Kristin Catter Events
wedding planner
Planning your own wedding is an admirable feat, but for some, it sounds less than ideal, overwhelming or just not feasible due to distance, work or other obligations. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help, but hiring a wedding planner could also turn your big day into something better than ever before! There are so many great things about having a coordinator by your side every step of the way while planning your wedding. We asked five Austin wedding planners why you absolutely need a planner or coordinator on your big day and they gave us all the inside scoop! Read on to hear what these wedding pros had to say about just why you should hire a planner to bring your dream wedding vision to life.
1. Bring Your Dream Wedding Design and Vision to Life
From Lauren Field Design
How does Lauren Field Design help bring a couple’s dream wedding design and vision to life?
We are a design-forward wedding planning studio that truly connects with our couples on a personal level that allows us to create highly curated experiences. We invest a lot of time upfront understanding who our couples are with questionnaires and a design kick-off where we inspire our clients to embrace their individuality. For inspiration, we travel often, attend fashion events and explore the architecture found in the cities we are fortunate to style weddings in. We rely on our trained industry backgrounds to successfully implement a well-balanced event grounded in organization, communication and personalization.
How is this helpful to your couples?
It is helpful to show that we are invested in them just as much as they are invested in us and that someone is acting on their behalf throughout the entire wedding process. We want to be their voice and bring a unique perspective to their vision. Our drive to stay at the forefront of design, coupled with our type-A planning personalities gives our couples the best of both worlds.
Any additional insight you’d like to share in regards to working with a couple on their design and execution?
We are visual storytellers. We are just as excited for your big day as you are! We work diligently to provide you with a well rounded design concept and the proper execution to back it up. As much as it is about logistics, we do want you to have fun! We seek to collaborate with you and a series of hand-selected vendors to achieve the aesthetic and experience you have dreamt about. The wedding is only a short span in your love story, so we work alongside your vendor team to ensure every part of your story is captured for years to come.
Featured Photo: Rachel Owens Photography // Also Pictured: The Woodbine Mansion, Premiere Events, Sprout Floral and Event Design, Peerless Events and Tents
2. Keep You on Track with To-Do Lists
From Lovely Day Events
How do you keep a couple on track with to-do lists?
My job is to understand my couple’s needs, personalities and life situations, so I can help them accomplish their goals with as little stress as possible. I’ve found that to-do lists can be really productive for some clients while being extremely overwhelming for others. All Lovely Day couples will have deadlines and to-do lists, however, we try to find the right approach with each couple in order to successfully tackle everything on the list.
Some couples thrive on structure, organization and absolutely L-O-V-E a good list. Their items tend to be completed before, or right at the deadline. Our structured to-do list along with the accompanying resources and information is exactly what they need to keep them on track. Other couples are great at seeing the big picture and overall vision of their wedding but feel stressed when looking at the large, year-long list. For these clients, I pull the time-sensitive “do’s” out of the year-long list and put them into a smaller, more focused list. We discuss realistic deadlines for each item and I follow up with all to-do items during our regularly scheduled meetings. Some clients are in extremely busy seasons of life (grad school, career, etc) and appreciate email reminders with upcoming due dates for important deadlines.
How to stay on top of your to-do list:
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- I break down checklists month by month as opposed to category. This helps me see where we should be in the planning process.
- Try to knock out all your important tasks before moving onto the next month.
- Schedule a time each week to visit your overall to-do list. Remove any items that aren’t pertinent to your planning and that have been completed. Highlight time-sensitive items and schedule out time to tackle your tasks.
- Take a break! It’s important to step away from planning, so you can regroup, and be ready to tackle your steps.
Featured Photo: Day 7 Photography // Also Pictured: Ma Maison, Whim Hospitality, The Flower Girl
3. Manage Your Budget
How does Kristin Catter Events help a couple manage their budget?
The first thing we do with our full-service clients is sit down for a budget meeting. We encourage doing this before booking a venue. This meeting is so important to us for several reasons. First, we want to get to know our couples and figure out what is most important to them on their day. This is going to help us figure out how to best allocate funds in each category. Second, we want this meeting to serve as an education for the logistics and cost that go into making their vision happen. Every venue has its own list of requirements and rules that go into an event. Understanding these, helps the clients then understand the costs associated down the road as we meet and book vendors. We break down what details we could modify to help stay within their budget for the wedding. Our overall goal is for every couple to confidently be able to say that their wedding day was everything they dreamed of, and on a nitty-gritty note, that they didn’t break the bank to get there.
How does budget management benefit couples?
Aside from not letting your emotions get away from you, budget management is important because marriage is the start of a new life together as a united front. A lot of couples say they learn a lot about each other during the process of planning a wedding, especially with organizational skills and frugality. Managing your budget is just as much in place for your bank account, as it is for you and your fiancé’s sanity. Our budget serves as the guide for booking all vendors. We allocate specific funds to each and every category, and as we book vendors we update these numbers. If we go over or under in one category, we know we have to make that up in another category. By tracking it all, we are holding our clients accountable for their spending. We want them to see this breakdown as simplified as possible.
Any additional insight you’d like to share in regards to working within a budget?
We always tell our couples, “Your budget is the map to the entire planning process.” You wouldn’t take off on a cross country road trip without your navigation system, without Google Maps. The planning process is the exact same way. We want to put that guide in place from day one. Our clients enjoy the planning process so much more with an organized and clear plan of action.
Featured Photo: SMS Photography // Also Pictured: Horseshoe Bay Resort, Bouquets of Austin, Marquee Event Rentals
4. Remove Unnecessary Stress
From Touch of Whimsy
How does Touch of Whimsy take the stress off of their couples during the wedding planning process?
For our full-service clients, we take our service to the next level. We do all the hard behind-the-scenes work for you. First, we start by assessing your needs, vision and spending plan. We use this information to select three vendors in every category to choose from.
Why is that so helpful to your couples?
I’m an economics fanatic and love playing with numbers. I will help you stay on track and within your spending plan to eliminate the stress of overpaying for the wedding. There is nothing more stressful than being one month away from the big day with a large stack of bills piling up.
Featured Photo: Laura Stiles Photo // Also Pictured: Bella Bride Boutique, Madame Makeup On Location, Gruene Estate
5. Timeline Professionals
From Heavenly Weddings
How can Heavenly Weddings help with timelines throughout the planning and day-of process?
As your planner, we know so much is involved in the planning process and there are so many moving parts. We send all our couples a timeline sheet which is super important to have when planning a wedding. The sheet has vital information for what to do along the way, and of course, we create an ultimate timeline for the wedding day!
Why are these timelines so important for couples?
Timing is everything. The more detail the better!
What are some key elements of a couple’s timeline that can be sometimes easily overlooked by those who try to plan on their own?
Each wedding is so unique. Couples that decide to not book a planner may try to copy a timeline offline which is not custom to their special day. I ALWAYS put on my timelines what time sunset is. Couples may think they have plenty of time for photos when that may not be the case. They may forget to allow some rest time before the ceremony which is such an important time too.
Featured Photo: BearMoose&Fox // Also Pictured: Rosetree Floral Design, Action Rental Center, Old Bethany
Find the right Austin wedding planner for you here or browse our full variety of Austin wedding vendors here. Cheers!
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Other Local Vendors: Lovely Day Events, Touch of Whimsy, LLC., Lauren Field Design, Heavenly Weddings
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