Wedding Planners & Coordinators
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Wedding Planners & Coordinators
Nov 2007
We'll
be getting married the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend at the
gazebo in Civic Park in Walnut Creek. I picture an extended
cocktail reception, a lot of great finger food, wine/champagne/
beer? then coffee & wedding cake, not a sit down dinner, from
4-
7pm for about 50 people & no kids. Should I use a wedding planner? I enjoy organizing
social get-togethers but have never throw a wedding before.
Many thanks,
Bobbie
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! If you enjoy planning
parties, I don't think you need a wedding planner for the scale
of event you are planning, and with the timeframe you have. There
are tons of planning guides in the form of books, checklists in
magazines, and online forums. The challenge is to not get too
caught up in the wedding mania and find yourself awake at 2am
obsessing about whether the party favors match the napkins. Cull
out the info that is useful/relevant, dump the rest, and keep
your focus on why you are doing this in the first place--to
celebrate your lifelong commitment with family and friends! A few
recommendations: for music, you might want to consider contacting
the music department at a local college or conservatory. You can
find some advanced students to provide a string quartet or jazz
trio who can play background music for your reception (and/or a
soloist for ceremony music) and they won't be expensive.
Also,
you may want to use language on your invitation like ''cocktail reception to follow,'' since
otherwise your guests might come expecting dinner, given your
start time. I don't know vendors in the Walnut Creek area, but I
regularly recommend Blue Heron caterers in Oakland, and Masses in
Berkeley and La Farine in Oakland both make great cakes. Have fun
tasting!
Enjoyed Planning My Own Wedding
I would say it sounds like you know exactly what you want and
could certainly take care of it yourself. However, what I think
would be invaluable would be a ''day-of'' coordinator. This
person will come early on the wedding day, make sure all of your
vendors are set up properly and prepared to go at the time(s) you
want. YOU don't want to be doing that! Several of my ''poor''
friends have gotten married recently and had a friend take care
of this for them, so even hiring someone isn't totally necessary.
But you surely will need one POINT person for the day and it
shouldn't be you! :)
been there, done that wedding thing
May 2007
I'm looking for someone to coordinate a very small (30 people)
wedding in a park this summer. I need someone to set up the
tables and chairs, set the tables and put out flowers, put out
the food and drink, make sure things run smoothly and guests
are taken care of. Thank you for your recommendations.
Berkeley Bride
I highly recommend Sandra Rubin as a wedding coordinator. She
just did my day of coordinating and she was fabulous. She is
also more reasonably priced than the other coordinators I
called. Her number is 925- 255-3423
Sara
Dec 2006
I need help planning a wedding ceremony and a wedding reception that will be
months apart. For various reasons, we're going to have a small wedding ceremony
in the spring and a large wedding reception in the summer. I need help with the
logistics, such as figuring out invitations and announcements, and how to make
the reception fun for all ages. And we're on a tight budget. I checked the
website and recommendations for wedding planners are outdated. Thanks. Bride
with Issues
I loved Nyla Commisso at The Whole Big Thing (www.twbt.com). We
were also on a tight budget and able to do an ''a la carte'' option
with her. I appreciated that she was really low key. Her number
is 650/464-8215
Patrice
We worked with Nina Conti because our wedding was at our house
in the backyard and we had friends doing all the flowers,
cooking, etc. and I didn't want anyone to get stressed out
during the day, i wanted it to be fun. Nina was really low-
key, never got hyper about things, and took a lot of
responsibility for making the day flow, so others could enjoy
the festivities. Her prices were really low compared to some
of the other career wedding planners. Ours was the first
wedding she did, and she's already done three of our friends
weddings since then.
Nina Conti (415) 302-5714
ninahatfield at hotmail.com
Let her know Julie passed along her name.
good luck
Julie
June 2006
We're interested in having a non-traditional but
individualistic/unique wedding. We would like recommendations
on wedding planners that are creative and that can 'think
outside the box' as well as incorporate cultural traditions, if
need be. Thank you for your help
I had the wedding of my (grown up) dreams last February, and
although I never imagined hiring a wedding planner, it was the
smartest thing I ever did. Susan Anthony encouraged me to
think outside the box, and every time I said, I'd like to try
something, but don't know how it would work, she made it work.
She is amazingly well=organized, very enthusiastic (with the
energy she poured on for us, she could have been planning her
own wedding!) imaginative, kind, and a great deal of fun to
work with. She became my best friend, my sister, my alter ego,
and my taskmaster for an intense few months, and I got to be
totally present at my own wedding (I also hired her to produce
the event so I didn't have to worry about having the cake
delivered and when it was going to be cut). When I drew the
budget line, she never argued with me. But she wasn't afraid
to point out that some expenses (like a professional cake
cutter when you have 200 pieces of cake to cut!) were really
worthwhile. I adore Susan. Please feel free to contact me if
you have any questions about how fabulous she is for your
wedding--I'll be happy to tell you some of the nontraditional
things we did that she made work.
Congratulations on your engagement! Enjoy your wedding.
sabrina
As a professional photographer, I work with wedding planners. I find that Kat
Clifford of Something Blue wedding planning is terrific for that sort of thing. She is
creative, fun to work with and thrives on finding unique ways to do thing. She is
here in the east bay and I believe has resonable rates. Her website is
www.somethingblueweddingconsulting.com
Christina S
Nina Conti helped us w/ our wedding, she is an organizer by
profession and does weddings as a little side business. She
has now helped 3 other friends w/ weddings and commitment
ceremonies. she is creative, a bit non-traditional, and
doesn't have a huge agenda. She can be as involved as you want
her to be, for one friend's wedding, she also did all the
centerpieces and favors. She can play a great role on the day-
of, paying caterers, etc., dealing with parking hiccups, or
other snafus that you don't want to know a thing about. Her
rates are really reasonable and she has a really calm presence
which is key! Let her know Julie suggested her
Nina Conti (415) 302-5714
ninahatfield at hotmail.com
Julie
Feb 2002
I am in search of a great wedding planner-does anyone have any
recommendations? Thanks in advance!
You HAVE to call Linda at One Stop Wedding Shop in Alameda.
She is so wonderful. I had hired another for my wedding who
turned out to be horrible and kept most of my money. I
went to Linda on the advice of another friend who used
her. I was concerned b/c I wanted a fun wedding that
wasn't too outrageous but not too traditional either
and didn't want to have the same problems that I had
with the first coordinator. I thought she might not
''get it''. But, she was perfect. She was extremely
reasonable and worked far beyond the call of duty. I
felt so guilty for how little $ she charged and how
hard she worked that I gave her some more $. I think my
husband did too. She and her husband run the shop and
are great people. I got married almost 2 years ago and
still miss Linda! She was such a joy to work with and
made sure it was as stress free and fun as possible. I
have referred several brides to her and they have all
felt the same way. Congratulations!
A One Stop Wedding Shop
1629 Park St Alameda
(510) 814-8014
Nicole
My mother's best friend is a wedding coordinator. She
helped plan our wedding three years ago and I was very
happy with the way it reflected our individual style.
She's also a talented decorator and florist, so everything
was beautiful and elegant, and she knew just where to
get all the best wholesale deals on everything. Her
name is Ann Saavedra and her business is called
Dreamcatcher (www.dreamcatcher-events.com). She's in
Walnut Creek: 925-947-3999.
Whitney
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