Q: When do we start working together?
A: Immediately after the signed contract is returned and the deposit has been paid (unless your contract otherwise states… but I have yet to write a contract where this is otherwise stated).
Q: I’m not quite ready to pay the deposit, can we start working together now?
A: No! We start the planning process once the signed contract is returned and the deposit has been paid. I am so, so excited to work with my each and every couple, but time is valuable, and in a service based job my time, knowledge, and skills are what you are purchasing. You wouldn’t go into Target and take a toilet paper roll under the pretense you will come back and pay for it later! Yes, I love wedding planning and YES I want to help you, but this is how I pay for my house and put food on my table so our work together begins when the date is fully reserved!
q: I plan on booking, but haven’t yet. Can you make some vendor recommendations?
A: Our preferred vendor list is available to everyone, both client and non-client alike! We have to unique opportunity to work with some truly talented vendors every single weekend. The vendors you find on our preferred list are those who have WOWed us time and time again. Full and partial planning clients will receive curated lists of vendors tailored to their wants and needs after booking. All clients have access to our extended preferred vendor list after booking. This is a full list of vendors we’ve worked with and have been thoroughly impressed by.
Q: Full and Partial Planning clients- What steps do we take after booking?
A: GREAT question! We start with three main tasks: first, I make a planning timeline to help pace out wedding planning; second, we create a budget outline based on what you’ve already booked, what you are comfortable spending, and what you’ve indicated envisioning for each vendor/wedding aspect; third, we discuss your design vision and I create a mood board for your wedding. All three of these documents are meant to serve as scaffolding tools to guide us through the wedding planning process together. Shortly after these three items are checked off the list we’ll create a day-of timeline draft (this helps with booking vendors) and then we’ll simply follow the wedding planning timeline through to the wedding!
Q: What Can I expect from you as my wedding planner?
A: Well, that is a fair but loaded question. The simplest, most all-encompassing basic answer I can give is this: support through your wedding planning journey. The level of support you receive will vary depending on the package you book, but it will always extend beyond just “wedding planner.” While I am a hired professional and you are my client, it is very important (and inevitable) that we form a sort of friendship, too. This happens for and because of a few things: first, I need to know you, you at the truest core of you to develop a wedding vision that truly reflects you and your fiance’s personalities. Second, because I am your ally. Sure you likely have friends, probably even a wedding party, that you can and should discuss wedding progressions and thoughts with, but it is really important that your wedding doesn’t become the cornerstone of every conversation with your hard earned friends. I, on the other hand, am here for it. Our conversations are basically the opposite of what your conversations with your friends should be. Conversations with them will ideally range from 5-25% wedding talk (depending on what exactly is going on at any given point in time), while our conversations will stray from wedding talk about 5-25% of the time (depending on what is going on at any point in time). I’m not sure which of those statistics might be more surprising, but feel free to reach out and we can discuss exactly what those mean! This is all to say, you can expect someone who cares a whole awful lot about you, your fiance, and your wedding. My job is to make your day special, but the unspoken secret to actually creating a day for you is caring.
Q: What sets you apart from other wedding planners?
A: Ah geez. This is always a tough one because there are so many amazing planners out there! In fact, there are many that I love and have close relationships with. What primarily sets us all apart from one another are connections, flexibility, work style, and demeanor. My connections are fantastic- aside from having a weird amount of actual family involved in the SoCal wedding industry, after 10 years working in this field I’ve had the pleasure of developing some amazing professional connections that have begun to feel a bit like family over the years. Even with that in mind, I am extremely flexible. If none of my go-to vendors are a good match for you, I’m never going to recommend them just because I love them. I love this job because I get to be flexible. If I get to plan a wedding with only my beloved vendors- GREAT! If I plan a wedding with 100% new vendors- even better! Perhaps I will meet another member of my extended vendor family at your wedding! Same goes for style- if a have the opportunity to revisit a wedding style I’ve brought to life in the past, GREAT! An opportunity to explore the possibilities of and bring to life a new wedding vision is always appreciated! My work style is organized and efficient, but it is incredibly important to me that the vibe feels relaxed. Now, of course, if we are planning a particularly intricate event in a few months time we will need to stay on top of every single aspect, but I promise that we will laugh and smile through every single step. That is a great segue into my final primary asset: demeanor. the world can fall around me, but I am going to problem solve with a smile on my face so that you are none the wiser in the moment. A huge benefit of forming a deep understanding of you as a person is that if shit hits the fan, I can make decisions confident that I’m doing so in a way that reflects what you would want- if you knew about them, which you won’t, because you will be having the best most stress free day ever. If something crazy happens- crazy in the way that would impact your payment or overall view of a vendor’s services, we can debrief after your wedding, but during your wedding you can rest assured that WE. ARE. ON. IT. You go get married and have fun.
q: Can you give me and example of something that went wrong and how you handled it?
A: LOL. How much time do you have? If you want some stories, call me. I could write a book (another book, that is). The truth is, I can plan until my teeth turn blue- hell I can, and do, even plan for human error- but short of doing literally every single vendor’s job myself, short of physically driving to each and every vendors home and transporting them, short of calling God and asking for perfect weather, there are certain things that just cannot be planned. And THIS is truly where a day-of coordinator’s value lies. Things happen. As much as it pains me, I can’t control everything. But I can control how surprises are handled. They will be handled with grace, efficiency, kindness (when necessary) and firmness (when necessary). Here’s a quick snapshot shit list & how we handled it:
Problem: Bartender called 15 minutes before they’re scheduled to arrive saying they’ve had a broken rib all week and have decided they can’t work.
Solution: All of my assistants are ABC certified JUST IN CASE, so we made one a bartender all night. It sucked to be down an assistant, but she made almost $1k in tips so she was happy.
Problem: Shuttle bus takes off with all of the bridal party’s belongings on board INCLUDING THE WEDDING DRESS
Solution: Call, no answer. Hop in car and chase him down a mountain. It’s a big shuttle making hairpin turns for three miles- they can’t move THAT fast in a Malibu mountain. Caught him at the end of mile two.
Problem: Venue coordinator has a bad attitude (like… terrible) and is determined to bring every issue directly to the clients.
Solution: Lead coordinator puts herself in charge of running interference between the venue rep and the client. She had to stand watch all night and stop the rep before they got to the clients which put extra strain on the rest of the team, but the clients were saved from hearing things like, “just so you know, the DJ is too loud and that’s going to be a fine.” (5pm on a Friday for reference).
Problem: Videographer calls 10 mins before scheduled arrival and says “My manage gave me the wrong address. I’m two hours away.” Uh-oh. Heart sink moment.
Solution: There wasn’t a good one- yet I’m particularly proud of how this one played out. The ceremony was set to start in 15 mins and we were in an isolated space so no replacement videographer could get there in time for the ceremony for ANY amount of money. SO- what can possibly be done in this situation? We calm everyone down. We calm the videographer down because I don’t want him to drive dangerously and arrive flustered, let alone hurt himself along the way. We calm the couple down and let them know we will address this with the company later, but at this point it is what it is. I will only take partial credit for calming the couple here- it was largely to their own amazing ability to focus on the positive that they took the news in stride and were nothing short of gracious hosts to the videographer when her finally did arrive. The owner of the videography company called to personally thank me for whatever I had done to make everyone so cool about the mishap. The couple was fully refunded and were able to have a complimentary shoot after their wedding to capture the vows the videographer originally missed.
Problem: Florist drops off a wilted bouquet early in the morning with the venue (vendors don’t have access until 3pm, but the florist was allowed to drop off the bridal bouquet earlier in the day for storage). The venue coordinator- bless her heart- calls in a tizzy saying the flowers are awful. I ask for a picture (pro-tip: always document!!! You shouldn’t pay for bad service, but you can’t get a refund without proof of bad service!!). The picture comes in and it’s… bad. Real bad.
Solution: I call the florist and her number is disconnected. Fine. I tell me assistants to get the venue 30 mins early and start setting up while I drive to every market and grocery looking for replacement flowers. I get to the venue with a ton of flowers in hand, fix the bouquet, and have enough flowers left over to dress up a few other areas around the wedding.
Problem: DJ is missing an ENTIRE cord for his set up.
Solution: I had an extra in my car.
Problem: Bar runs out of plastic cups.
Solution: We had backup
Problem: A venue (restaurant venue at that- should be well stocked) runs out of toilet paper
Solution: We had backup
Problem: A bride’s bustle breaks before the grand entrance
Solution: We have a ton of safety pins and some ingenuity- BOOM new bustle and no one could know the difference.
Problem: A groom get’s an excited headache right before the grand entrance
Solution: Ibuprophen or Tylenol, friend? Oh, it’s a real bad headache. Here. Have some Excedrin extra strength.
Problem: Portable bathrooms have no power. Every single member of our team has been shown how to start the power in the bathroom trailers but they just aren’t working.
Answer: No problem. We put uplights in the restrooms to illuminate them while we Facetime the bathroom people to figure out what is going on. They can’t trouble shoot through Facetime so we advocate until they send someone out to fix the problem in person.
Problem: The bride’s mom isn’t back, but the grand entrance has started.
Answer: I hop in my car, drive to where she is, pick her up, and bring her back - all while my assistants are communicating and facilitating pausing the grand entrance.