FAQ

I doubt it. *purses lips and gazes at you over tented hands* Do any of us really need anything? Here’s the deal. You can get married without a planner, and neither I or anyone else can tell you otherwise. But having a planner/coordinator can make your life easier. I’ve talked about it a bit on here.

OK a two part answer.

Part 1 – I lose sleep over what to charge. Really I do. I want to be as fair as humanly possible to you, but sometimes it’s nice to eat every once in awhile. My rates are based on how much work I put into a wedding. I don’t offer a true “Day of” package, because connection with my couples is SO important to me, I need time to get to know them. I need contact with other vendors beforehand, so I know what to expect on the wedding day, and I’m not blindsided. To just show up on wedding day with a bunch of vendors I’ve never spoken with and be able to make everything run smoothly, is like giving a coach a bunch of players they’ve never met before and saying “Here, win *insert epic important game here*, it’s tonight at 7:00.” That doesn’t end well…

You get a full month’s worth of good solid work from me, which, when you break it down, is actually CHEAPER than $200 a day.  For a day of client, I don’t spend anything less than 100 hours of time working on it.  Honest and for true.  Between contacting vendors, writing up schedules, contact sheets, compiling agreements, researching, back up plans, things like looking up city info to see if there’s going to be anything that interferes with transportation to the wedding, the phone calls with you, then the rehearsal and wedding days themselves, all of that adds up pretty quick.  It’s why I’ll only take one wedding a week, it’s physically impossible for me to do more than that, there aren’t enough hours in the day.

Part 2 – People write up ads on Craigslist because they don’t have an established referral business. This can be because either they’re just starting out, or they suck, and no one says nice things about them.  It’s up to you to decide if you want to take a chance on an unknown, if you do, Google the crap out of them.  Search their business name, email, and full name with location.  My PERSONAL preference is that I would rather take a chance on someone starting out, rather than someone who’s been around for awhile, but still feels the need to advertise on CL.

I’m pretty good with budgets, and scrounging up ways to save/make money. I don’t really have a “Your budget must be at least X amount or I can’t help you.” type of requirement.

Wedding budgets should be based on priorities.  If you know what your priorities are, you form your budget around them, and that’s about it.  If your priority is having a ton of guests, you know your options on venue and food are going to be limited to lower price options.  If you want amazing food, you might have to curtail your guest list or not go crazy with the details.  If you have a bunch of priorities, you need to come to grips with the fact that you’re going to have a bigger budget.  It’s all about finding the balance that YOU want/need, not the one that everyone is telling you to have.

I am totally cool with holding dates, UNTIL someone else wants that date. You get first dibs, and I email you to let you know someone else is interested, and I’ll hold it for another 48 hours. If I haven’t heard back from you by then, the second person gets it.

Yes, yes I do. SCADS of them.  While I encourage want-to-be wedding planners to email me, it’s getting to the point where there are so many of these questions coming in, I can’t give them the attention they deserve. I’m working with a group of awesome ladies in the wedding industry to make an e-course on becoming a professional wedding planner. We’re hoping it will be ready in early 2012, so keep an eye out.  Until then, email me and I will do the best I can.

Ummm no. Here’s the deal. I have a bunch of people I love in the wedding industry, so many that I can’t possibly link to them all. I ONLY will link to people that I have either A) worked with and liked, B) have been referred to BY people in group A or C) had some sort of insidious internet based relationship with them, and love them so much I must link to them or die.

I do NOT do kickbacks, as I feel they taint the product I give to my clients. If you really want to get into it, I think kickbacks put the priority on the vendors, not the couple, and that’s not cool. I like being able to choose a vendor who reflects a good fit for my clients, not a bonus for me.

I am a Mama Bear in general, but especially when it comes to my couples. Just like you wouldn’t let some random guy watch your puppy, I’m not going to put my clients’ wedding day in the hands of someone I don’t know and haven’t researched.

Ang = AN-j

Short for Angela

Jandak – JAN-dack

Just the way it’s spelled.

Even though it’s Bohemian, it isn’t Yun-duck, or Zhun-deck, or Handle-shaz. And yes, someone has called me Mrs. Handle-shaz. No, I don’t know where it came from.

Honestly? I just get stuff stuck in my head and have to spit it out somehow. Once it’s out, I look at it and wonder “Who would be interested in this?” Most websites have submission requirements listed, just follow those and you’re golden.

I’m in the middle of writing a book.  Well correction, I’m in the middle of writing down random gibberish that I will eventually turn into a cohesive element that will hopefully be a book one day.