“Even your alcohol is being donated. We’ve got every detail convered,” said John Ward, Director of the Bay Area Bridal Association (BABA) on FOX 13 on October 13, 2012. However, the joys of a free wedding  have been overshadowed by the aggravation about poor organizational skills of the organization.

   On October 9, 2011, Lisa and I started asking for information about our price and kept asking for specific details that had not been provided. Some of which were still pending ten days before the wedding. John Ward, who is also director of catering at the Sheraton Suites Tampa Airport Westshore, together with Kevin Kramer, founder of BABA, promised the most wonderful day for the Military ceremony, but it never was delivered.

   Lisa wrote to Ward on October 24, 2011 after talking to the wedding coordinator, “…we would receive a letter from BABA confirming everything that was explained to us when we found out that we were the winners. It is very difficult for Ben and me to create any type of budget or provide very important details to family without all of the details; can you tell me when we can expect to receive this letter?”

   John answered this email without even mentioning a letter or any kind of document but attached a list of the vendors who donated their services. This list did not include any budgets or the type of service that would be donated. We had to go to the vendors ourselves and ask what they actually donated. Ward guaranteed in that email once again that “We still have a few more things up our sleeves but they will not be a cost factor to you.”

   On January 16, 2012, Lisa contacted Ward again, “My concern is that if the donation from Pepin isn’t enough and we run out that my guests will have no choice but to leave my reception to go to lobby to get a drink. I want to do what is necessary to prevent that from happening.” Ward replied, “If you run out of beer or wine, I will be happy to set up a consumption bar. You would be charged only for the product consumed. Domestic beer is priced at $5.00 and wines are priced at $7.00. Once the tab has been calculated, the appropriate 7% state tax and 22% service charge will be added.”

I  drove over to Pepin to find out what had been donated. Since October 24, 2011, the donation of the alcohol (which was three cases of beer) for a three hour reception was ready for pick up.

   The documents from Pepin, which we received on January 18, 2012, was provided by Pepin. We are thankful for the donation, but needed this information long before the final week of wedding preparations.

   Ten days to our big day, we are now concerned. This leaves many headaches and concerns about additional costs and issues that we already have, and more that might come up because of improper organizational skills. Since the plane tickets for our family coming from overseas have been booked, it is impossible cancel it at this point.