Carla Bejan-Negru 1/8/19 Carla Bejan-Negru 1/8/19

5 Reasons Why Hiring a Wedding Planner Is a Need, Not a Want

Let’s start with the premise that you want to enjoy your wedding day and aren’t looking to worry and stress over all the things that need to go smoothly and happen on time. If that’s the case, here are just a few of the zillion things a planner or coordinator can and will do for you on your wedding day so that you, your family, that friend that’s really good at planing DIY parties for her office, and your fiancé can do your job : look amazing and enjoy the most elaborate party you’ve ever thrown.

5 Reasons Why Hiring a Wedding Planner Is a Need, Not a Want

Photo: carascophoto linens and styling : BBJ Linens

1. Setting expectations: Whether our clients hire us to plan and design their whole event and spend 9 months to a year with us, for 6 months of partial planning, or month-of coordination, we set them up with a planning timeline that will map out their planning process and ensure they are staying on track throughout the whole process. Like every excited newly engaged couple, you probably start off with a to do list and have great intentions of knocking things off as you start planning, but things get overwhelming, life needs to be lived, and things fall through the cracks, which eventually ens up costing you more time, money and avoidable drama.

2. Avoiding pit-falls: Speaking of drama, we often play the role of therapist, mediator, and even bad guy when it comes to our clients. We negotiate on your behalf, help flag potential problems with logistics, contracts, family dynamics, and help come up with a plan A, B and C for each potential issue.

3. Wrangling all the loose ends and small details: Because we handle both the design and logistics for our planning clients, we are able to seamlessly merge together the beautiful design elements, and the logistics. This is our expertise, and our clients’ favorite part of the process. With our clients, we put together a timeline, a.k.a wedding planning bible, and plan all the moving parts in a well organized, well thought out forever-tweaked guide that beautifully ties together the whole planning process, and is wonderfully padded for all the “just in case” scenarios.

4. It’s all about the money honey: In an ideal world there would be no wedding budgets, but in real life, even a high budget is a budget, and we pride ourselves in helping our clients navigate them. We help find vendors, services and make decisions that fit your style, budget and timing — this is no small feat and sometimes we have to break the bad news that something is not doable, but our goal is to get to know you ( and your needs) early in the process and avoid presenting you ideas that you can’t have.

5. Peace of Mind: Your day, and really the few weeks leading up to your wedding should be all fun and no worries, and we do everything we can to ensure that’s the case for our clients. If we’ve all done our homework and checked things off the planning list throughout the process, the goal is to kick back, have fun, have ALL THE COCKTAILS AND BRUNCHES, and to leave all the what ifs to us. Throughout the process, we build trust and you will know that even if things go wrong (and they do), someone other than you in your gorgeous-way-too -expensive-gown, or your uber emotional mom, is taking care of things. Consider us your Olivia Pope (minus the murder and White House intrigue), and trust that we have the tools and that “it’s handled”!

Cover Photo: angelagarbot

Carla Bejan-Negru 12/3/18 Carla Bejan-Negru 12/3/18

Krysta and Garrett's Effortless, Romantic Wedding at Artifact Events

We loved using the bounty of spring flowers like peonies, garden roses, and anemones in soft colors, with lush greens, paired with an industrial space with a vast courtyard, to bring Krysta’s vision to life.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the preparation, design, planning, though VERY important, are just details that surround a commitment that’s being publicly professed and celebrated. This was not the case with Garrett and Krysta’s spring wedding! Getting to work with the bride, her parents, and the groom’s mother on the design of this event made us feel like we were part of an intimate gathering, a tribe that was all working together to support this new young couple. Their wedding centered around two families truly uniting to support and celebrate the beginning of their life together and blending together as one large family, spanning a few generations, that gathered from different parts of the country.

Krysta and Garrett’s wedding day video captured by Eric Floberg https://vimeo.com/292857634

VENDOR LIST

Venue: Artifact events // Photo & Video Eric Floberg // Floral Design and Coordination : Elena's Garden Events // Music: Toast & Jam // Catering: Big Star // Rentals: Tablescapes

elenasgarden 8/5/18 elenasgarden 8/5/18

Classic Spring Wedding at W Chicago City Center

Classic Spring Wedding at W Chicago City Center with Chicago as it's backdrop celebrating, love, family and traditions new and old

Love in the air in the heart of the city

Lacey and Sean's spring wedding had the city as it's backdrop at W City Center Chicago, and was a celebration of their love. With their family and friends by their side, the day blended their fun personalities, love of music, and traditions new and old. We used a bold color scheme that stood out in the warm elegant venue, and created a classic backdrop for dancing the night away.