J.J.Ash Events and Designs

This is going to be a long review, so we will start with the positives: Ashanti was nice & her assistants were helpful & worked very **** ** the wedding day. We also had a music system issue about 15 minutes before the ceremony, & her husb& rushed over with a speaker for us to set up so that we could have music. This is where the positives end & the negatives & unnecessary stress begins with this vendor: TL;DR- Ashanti & JJ Ash Events lies, deceives, & does not provide adequate services for the price!!!!! & we have the receipts to back it up! To start, when we were interviewing her for her services (pre-hiring, 2-3 months before the wedding), she implied that tablecloths, flatware & chair covers were included in the package ($1500) we paid for. We thought that that was an ok deal. At our venue walkthrough a month before the wedding, she mentioned that she also had great votives, an arch, flatware & uplighting that she would bring. Later, to double check, we asked “that’s included right?” based off of the way she was talking. NONE of that was included in the price we paid. No linens, no chair covers, no decor, nothing. Those were an additional ‘$300 package’ that she didn’t tell us about. & the disposable flatware wasn’t included in that package; that was an extra $60 on top. Total was $1,860 (over $360 what we were quoted) Throughout our 2 months of “coordination”, it would take several days/weeks to get responses back to our questions/concerns & she had to be reminded of things we asked for multiple times. For example, when we asked for a vendor payment timeline based off of our vendor contracts (month & a half before wedding), we did not receive it for over a week, causing us to miss a payment. Then, when we did receive one (after we reminded her), it was incomplete & inaccurate almost causing another missed payment. She claimed that she contacted our vendors & confirmed everything- Videographers did not hear from her until 2-3 days prior to wedding, Hair & makeup were NEVER contacted, Photographer was only first contacted 3 DAYS before the wedding after we called her out saying he had never heard from her. Then she lied to us saying that she’s been trying to contact him for 2 weeks with no answer! (Photographer is a professional friend, who we had regularly asked if she had reached out to him- which she hadn’t). We would not have had any of our vendors if we had not kept in contact with them OURSELVES, because many never knew who she even was until day of. We asked her a few days before the wedding the amount of tablecloths & other things she was bringing, she assured us it was “enough” but would not give a number. On the day of the wedding, she did NOT have enough, they were not steamed like agreed upon, & their steamer was not adequate enough, so they had to borrow the mother of the groom's steamer. She showed up to the venue half an hour late, & was still setting things up as guests started arriving (4 hours later, small venue with only ~25 guests). Instead of getting ready with the bride & socializing, bridesmaids chose to help completely set up front room & steam the tablecloths because she was running so behind & it would not have been completed in time. Right before the processional, one of the bridesmaids had a dress zipper issue which took 15 mins to fix. Ashanti stood in front of every guest & announced to the entire venue (including our ceremony livestream) that there was a dress malfunction for one of the bridesmaids, causing a delay. You’re not supposed to say that anyone has a dress issue in this industry because that could make the person self-conscious & bring attention to the issue. During the evening, the bridesmaid confronted Ashanti about the incident & Ashanti denied, saying “When did I say that?!”, when we have multiple witnesses & a live stream to confirm she did in fact say it. As we were about to make our reception gr& entrance, she tried to move the first dance to immediately after the entrance & before we ate. She was told by the groom that we wanted to eat first, but to ask the bride about it. She found the bride & TOLD her we were doing the first dance first, then told the groom that the bride had okayed the change. The bride & groom discussed seconds before the gr& entrance that neither of them had wanted the change & had to tell the DJ themselves that they were not doing the first dance before dinner. After a guest got sick during the reception, the groom's family started to clean up the mess. When asked if she could find a mop (didn't even ask her to clean it, just to help find one), she said there wasn't one after not even trying to look. The groom's parents had to search for it & found it almost immediately because it was not hidden; just in a cleaning closet. She generally did not seem to know what was going on during the entire 2 months. We had 10+ people mention that they felt the need to apologize to us because of how poor of a job Ashanti was doing. 3 weeks after our wedding, after we received our professional photos, we stumbled across JJ Ash Events social media & saw that she took some of our wedding photos of our DIYed decorations that we made (custom, painted signage & table place cards) & advertised that she “offers signage”. This was not something she had advertised to us, & all of the pictures she used to advertise were of our homemade creations that she did not help create in any way. She took our intellectual property & photos & passed them off as her own without our knowledge. She only deleted the posts after we requested via email that she do so. Overall, we had a very negative experience with JJ Ash Events & do regret it, but we want to warn as many people as possible to stay away from this vendor if you value your money & time!!!!

I cannot praise J.JAsh Events and Designs enough! Not only is Ashanti the epitome of professionalism, but she knows how to breathe life into any vision. From the moment we met to disucss the event, her mere presence brought a sense of calmness that is only brought on by someone with a palpable passion for what they do. She took the desperate ramblings of ideas we had for my daughter and her best friend's 18th birthday and brought them true Mardis Gras form all the way to Williamsburg, Virginia. Even amidst Covid-19, she was able to design a glorious, outdoor, socially distanced 18th birthday worthy of these two queens. The emaculate decor created an event to remember! Her family team truly have blessed hands as they meticulously work to ensure every detail is in order. From start to finish, it was an easy process that allowed me the ability to relax and work on other details to make the day great. I highly recommend J.J.Ash Events and Designs for all of your celebratory needs. We will definitely hire them again!