‘Every excuse in the book’: Edmonton couples sue wedding planner

Two Edmonton couples are warning others after they say a wedding planner made planning their dream day a nightmare. CTV News Edmonton's Nahreman Issa reports.

Two Edmonton couples say planning their dream day turned into a nightmare because of their wedding planner.

Cassia Schaar and Troy Murphy are in the middle of wedding planning, picking their colour scheme — and filing a lawsuit.

“It’s off to a different start than we had planned,” Murphy said. “I don’t think anybody wants to come into the new year dealing with a lawsuit.”

The couple is getting married in November and last August they hired Loveneet Tobin, a wedding planner who owns Simply Perfect Events.

“As part of our signed contract, she requested a credit card to have on file, which I thought was a little bit unorthodox.”

They say the first red flag was when they were charged for a DJ they didn’t hire.

They say Tobin said it was a mistake and she would refund them. The couple says she paid back less than half.

They then got a receipt from Tobin for the venue’s deposit, however…

“The venue contacted us and just followed up. ‘Hey, are you still wanting to book? We still have your date saved but we haven’t heard anything from you.’ So then, of course, we were very concerned, because we sent close to $3,000,” Schaar said."

The situation came to a head when a handful of vendors told the couple they would not work with Tobin.

That’s when they heard from other couples also unhappy with the wedding planner.

“I don’t want people’s wedding day to turn out like mine,” newlywed Sam Machado told CTV News Edmonton. “I spent two hours at my head table bawling my eyes out.”

Machado and Kole Hopper were married last October. They hired Tobin to plan it.

They say their deposits never made it to their DJ or caterer and the decorations they decided on were not what was on display.

“It was just a whole bunch more excuses, like something in her family or something she’s going through, or sickness, sickness and car problems,” Hopper said. “She had every excuse in the book.”

CTV News Edmonton reached out to Tobin multiple times. In a text message, she declined an interview and denied the allegations.

Simply Perfect Events has been shut down, Tobin said.

Both couples are now suing Tobin for thousands of dollars they say they are owed, and one couple has filed a police report.

“We kind of are wanting to just warn people in general, like, when you are planning a wedding, don’t give your credit card information to people,” Schaar said.

They hope their experience serves as a warning to other couples on their way to a happily-ever-after ending.