My husband and I had been legally married for years, but we had never had a ceremony. This wasn't…read moreabout paperwork or legality. It was about finally having a meaningful, intentional ceremony we chose to invest in.
At first, Kara was warm, communicative, and made me feel confident trusting her with something so important. About a week before our wedding, severe thunderstorms were forecast for our forest location, so Kara, my photographer, and I agreed to reschedule.
The new date was chosen based on Kara's confirmed availability after her Disney vacation and then confirmed with my photographer.
Leading up to the new date, all of our communication reflected the correct date, including Kara sending me "angel numbers" (m/d/yy) and their meaning of the new date.
There was no confusion about when the ceremony was supposed to happen.
Five days before the ceremony, she messaged me saying she wanted to touch base for my event tomorrow. I corrected her and confirmed again from our texts that it was Friday.
She then said her fiancé had booked a spontaneous second vacation and they would be leaving the day before my wedding. She reassured me she would still make it work by driving separately, about 1.5 hours each way to and from her spontaneous 2nd vacation, to officiate.
Less than 24 hours before my wedding, she called to say her car "wouldn't start" and she could not come.
She offered to send a friend in her place. I was given only a first name, no last name, no reviews, and no online presence I could verify. There had never been any discussion that a substitute officiant might be used.
When looking for a link for reassurance, I was told, "I forgot she deleted her fb ", which added more uncertainty.
With no time left, I felt like this was a decision I didn't make.
Because we eloped, the ceremony was the entire focus of our wedding day.
Instead of being excited and preparing, I spent the night before crying. I arrived at my wedding puffy-eyed from crying the entire night before, emotionally exhausted and overwhelmed.
So much of the experience was overshadowed by trying to process a last-minute cancellation while scrambling to see if the ceremony would even happen.
Her friend did step in, but she was sent the wrong ceremony script and read the incorrect version.
Kara did not waive her fee despite canceling the night before.
We still proceeded because our photographer could not be rescheduled solely due to the officiant canceling less than 24 hours before the wedding because the officant chose to go on a spontaneous 2nd vacation that overlapped a date she had previously committed to professionally and that had specifically been scheduled around her own availability.
Hours before the ceremony, Kara offered to officiate another date for free or pay a "rescheduling fee," but this would have been more than a rescheduling fee but Kara had already been informed of that before making the "offer."
It would have meant the amount in full, risking thousands, with my photographer (treated as a cancelation for reasons stated above) with no written agreement in place. I could not make that kind of financial decision based on a text.
A week later, I saw Kara had officiated another wedding in my area the very next day after my elopement, after I had been told mine could not happen.
After canceling, she never READ or responded to my messages, even though I reached out calmly explaining the impact on our wedding.
Almost a year later, this is still painful. Our ceremony was the most important part of our wedding day, and the experience cannot be redone.
I would not leave this review if my messages had been acknowledged. I don't want anyone else to go through this.
