I have to say when I got married back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, wedding planners really hadn’t evolved yet. I was your typical 23 year bride who only worried about the dress, the bar, and how many friends I could invite. The day of the wedding, everything was beautiful and everything went smooth as silk! Who needs a wedding planner, right?
After 20 some years of marriage, my parents decided to downsize and the kind of people they are, they kept every file ever made. So when I got this giant box from them, I just sat it in the corner for awhile. One afternoon I decided to look through it. There is the file, was my wedding file that my mother had compiled, no lie it was about an inch thick. I had no idea she had worked so hard, and the day of was so hard for her. There were designs, timelines, proofs of invitations, news paper write ups and various invoices. WOW She was my wedding planner and I didnt even know it.
I called her that very moment and asked if she had enjoyed my wedding. Of course she said “yes” but as the conversation went on, I realized that she really didnt enjoy it the way she should have. She was like a duck, smooth and graceful on top and paddling like hell underneath.
So that is why at The French Bee we ask you to be guest at your own event. My business partner, Christa, says the only reason that you were a watch is that may complete your outfit. So in order for a wedding to go off like silk, there needs to be inch thick file somewhere, just like the one my mother made for me.
People always ask do we really need a wedding planner, we have the person at the venue and they said they would have it covered. Let me explain a little of what we do and hopefully you will see why you need a wedding planner.
One of first questions we ask, is how many guest, venues, and then BUDGET. We are not trying to be nosey and find out how much money you have and maybe how much we are going to make. (believe me no one ever got rich from wedding planning ) We want to know your budget so that we can break it down into categories and help you find each vendor in that category that fits your style and budget. We have had some brides come to us in a panic, because they had already spent a big percentage of their overall budget on one thing and now they didnt have enough left to allocate for other things. We dont want you to do that. So that is why we ask that question.
Next we will show you how to use our online tools, that help you with checklist, guest management, design boards, layouts, and budgets. We will ask you to start to upload inspiration pictures to your design board. We will never copy someone else’s design, we just need to plug into your taste and wants. Also we will keep you realistic, we may say that picture is stunning, but it would cost __, Have you thought about doing something similar to fit more into your wedding budget.
After all this discussion, our designers will come up with a wedding design board that will work within your budget. It will show you colors, layouts, table linens, event rental furniture, flowers, lighting, draping. Basically every detail of the look of your wedding. And if you want to change it, it is a lot easier to change it here, on paper than in real life.
We will help you with your save the dates and invitations, and since we are intimate with the design of your wedding, we will be able to help you maintain the cohesiveness that will make your wedding reflect the same story of you and your fiancé throughout the planning process.
We will leave you alone for bit, while you go through the trials of wedding dress shopping, but we wont be able to wait until we see it!! All the weddings we do, and we still love the dress!
We will make sure you are on task with all the things you need to be doing, such as making your wedding website, we will be booking your blocks of hotel rooms and working out schedules for your transportation to get all the bridal party delivered where and when they are supposed to. WE also will be reviewing all your vendors contracts and reminding you when payment are due
We also will be working on coordinating all the signage at your wedding, such as welcome signs, table charts, signature drink signs and whatever else you may need. Are you tired yet?
Then after you RSVPS come in, we will sit down with you and go through the timeline for the entire weekend. Even down to who gets make up and who gets hair done. We will make sure all your vendors have this timeline in hand and understand it. We will also confirm their times to show up and take down, when we share the time line with them.
The night before we will run the rehearsal, and provide everyone for an itinerary for the weekend, so everyone know where to be and what time.
On the day of, someone from our company will be at your venues to ensure everything is happening as it should be and someone else will be checking on Wedding party to make sure everything going as planned, such as the groomsmen are back from golf and getting ready. We will be with you to tell you when to walk down the aisle and when to cut the cake.
Last of all, we will make sure everything is taken care of after your big exit. We will make sure all the vendors are paid and everything is taken down and venue is closed up.
So it is a full time job, but we love it! We are honored that couples allow us to be part of such a special day in their lives. We usually become very close with our clients and as happy as we are to see them celebrating their big day, it is a little bitter sweet, to see them leave.