Labola

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If I could give Labola Events zero stars, I would. I recently attended a wedding where they were responsible for coordination and event management, and I was genuinely shocked by the level of service provided. A wedding coordinator’s role is to anticipate needs, manage pressure, and respond quickly when unexpected situations arise. Unfortunately, when rain began just before the outdoor ceremony, none of this happened. There were indoor alternatives available, but when it came time to act, there was hesitation, pushback, and resistance to guidance from the family, who were simply trying to help move things forward in a stressful moment. Instead of leading the response, family and friends stepped in to move décor, dry chairs, and reorganize the space while the coordinators stood by and contributed very little. When the rain stopped and the ceremony was able to proceed outdoors, there was again no meaningful assistance in resetting the space. The most shocking moment came when, just minutes before the groom was due to walk down the aisle, the coordinators informed him that they were quitting and leaving. This happened mid-wedding. They said they didn’t like how people had engaged with them. I personally witnessed multiple people asking them respectfully multiple times for assistance with decor, chairs, towels to dry off (we were at a well stocked hotel) - things that were well within their scope of work as event planners - and were met with constant pushback and minimal support. Because they left mid-wedding, guests and family were left to move chairs, manage other logistics including setting up the reception hall. While the day was saved by the support of family and friends, the service provided was deeply unprofessional and wholly unacceptable. If you are planning a wedding or special event, I strongly suggest looking elsewhere - in fact, run! This is not the team for you!

We planned our wedding from Australia and hired Labola to assist 11 months before the big day. Unfortunately, Labola became the main cause of our pre-wedding stress. We paid for the ‘Full Cream Package’ but this is certainly not what we received. They provided us with a timeline of what should be booked and when yet provided no assistance in following it. We were given very little help with vendor sourcing, on several occasions I was told that something couldn't be found so I either had to source it myself or go without. On other occasions, the option we were given was not what we asked for at all. No effort was made to assist us with budget planning and we ended up having to spend around 100,000ZAR more than originally planned. I constantly had to go through invoices with a fine tooth comb as errors were not being corrected and even had to follow up on payments that weren't paid to vendors on time. Communication was poor, both from Labola to ourselves and Labola to the vendors, in this aspect Labola was more of a hindrance than a help. In the end, we lost so much trust in Labola that we felt we had to micromanage our wedding; this is exactly opposite to what we wanted to do and was the reason we hired a wedding planner in the first place. We found out 5 weeks before our wedding that it had actually been left in the hands of a junior administration assistant, whilst she had a lovely demeanor, she did not exhibit the experience, skills or attention to detail to manage the task. Fortunately, the Head Coordinator stepped in and pulled our wedding together in a matter of weeks but this involved countless emails, whatsapps, meetings, sleepless nights and emotional and financial stress. Not the enjoyable lead up that having a wedding planner should have ensured. The flowers and decor at our wedding were beautiful and our guests and ourselves did have a wonderful time but there were still a number of discrepancies on the day, an unfortunate after effect of the poor planning that preceded it. I do not recommend Labola for their planning and coordination services.