In the search for the perfect dress, most brides try on quite a few. The sample gowns rarely fit properly. When you find “the one,” it usually needs tailoring to achieve that ideal fit.

Now, shouldn’t your wedding planner be able to “fit” you as well as your dress?

I think so.

That is why I’ve shaped my business to be flexible.

Every wedding is different. Every bride and groom will need a different level of involvement from a wedding planner. And in order to create the best wedding, I believe my offerings should be based on the individuals.

Here’s an example: Recently, I got a call from a bride-to-be’s mother. She told me that her daughter needed help, but already had a lot of stuff in the works. She just needed to talk things through with a professional, discuss strategies, and get some expert input. They hired me for the day, and together, I helped them put the pieces together.

Tip: You can hire a wedding planner to get as involved as you need them to be! You might not need a structured package—and you shouldn’t settle for one. When looking for a wedding planner, ask yourself what kind of involvement you’d like. Do you want a wedding planner to:

• Come to all appointments with you, be involved in every choice and decision?
• Meet you in-person and on the phone at regular intervals?
• Meet with you for a day, or a few days, to help you shape your day and choose the right venue and vendors?
• Simply sit with you to plan a timeline?
• Handle day-of event management?

I have worked with clients in all of these capacities—because that is what they needed.

And sometimes, they weren’t sure what exactly they needed—until we spoke on the phone.

Ask for what you need. Just because a service isn’t listed on the wedding planner’s website, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ask for it. Here’s what I mean: I had a bride that wanted day-of coordination, plus design help. But, she could only afford the day-of portion. Because I knew exactly what she needed, I was able to give her partial day-of (9 hours instead of 12), and five hours of design consulting for the price of the full day-of. We made it work!

If she hadn’t expressed her concerns and budget, I might not have had the chance to work it out.

For me, it’s about how I can best help the client—not how much I can sell them.

Finding the right fit with a wedding planner—is just as important as it is with the dress. And if you’re a bride-to-be, I wish you the best in finding both!

Not sure what you need from a wedding planner? I’m happy to help you figure it out. Then, we can see if we might be a good fit together.

Until next time…

Even the best wedding planner can’t control the weather. But we can control how we prepare and react. While we hope for sunshine and light breezes, sometimes we don’t get what we order. That’s why a bad weather plan is so important.

This point was vividly obvious, recently, when Hurricane Irene came to town. And my client had a wedding planned—on the day Irene was scheduled to hit the New York area.

Two days before the wedding, as the weather reports made it obvious of impending hurricane force winds, flooding and transportation shut downs, we knew the day, as planned, would not be possible. If we tried to go ahead with the wedding, it was clear that most guests wouldn’t have made it.

We decided to move the entire event to the following day.

I didn’t want my bride to be stressed. I sent her to get her nails done while I handled these details:

• Speaking with guests to help them change flight reservations
• Mapping alternate driving routes for guests based on road closures
• Getting extra hotels, changing hotel reservations
• Calling all vendors, working with venue, coordinating a reschedule
• Adjusted deliveries, appointments
• Being the main contact person amidst the weather-induced chaos

People hire a wedding planner for the little, and big emergencies you can’t foresee.

My bride’s job is to keep celebrating while I handle the sticky stuff. I know that most brides don’t want to be calling their lost Uncle Charlie when he can’t find the church, finding the missing flowers, collecting the bowtie that got left behind, or keeping her drunk brother-in-law from toppling the cake over.

Tip: Sometimes a venue has a “bridal attendant” to assist the bride. They’ll tell you that you don’t need an outside wedding planner. But, a lot of the planning and support happens before the venue! Your venue’s “bridal attendant” won’t be around when the limo doesn’t show up and you’re running late for the church.

P.S. The wedding turned out perfectly.

I was delighted that even Hurricane Irene didn’t keep my bride and groom from having the beautiful wedding day they had waited for. When Irene was approaching, they were overwhelmed and ready to cancel the whole thing. By having me there, as a calm, focused voice-of-reason, they had the day they planned – with just one day’s difference!

Until next time…

In my last post, I talked about destination weddings and why it’s important to have a travel emergency kit for guests. Today, I want to talk more about emergency kits, and why they’re just as important as the dress, the venue, and the meal.

Weddings get intense. When you’re in the thick of it, and everything is coming together, unexpected things come up all the time. As a wedding planner, I prepare for the unexpected more than the expected. Why? Because on the wedding day, I’m tending to the bride’s emotional needs as much as the logistical ones. I want my bride to be fully available to experience her marriage.

When little things crop up, like a blister for example, it can detour the day if not addressed immediately. Little incidences can take away from the big picture—so as a planner, I’m on the lookout for anything that can detract from the day or cause a bride anxiety. I stay prepared for mishaps … not just the big ones, like a cake getting knocked over, but the smaller ones: a tear in a dress, a stain, a mosquito bite.

I want my bride to be on a straight path, to emotionally and physically walking up there to get married. On such an emotionally charged day, a little stress can escalate into a bigger one. I take away as much as possible, and stop problems before they start. My emergency kit is one of the ways I do this. Here are just some of the items in mine:

• Aspirin
• Bandaids
• Benadryl
• Blue rhinestones/heart stickers
• Dental floss
• EpiPen
• Feminine products
• Granola bars
• Handheld fans
• Nail polish
• Hair pins
• Immodium
• Razors
• Saline
• Sewing kit
• Safety pins
• Shout wipes
• Sunscreen
• Tape
• Toothbrush
• Toothpicks
• Water
• White out

Here’s an example of my emergency kit in action:

Recently, one of my brides was walking through a screen door, and grease got on the front of dress. I reacted quickly, called on my arsenal of supplies, and with tiny toothbrushes, Shout wipes and handheld fans, got it all out. The bride was relieved, and something that could have been a disaster, was quickly fixed by an emergency kit.

I focus on making the day seamless for the bride. I don’t want her to worry about anything, or have her sidetracked by something that I can handle for her. Some say you can never be prepared for the unexpected, but our motto is, we certainly do our best!

Until next time…

Destination weddings have the power to introduce places, sensations and experiences your guests have never before encountered—and can result in a trip nobody will forget. Although beautiful, unique, and fun— destination weddings can be much trickier than local ones. They require a special touch. I plan many, and I want to share my advice and tips on how to make a destination wedding as enjoyable as it should be.

1. Give yourself more time. We are used to the busy pace of the New York, New Jersey metropolitan area. People who live elsewhere—simply aren’t. Especially if you’re considering an island wedding, most islands I’ve worked with operate at “island pace,” and it’s a lot slower than we’re used to. Whenever you’re dealing with a destination, there’s always a time barrier, and there can be a communication one too—whether it’s a language barrier, or something just getting lost in translation over the phone or email. Communication needs to be extra precise, triple-checked, and reiterated constantly to make sure everyone is on the same page. Vendors and venues at destinations want to please you and make your day perfect too—but it can a little longer to get the ducks in a row. Emails can take two weeks to respond to, and you need to allow for this extra time so you can go at their pace, and ultimately get the relaxed wedding you crave.
2. Have one point of contact. To avoid any confusion, and keep all the plans flowing smoothly, it’s imperative to have one person as the liaison. If one person is handling the venue, while another is handling the travel arrangements, and yet another is handling the ceremony, there is room for things to fall through the cracks. With one person in control, the event can come together cleanly.
3. It’s about the travel too. Remember that the travel creates a lot of anxiety for some people. In order for it to be a beautiful wedding that your guests will fully experience and enjoy, the travel is part of the experience. It starts for them from the minute they get on the plane. Anything that can be done from that point on—to ensure them an enjoyable experience—should be done.
4. Where’s Aunt Martha? You don’t want to suddenly realize that Aunt Martha is missing as you sit down to dinner, only to discover her flight got delayed for 6 hours. The details are essential, and managing them before they become an issue is important. Have someone in charge of travel, who knows arrangements, arrival times and special needs. Have an English speaking liaison meet guests at the airport, make sure they have their luggage, deliver them to the hotel and check them off the list. Otherwise, people can fall through the cracks. Plus, your guests can have immediate needs upon landing (diapers, water, headache tablets) and with somebody there to handle that (think emergency kit!) will make their arrival smooth.
5. My room has no hairdryer. At the hotel, have someone making sure your guests’ rooms are perfect, and if there’s a problem, provide that point of contract so they’re not trying to speak to hotel about it. Something as insignificant as a missing hairdryer can turn into an emotional situation if there’s nobody there to handle it promptly. The last thing you want is a guest coming up to the bride, groom, or mother-of-the-bride complaining about not having a hairdryer! With a point of contact, your guests will feel like they have a personal butler, with somebody taking care of them and their unique needs. The entire trip will be more luxurious, it will quell worries, and they will be emotionally available to partake in the whole experience.

Remember, a destination wedding is a vacation—as well as a wedding. That’s why you do a destination wedding, right? To remove people from the daily pace, and spend time with guests, really relax, enjoy clam bakes, balmy beach soirees, relaxed rehearsals, ceremonies and vibrant receptions. The whole point of having several days is to have a full experience, and with the proper planning and implementation, you will, and your guests will too.

If you need help planning your destination wedding, I’m here to help.

Until next time…