Well, I guess I’d rephrase that as there is high profile and high profile. 
I definitely think they were promoting the business but if you are low profile you can do that in ways that don’t utilize your daughter’s wedding as marketing fodder. How about organizing a charity ball or other charity event and use your fabrics?
But I guess I’m a pretty private person. I wouldn’t have a publicly available instagram where people can see what your ostrich eggshell cocktail holders look like. 
I think it’s possible to want to promote yourselves as luxe, social register types, without it having a business purpose. From what I do see of them on the web, they aren’t those low profile wealthy types who live quietly. Hiring MW was a choice.
Considering all the post-wedding fracas with these accusations ans filed suits, I hope the food, desserts, and drinks were delectable at the very least. 
There is only 1 lawsuit pending in NY and it was filed by MW against the Carls. There was a contract signed for her consulting services however that contract provides that all vendors and contracts have to be approved by the Carls. It does not allow her to retain vendors or pay them independently. In the complaint she attempts to establish an oral contract that allowed her to contract directly and advance funds. She said this was necessary since the Carls were poor communicators which hampered her ability to book vendors and fulfill her contract.
She claims she is owed about $145,000 for her consulting fee and services of her personnel who worked the wedding. She is also owed vendor charges she advanced of $267,000. As of February '17 the Carls have paid $25,000 toward her fees and $47,500 toward the vendor fees leaving those balances reduced respectively.
The Carls have a 20 page long list of complaints that they forwarded to her bill collector before she filed suit. It makes MW look pretty bad and makes the wedding seem like a fiasco. For instance Bernard claims he expressed a preference for local vendors to support the South Hampton economy. Instead she hired west coast vendors who transported rental furniture and lighting cross country which of course he was billed for. He pre-paid hotel bills for vendors and personnel which she forgot to communicate to them and she then billed him for the hotels they did stay in. She gave him a “budget” and spreadsheet of expenses 4 weeks before the wedding and he was aghast at the totals. There was no backup documentation just figures. He determined west coast vendors were subbing out to local vendors and simply marking the cost up.
It goes on and on with things like the dresser assigned to the groomsmen did not know how to tie a tie. The dresser for the bride could not bustle her dress and the bridal party missed half the cocktail hour because the bridesmaids had to figure it out. The salon appointments booked for the bridal parties were at all different times and hours apart. There was no transportation booked for the bridal couple to their hotel and they ended up calling a taxi. The bride wanted to present a special anniversary cake to her parents at the rehearsal dinner and the wrong cake arrived – the presentation never took place. The wedding cake was supposed to be sliced and frozen instead it was left on their kitchen table with stragler guests picking at it. Embroidered pillows were supposed to be handed out to departing guests - this never happened and some of them were taken by MW personnel instead.
The pictures look great but seems behind the scenes there was a lot to complain about.
^ I am in awe of the spectacular flowers…
They transported FURNITURE and lighting from California? Because, you know, NY is such a backwater, there’s no furniture to be had there and no one in NYC who knows about lighting…oy vey.
That is an awfully convincing list of complaints.
I doubt all the furniture needed. And we’re now relying on some 3rd hand reporters. Just saying.
@HarvestMoon1, I am assuming you have access to the lawsuit filing?
Yeah, some of that stuff sounds pretty bad.
@lookingforward I just summarized what I read in the complaint and exhibits. I would be uncomfortable linking the document on a public forum because the exhibits contain a lot of personal correspondence of Carl and the groom. It’s public record though so nothing stopping you from reading it yourself.
I feel as if I’m missing some pieces of an expensive puzzle here. How do you become Event Planner to the Stars if you hire dressers who don’t know how to tie ties or bustle bustles? If you’re busy professionals who hire a big name event planner, I guess you take for granted that all details will be tended to. That’s what you’re paying for. Still, there’s that “let the buyer beware” thing, too. If Mr. Carl realized that things were out of control 4 weeks ahead of time, I’m surprised he didn’t deputize someone to take a closer look before the wedding.
The quote from the original article - “They say they asked repeatedly for a detailed proposal, but Weiss kept putting them off. They became concerned but stayed quiet because they didn’t want to upset the bride-to-be.” - just doesn’t make sense to me. I think Weiss messed this up big-time, but not wanting to upset a grownup isn’t a strong reason for letting it all go and trusting to providence. I imagine the bride is not exactly delighted to have her wedding picked apart in the press now.
These are all intelligent people. But no one thought to ask, “Gee, what happens if it rains?”
It never rains in Southern California. B-)
ETA: Courtesy of Albert Hammond, for those too young to remember.
I agree. That part I don’t believe. Who knows what else was going on? It’s possible Carl haw-homed so much by the time they were making appointment, they could not reserve a block for all bridesmaids. Things like tihs you have to hear from both sides. As others have said, a lot of his complaints were preventable by setting the terms clearly. He just let it all happen and now saying he won’t pay. Has he told Weiss in advance he won’t pay if his terms aren’t met? Or has he kept quiet all this time stringing Weiss along and just not pay since he isn’t happy with the job?
“The Stars” probably have their own stylists and don’t depend on MW, who sounds increasingly incompetent, to make appointments for them for hair and makeup. If she isn’t capable of finding a dresser who can tie a tie or bustle a wedding dress…sheesh.
Afaiac, too many loose ends. I can’t go on who reports what or the ferocity of one side’s complaints. Per the WP article, "Weiss’s lawyer, Menachem Bensinger, did not provide a copy of the “Vendor Advance Contract” and confirmed that it was not included in the exhibits given to the court, adding that some contracts are oral or “implied.” Is there, in fact, some copy of this, somewhere? I can’t filter what’s fact.
I’m not finding a link that adequately shows me enough. And the fact Carl had 20 pages of complaint/rebuttal isn’t authoritative, to me. It’s not uncommon to fight with a tsunami, but in itself, that doesn’t prove. It’s not the weight of the document.
Adding: who says someone couldn’t tie a bustle? As far as I’ve ever seen, a good dress is constructed to make this a no-brainer: lift and button. Someone may have slipped, had a little trouble finding the loop, taken a few moments to do it right. But does this constitute incompetence? We get a picture of them standing there, dumbfounded, courtesy of BC’s docs. Is it so?
That’s all your going to get in a litigation - both parties presenting their side of the story. That’s what judges are for.
Agree, HM1. I’m just pointing out many are empathizing with Carl, based on the nature of his rebuttal. It’s a lawyerly talent to present in a way that makes one’s side seem so obviously the only truth. In court, the sorting should be done.
And plenty of oral contracts can hold. I think some of his other lawsuits reflected oral agreements he made.
Eh, I think anyone who advances hundreds of thousands of dollars on behalf of a client without written authority to do so is a very poor businesswoman. Let’s see if the oral “vendor” contract holds up in court. The contract the Carls did sign prohibit her from retaining any vendor without their approval.
It’s interesting to see how differently different people can view the “facts” in a case like this. Someone writes
I think it’s her rep with VENDORS she was worried about. Look at it from the videographer’s point of view. It’s obvious from his website that this isn’t the only business he’s gotten from Mindy Weiss, but he does work for other event planners, etc. too. So, he agrees to videograph a 3 day long wedding celebration in New York and Mindy tells him he can charge for transportation. Then Carl won’t sign his contract and the videographer was probably annoyed with Mindy because if she hadn’t asked him to do the Carl wedding that weekend, he’d probably have gotten an equally profitable gig in California the same weekend. So, if i were the videographer, I’d be steamed with her for failing to get my contract signed earlier. My hunch is that Weiss signed the contract because of his complaints—promising to pay if the Carls didn’t. That’s probably why she signed any other vendor contracts.
@lookingforward Sure, lots of oral contracts are enforceable. But enforcing an oral contract when there is no written one is very different than “implying” an oral contract when there is a written contract which contradicts it.
Thanks, @HarvestMoon1 for summarizing the filed documents. This is a hot mess. Maybe Carl did not want to sign the “standard contract” because his deal with the Brides magazine came with some strings… Just a speculation at this point.