Let It Be Known…
So most of my friends know that I started planning my wedding when I was 20. I’m 32 now so I’ve had years of planning and I know exactly what I want for most things. I also knew very quickly into our relationship that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Shawn. For me, it was natural to start planning my wedding with him long before he proposed to me. I think it was a very good sign that he knew I was planning our wedding and didn’t go into a full panic about it.
So had we been getting married in the Mid-Hudson Valley, I wouldn’t need a Wedding Planner. I spent my whole life there and knew the area like the back of my hand. As a new transplant to the Capital District, I need help. Help that a groom cannot provide. You might be asking, but what about your bridesmaids? Well half of them have spent their entire lives in the area and I am working with them for ideas. However, this is my vision and I wanted to put all of my ducks in a row on the vision itself before asking for help. Sometimes your closest friends and family can provide influence away from your own tastes. I needed to make sure I had a clear picture of what I wanted exactly and whether I could facilitate it before reaching out to them.
So, I started looking for wedding planners and came across several. However, I always go with my gut. My gut told me to go with Wedding Planning Plus. So I sent an email and got an immediate reply back from Shannon Whitney. She is super helpful and her willingness to answer my questions, even though I wasn’t even engaged yet was helpful, and thoughtful of her. I went through some trouble figuring out a potential venue (due to my Celiac, I have to be very careful of who is selected for food preparation). I had sent out a series of emails and gotten no replies.
I happened to mention this to Shannon, that I felt like I was being ignored because I wasn’t engaged yet. She reached out to her friend Erin at Birch Hill and to my surprise, it was technical issues with their contact form which caused the lack of response and Erin was more than willing to work with me in advance of Shawn’s proposing. Shannon showed she was worth her weight in gold and I didn’t even have a ring on my finger yet.
Shannon and I continued to email and low and behold, my friend ran into trouble with her venue with weeks left to spare before her wedding. She was so stressed she was ill and the venue had been so cruel to her that a single email had her dissolving into tears. I didn’t hesitate for a second to recommend Shannon to her.
They went in to meet with Shannon and she told them “So, you were referred to me by one of my brides?” and the groom’s comment was something along the lines of “but Shawn hasn’t even proposed to her!” Anyway…
Shannon saved the day! She worked with her and helped her get through the final weeks leading up to her fabulous wedding to make them pain-free for the bride. On the day of the wedding, Shannon coordinated the whole thing flawlessly. She was even so helpful as to assist an old friend of the bride’s in staging a gift basket in the Bridal Suite.
I have a lot of worries about my wedding (mostly around food), but knowing that Shannon is behind me, with her endless knowledge, caring and attention to details, I can breathe a sigh of relief that everything is going to be allright.
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