Jennifer Savio
Your wedding day is supposed to be one of the happiest days of your life. So when a bride and groom end up with more of a disaster than a fairytale, they ask for "Help Me Hank!" to stop their wedding woes.
It's Gretchen's wedding day, and she's crying. And it's not because she's happy.
Gretchen Wallace, bride
"I was in shock at that point."
Gretchen and Patrick had planned their big day to be perfect and decided on a destination wedding at a Caribbean resort. Since they'd never seen the place in person, the details were done by long distance.
Gretchen Wallace, bride
"It was everything that I thought was going to be fantastic."
The couple received a confirmation, promising them everything from band to bouquet, and they jetted off to their dream wedding.
But when the couple arrived at the resort, the first sign of trouble was that the wedding coordinator had no record of their plans.
Patrick Wallace, groom
"It was kind of like we were starting from scratch."
And when the big day arrived, it was less fairytale and more horror story.
Gretchen Wallace, bride
"There was no tables, no chairs, no cake [and] no band. Nothing was there."
The woman in the pink is the wedding planner. She's still setting up tables after the guests arrived.
Patrick Wallace, groom
"It's not something you want to have happen on your wedding day."
The final straw was the wedding dinner. It was at the hotel's regular buffet and was shared with strangers in shorts.
Gretchen Wallace, bride
"I just broke down in tears."
The resort offered the couple a refund, but when the newlyweds got home, all that arrived was bad news.
Gretchen Wallace, bride
"Now, they were not even going to refund us."
Someone had to stop these wedding woes.
Gretchen Wallace, bride
"My friend Janice had contacted Hank Phillippi Ryan."
Wedding planners told us make a pre-wedding visit to your destination and get everything in writing or you could end up with wedding day drama.
Alexis Eliopoulos O'Mara, wedding planner
"While you can find out a lot through the Internet, it's not quite the same as walking through."
But this couple did not get what they paid for, so we called the resort to say a deal is a deal. I mean, this is the cake they were promised, and this is the one they got.
The place quickly renewed its vows for a refund, and big bucks appeared on the couple's credit card soon after.
And even though their wedding day wasn't perfect, there'll be no more tears, because Gretchen and Patrick love being married.
Gretchen Wallace, bride
"[We're] very happy."
Make sure your destination wedding has a happy ending. Get specifics in writing and arrive early enough to handle the inevitable last-minute details.
(Copyright (c) 2007 Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
