Planners
Wedding coordinator services scoped for the couple who is roughly halfway there: venue signed, a few suppliers hired, and a long list nobody has started. Offered around Santa Cruz and the Bay Area for thirty to three hundred guests.
Where This Package Picks Up
Most couples arriving here locked a venue early and hired one supplier they loved, usually the photographer, then stalled on florals, rentals, paper and the schedule. Others split the work unevenly and want a professional second reading of the back half. The scope answers both: real design involvement plus the bookings that are still open plus the entire closing month, which is more than a day of wedding coordinator does and less than handing over the whole project.
Two Design Consultations, and What Fits Inside Them
The design allowance here is countable: two consultations, covering the color story, the rentals, the florals and whatever else the room needs to hold together. Two sessions are enough to settle a direction and specify it for suppliers, and not enough to develop a look from nothing. Design capability itself is not reduced; the access to it is.
Four Vendor Meetings, Counted the Same Way
Attendance runs to four supplier meetings, in person or by call, chosen by you for wherever a professional in the room changes the outcome. Walking a rental inventory usually earns one. So does the florals conversation once the palette exists. Sourcing, negotiation and contract work are all inside scope, payment stays direct from you to each supplier, and any commission or referral relationship is disclosed. The working roster runs to a large network of suppliers, which makes short notice substitution possible when something falls through.
Bookings Usually Still Open at This Stage
Rentals, florals and lighting most often remain unsigned when a couple reaches out here, and outreach and guidance for them are covered. Spending is reviewed against the plan you started with, so a late florals decision is measured against the original figure rather than optimism. Couples weighing wedding planner cost between this tier and the one above should compare exactly this: the design allowance and the meeting count, since almost everything else on the day is the same.
Writing the Timeline and the Floor Plan
Both the master production timeline and the venue floor plan are produced by the planner at this tier, not received. What is different here is upstream: they encode choices you already made rather than choices the planner shaped. Room flow gets designed rather than inherited from whatever the venue set up last weekend. Weather alternatives and multi day formats are supported, and the service window on the day runs four to eleven hours. Hours beyond the booked service window are available at a published rate.
The Closing Month
Every contractor is confirmed and walked through in the last week, and the rehearsal is paced the night before or that morning. On the wedding day the lead planner runs the schedule and absorbs the vendor questions, working solo rather than with a crew, and the day of kit is on hand for wardrobe repairs and small mishaps. On the event day the lead planner is your single point of contact for every vendor, so family and wedding party logistics questions go to the planner rather than to vendors during set up.
Cadence, Contact and Closing Paperwork
Planning meetings run monthly, email carries the traffic between them, and replies come back inside a day. No more than two events are carried at once. After the wedding, thank you note coordination and a written vendor payment summary close the file.
Where the Planner Works
Santa Cruz County first, then the Bay Area at large, the Monterey Peninsula, and the wine growing counties north and east of the city. The same practice runs a Mississippi operation around Jackson and out to the East Coast, useful for a family divided between the two. Mileage past a fifty mile free radius is charged per mile. Travel for destination events outside the standard service area is quoted in the proposal and includes mileage, per diem and lodging where applicable. The planner works in English and Spanish, with cultural depth in Latin American celebrations.
Agreement, Payments and Proof of Cover
Dates go on the calendar three to fifteen months ahead, and rush requests depend on the calendar. A signed planning agreement and a deposit reserve the date, and the payment schedule for the balance is set out in the signed agreement. The planner works to a minimum overall event budget, and that figure is confirmed on inquiry. Headcount and scope additions are fixed at the four week mark, priced in writing. Setup and breakdown are covered by the flat rate. Coverage includes general and professional liability with a current business license, a certificate of insurance goes to any venue that asks, and supplier introductions come from a preferred contractor list, limited to insured and licensed contractors unless you have chosen your own.
