Julie Irene Photography

This year I’m making some changes!  I want to spotlight some great vendors and possibly  help out a few brides to make their vendor search and selection a bit easier.  Lindsay Longacre of LVL Events is not only an amazing wedding planner but she is a very genuine person which some amazing vision!   Just check out her blog for some gorgeous and inspirational events and ideas!

As a lot of you may know I’m a Mid-Western girl and am proud to say that I was born and raised in Northeast Ohio.  I love meeting other Californians who are from Ohio.  It turns out that not only is Lindsay from Northeast Ohio but her brother is married to someone I went to high school with in a very small town called Louisville!  It is impossible not to like Lindsay when you first meet her with her warm and inviting personality, but knowing this bit of information may have just turned that like into love for me.

Planning a wedding is a stressful time so any way to alleviate that stress is a good thing!  The one way to do this is to hire yourself a Wedding Planner!  Here is a little Q&A Session that I had with Lindsay.

JB:  A lot of brides may not know why wedding planners are so important and why they it’s a good idea to hire one.  What would you say to those brides.

LL:  There are three main elements to hiring a planner; save you time, money, and  help you create a vendor team that is able to execute your vision.

JB:  Some brides and grooms may feel wedding coordinators are a luxury item, and not know that spending money on a coordinator actually save them money.  Would you explain how that is possible.

LL:  That’s a very good point and we’re always educating our brides on this topic.  A planner will assist in finding the right vendor who will fit within their budget. We want to make sure couples are paying the right amount of money per vendor and allocating their budget properly.  This simple principle will help save them money.

JB:  You also probably have worked with most of these vendors you would be referring and know that the bride and groom will be getting the best value for their money spent.

LL:  Absolutely, we not only know they are true professionals and amazing at what they do but many of them offer our clients an additional discount or will throw in additional services at no additional charge.

JB:  If a bride is adamant about not needing a wedding planner, and just plan on having their friend or family member help out.  What is one piece of advice you would give that bride about planning their wedding.

LL:  I try to paint a picture for what the day will look like and then it starts to click.  In the morning while everyone is getting their hair & makeup done, while enjoying their time together.  Who is going to be on-site making sure all the vendors are showing up on time.  Who is going to make sure all the hair and makeup on time for the photographer, because if that runs late, it pushes the ceremony back.  People can potentially get away with their friends and family setting up place cards and a guest book but that is only one piece of the puzzle.  The bigger picture is to make sure that everything runs smoothly throughout the day.  What a terrible way to enjoy someone’s wedding if they are the guest, mother of the bride or groom, or bridesmaid when they’re running around trying to make sure things run smoothly.  I try to paint that picture because its hard for them to know what its going to be like because they never have done it before.

JB:  I think a lot of brides don’t understand everything that wedding coordinators does for them on the wedding day.  They may just think it’s just about setting things up on the wedding day.

LL:  It is a common misconception that a day of coordinator is just shows up on the day of the wedding. There maybe be companies who provide this type of service but I personally believe it is a disservice to couples and the wedding planning industry.  Our very basic package is at least 25 hours worth of work. This includes 10 hours of pre planning before the wedding day.  We schedule an initial phone consultation to go over their timeline, review all the vendor contracts, contact and coordinate all their vendors prior to the wedding and meet with them in person to walk through the venue and finalize the timeline.  We also go through a wedding checklist to make sure we know all of the final details and that nothing is slipping through the cracks. So, there is a lot of work pre-wedding even with the day -of-coordination.

JB:  What are the current trends in 2012 that you’re excited about, or trends that you would like to see in 2012?

LL:  A couple years ago there was the vintage trend.  There are some that are trying to keep that trend going, but there are others that are looking for something new.  I think that preppy, clean, and pretty is something that I would like to see.

JB:  Do you ever have a bride come to you who is unsure about their vision, how do you focus their vision.

LL:  I ask them what stores they shop at.  If they’re having a really hard time, I’ll ask them if I can come over to their home so I can kind of see what their style is at their house.  A lot of times it’s a reflection of what they like, but they don’t even know what they like or how to describe it.

JB:  There are a lot of brides who stress out the day of the wedding.  How do you help alleviate their stress?

LL:  In our training class we have one class specifically geared towards the psychology of wedding planning.  So this is our expertise.  As a planner, you have got to be calm.  You have to have a calm demeanor, and not be not easily excitable.  You also have to be a chameleon and be able to mimic the way the client communicates and acts.  If a bride is having a panic attack or freaking out before their wedding because of something has gone wrong, there is a way you can talk them down.  I kind of go back to what is the most important part of this day.  I tell them  ”It’s the fact that the two of you found this amazing connection and love for one another and you’re celebrating it in front of your friends and family.  That’s all that matters at the end of the day.  Is that ceremony.  That 30 minutes of saying your vows to each other.  It doesn’t matter that a boutonniere is missing.”  I always try to bring it back to what is most important.  That is usually helpful.  On the flip side, if something is happening, we’re there to fix it.  If we need to run to the store and get something for someone.  We had someone stung by a bee and we ran to the store and got some Benadryl.  They ran out of coffee in the bridal sweet, so the assistant took everyone’s order and ran to Starbucks to get some coffee.

JB:  Going along with stress on the wedding day, what is the craziest thing that happened on a wedding day and how did you handle it?

LL:  That is a really good question.  We have had some rain issues, but we plan for the worse and hope for the best in those situations.  If there is rain in the forecast, we advise our clients to get a tent. The most stressful thing has been when a bridesmaid’s dress break.  We would have the ceremony starting soon and we have got to fix this there is no questions.   We had to sew bridesmaids into their dress.  The key is not letting anyone know you’re sweating and you’re fixing the problem.

JB:  When a bride doesn’t believe a wedding planner is in their budget.  What would you say to those brides?  How do you convince a bride that they can’t afford not to hire a wedding planner.

LL:  If you think about the amount of money you spend on one day, you want to make sure everything runs smoothly and perfect.  You don’t want to run the risk of something going wrong and regretting it. No matter what your budget is, it is the best investment out of all of the investments that you will make for your wedding day.

If you’re interested in hiring LVL Events for your wedding, please visit her website at http://lvlevents.com