10 minute read
GO WITH THE PROS
Go Pros with the
Enlist experts in these four areas to ensure a worry-free wedding
By Jennifer C. Frakes
Most weddings have a basic framework: invitations, a rehearsal dinner, a ceremony site and a reception venue. Within that, of course, are the many decisions to make regarding the details. Most of them mean hiring a vendor. But maybe in the interest of saving money, you might be tempted to not include that service, handle it yourself or ask for the help of family and friends. Following are four areas of your wedding that are well-worth hiring the professionals. These pros will end up saving you not just time and money, but give you peace of mind so you can truly enjoy your big day.
Wedding Planner
“Investing in an experienced planner is an investment in your own sanity,” Allisa Reimer said, owner and lead planner at Altar’d Events. “Planning your wedding is like having another full-time job.” Though it can be a fun and exciting job, planning may quickly become overwhelming for those who don’t do it every day, like a planner does.
Jenny Kehm, planner and owner of Before I Do, has been hired midway through the process, after people have booked a ceremony and reception site, a photographer and maybe music. “Then they think: ‘What do I do now?’” Kehm said. “There’s still the owers, hotels, stationary, transportation, rentals and so much more. You don’t know what you don’t know.” And sometimes you don’t really know until you are already in the thick of the planning.
Reimer likens trying to do it all yourself to attempting a major home repair by watching a YouTube video. “You watch the video, go out and buy the stuff you think you need, and try to x it. Then it doesn’t go well and you end up calling a professional anyway, after spending a lot of your own time and money. We can help you avoid the hurdles and headaches.”
The relationships and experience planners have with reputable vendors also proves invaluable. “There are many good vendors in the St. Louis region,” said Kehm. Brides can nd these vendors in this magazine and online, of course. “But a wedding planner meets with you to learn your personality and style, your budget and discuss inspiration pictures you may have. We then can match you with the vendors that can best realize your vision.”
A planner is even more essential in these tricky times. The wedding industry is not immune to supply chain shortages, from owers and paper products to the scarcity of workers. A well-matched vendor can substitute something for you if they have to, in the short amount of time they may have to decide. “Sometimes the next best choice might not be there if we have to take time to check it out with you,” Kehm said.
Melissa Collins loved her wedding planner, but she wishes she had hired her from the get-go. “We just hired her for the month leading up to the wedding and the wedding day. She was a lifesaver and made the day of the wedding stress-free,” Collins said. “But given how much she helped us out, I should have contacted her earlier, as soon as we started planning.”
That sounds familiar to Kehm. She was hired as a day-of planner (more on that term soon) for a bride, and then hired for the whole process when the next daughters married. Once the family had hosted one wedding, they realized hiring a planner from the jump was the way to go.
“Day-of planner” is a term most in the industry would like to see go away. “A better description of the job would be ‘event coordinator,’” Reimer said. “At minimum, a planner needs to work with a bride a month prior to the wedding, but more often it’s two to three months ahead of the date. It’s impossible to show up on the wedding day without any relationship with the bride and execute the day successfully.”
That’s why Reimer and her team at Altar’d Events offer what they call Wedding Management, a hybrid of partial planning and day-of
coordination. “We set you up for success upon time of booking, providing you with a custom set of tools along with vendor recommendations tailored to your style and budget,” said Reimer. “Then we host a check-in meeting three months out, and then partner with you fully one month out to execute the day you’ve envisioned. We are kind of your cheerleader in the back.”
Videographer
Everyone hires a photographer, but booking a videographer may not be as automatic. Perhaps it should be. “Preserving memories is so important,” said Dan Sims, owner of Complete Weddings and Events St. Louis. Complete Weddings and Events provides photography, videography, DJs, photo booths and event coordination. Sims treasures the video of his own wedding. “I was lucky enough to have four grandparents at my wedding,” Sims said. “Three years later, all of them had passed away. I not only had pictures of them, I had a movie of them dancing, talking and laughing.”
There are lots of technical and logistical reasons for having a professional camera record your wedding, over say, Uncle Jerry’s cell phone. “Our cameras zoom in much tighter than personal phone can,” Sims said. “This is key especially when there are restrictions in the church about how close people can move towards the altar, and how many people are allowed to do so.”
Videographers can also provide two cameras for two different angles, which can be edited together for more coverage and to create a more interesting result.
The professionals are the experts at editing all that footage to make a clean, nished product the couple would like. “We sit down with the couple prior to the reception to learn more about them and their guests,” Sims said. “To involve everyone at the reception, we go table to table, taking requests from each group.”
These are all things that an iPod and a rented speaker system just can’t provide. Not to mention the trouble-shooting a DJ can do, timing the right music to what’s happening throughout the reception, and keeping the music at an appropriate volume, to name just a few.
As with the three other areas discussed, hiring a professional DJ is also buying peace of mind. Sims advises brides to do their homework when hiring vendors, including meeting in person. “You usually get what you pay for,” Sims said. “If your wedding day is important to you, hire people with knowledge and experience. If you hire a friend and it doesn’t go well, how is that relationship going to be after the wedding?”
Brian Klimaski of JED Limousine agrees. “You are planning on getting married just this once,” Klimaski said. “You want it to be special and you want to be able to enjoy the whole day.” Hiring professionals to plan and execute your wedding will ensure that. ♥
you’ll want to show to family and friends. “The typical wedding video now is set to music, and is more of a cinematic short lm, about six to eight minutes long,” said Sims. “But we also give couples the option to buy the raw, unedited footage of everything if they want it for themselves. “
Kristen Worsley wishes she had hired a videographer. “After the fact, I realized that our wedding day just ew by. It would have been great to go back later and watch it, both things that I remembered and the things I missed.” Worsley said.
Alison McCroy felt the same way. “I wish I had hired a videographer for the ceremony,” McCroy said. “It went by so quickly and the way the room was set up, there just weren’t enough pictures. Video would have been a great addition to the photos.”
Transportation
Hiring transportation is often an area brides think about, but may wait too long to secure. Couples can underestimate how important reliable transportation is for their big day. “If you can’t get from Point A to Point B on time, there will be a domino effect and your carefully planned day will likely fall apart,” said Brian Klimaski, director of sale with JED Limousines. “You don’t want people left waiting or missing important parts of the day because they couldn’t get there on time.” JED is the largest luxury vehicle provider in Missouri and has been in business for 54 years. Their vehicles can hold from one to 56 people, from sedans to shuttle busses to motorcoaches.
In addition to a wide variety of vehicles, JED provides chauffeurs that are all background-checked, vetted and highly experienced. They have knowledge of the venues, the parking lots and alternate routes, if necessary. The company can also send a replacement in the unlikely event that one is needed.
“Couples want the comfort of a spacious and clean vehicle for the bridal party and their guests,” Klimaski said. “You have invested a lot of time and money in your wedding and you want the transportation to re ect the rstclass level of the rest of your day.” Klimaski also said the peace of mind of knowing your guests are all returning to their hotels safely after a day of celebrating is priceless.
Klimaski recommends booking as soon as possible, especially for the high-volume months of May and October. “Some couples want to wait until they have their guest count from RSVPs, but it’s easier to downsize your numbers than increase them,” Klimaski said. The vehicles you need may not be available if you wait for your exact headcount.
DJ
Booking a DJ in these unpredictable times is an especially good decision. “After the last 18 months or so, people want a fun reception that gets everyone involved,” Dan Sims of Complete Weddings and Events said. “We want Grandma to get up and dance!”
DJs provide a wide variety of music and something for every guest. The pros at Complete strive to bring energy to the room. They can do this with icebreaker games, singalongs and group dances, if
To learn more:
Altar’d Events www.altardevents.com
Before I Do www.beforeidostl.com
Complete Weddings and Events www.CompleteStL.com
JED Limousines www.jedlimousine.com
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