (which my husband had handled himself). Kai! We saw “shege” before we got the money back. Hubby signed contract, signed paper, signed form in fact signed everything signable. Still, the whole fee was not refunded.

The fact that ordinary hall, we had to go through all that stress and then Dami just sent back the money like a flash was really impressive.

See ehn, if you are a bride to be reading this and you want to have peace of mind on your day, while counting down and you are thinking event planner is a no no; My sister, please think again. We did not imagine a pandemic would happen when we hired an event planner but see how that turned out.

 

 

Ok! so I am butting in here.

 

Wheew that was a long read! 

 

But we are not finished because while this looked like a happy ending—I didn’t think it was when one fateful afternoon going through Halimah”s questionnaire again—and read again those lofty dreams she had about her wedding day and I felt unhappy that COVID-19 had taken that away from her. I thought to find a solution.

Then one day, it hit me; A WEDDING SHOOT/ MINI RECEPTION would be perfect. She would get to experience all that she wanted and we still had 30% with most of our vendors. If I am able to leverage my relationship, we could actually do this without having to spend a dime extra. I called my vendors and they were all open to it. God bless them! MY darling @timelessbeauty even let us use her studio space as a venue.

I then shared with Halimah. She was ecstatic and what we had planned to be a wedding shoot ended up being a mini reception of 20 guests. It was beautiful!

That very day, as I watched Halimah & her groom recite their vows and have their first dance, I knew that all the stress of the long planning process was worth it. I am glad they eventually had what Halimah had in mind when she hired us; A beautiful wedding day where she had peace of mind.

 

Now to round this up, let’s hear from Halimah

Me: How did you feel about the eventual shoot/ reception?

Halimah: They say a happy bride is a beautiful bride or how does the saying goes? *chuckles*, I was oozing of happiness that day and it was really fun.  I felt so happy! I feel sooo happy. I had butterflies in my tummy giddy, I was giddy with excitement! I loved that we were able to achieve all that without spending excessively.

 

Dami even anchored the program, she is amazing and I am truly grateful that I was able to experience what a real wedding day is like. The wedding morning rush, posing for a 1000 and one picture, the anxiety, the joy, everything really. December is one month I can’t forget in a hurry. Every time I check my pictures/ videos, I can’t help but smile.  

I would like to thank you, Dami for a job well done. You are simply the best! Thank you for the peace of mind I had during the postponement, the wedding cancellation and the eventual mini reception. You handled everything like a pro. How we were able to get back our refunds, thanks to you. Really impressive! I don’t think there is anywhere in the world that I will be that I would hesitate before I recommend you for any wedding. Omooo I’m so glad I know you. God bless you, dear!