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

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

Photo: sallyodonnellphoto

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.

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.

Photo: mikaelahamilton

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”!

photo: ericfloberg

Cover Photo: angelagarbot

Pretty in Pink

It's a myth that pink is a color that's only appropriate for Spring months.  Elegant dark pink hues, and soft blushes can be used to set a romantic or modern mood in any season.  In fact here is a throwback to an event we did for a holiday party where we paired different shades of pink with deep wine shades and greens to set a whimsical and organic scene without being too literal.

Kristen & Jeff's Winter Wonderland Wedding 

What better way to close out the year than with a beautiful wedding at Pazzo's?    Kristen and Jeff lit up this beautiful atrium space with their constant smiles and the vibrant energy of their bridal party.  We hoped to further brighten the space with tons of  candles, flowers and gold branches for the reception.  The bride wanted a warm atmosphere that would make guests forget the bitter-cold Chicago day.   We used pink blooms, submerged orchids and tons of candles to achieve this goal; and the beautiful backdrop at Pazzo's only enhanced the elegant atmosphere.  Some of the images used in the gallery are my own and the rest are the wonderful work of Matt Mason.  Kristen and Jeff thanks for allowing us to be part of your special day!  

Christa and Dave's Fun Family Affair at Carnivale Chicago

 

We had the pleasure of creating the decor for Christa and Dave's big day this past September.   The weather was gloomy but that didn't put a damper on this fun intimate event.  The bride is one of the most chill people you'll ever meet and wanted a ceremony and reception to match her laid back disposition ... we achieved this with lots of warm glow candles, beautiful rich purple tones and subdued white centerpieces that would not clash with the vibrant atmosphere of the reception venue.  The happy ( and gorgeous) couple got to enjoy their big day with an intimate group, in an intimate setting with a big city as their backdrop!  Photo credit goes to Jamie Vester Photography and Design