Big City Bride is absolutely the worst wedding planning service in Chicago, if not in America. This place is all style, no substance; all talk, no walk. They have their employees, family and friends write glowing online reviews that are completely fake! And If you try and write a negative review about this business on yelp, it gets removed in a flash!
My fiance and I paid $25,565 to have this company plan our wedding. I either got the most mentally inept wedding planner alive or the entire business is run by unethical and corrupt people. Susan Cordogan, my planner, along with Claire Weller, her assistant, was unresponsive and I'd had to track her down via complaints when following up about progress. And by the way, their voicemail is ALWAYS FULL. Try calling their main number or their cell at 815.355.7720!
They only respond when you complain (after repeated attempts to get in contact with them). They have a no-refund stipulation in their contracts, so if you aren't satisfied with their work, which is most likely to happen you cannot even get a partial refund for the bad service.
To start, my planner Susan Cordogan would never send information when she said she would (if at all) - I mostly had to follow up or track her down for a response. And after I paid, apparently, Susan Cordogan stopped responding and referred all my questions to Claire Weller, an assistant. Weeks could go by and no updates or follow up on her end regarding progress. And, when I did get response (after a complaint) the information was poorly researched. After I had enough of their poor service, I had to argue with Susan Cordogan over why I felt I should get at least a partial refund.
Long, horrible story short, I ended up planning my wedding here in Chicago, but lost money I would've used to hire a better planner here.
On an additional note, the service and experience I had with Big City Bride was so horrendous, I ended up having to go into detail on my personal blog to warn other hopeful brides to stay away from this place. You'd be better off planning such an affair by yourself.
Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride made our wedding story wedding-sorry. Simply horrible! From start to finish Susan Cordogan was a nightmare. Unorganized and worse, sneaky, she booked another wedding on my day a month after I booked with her (after she specifically told me she didn't). Even her mom, a nice Indiana lady, told a guest at my wedding 'my daughter spread herself too thin'. We went way over budget; she was MIA 80% of the time. I had to start all communication with her. Always had to talk about her life for her to respond to any of my questions.
Susan Cordogan loves plastic surgery, which is her business, but then FOUR DAYS before my wedding that she wouldn't be there because.... she had plastic surgery. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! A bride is beyond stressed and you should really let them know of any surprises as early as possible, but Susan Cordogan waited until the very last minute. Infuriating, to say the least! She doesn't ever know what she's talking about. Always late and so much drama, she should not be in this business! I should've fired her when I had the chance, but at least now maybe I can stop another bride from her trauma. Do not hire her!!!! Ps- most of the 5 star reviews on her yelp pages aren't real brides. She's just trying to overcompensate for the terrible reviews that she gets... like mine!
Big City Bride disappointed me beyond belief. They promised so much more than they delivered. At the first meeting Susan Cordogan, the owner stated we would be able to pick from three vendors, for each part of the wedding (ie. band, flowers etc. ) She only came up with one vendor and we had to research for more on our own.
My mother and stepmother believed very strongly in consults and relied on her even though my stepmother is a professional party organizer out of state. Susan Cordogan later told our vendors that they should do what they wanted because "these people were from out of state and KNEW Nothing." Even the vendors seemed embarrassed by this. We had instilled our trust in Big City Bride, and this woman had thrown it aside.
When we decided on our church location, Susan Cordogan continually pushed to change the venue because evidently her choice would have made her more money. She almost drove me crazy with her incessant nagging, but I stuck with my own choice. People later said it was the prettiest church and wedding they had every seen.
On the day of the wedding after I had repeatedly stated that I wanted it to be laid back and easy going, I had to sit down with the wedding planner and ask her to chill.
If you have an idea of what you want and have the potential for mature decisions please choose someone with heart. Susan Cordogan and her girls are long on profits, short on making YOUR dream wedding a reality.
I hate that I have to write this because the wedding was beautiful but I know it was because of my mother, stepmother and other friends, even my husband who found all the venues.
Let your wedding be yours because you only get one if you are lucky, and don’t be misguided mistreated by Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride.
We hired Susan Cordogan with Big City Bride. Her job duties included one day wedding planning, executing plans we agreed on, turning in images and videos, greeting guest etc. Number 1 is this is not a legitimately registered company in the state of Illinois. I researched her after the issues we had and discovered Susan Cordogan is trading and doing business in the state of Illinois with a bogus company. Susan Cordogan was suppose to give us images and videos and now refuses to release them unless we pay her and her associate John Cordogan Photography (her husband), another unregistered Illinois business. She is trying to make us pay an additional $1000.
We saw a video edit (I have a copy of) where she was going to use our personal video wedding footage as an advertisement for both of their businesses without my consent. It includes both of their business logos over our personal wedding footage. Most importantly, on the actual day of the wedding, they were late, they were rude to my guest and staff. Told my mother it was to late for her to do a toast. Told my DJ who is a platinum recording artist "have you ever DJ'ed before". Susan Cordogan decided to NOT to use the expensive plates and glasses we purchased because she states "plastic was easier". Causing us a loss of $1800. Susan Cordogan did not bring out our gift table that we paid for or the table sashes, and the Custom cake cutters.
Another loss of $100. Susan Cordogan and her people threw away guest plates and drinks while they were sitting AND started pulling the tables and decorations away while the party ws still going on. I was MORTIFIED!!!! I could not believe the lack of respect and professionalism. Lastly Susan Cordogan refuses to work with us to fix this issues and no longer answers calls or emails that we have sent. I have numerous email asking for her help on this matter and she just chooses to not reply. Susan Cordogan has RUINED my wedding. They even came dressed in jeans and t-shirt to a FORMAL wedding. I could die.
Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride completely abandoned us at the altar on our big day. Adding insult to injury, Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride savagely ruined our dream wedding and tripled the cost of our reception. We were sickened by her arrogant and heartless actions, which harmed us personally and financially.
After tripling our wedding bill from $20,000 to more than $60,000, Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride failed to provide the invitations, flowers, a DJ or the wedding cake as specified in the contract. We were simply told by her that “I’ve got you covered!”
Susan Cordogan’s aggressive selfishness was further exemplified by two-timing us with a taping of her commercial when she was supposed to be working on our wedding.
We were shocked to have discovered this after the event, and did not discover that Susan Cordogan would be a no-show (apparently she enjoyed using our venue for the taping of her commercial then disappeared before our arrival!) until after we had already arrived at our wedding. We were so humiliated in front of our guests.
All in all, the wedding was not what we expected. We trusted Susan Cordogan so much, but Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride threw our trust in the wind by not appearing, by tripling our wedding bill, and by two-timing us.
Long story short, I ended up firing Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride three weeks before our wedding. I know what you're thinking (crazy bride, right?) - wrong! I literally felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders after we terminated our contract. I should have gone with my gut feeling from the beginning when she sent us our e-contract and it had another clients name as the bride & groom, but I let it go...
Susan Cordogan of Big City Bride started off as very a professional planner and seemed to understand our vision. But as time got closer, I began to notice a dramatic difference in her work. She started missing phone conferences; she also missed our venue walk-thru (and never called, emailed or texted us letting us know she would not be able to attend). Prior to signing the contract it took less than 24 hours for her to respond back to e-mails. After signing the contract, we were looking at a 48-72 hour turn around (and occasionally a week would go by prior to her responding).
Susan Cordogan of Big City Bride was not communicating with any of the vendors that we booked. For example, we booked her at the beginning of April and she still had not reached out to our venue as of July 1st (keep in mind our wedding took place on July 25th). All of our vendors were still contacting me inquiring about wedding details, timelines, etc. She was telling me that she had been in contact with the vendors, however none of them had heard from her. She was very slow on providing us with vendor recommendations and the recommendations that were provided were far out of our budget! Every time I asked for recommendations for more reasonable vendors it would either take a very long time to get back with us, or the recommendation was never provided. I think I could have looked past the missed calls and appointments had she been a bit more professional after I emailed her regarding our concerns.
Instead of apologizing and taking a little fault for her actions Susan Cordogan of Big City Bride insisted that she was going above and beyond her duties and pretty much made it seem as though she had done nothing wrong. Still to this day she has not apologized. It frustrates me because we did pay her (1 out of 3 installments) and unfortunately that money will not be refunded.
I was a very easygoing bride and the worst feeling is having someone take advantage of you. Weddings are not cheap!
Any who, I say this in the nicest way possible - think twice (maybe even three times) before hiring Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride! I gave her 1 star because the one good thing that came out of hiring her was her suggestion to use Uber for our transportation and that was a hit!
Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride completely abandoned us at the altar on our big day.
Adding insult to injury, Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride savagely ruined our dream wedding and tripled the cost of our reception. We were sickened by her arrogant and heartless actions, which harmed us personally and financially.
After tripling our wedding bill from $20,000 to more than $60,000, Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride failed to provide the invitations, flowers, a DJ or the wedding cake as specified in the contract. We were simply told by her that “I’ve got you covered!”
Susan Cordogan’s aggressive selfishness was further exemplified by two-timing us with a taping of her commercial when she was supposed to be working on our wedding.
We were shocked to have discovered this after the event, and did not discover that Susan Cordogan would be a no-show (apparently she enjoyed using our venue for the taping of her commercial then disappeared before our arrival!) until after we had already arrived at our wedding. We were so humiliated in front of our guests.
All in all, the wedding was not what we expected. We trusted Susan Cordogan so much, but Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride threw our trust in the wind by not appearing, by tripling our wedding bill, and by two-timing us.
Big city bride is the perfect wedding planner for you if you fancy a sexual predator planning your wedding, potentially exposing your children and other young guests to sexual assault, and having that etched in their memory for life.
Susan cordogan, president of big city bride is a convicted child molester and sexual predator! shocking, shocked; it’s shocking, and i was shocked after my appointment with her and doing an online research on her! susan cordogan was convicted of multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault on two minors while vacationing in the bahamas!
It’s reported by the the nassau guardian that susan cordogan was convicted of molesting two young hotel workers under the age of16 at the cove eleuthera, and was subsequently sentenced to 5 years in a bahamian prison in 2008, after which she would be repatriated back to the u.S.
The nassau guardian- november 11, 2008
The cove eleuthera’ s lack of safety measures to protect staff is being blamed after two young male employees were allegedly molested on november 10 by an american woman named susan cordogan.
The woman, who stayed at the hotel, allegedly called for room service, which was delivered by two young hotel workers that were working part-time. When the young waiters got to the room, susan cordogan was alone and propositioned them and asked them to entertain her. The young waiters told reporters that susan cordogan then tried to undress them, unbuttoning their pants and putting her hands on their genitals. She also threatened to file a complaint with the hotel and have them fired if they did not oblige.
According to interviews with hotel employees, employees, part-time or full-time, have never received any safety manual or been told what to do about troublesome guests. Hotel officials said that emergency buzzers were available for use, but the young workers said they had not been told about them.
The two young men said they were traumatized by the incident and reported it to police. They said that they have suffered insomnia since and are currently both on a leave of absence.
I hired Big City Bride and Susan Cordogan as a day of coordinator. I was referred to her by theknot.com because she was offering a special. I had never heard of her, but the online reviews were mostly positive (later and too late that I found out that those reviews were manipulated and Susan Cordogan had an in-house technologist that did nothing but to generate glowing and glorifying reviews for her and her business all the while getting rid of the negative though truthful ones! ). So I signed a contract with her. I thought how badly could she mess up? BOY WAS I WRONG! For the reception, Susan Cordogan made a timeline. It stated that guests were to go inside the venue at 8:30 pm. Cocktail hr was from 8-8:30 pm. Our photographer/videographer used her timeline as well. They planned to take pic/ video of my hubby & I alone in the venue for 30 mins. We get to the venue at 8 pm. When we go inside, there are guests inside the venue already! My photographer approached her & asked Susan Cordogan why there were guests in the venue, if the timeline SHE MADE said that we had 30 mins for pics? Her response OHH! Seriously?!! We weren't able to take photos of the venue empty & guests saw us BEFORE our grand entrance! Our centerpieces had candles that WERE NOT LIT! OUR PARENTS frantically searched for lighters & were LIGHTING UP CANDLES as GUESTS WERE COMING IN THE VENUE! Susan Cordogan should have done this before guests were coming in, not OUR PARENTS. She did not line up the bridal party for the grand entrance, our DJ DID! She didn't cue us to when to cut the cake, the garter, bouquet toss, etc., our PHOTOGRAPHER DID! These were things she said she would do in the CONTRACT I SIGNED! I had other people doing her job. That's not what I paid for!! She seemed lost & preoccupied. Maybe it's because she bought HER HUSBAND to our wedding. He ate free food & probably drank as well. TOTALLY UNPROFESSIONAL. I needed someone to take charge, instead she was lagging in the background, as others were doing her job. She had NO IDEA what she was doing. I felt cheated, because Susan Cordogan told me she had planned numerous weddings before. Also, a few of my other vendors told me she was rude to them. She never made me feel like a priority. I always felt like I was bothering her when I would contact her. She ALMOST ruined the most important day of my life, if it weren't for the help of my family & other amazing vendors. I hired Susan Cordogan to alleviate stress, but instead she caused me stress on the one day I should have been stress free.
Susan Cordogan of Big City Bride is a scam artist, a thief, and a fraud
I’m looking for a bit of advice about a sticky situation with our ex-wedding planner Susan Cordogan of Big City Bride, 954 West Webster Chicago IL 60614. I think we have been scammed by Susan Cordogan and I’m not sure what to do next. I want to make sure other brides aren’t duped by her as we were. Our planner asked for half her fees upfront as a non-refundable deposit, so it appears we are out the money. Susan Cordogan has a great looking website and claims to be a celebrity wedding planner, president of local wedding planning association, and affiliated with several reputable local institutions (we found out her involvement was over embellished) and more than a few fake reviews on yelp.
Here is why we think Susan Cordogan is a scammer (which we discovered after booking, most of this info was not on the net until after we booked):
She sent us personal facebook pages of people she claimed were vendors. There is no mention of the fact they run a business, and I’m pretty sure none of these people run an actual business.
She sent us a budget that did not include things like a wedding license.
She would take WEEKS to respond to emails (up to a month once) and would always reply at 2 am.
My fiancé and I repeatedly stated we wanted a vintage and elegant themed wedding. Her design ideas were all long the lines of super rustic, burlap, and ranch style when we wanted something art deco themed and elegant. Susan Cordogan never did update her design ideas for us after we repeatedly clarified the theme was different.
The first draft budget Susan Cordogan sent me had another bride’s info in the “actual” column. Our “estimated” column was ours, but the money spent was someone else’s.
Susan Cordogan did not help us find a venue. Originally Susan Cordogan sent us some leads that she got off google but didn’t check out. When we found one we liked about an hour away and drove out there, we found that it did not come with transportation (we would need to rent golf carts) and was without any sort of shade or cover meaning we would also need to rent a tent. Our so-called in budget venue was about $10k over budget, for the venue alone.
Susan Cordogan writes on her linked in page that she works at a bar and specializes in “upselling”. (appeared after we booked)
After we cancelled the agreement, Susan Cordogan accused us of scamming her! (She has our money and refuses to give it back, we do not have anything of hers.) She did send us exactly one usable vendor: a DJ that is priced out of the budget she made for us.
Most of the things above (design ideas, budget and vendor help) were included in our contract. We feel that our contract was breached, so we did fire her.
I’m really angry we got scammed and I’m not sure what to do next. I really want to make sure another bride is not victimized. I’m afraid if I write a bad review Susan Cordogan will sue us for defamation. I’m in grad school, so we really do not want to find ourselves defendants in a lawsuit with a scammer.
Big City Bride Reviews
Big City Bride is absolutely the worst wedding planning service in Chicago, if not in America. This place is all style, no substance; all talk, no walk. They have their employees, family and friends write glowing online reviews that are completely fake! And If you try and write a negative review about this business on yelp, it gets removed in a flash!
My fiance and I paid $25,565 to have this company plan our wedding. I either got the most mentally inept wedding planner alive or the entire business is run by unethical and corrupt people. Susan Cordogan, my planner, along with Claire Weller, her assistant, was unresponsive and I'd had to track her down via complaints when following up about progress. And by the way, their voicemail is ALWAYS FULL. Try calling their main number or their cell at 815.355.7720!
They only respond when you complain (after repeated attempts to get in contact with them). They have a no-refund stipulation in their contracts, so if you aren't satisfied with their work, which is most likely to happen you cannot even get a partial refund for the bad service.
To start, my planner Susan Cordogan would never send information when she said she would (if at all) - I mostly had to follow up or track her down for a response. And after I paid, apparently, Susan Cordogan stopped responding and referred all my questions to Claire Weller, an assistant. Weeks could go by and no updates or follow up on her end regarding progress. And, when I did get response (after a complaint) the information was poorly researched. After I had enough of their poor service, I had to argue with Susan Cordogan over why I felt I should get at least a partial refund.
Long, horrible story short, I ended up planning my wedding here in Chicago, but lost money I would've used to hire a better planner here.
On an additional note, the service and experience I had with Big City Bride was so horrendous, I ended up having to go into detail on my personal blog to warn other hopeful brides to stay away from this place. You'd be better off planning such an affair by yourself.
Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride made our wedding story wedding-sorry. Simply horrible! From start to finish Susan Cordogan was a nightmare. Unorganized and worse, sneaky, she booked another wedding on my day a month after I booked with her (after she specifically told me she didn't). Even her mom, a nice Indiana lady, told a guest at my wedding 'my daughter spread herself too thin'. We went way over budget; she was MIA 80% of the time. I had to start all communication with her. Always had to talk about her life for her to respond to any of my questions.
Susan Cordogan loves plastic surgery, which is her business, but then FOUR DAYS before my wedding that she wouldn't be there because.... she had plastic surgery. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! A bride is beyond stressed and you should really let them know of any surprises as early as possible, but Susan Cordogan waited until the very last minute. Infuriating, to say the least! She doesn't ever know what she's talking about. Always late and so much drama, she should not be in this business! I should've fired her when I had the chance, but at least now maybe I can stop another bride from her trauma. Do not hire her!!!! Ps- most of the 5 star reviews on her yelp pages aren't real brides. She's just trying to overcompensate for the terrible reviews that she gets... like mine!
Big City Bride disappointed me beyond belief. They promised so much more than they delivered. At the first meeting Susan Cordogan, the owner stated we would be able to pick from three vendors, for each part of the wedding (ie. band, flowers etc. ) She only came up with one vendor and we had to research for more on our own.
My mother and stepmother believed very strongly in consults and relied on her even though my stepmother is a professional party organizer out of state. Susan Cordogan later told our vendors that they should do what they wanted because "these people were from out of state and KNEW Nothing." Even the vendors seemed embarrassed by this. We had instilled our trust in Big City Bride, and this woman had thrown it aside.
When we decided on our church location, Susan Cordogan continually pushed to change the venue because evidently her choice would have made her more money. She almost drove me crazy with her incessant nagging, but I stuck with my own choice. People later said it was the prettiest church and wedding they had every seen.
On the day of the wedding after I had repeatedly stated that I wanted it to be laid back and easy going, I had to sit down with the wedding planner and ask her to chill.
If you have an idea of what you want and have the potential for mature decisions please choose someone with heart. Susan Cordogan and her girls are long on profits, short on making YOUR dream wedding a reality.
I hate that I have to write this because the wedding was beautiful but I know it was because of my mother, stepmother and other friends, even my husband who found all the venues.
Let your wedding be yours because you only get one if you are lucky, and don’t be misguided mistreated by Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride.
We hired Susan Cordogan with Big City Bride. Her job duties included one day wedding planning, executing plans we agreed on, turning in images and videos, greeting guest etc. Number 1 is this is not a legitimately registered company in the state of Illinois. I researched her after the issues we had and discovered Susan Cordogan is trading and doing business in the state of Illinois with a bogus company. Susan Cordogan was suppose to give us images and videos and now refuses to release them unless we pay her and her associate John Cordogan Photography (her husband), another unregistered Illinois business. She is trying to make us pay an additional $1000.
We saw a video edit (I have a copy of) where she was going to use our personal video wedding footage as an advertisement for both of their businesses without my consent. It includes both of their business logos over our personal wedding footage. Most importantly, on the actual day of the wedding, they were late, they were rude to my guest and staff. Told my mother it was to late for her to do a toast. Told my DJ who is a platinum recording artist "have you ever DJ'ed before". Susan Cordogan decided to NOT to use the expensive plates and glasses we purchased because she states "plastic was easier". Causing us a loss of $1800. Susan Cordogan did not bring out our gift table that we paid for or the table sashes, and the Custom cake cutters.
Another loss of $100. Susan Cordogan and her people threw away guest plates and drinks while they were sitting AND started pulling the tables and decorations away while the party ws still going on. I was MORTIFIED!!!! I could not believe the lack of respect and professionalism. Lastly Susan Cordogan refuses to work with us to fix this issues and no longer answers calls or emails that we have sent. I have numerous email asking for her help on this matter and she just chooses to not reply. Susan Cordogan has RUINED my wedding. They even came dressed in jeans and t-shirt to a FORMAL wedding. I could die.
Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride completely abandoned us at the altar on our big day. Adding insult to injury, Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride savagely ruined our dream wedding and tripled the cost of our reception. We were sickened by her arrogant and heartless actions, which harmed us personally and financially.
After tripling our wedding bill from $20,000 to more than $60,000, Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride failed to provide the invitations, flowers, a DJ or the wedding cake as specified in the contract. We were simply told by her that “I’ve got you covered!”
Susan Cordogan’s aggressive selfishness was further exemplified by two-timing us with a taping of her commercial when she was supposed to be working on our wedding.
We were shocked to have discovered this after the event, and did not discover that Susan Cordogan would be a no-show (apparently she enjoyed using our venue for the taping of her commercial then disappeared before our arrival!) until after we had already arrived at our wedding. We were so humiliated in front of our guests.
All in all, the wedding was not what we expected. We trusted Susan Cordogan so much, but Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride threw our trust in the wind by not appearing, by tripling our wedding bill, and by two-timing us.
Long story short, I ended up firing Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride three weeks before our wedding. I know what you're thinking (crazy bride, right?) - wrong! I literally felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders after we terminated our contract. I should have gone with my gut feeling from the beginning when she sent us our e-contract and it had another clients name as the bride & groom, but I let it go...
Susan Cordogan of Big City Bride started off as very a professional planner and seemed to understand our vision. But as time got closer, I began to notice a dramatic difference in her work. She started missing phone conferences; she also missed our venue walk-thru (and never called, emailed or texted us letting us know she would not be able to attend). Prior to signing the contract it took less than 24 hours for her to respond back to e-mails. After signing the contract, we were looking at a 48-72 hour turn around (and occasionally a week would go by prior to her responding).
Susan Cordogan of Big City Bride was not communicating with any of the vendors that we booked. For example, we booked her at the beginning of April and she still had not reached out to our venue as of July 1st (keep in mind our wedding took place on July 25th). All of our vendors were still contacting me inquiring about wedding details, timelines, etc. She was telling me that she had been in contact with the vendors, however none of them had heard from her. She was very slow on providing us with vendor recommendations and the recommendations that were provided were far out of our budget! Every time I asked for recommendations for more reasonable vendors it would either take a very long time to get back with us, or the recommendation was never provided. I think I could have looked past the missed calls and appointments had she been a bit more professional after I emailed her regarding our concerns.
Instead of apologizing and taking a little fault for her actions Susan Cordogan of Big City Bride insisted that she was going above and beyond her duties and pretty much made it seem as though she had done nothing wrong. Still to this day she has not apologized. It frustrates me because we did pay her (1 out of 3 installments) and unfortunately that money will not be refunded.
I was a very easygoing bride and the worst feeling is having someone take advantage of you. Weddings are not cheap!
Any who, I say this in the nicest way possible - think twice (maybe even three times) before hiring Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride! I gave her 1 star because the one good thing that came out of hiring her was her suggestion to use Uber for our transportation and that was a hit!
Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride completely abandoned us at the altar on our big day.
Adding insult to injury, Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride savagely ruined our dream wedding and tripled the cost of our reception. We were sickened by her arrogant and heartless actions, which harmed us personally and financially.
After tripling our wedding bill from $20,000 to more than $60,000, Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride failed to provide the invitations, flowers, a DJ or the wedding cake as specified in the contract. We were simply told by her that “I’ve got you covered!”
Susan Cordogan’s aggressive selfishness was further exemplified by two-timing us with a taping of her commercial when she was supposed to be working on our wedding.
We were shocked to have discovered this after the event, and did not discover that Susan Cordogan would be a no-show (apparently she enjoyed using our venue for the taping of her commercial then disappeared before our arrival!) until after we had already arrived at our wedding. We were so humiliated in front of our guests.
All in all, the wedding was not what we expected. We trusted Susan Cordogan so much, but Susan Cordogan and Big City Bride threw our trust in the wind by not appearing, by tripling our wedding bill, and by two-timing us.
Big city bride is the perfect wedding planner for you if you fancy a sexual predator planning your wedding, potentially exposing your children and other young guests to sexual assault, and having that etched in their memory for life.
Susan cordogan, president of big city bride is a convicted child molester and sexual predator! shocking, shocked; it’s shocking, and i was shocked after my appointment with her and doing an online research on her! susan cordogan was convicted of multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault on two minors while vacationing in the bahamas!
It’s reported by the the nassau guardian that susan cordogan was convicted of molesting two young hotel workers under the age of16 at the cove eleuthera, and was subsequently sentenced to 5 years in a bahamian prison in 2008, after which she would be repatriated back to the u.S.
The nassau guardian- november 11, 2008
The cove eleuthera’ s lack of safety measures to protect staff is being blamed after two young male employees were allegedly molested on november 10 by an american woman named susan cordogan.
The woman, who stayed at the hotel, allegedly called for room service, which was delivered by two young hotel workers that were working part-time. When the young waiters got to the room, susan cordogan was alone and propositioned them and asked them to entertain her. The young waiters told reporters that susan cordogan then tried to undress them, unbuttoning their pants and putting her hands on their genitals. She also threatened to file a complaint with the hotel and have them fired if they did not oblige.
According to interviews with hotel employees, employees, part-time or full-time, have never received any safety manual or been told what to do about troublesome guests. Hotel officials said that emergency buzzers were available for use, but the young workers said they had not been told about them.
The two young men said they were traumatized by the incident and reported it to police. They said that they have suffered insomnia since and are currently both on a leave of absence.
I hired Big City Bride and Susan Cordogan as a day of coordinator. I was referred to her by theknot.com because she was offering a special. I had never heard of her, but the online reviews were mostly positive (later and too late that I found out that those reviews were manipulated and Susan Cordogan had an in-house technologist that did nothing but to generate glowing and glorifying reviews for her and her business all the while getting rid of the negative though truthful ones! ). So I signed a contract with her. I thought how badly could she mess up? BOY WAS I WRONG! For the reception, Susan Cordogan made a timeline. It stated that guests were to go inside the venue at 8:30 pm. Cocktail hr was from 8-8:30 pm. Our photographer/videographer used her timeline as well. They planned to take pic/ video of my hubby & I alone in the venue for 30 mins. We get to the venue at 8 pm. When we go inside, there are guests inside the venue already! My photographer approached her & asked Susan Cordogan why there were guests in the venue, if the timeline SHE MADE said that we had 30 mins for pics? Her response OHH! Seriously?!! We weren't able to take photos of the venue empty & guests saw us BEFORE our grand entrance! Our centerpieces had candles that WERE NOT LIT! OUR PARENTS frantically searched for lighters & were LIGHTING UP CANDLES as GUESTS WERE COMING IN THE VENUE! Susan Cordogan should have done this before guests were coming in, not OUR PARENTS. She did not line up the bridal party for the grand entrance, our DJ DID! She didn't cue us to when to cut the cake, the garter, bouquet toss, etc., our PHOTOGRAPHER DID! These were things she said she would do in the CONTRACT I SIGNED! I had other people doing her job. That's not what I paid for!! She seemed lost & preoccupied. Maybe it's because she bought HER HUSBAND to our wedding. He ate free food & probably drank as well. TOTALLY UNPROFESSIONAL. I needed someone to take charge, instead she was lagging in the background, as others were doing her job. She had NO IDEA what she was doing. I felt cheated, because Susan Cordogan told me she had planned numerous weddings before. Also, a few of my other vendors told me she was rude to them. She never made me feel like a priority. I always felt like I was bothering her when I would contact her. She ALMOST ruined the most important day of my life, if it weren't for the help of my family & other amazing vendors. I hired Susan Cordogan to alleviate stress, but instead she caused me stress on the one day I should have been stress free.
Big City Bride is a scam.
Susan Cordogan of Big City Bride is a scam artist, a thief, and a fraud
I’m looking for a bit of advice about a sticky situation with our ex-wedding planner Susan Cordogan of Big City Bride, 954 West Webster Chicago IL 60614. I think we have been scammed by Susan Cordogan and I’m not sure what to do next. I want to make sure other brides aren’t duped by her as we were. Our planner asked for half her fees upfront as a non-refundable deposit, so it appears we are out the money. Susan Cordogan has a great looking website and claims to be a celebrity wedding planner, president of local wedding planning association, and affiliated with several reputable local institutions (we found out her involvement was over embellished) and more than a few fake reviews on yelp.
Here is why we think Susan Cordogan is a scammer (which we discovered after booking, most of this info was not on the net until after we booked):
She sent us personal facebook pages of people she claimed were vendors. There is no mention of the fact they run a business, and I’m pretty sure none of these people run an actual business.
She sent us a budget that did not include things like a wedding license.
She would take WEEKS to respond to emails (up to a month once) and would always reply at 2 am.
My fiancé and I repeatedly stated we wanted a vintage and elegant themed wedding. Her design ideas were all long the lines of super rustic, burlap, and ranch style when we wanted something art deco themed and elegant. Susan Cordogan never did update her design ideas for us after we repeatedly clarified the theme was different.
The first draft budget Susan Cordogan sent me had another bride’s info in the “actual” column. Our “estimated” column was ours, but the money spent was someone else’s.
Susan Cordogan did not help us find a venue. Originally Susan Cordogan sent us some leads that she got off google but didn’t check out. When we found one we liked about an hour away and drove out there, we found that it did not come with transportation (we would need to rent golf carts) and was without any sort of shade or cover meaning we would also need to rent a tent. Our so-called in budget venue was about $10k over budget, for the venue alone.
Susan Cordogan writes on her linked in page that she works at a bar and specializes in “upselling”. (appeared after we booked)
After we cancelled the agreement, Susan Cordogan accused us of scamming her! (She has our money and refuses to give it back, we do not have anything of hers.) She did send us exactly one usable vendor: a DJ that is priced out of the budget she made for us.
Most of the things above (design ideas, budget and vendor help) were included in our contract. We feel that our contract was breached, so we did fire her.
I’m really angry we got scammed and I’m not sure what to do next. I really want to make sure another bride is not victimized. I’m afraid if I write a bad review Susan Cordogan will sue us for defamation. I’m in grad school, so we really do not want to find ourselves defendants in a lawsuit with a scammer.