Planners
A wedding planner engagement built as a partnership rather than a handover, run from Windsor in the Sonoma vineyards for celebrations of thirty to three hundred guests across Wine Country and the Bay Area.
Joining Before the Back Half Begins
The defining feature of this listing is timing. The planner comes in earlier than a partial package usually allows, contributes to design and supplier choice through the rest of the calendar, and stays through the rehearsal and the day. You are not buying a hired hand who appears at the end but a collaborator for the remainder of the project. Couples typically arrive with a venue and one or two suppliers signed and florals, rentals, paper and the schedule open.
Partnership Calls, Month by Month
Calls run monthly across the engagement, and the word used for them in this scope is partnership rather than check in: working sessions where decisions get made together, not status updates read aloud. Between calls, email carries the traffic and answers come back within a day. Two weddings at most are in production at any time.
Two Consultations on Palette, Rentals and Florals
Design access is two consultations covering the palette, the rentals, the florals and the styling that ties them together. The capability behind them is a full design vision, so the sessions are a scope limit rather than a skill limit. Two conversations are enough to fix a direction and specify it for the suppliers who execute it, especially at vineyard venues where the room brings its own character.
Contracts Already Signed Get Verified
Every supplier contract already in place is verified, along with its payment schedule, so nothing signed early turns out to conflict with something signed later. Outreach and selection guidance cover whatever remains unbooked. Sourcing, negotiation and invoice management are inside scope, money moves directly from you to each supplier, and commission or referral relationships are disclosed rather than buried. That transparency is the part of wedding planner cost most couples never think to ask about.
Welcome Events and Multi Day Weekends
Wine Country weddings are rarely a single afternoon. Coordination of multi day welcome events is a quoted addition, as is extra on site staff for a large headcount and further design consultations. Wet weather alternatives are standard capability, and the service window runs four to twelve hours. Hours beyond the booked service window are available at a published rate.
A Longer Runway Than the Neighboring Packages
Bookings here usually sit six to eighteen months out, which follows from the partnership structure and the way destination venues release dates. Rush requests are taken case by case against the calendar. If you are working with a destination wedding planner brief and flying guests in, that runway makes accommodation blocks and travel logistics workable rather than frantic. A full service wedding planner arrangement is a separate tier; this one deliberately leaves the early foundations with you.
The Final Month, the Rehearsal, the Day
The master production timeline and the venue floor plan are drawn by the planner. Through the closing week each contractor is confirmed and walked through the plan. The rehearsal is coordinated the evening or day before. On the day, the lead planner runs the schedule and moves relatives and the wedding party through ceremony, photographs and reception. 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. A stocked event day kit for the wedding party comes along on the day. Afterward, thank you note coordination and a written supplier payment summary close the file.
Vineyard Country and the Coast Road
Regular coverage runs across the Napa Valley, the Sonoma Valley, the greater San Francisco Bay Area, and the coastal wedding corridor that stretches from Mendocino down to Big Sur. Travel within a sixty mile radius is included and mileage past it is billed by the mile. Travel for destination events outside the standard service area is quoted in the proposal and includes mileage, per diem and lodging where applicable.
What Reserves the Date
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. Final guest count and any additions are confirmed four weeks out and quoted in writing. Setup and breakdown are covered by the flat rate. The practice is owner run by a solo planner rather than a crew, carries general and professional liability alongside a current business license, issues a certificate of insurance to venues that require one, and works with contractors from a preferred list, all insured and licensed, unless you bring your own. Roughly one client in four returns for a second event.
