Over the weekend, I was browsing through the Lazaro website, knowing there was a trunk show at Marcella’s, when I came across a dress that made me gasp.  I sent a mail to Leah, the bridal sales consultant that I’ve been working with to see if the dress was at the trunk show.  She immediately called me and started blabbing about how much she thought I’d love the dress and that she totally thought of me when it came in and that I should come in that day to check it out.  I snagged the last appointment.  Fortunately, Phoebe was able to join me so last minute to check this out.  I loved it.  Admittedly, it was a bit hard to envision it fitting on me initially because this was probably the smallest sample size dress I’d ever tried on–it was literally the dress from the runway, so the model was like a size 0 and 5′10″—great.  So the sample kinda falls on me funny—but after tucking here an tucking there and holding things in for a bit, I could see it and I really loved it.  Did I mention that it’s much cheaper than any of the other dresses that I’ve been looking at?  That helped too.  Another neat thing—Lazaro, himself, was at the dress shop for the trunk show so I got to meet him.  I think it’s my favorite now.  Fortunately, the shop is going to hold this dress for me until my mom gets here–and I’ve made an early AM appointment for Wednesday, after which they’ll fedex the dress to the next trunk show.  I hope my mom likes it!  I really think that this may be the one…

On the coordinator front—wow, well, I’ve spoken to 5 coordinators so far, including Coordinator A, the first one we ever met.  I think I have a pretty good idea who I’ll want to hire now after interviewing so many but I won’t go into it since future coordinator will likely peruse this website; however, here are my thoughts in general about coordinators:

• It’s really helpful to see examples of their work–such as the timelines they put together or the email newsletters they may put together for the wedding party.  This is especially important for day-of coordinators. Why?  Most coordinators bring their “portfolio” which is just photographs of weddings they’ve done–while I ooo and aaah over these photographs, they don’t really show me what this coordinator is capable of–it just shows me they did a pretty wedding and that there was a great florist and photographer.  I was impressed when a coodinator showed me actual examples of how they coordinate.
• Do they review contracts?  Preferably yes.
• Know your vendors.  I interviewed one coordinator whom I started asking ‘who’s your favorite band?’ ‘who’s your favorite florist?’ ‘who’s your favorite officiant?’  For each one, she stumbled trying to remember names of vendors.  That really didn’t impress me.  I would hope that a coordinator can instinctively remember great vendors rather than needing to refer to some sheet of paper they’ve been updating.
• Good vibe is important–I’m going to be working with this coordinator a bunch.  I need someone that’s on the same brainwave as me–not someone that I’ll just get annoyed with speaking to.  There are plenty of good coordinators out there, so hire someone that you’ll get along with.
• Shop around–prices totally vary.  I’ve found day-of coordinators to range from $750 - $3500.  And they all basically do the same thing!
• Do they get vendor discounts? See how the coordinator reacts to your desire to take advantage of that.  Will they limit the number of vendor referrals/discounts they give you?  Do they take kickbacks? (preferably not)
• Have they ever worked at your venue?  Have they had experience with any special things you want to do at your wedding?  I asked each one about their experiences with Chinese tea ceremonies–it ranged from “I learned Chinese doing it!” to “I’ve never planned one”.  That can be a tiebreaker.

At the end of the day, honestly, I liked all of the coordinators I met–they were all wonderful people that I’m sure are totally capable of helping out with the wedding.  It’s little nitpicky details that ultimately help me decide in the end who I want to hire.

Categories: Dress, Misc Planning