The Style Couture Events couple is one that is laid back, fun loving and sees the wedding day as more than just a party. While the wedding day is incredibly important, their ultimate goal is marriage to the love of their life! As long as they walk down the aisle, it can be raining, flights can get canceled, someone might get sick... but that’s okay, two will become one!

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Our clients are trusting and decisive. They seek our expertise and know that we will not lead them astray. They understand that their guests will not necessarily know what four color design palate or fonts they considered for the invitations but with our guidance, are ready to make decisions. Some have long engagements, others have very short engagements but all hire professional vendors and generally like checking things off the list. True happiness comes from the journey getting there. My goal is to have fun in the planning process. We know the wedding day will be successful. I mean you are marrying the man of your dreams, aren’t you?!

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We often incorporate special elements for our clients that bring true meaning to the day. Those special elements may come in the form of using family heirlooms, showcasing personality in design or even just creating special moments for the guests. We are all about surprise elements to keep the guest interested all night long!

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Guest comfort is of ultimate importance to our couples. The day is not just about the bride, (did I just say that, yes it is! That was for my grooms reading. ) It is about ALL who come together to celebrate both the bride and the groom. (Recovered, I think!) Our couples recognize that the happiness of the guests only enhances their own happiness and therefore factor their needs into the planning process.

Our planning process starts the moment we receive an inquiry. We are fast at work brainstorming ideas based on any information you give us. The more info you give us up front, the better! We want to develop ideas with you even on that first call. From there, once a signed contract and a 25% retainer are received, we hold the date and get to work! We send a questionnaire that allows us to get to know each client very well. We ask that this is returned prior to our first consultation so we can be prepared with ideas for vendors, timeline, layout, etc. We provide tools and resources for the client experience in this meeting as well. From there, our process depends on the service booked.

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EVENT MANAGEMENT

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We are available to the client to answer any questions along the way! We assign an event producer to be dedicated to your wedding. We check in every 6 weeks or so to say hello and see how things are coming along but we encourage our clients to keep us in the loop, ask questions and allow us to be apart of the process. About 6-8 weeks prior to the wedding, your consultant will schedule a venue walk through with you and begin reconciling details with vendors and producing the final documents that will make your wedding day a success.

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FULL SERVICE

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Following the initial consultation, we are fast at work pairing you with vendors that best suit your style and wishes. We attend meetings with those vendors with or on your behalf and assist in securing their services. We keep track of all the details and guide you through the pieces you’ll need to work on. Things such as a gift registry and trying on a dress, things we can’t do for you. We are otherwise tending to the details and alleviating the burden of logistics. And with both services, we conduct the rehearsal and provide two event managers on the wedding day. Then of course, we follow up after every wedding to thank you for allowing us to serve you and to gain feedback on how we can better ourselves. We believe in always learning and growing and our clients are the best source of suggestions!

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We typically operate during normal business hours and prefer to only accept client meetings during those times. Occasionally, weekend or evening availability may be an option, but for the most part- we enjoy that time with our families. It is the best way to avoid burn out, allowing us to be our best for our clients.

Our job is to connect you with vendors that fit your budget in the first place. To receive the best level of service from a vendor, they need to feel valued. Asking for a discount communicates that you do not think they are worth what they are asking, assuming you know what it costs for them to run their business. The result of receiving a discount is not the same quality of work that lead you to the vendor in the first place based on reviews, recommendations and so on. We also have vendor relationships to maintain and nurture, asking for discounts puts us in a negative position with them so those seeking discounts are not the right fit for Style Couture Events.

No, not at all. But we sure do prefer it and here is why: they are tried and true... time and time again. We understand that your friend had a great experience with her florist and that your boss loved his cake. Anyone can rock it at least once. But ours nail it every time. We want to avoid the risk and construct a team of vendors that will work well together. Ones that communicate clearly and efficiently with our planners and with each other. Our vendor list includes a variety of price points, styles and so on. There is something for everyone!

This is two-fold. If you’re willing to hop on a call with us, it means you have done your research and like what you see. A lot of people are price shopping and that can take up the precious time we prefer to spend on our clients. That being said, we want to focus on those that have us on their short list of vendors to interview! Also, just as you are interviewing us, we are interviewing you. It's super important that we are the right fit for each other and because we only accept a certain number of clients each year, we use this time to make sure both parties connect and enjoy each other.

Talking on the phone is also a more productive way to understand your vision and needs, allowing us to provide an accurate quote.

Absolutely! But typically, most churches prefer to handle the rehearsal and the ceremony. In these cases, we simply roll your 1 hour allotment for the rehearsal into another hour of facetime. That can be an additional meeting or it can be an added hour on the wedding day.

Each planner manages 10-20 weddings per year depending on the combination of services hired to provide. Wedding planning is ranked year after year in the top five most stressful jobs among first responders and above C-Suite execs. For this reason, we are particular about balance and avoid spreading ourselves too thin.

In any industry, wedding related or not, emergencies and turnover occurs every day. As any good business, we have a plan A, B and C for all events within our team! Engagements are long and vendors can’t promise that their staff will look the same by the time your day comes around. Should anything occur - staff departure, emergency, illness, etc we simply institute plan B. Meaning, another event producer that is privy to your notes via staff meetings and our shared Aisle Planner application will take over your account. We of course would provide an additional meeting with our staff to provide assurance that all details are considered. Side note, our entire team has weekly meetings to update everyone on the goings on of each of our clients, so we are a very informed team.

Yes, however, our role is to manage the event, overseeing those responsible for each aspect of the day. We ask that our clients hire professional and full service vendors that provide installation of items outside of certain tablescapes. Remember we are not your florist, nor are we a draping or lighting company. We are dedicated to decorating and working in harmony with the entire décor team.

This helps us to be able to multi-task and handle all vendors at one time.

I'd love to invite you to a blog that a planner friend in California wrote on this very topic. She was once an in-house venue coordinator and is now a wedding planner. She explains the difference and why you'll want to hire an independent planner.

I find this article to be especially helpful in answering this question.

We are often asked if we provide day of coordinating and the answer is no, we do not. In reality, the service you are seeking doesn't actually exist anymore. You may still find start-ups that will do this but seasoned pros pull away from being responsible for executing an event that they were not at least minimally involved in planning. So many things can go wrong and their reputation is at stake. Here are some pushbacks and answers to this conversation.

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I’m organized and type A so I am comfortable planning the wedding:

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I love the ambition and detail oriented nature. In theory, every bride is only ever planning one wedding, right? So no matter how detailed and organized, there just really isn't any possible way to put together a proper timeline and reconcile all of the many details that go on in those last few weeks. There are TONS of templates and articles to help, totally get that! But each of your vendors is unique to you and your vision so they will all have varying needs that a template just can't consider. Your photographer will likely have a timeline and your DJ too - so it will seem simple "ah, I'll just use their template", but it's important to juggle the needs of all of the vendors and we as pros know exactly what questions to ask and which red flags to mill through so that nothing is left un-turned.

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Here are some supporting articles that may help with understanding the need a little more:

http://theeverylastdetail.com/day-of-wedding-coordinators-dont-exist/

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/jeannie-ward/day-of-wedding-coordination_b_1467339.html

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I have a smaller budget and I don’t have a choice but to hire someone only for the day.

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For the budget aspect of it... totally hear you, girl! I certainly understand the value of a buck and definitely respect that with and for my clients. Our philosophy at Style Couture Events is to maximize every last penny. I saved brides thousands and while it may not always be that much, every penny counts and if hired early on, I can often offset my cost completely. We know how to pair you with the right fit from the beginning. 

For a seasoned event manager, one can expect to spend between $2,000-3,000 in St. Louis. Before you think you’re dishing out $2,500 for 8 hours of service on a wedding day, this usually entails 40+ hours of work. Costing far less than all vendors (except DJ, cake and maybe Photobooth) and we are the ones that bring it all together. Vendors don't really like working weddings that haven't been vetted by a planner because they aren't able to do their jobs right and well, picking up slack on the wedding day as troubleshooting occurs. So spending $5k on a photog and only getting $4k of value is how that turns out. We also factor salaries, rent, taxes, and other business related costs into our pricing. With only so many weekends in a year and not working every weekend, it's just not possible for a pro to sustain at anything less. In fact, many make well over 6 figures with their businesses but take home less than a teacher. All for a position that is considered the top five most stressful in the country above C-Suite execs and among first responders. #openbook :)

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All this to say, you really can't afford NOT to hire the pro that will vet things for you. I promise that is not a sales pitch and if I'm not the one for you, no worries. I like to be an open book and share my good and bad experiences. I am also excited about educating brides on what it really takes to make a wedding day run smoothly based on those bad experiences. Ultimately, I just want everyone to have the wedding day they deserve. 

I’ve already hired my vendors and created a timeline, the only thing left is really executing the day. Can you shave your base program to accommodate?

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The short answer is "no" because hiring your own vendors and creating your own timeline actually creates more work for me to do. In all honesty, my vendor recommendations are not at all factored into my pricing. I want nothing more than to push them on brides and if I could, I would force all of my brides to use only my vendors. I would ... it just makes my life easier. If my vendors aren’t used, I’m going to be spending a lot of time learning how these new (to me) vendors operate and prefer to communicate. Some really hate working with planners and it only hurts you because it takes me longer to reconcile. And same goes for the timeline you created. I will spend more time combing through an existing timeline and correcting layering issues than I would if I just created it myself.