tips, policies, and operating procedures:

Get in touch anytime you have a question. There are no “stupid” questions in wedding planning. In most cases, this is the first time you’ve done this, so I expect you will need to be guided and educated on many processes, lingo, vendors, etiquette, “is this normal?” questions, etc. Never ever feel the need to apologize for asking a question!
Email is the preferred form of communication while wedding planning. I find this to be quick, trackable, easy to refer back to, and helps when everyone is on different work schedules. I am super quick with email!
Text messaging- I have no way to track or keep my client’s text messages and my timely responses, so I much prefer email for my planning processes. It is very helpful to me and my response times to be able to log into email and see all of my current to-dos, and helps me not skip a beat. Feel free to text OR CALL anytime inside or outside of business hours on your rehearsal or wedding day, or to update on an arrival time if we have a meeting scheduled that day, as I understand this is a great form of communication during those more urgent times! The week of your wedding, you are welcomed to call or text anytime, day or night.
Calls- please make an appointment for phone calls as you would an in-person meeting. Because of the nature of my schedule and day-to-day changes with venue walkthroughs, initial consultations, ever-evolving locations, etc., I am generally not sitting at a desk with my phone during all office hours, and cannot take calls without an appointment.
Follow ups - I am the first to admit my industry is often better at creativity and art than they are at “business” - emails, responses, etc. It can get pretty annoying sometimes, but I am here to help! Anytime we are working on something, I have lots of procedures to ensure you are not left in the dark on anything, so in general multiple follow ups will be my responsibility and you can rest assured I will be getting back to you as quickly as possible, and as soon as I have information to share. Usually, if you are waiting on an answer, it is because I am waiting on an answer. I always promise to get you information as quickly as humanly possible, and keep on folks who leave us hanging. A friendly reminder that many vendors are out of office Friday through Monday on events.

Emailing and out of the office responses/extended vacations/holidays- As you’ve probably already noticed, I answer my emails very quickly! This will continue throughout the planning process, and is not just reserved for prospective clients. You will probably find it is one of your favorite parts of working with me! It is very important to me to keep up with my inbox and answer client questions as quickly as possible. If I will be “out of the office” for 2 business days or more, you will see a vacation response to your email, as well as a pre-vacation message in my email signature leading up to it. Otherwise, within business hours, please understand that occasionally responses will take longer than my usual lightning speed. When I take day trips to the desert for walkthroughs, or schedule all day appointments during wedding season, it is difficult to answer emails for that day, as I want to give that client or clients my full attention. Please see below for current general office hours.

I very often answer quick emails outside of office hours, but this is a good guideline when awaiting a response:

Monday 9:30am to 6pm
Tuesday 9:30am to 6pm
Wednesday 9:30am to 5pm
Thursday OFF
Friday varied based on rehearsal or events, otherwise in office 9:30am to 5pm
Saturday EVENTS / VARIABLE
Sunday OFF
Federal holidays OFF

Quickest in-office responses for emails happen Monday to Wednesday.

I am more than likely working at least a few late evenings a month as well, especially during wedding season!

I’ve found there is a lull in planning for most clients during the Fall and Winter holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas to New Year) while they celebrate with family and friends, so it's the perfect time for our office to shut down and recharge for the New Year as well! I generally take some time off during these holidays, and am not available for holiday meetings.

Final walkthrough/final details meetings, which happen approximately 2-3 months before your wedding, generally must be done on weekdays, as you may remember for your contract. This meeting is to discuss floorplan, itinerary, set up details, etc. Around this time, I will also provide some templates for final documents. I do not typically provide timelines or timeline details prior to this period; reason being, things change! Many months before the wedding is way too early to start discussing specifics, and will only serve to confuse the parties involved. If you need a VERY loose timeline to, for instance, book hair and makeup, feel free to ask. All vendors know that things change. As long as you have your ceremony start time, reception end time, and whether or not you will do a First Look, all questions can be answered without the detailed timeline.