• Manage the vendors and direct them on the wedding day, answering questions, checking to make sure they have set up correctly and provided all the contracted materials and services.
• Put out any fires as much as possible without the clients knowing about it.
• Be the client’s eyes and ears so they and their family members can relax and enjoy the day.
• Manage shuttles, direct guests, setup light personal items such as guest book, placecards, table numbers, menus, signage, hand out ceremony programs, line up the bridal party and send everyone down the aisle, manage the grand exit.
WHAT DO YOU DO ON THE WEDDING DAY?
Our clients really enjoy the fact that the planner they initially meet with is the same person they work with directly throughout the entire planning process and who is the leader in charge of their wedding day. This helps to ensure all details are translated across venue, budget, design, vendors and finally coordination of the wedding weekend, without being lost in translation between many different team members.
We have a consistent hiring, training and scheduling process for our entire coordination team which includes educated and experienced coordinators working on your wedding days and not just having interns or family members helping out on your day.
All of our planners share the same processes, templates, systems, training and current local industry information with vendors and venues.
It’s impossible not to mention that our entire team shares similar personality traits including a caring nature, sense of humor, creative and on trend style sense and assertiveness in hard work. It’s inevitable that through every client we work with, we offer some level of ongoing emotional support whether it’s through helping sort out family drama as it relates to the wedding plans, assisting with ideas on how to accommodate an ill family member to make them comfortable enough to enjoy the day, or even giving that extra level of support to our clients when they happen to be going through a tough time coinciding with their wedding plans.
We have an extremely organized and curated process that all of our planners utilize across all of our weddings creating consistency within our team and proven success in managing client expectations and creating amazing weddings!
Nearly 70% of our annual revenue comes from referrals from our clients and local venues and vendors who know first-hand what it’s like to work with us and the peace of mind we provide in the great task of wedding planning.
WHAT SETS YOU APART FROM OTHER WEDDING PLANNERS?
Weddings can vary greatly in terms of cost from one to another and the best answer here is that it all depends on what you want! Planning a wedding is similar to building a house that can be built to suit your relative wishes and the possibilities are endless.
To get a little more specific, we’ve done studies on how best to represent how much the weddings we at Kirkbrides plan and showcase photos of. The overall cost per guest is most commonly in the $400-$500 per person range for all wedding expenses but not including attire, rings or honeymoon.
Our budget minimum for weddings is $225 per person for all wedding expenses but not including attire, rings or honeymoon.
HOW MUCH DO WEDDINGS COST?
Frequently Asked Questions
We would be happy to! We offer complimentary consultations and just need to get some details from you about your wedding plans and wishes and can then explain the different packages and price out for your wedding.
CAN YOU SEND ME A PRICE LIST?
They are definitely two different roles. We work with a venue coordinator at almost every wedding we do! In short, a venue coordinator manages items pertaining to the venue including the catering, servers and venue facilities. The wedding coordinator goes offsite to the ceremony, getting ready location, shuttle pickup and dropoff locations and so on. The wedding coordinator also manages all of your personal details and works for YOU and not the venue. We work alongside venue coordinators very nicely and repeatedly receive referrals from them! We help them focus on their job while we focus on you so everything can run as smoothly as possible.
Further reading ⟶
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A VENUE COORDINATOR AND A WEDDING PLANNER, AND WHY WOULD I NEED BOTH?
You are very involved. Your wedding is always yours and no matter how involved your life allows you to be with the meetings and plans, we will always have your best interests in mind for style, budget and personality. Our process includes gaining your input in many places including design, itinerary and more, and this is actually a compliment we regular receive in our reviews - that our clients felt that it was always their wedding and not the planner’s.
How involved would I be in the planning process if I hire you for one of your planning packages?
Yes, we carry business liability insurance and can provide the certificate of insurance to the venue upon request (and do on a regular basis).
Cumulatively, Kirkbrides has been involved in the planning and coordination of over 1,500 weddings and counting! Each year our team takes on about 100 weddings locally in the Cleveland/Northeastern Ohio area so chances are, we have worked at your venue before. However, if we haven’t, there’s always a first time for everything and time has proven our processes to be very effective in planning a wedding anywhere. Additionally, each year we work on a handful of private residence events and we are able to think of everything needed and necessary while foreseeing potential issues to prevent them and create a carefully planned logistically organized event.
How many weddings have you planned? Have you ever worked at my venue?
This is no problem at all! In fact, about HALF of all of our clients each year live out of town and hire Kirkbrides to assist with their Cleveland weddings. We will work with you to schedule meetings for your trips to Cleveland during the planning process and keep you informed on the plans while we are in town with the knowledge, time and expertise to plan the wedding of your dreams.
I have a unique situation in that I live out of town but my wedding is in Cleveland. How would that work out with your services?
Absolutely, yes! Each planner has her own references, in all our consults we provide a list of 3 clients within the past year who have agreed to act as references and be contacted directly, and you can read reviews anytime on The Knot and Wedding Wire!
Can you provide references and reviews on your services?
Yes, we have done weddings for grooms and brides alike before and love working with all people to create a day filled with love!
Have you ever done a same sex wedding before?
Can you recommend a few independent articles that give more information about hiring a wedding planner?
