To paraphrase an old adage, the journey down the wedding aisle begins with a single step. It is normal for any couple to experience a myriad of emotions, from excitement and anticipation, to overwhelm and nervousness. And, of course, the higher your and your guests’ expectations for an experience that is both fun and dazzling, yet refined and sophisticated, the more likely these feelings are to be amplified.
Whether you are still trying to create the perfect wedding proposal, or you are already in the midst of making wedding arrangements, you have likely already begun to have questions about the process. As you prepare to elevate your wedding journey, here are some considerations to help guide you and your future spouse along the way.
A Partner for Your Partnership
Couples often express that the best investment they ever made for their wedding was in hiring a wedding planner, as their wedding planner not only “saved the day,” but became their trusted partner. No matter the size of the wedding or its budget, complications always arise.
In essence, finding the right wedding planner is a must for any couple who prefers to spend their energy on finding joy in the occasion.
The Luxury Event Planning Difference
A luxury wedding planning team goes well beyond ensuring peace of mind; these dedicated, industry-leading professionals are the ones who delight in your vision and create beautiful memories not only for the wedding itself, but in all the small moments that lead up to the main event.
Ultimately, a luxury wedding planner is often not just one person, but rather an ensemble of a team with extensive experience in the luxury hospitality industry, with impeccable resumes that highlight a nuanced understanding of how to produce spectacular, high-end events. Such a luxury wedding planning team must offer full-service, concierge-level support, and focus on quality of events over quantity. This helps to ensure that no detail goes unnoticed and that you have a support system every step of the way.
Questions to Pop
If you dream of a destination wedding, and/or if your guest lists include higher profile individuals for which discretion and meticulous planning are of utmost importance, then this need to find the right planning team becomes even greater. Do not hesitate to arrange consultations where you can better ask questions about their portfolios, their work ethic, their curated lists of talent and services, their availability, and references. After all, aside from who you are marrying, who you hire is the second most important decision when you are planning a luxury wedding.
Basic Logistics
Alongside planning a dazzling event and letting the creativity flow, of equal importance in your wedding journey is taking care of the necessary but less glamorous details. Chief among these is ensuring that deadlines are honored, and that any and all financial transactions are executed with transparency, acumen, and discretion.
Early in the wedding planning journey, you can expect to work with your planning team on establishing an escrow or similar account to handle payments with ease, all while keeping you apprised of any decisions that pertain to the funds with which you have entrusted them. This is yet another reason to choose the right wedding planners, whose own resumes of high-budget events reflect their verifiable commitment to being your trusted partners, and flawlessly executing every component from the aesthetic to the practical.
Choosing the Canvas for the Art
Wedding planning is a fine art in and of itself, for which you commission a team of artisans to tell your story by weaving the details that coalesce in sharing the personal journeys that brought you to this celebratory milestone.
Because of this, like any good artisan, your team will ask you questions that will provide the backdrop for your art, which includes such fundamentals as the time of year, the size of the celebration, and, of course, the venue itself. The answer to these creations will enhance a mood that is both timeless and elegant, while also remaining deeply personal and meaningful.
Amplifying your Guests’ Experience
If the details are like the paints, paintbrushes, or other tools that go into your work of art, then the venue is the place where the art piece is staged. It is why so much effort goes into scouting just the right location to hold the wedding and will determine so much else of what follows on your wedding planning journey.
Upon selecting your venue, it will soon be time to focus on the additional ways that elevate the guest experience for yourself and everyone you invite, including gifts, transportation to and from the venue, the beauty team, additional entertainment, the stationery that complements your venue’s aesthetic, and, of course, the menu.
Indeed, almost on par with your venue, your choices of foods and drinks are ample opportunities to tailor your wedding and create a memorable narrative. For these kinds of reasons, and to ensure that all dietary restrictions are not only acknowledged but honored, it is highly advisable to consider hiring all-inclusive event catering so that you can fully customize your menu. Once again, this is where working with the right wedding planning team is the first order of business.
The Send-Off
The focus on hospitality is one that prioritizes not only you but your entire list of beloved guests. When you plan for an event that is a cut above the rest for all of your honored loved ones, you too will share in that same joy in abundance.
Above all else, remember to take moments in the frenzy of wedding planning to find delight in the person who led you to this moment. For all the passion that you and your team will pour into your wedding, the most important passion you can ever cherish is the one you share with the person you are marrying.