Lilypad Wedding & Events

Our experience with Bethany and Brent from Lillypad was absolutely fantastic. Bethany was instrumental in creating a unique, personalized and signature wedding day for David and I. Bethany’s attention to detail, relationship with vendors, professionalism and personality are just a few of the wonderful things about her as a planner. The planning process is naturally very intimidating, and Bethany made sure that the whole process was fun, enjoyable and a great experience. Due to Lillypad’s relationship with various vendors, a significant amount of money was saved, while preserving a great experience with each of the vendors. Bethany and Brent were also intimately involved in the «day of» coordination — from the moment we arrived at the venue to the moment we left, they were in control of the whole day, and made it as carefree to us as possible… every detail was taken care of. That alone is reassuring and priceless. I HIGHLY recommend Lillypad for your planning needs, but at the same time I want to keep them as a «hidden gem!»

I will make this short and to the point… we hired Lilypad in the beginning and I regretted it throughout our entire planning process. Lilypad found the hotel for us, the bridal party, and out of town guests and found the bakery that did our cake.
I basically did everything else!!! Bethany and the rest of her staff did not get back to any of our vendors in a timely manner so I started telling the vendors to contact me personally. We worked with amazing and professionally vendors and after seeing Lilypads incompetence, they preferred to work me towards the end of planning.
I would recommend doing your homework before hiring a wedding g planner. BC if I did mine, I would never have gone with Lilpad!!!

I emailed Lilypad a little while back to get more information about a day of wedding coordinator and how much they cost. I really had no clue, couldn’t have even ballparked an estimate. I informed her that my fiancé and I were on a tight budget; after about a dozen emails back and forth, she finally emailed me information with cold hard numbers, but assured me that if they weren’t to my liking, they would be able to work with me. I made an appointment to go in and speak more with them about their services. When the information she provided me was the exact same as the information from the email, I asked about «working with me» to lower the cost (again citing my budget). I was told that instead of lowering the cost, they simply added more services into that monetary amount (effectively cutting costs… but only if you are actually using those services). In theory this is great but it doesn’t work well if the cost of the planner is nearly half of your budget and you don’t need services above and beyond true day of coordination. I was polite, she was polite, and I left telling her I would discuss with my fiancé whether we felt it was doable (even though I ran the numbers in my head and was pretty sure that it wasn’t).
The next day Bethany emailed me about moving forward, and I wrote her a pleasant response explaining that unfortunately we wouldn’t have the money for a day of coordinator. I thanked her for her time… and heard nothing back. No «Thanks for giving us your consideration» or anything. I’m not a princess here (far from it), but I feel like it’s good business to at least acknowledge receipt of this email; something like «Keep us in mind for any future needs!» or «Good luck with your wedding!» would have been better than nothing. It left a really really bad taste in my mouth.

Lilypad was an all-​around horrible experience for both myself and my fiancé. The owner, Bethany, was often unable to fulfill on any of the obligations she had guaranteed us. I am a full time professional working two jobs and getting my Masters degree, while my finance also works full time and is getting his MBA. More often than not, Bethany would tell us she would get back to us in a week with either a limo contract or a hotel block, only to have 3 – 4 weeks pass by without a word from her. She had promised me on numerous occasions that she would book our rehearsal dinner, and when she didn’t after 3 weeks (without a word from her), I did it myself. When I did follow-​up, I was told that she had been busy. I can appreciate busy, but then what are we paying her for? I did not seek Bethany’s assistance often, but she told me my choice of bridesmaid dresses was not right, and when I asked for a short meeting, she told me she was too busy and asked me to wait for over two weeks. This was at 6 months out from the wedding.
We were very disappointed all around with the quality of service provided from Lilypad, which was unfortunate because we very much would have appreciated the assistance.

Let’s start from the beginning. I call during normal business hours and am lead to believe this is a thriving business that is so busy they are a «large corporation» with a few dozen or more employees. You call the phone number and are not greeted by a human but a voice recording stating someone will be on the phone soon after selecting the applicable department. I understand this business may simply be trying to use modern technology to help with answering the phones however when I call during the day (about 1pm) and am differed to an answering machine to leave a message rather than hearing from a person I am not a happy camper. When I was not called back that same day I was left with a very bad impression of this company.
I then left things up to my fiancé to schedule and plan as I was done dealing with this company. So she schedules and appointment for us to consult with the designer for our invitation designs and the wedding planner for our wedding planning. We were unable to make the initial appointment so we rescheduled. When we arrived we found Lilypad to be nestled in a nice little plaza in Snyder/​Amherst, NY. As we walked in I took a look around and wondered what is this place??? Is this a professional wedding planning/​design studio or a dollar store? The place was a mess however we were not there to critic the design we were there to consult the professional wedding planner and invitation designer.
Upon speaking with Bethany and her brother we found they were quite approachable and polite however didn’t have any unique input or ideas. She constantly asked what we wanted and provided no input to what we stated. It felt as if we had to tell her how to do her job. She sure loved to throw around the fact she is a certified wedding planner. I was completely thrown back by the fact they charge a $ 500.00 design fee for wedding invitations!!! Really ??? I can make my own for less money and this was just a design fee, not including the actual cost of the invitations. We were then told if we purchased a wedding planning package they would waive the ridiculous design fee. To be honest with you the samples they showed me looked exactly like the invitations that are offered as a «design yourself for free» online. Against my better judgment we left a $ 300 deposit as my fiancé seemed to like them and loved the fact they were a local company that could potentially bring some useful information to the table while in the wedding planning process.
A few days later we were supposed to receive a contract to sign before they start the wedding planning process. After a couple more days I receive an email blaming the lack of a contract sent to me on a computer problem in updating software. How is this proper business practice to blame your own personal short comings on a computer software issue? I don’t care what the excuse is if you are running a professional business you work out your own problems on your own and not give excuses to customers if you plan to keep them. After receiving the contract I read it over and found things not in the contract that were discussed about during the initial consultation. This, coupled with the fact they blamed the short comings on computer problems and my initial bad taste along with not producing anything thus far I elected to discontinue anything they would have to offer.
Upon informing Bethany (the owner) via email I no longer wanted their services I was told they are unable to electronically accept any information. Really? I am confused since they felt it was acceptable to electronically send me the contract. Ok, I played the game. I called them to verbally tell them I did not want their services anymore. This is when I once again during normal business hours was differed to a voicemail and not a person. After emailing Bethany again I was told her lawyer instructed her to discontinue any further electronic communications. Therefore I sent a letter to them certified mail. At this point I have left multiple messages on the Lily pad answering machine, Left multiple emails all of which have not been responded to. Finally after a small claims lawsuit was filed against them they offer me ½ of my money back… half…why would I accept half of my money back when they provided me nothing?
. Some additional information based on what was stated earlier. It was shoved down my throat at the initial consultation Bethany is a «certified wedding planner» as she claims is one very few in the area. After looking into that I found becoming a «certified wedding planner» from the place she received the certificate from is as simple as paying $ 895.00 and spending 4 hours a day, 2 days a week for a total of 40 hours. My OSHA certifications took longer than that to achieve and I don’t brag about them.
ANY POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS PLEASE BEWARE BEFORE SIGNING TYPE OF AGREEMENT WITH THIS PLACE. I am glad I never signed anything yet I still can’t get my money back.

The best place for a unique and personal touch when planning weddings and other events.
If you are looking for a one-​of-​a-​kind experience, this is the place to go. You will be treated with respect, kindness, and shown ways to turn an ages old ceremony into something so special, you and your guests will be talking about it forever. Bethany and her crew will do their utmost to help you and your crew plan and execute any event and make it memorable!