wedding challenges

Only 3 more weeks till KA's wedding. Amazingly she's still smiling with some of the challenges and obstacles that she's been facing. Her wedding dress has been delayed so much that it's "suppose" to arrive a week before the wedding - she ordered it over a year ago...talk about stressful. Consolation? They're going to give her the dress for half price (if it arrives on time). Bello Wedding World proved to be incompetent in their booking details - due to a miscommunication months ago, KA discovered last week that she's going to be without a makeup artist and hairstylist. This was strange as they came highly recommended by family and friends who have used The workaround?! Pay Bello staff overtime to make the wedding party pretty at 5am downtown then come back home to stay "fresh" till the wedding - which will be at 2pm. Needless to say KA's list of "bad" vendors is growing. :-) It almost rivals my list of "crappy-experiences-with" retailers. I'm learning from her experiences though. As I listen to some of the challenges - my first instinct is to treat them all like FutureShop. What does that mean? Lol - have people sign personal contracts drafted by moi. :-) Yes - a bit extreme but VERY efficient/effective. You'd be amazed at the improvement in service levels if the vendor perceives that they will be legally accountable for their actions. Trade off? You will be instantly labelled a tough customer and will have to deal with management directly. In light of it all - I'm still impressed with KA's level of organization. Some that I aspire to in terms of wedding coordination!