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Michelle Neuville
May 18, 2023 at 12:56 amThe worst thing that ever happened to me and my husband was going to bridal fantasy and meeting Courtney Pilon. I already knew I wanted our wedding to be at a Hard Rock Resort in Mexico. Courtney happened to be at Bridal fantasy in a Hard Rock Hotel stand. How could we have not hired her? A specialist for Hardrock?! It appeared to be a perfect duet. Courtney was great until we signed the contract with her… it is very obvious that she has special ties with Sunwing (one of the worst airlines we have ever flown with). She pushed for Sunwing even though Air Canada and West Jet both price match their packages. This implies a larger commission. I can’t think of any other reason why a travel agent would push such a terrible airline. We contacted another travel agent in Champagne Weddings and Travel and they confirmed that the other airlines price match, questioning why Courtney would still be using Sunwing?
After signing with Courtney, we gave our list of 150 guests invited to our wedding. Her job was to contact them and provide them with the information for the trip and to book those who wanted to book. Courtney only has email or her landline in her work office available. So you either send her an email or voicemail as she never answers the phone. So our guests tried booking with Courtney and most of them has to wait 7-14 days to hear back. They couldn’t talk to her on the phone or get ahold of her… they left voicemails and send emails waiting for a response. My husband and I had her cell number and had to demand for her to respond to our guests as they all started complaining to us and to each other that she was ignoring them. Out of 75 people who attended our wedding only 34 booked with our package because of her response times. Everyone in our wedding group were talking to each other about the terrible customer service from Courtney. Sorry, that is incorrect. There was no contact And no customer service. She blamed this on Sunwing and the fact that all her other clients were constantly stuck in other countries because Sunwing was cancelling their flights. This was disheartening as we were now in bed with Courtney and Sunwing!! Families of 4 spending $7000 to come to our wedding and the travel agent is taking over a week to respond to voicemails and emails. My friend was pregnant and was going to be due 2 months before the wedding… she asked about the infant on the plane and Courtney never responded. Then the tickets were allocated 2 weeks before departure a year later and there was an infant on her ticket… she had miscarried! So here we are with all this negativity around our wedding and our travel agent for a year. From the start we agreed on a direct flight to Mexico. All our guests were told that and that’s what they paid for. One week before the wedding the flight changes with a layover and no one is compensated. On top of this it becomes 7 hours of travel with no food for anyone part of our package. Thank god half
Of our guests that came to our wedding didn’t book with our package. At least they paid and received direct flights. On top of everything everyone didn’t receive any itinerary until 2 weeks before departure. Super disorganized. If they would have booked on their own they would have known months earlier. So everyone continued to ask us what was going on for months. When Courtney sent the itineraries to our guests we asked her to cc us in all of the emails because we knew what was going to happen. She sent half the itineraries to the incorrect email addresses. We had to correct them. It was insanely unorganized and I still to this day don’t understand how she can be this bad at her job? The entire time I wanted to deal with it on my own to have control as everything she touches turns into a disaster. Finally my husband and I get to Mexico and the private transfer Courtney booked for us never showed up. We have 6 bags, my wedding dress and my husbands suite and are super stressed. No celebration at all. After 45 minutes of trying to find our ride and 3 calls to Courtney unanswered we have to take a cab. The private transfer 2 ways was $90 CAD. This cab was $150 USD one way. We told Courtney she had to pay the difference and she didn’t. She can’t even set up a private transfer correctly for the bride and groom that brought her $10,000 in commission. We know this as she accidentally sent us a doc saying her commission amount on it. A year working with Courtney made me want to elope. My husband and I argued for a year dealing with her because we were so stressed out. I think back to our wedding as stress and negativity now. Stay clear of Courtney. She is a disaster. I would never say this about anyone but people need to know. She ruined our engagement and I will never forget what she did to my relationship. Someone needs to stop her from affecting other peoples weddings and relationships.
Sharon D
August 2, 2023 at 1:03 pmI have known and worked with Champagne Weddings for a few years now. I have attended a few Indian weddings planned by Preety in the past, and she always did such an incredible job! Everyone in my family and friends keep going back to her. When she was unavailable for my best friend’s recent wedding (non-Indian) Preety referred us to her past colleague Courtney. Courtney also did a wonderful job for my best friend’s wedding. Mind you Preety and Courtney have different ways of organizing and planning, but both were always on hand and knocked it out of the park each time. I highly recommend both!
JT
September 9, 2023 at 2:41 pmChampagne Weddings and Travel was offering a travel prize to be won after a year long men’s night golf competition at a local golf course in Calgary, in which the prize was for a trip for two with flights and two excursions included to ANY Riu Hotel (with an * meaning there were terms and conditions which were not otherwise identified on the poster). The prize expires after one year and we learned over time that we could only request a location within two months of travel, then approval would be required from the suppliers. It is coming up on 11 months since the prize was “won” and it has been near to impossible to work with representatives of this company. To say there have been communication issues is an understatement; we have effectively been ghosted. They have stated they have email threads in which the company representative supporting the trip has been sending to us which we simply have not received, yet when we ask for these same emails to be forwarded to us after providing a different email address, they have ignored our request. They apparently refuse to talk over the phone (as it was never answered), and I was advised they prefer to communicate via email only. They also never supplied a business address where we were willing to meet one on one with their representative. This is found on their website: “Give us a call. We’re really friendly.”???
We never received a comprehensive list of the terms and conditions of the prize which would have probably eased the confusion around what was included and perhaps made this a better experience. Based on the wording in the poster, we initially requested a Riu hotel in Ireland. After weeks of waiting and finally requesting an update via text a reply came back via text that they had received approval for a hotel stay only, that airfare was not to be included. The same happened with our request for a New York stay. By this point we were utilizing the company online email to contact the representative wherein we asked to be advised of what locations would be eligible under the prize offerings (both hotel and air). I have not personally had any type of reply since my request of July 27, 2023. They finally replied around August 18 (not to us, but to a representative of the golf course who stepped in to try to facilitate communications) that Mexico or Cuba would be our two options. This would have been good information to know last October. Since we’re now entering the end of September/October (and the one-year expiry of the prize certificate), we are not interested in going to locations that may be hit by hurricanes et al. As well, we would probably be looking at “red-eye” flights and the lowest rated room available. It is sad to pass up on a “free trip” when it’s won as a prize for a year long competition, but at this point we have completely lost faith and any respect for this company, and we feel that our interests would not be met in good faith. Perhaps if you are paying for the service, better customer support would be available. In a saturated industry such as this, making a move to an alternate company for these services is highly recommended. This company is not worth the trouble.
Anonymous
July 16, 2019 at 9:40 pmIn February 2019, we were supposed to have a beautiful destination wedding that nearly got ruined by a disgruntled wedding planner by the name of Preeti Jaswal of Champagne Travel and Weddings. The entire wedding was en route to becoming a disaster, things were not looking good. The amount of general wedding stress combined with her lack of professionalism was becoming unbearable.
Anonymous
July 29, 2019 at 12:11 pmPerhaps the WORST wedding planner and attitude for providing services that I have ever been a part of. Customer service was horrendous and on top of it, she threatened to have us removed from the resort if we complained too much or spoke up too disgruntled with her.
Avoid Preeti like the plague. Trust me. Way better planners out there that actually care about you and your wedding.
Infact, I would say co tact the resort directly and talk to their wedding planner. They would do a much much much better job.
Spent a ton of money. Check ins were outrageous. No special treatment for bringing close to 100 guests to the resort. My guess is her and her slimey business dealings, she probably kept all the perks.
STAY AWAY.
Vin
July 29, 2019 at 12:24 pmTheir planner Preeti is really disrespectful to elders. Highly recommend staying away from her and Champagne. She is a horrible planner and will most likely ruin your wedding.
Anonymous
July 29, 2019 at 10:06 pmI’ve always wanted a destination wedding growing up and when the time finally came to get married my husband and I had a lot of choices to go through. To make things easier we decided to hire a wedding planner. Preety Jaswal at Champagne Weddings was referred to us and showed us the various different resorts and venues that were available. She walked us through the initial costs and procedures helping us narrow our decision to the Moon Palace in Cancun Mexico. We were grateful that she could help us with this as we could focus on everything else that we needed to but after a short while it became apparent that my guests weren’t happy with the way things were being handled. Guests from both sides complained that whenever they called Preety for any questions she handled it unprofessionally and rude. We had a large number of guests attending and sometimes the questions they would ask were repetitive however that comes with job of being a wedding planner. It came to a point where we had to talk to her directly as she didn’t want to deal with our family and friends anymore. We made sure we handled everything appropriately but right before our reception during our personal photoshoot, she decided to tell us that she will no longer be a part of the wedding and left right away. This is the last thing we needed and we showed our frustration on our faces. The Photographer had to help us out and make sure we had a great photoshoot. The only time we heard from her was when she needed payment or if she could use our pictures for her social media, for which we declined. We would not recommend her and hope that no one ever has to go through this.
Anonymous
July 29, 2019 at 10:11 pmWhen my wife and I decided we wanted to do a destination wedding, we had no idea where to start. There’s tons of information on line but it can be overwhelming and confusing at times. We then decided to seek out a wedding planner that could guide us through the process and generally take care of all the necessities. We were referred to Preety Jaswal at Champagne Weddings. Everything started out great as she walked us through the different packages at few different resorts. We decided to have our wedding in Cancun, Mexico at the Moon Palace. Destination weddings can be confusing when organizing, especially when there are ton of guests attending. There’s going to lots of questions and some will repeat these questions due to not understanding. Preety would answer back but after a while, my guests started complaining as to how she handled any questions they asked. They were frustrated and distraught at they way she talked to them. She came across as abrupt and unprofessional and it showed through the complaints we were receiving. This is the last thing we needed as our stress levels were very high. Right before our personal photo shoot and entrance to our reception, she decided to tell us that she will not be continuing with our venue as our wedding planner and left the resort. This is not what we needed and it truly showed on our faces. Luckily the Photography team was there to help and made sure everything continued smoothly. We wouldn’t want anyone going through this and would not recommend Preety Jaswal at Champagne Weddings.
Marj Neudorf
January 23, 2022 at 6:19 pmWe have used Courtney to plan another vacation for us after the wonderful time we had in Mexico in November. This time we went to the beautiful country of Jamaica! The trip was amazing until my husband tested positive for Covid. Courtney helped us understand what was going to happen, she told us about the required paperwork and rebooked his flight ! We don’t know what we would have done without her help ! Thanks agaCourtney
Lucas doll
February 14, 2022 at 9:26 amThis company and staff could care less about you once they have your money. They will give you the “run around” and avoid any complications with your trip. They have also disabled the review system on their Facebook page to lock them in at a 5 star rating. Pretty shady…
Horrible Service
April 22, 2023 at 9:46 amThe reviews are true. Management took our fees and Courtney constantly lies to everyone (from the bride and groom, wedding party and guests). The saving grace are the wedding planners within the actual resort in Mexico.
I suggest booking directly with the resort if you would like a stress free and happy wedding. Champagne Weddings at http://champagneweddingsandtravel.com/ only care about profits over providing basic customer service such as providing the correct time for flight information.
You will be quite unsatisfied with this company.
Michelle Neuville
May 18, 2023 at 12:56 amCourtney is a liar we couldn’t agree more. We had the same experience.