Planner - Risa Weaver-Enion
- Business: Risa James Events
- Location: Sacramento, California CA
- Experience: 6 Years
- Profile: Risa James Events
- Website: www.risajamesevents.com
1. Introduction: What's your story?
I started this business in 2015 because I LOVE WEDDINGS! Seriously. I love attending them, I love reading about them, I love looking at photos of them, and I love designing them. I also love giving advice and helping people. (That's partially why I went to law school. But it turns out I would much rather give people advice about their wedding than about their merger agreements. Go figure.)
The most rewarding part of being a wedding planner is when my clients tell me at the end of the night, "We couldn't have done this without you!" You deserve to have the same experience and enjoy your wedding day without having to worry about whether the plan is being executed properly!
2. What's your experience as a wedding planner? How many weddings have you planned?
In my six+ years planning weddings, I've planned many dozens - so many that I've lost count. I've worked with couples who eloped during Covid and only had their parents at their wedding, and I've worked with South Asian and Mexican-American couples who had 300-500 guests at their wedding. Every wedding is unique in its own way, and one of my favorite things about being a wedding planner is learning new cultural traditions and getting to know couples and their families.
Being a wedding planner is my dream job. I always say that if I won the lottery and didn't "have" to work, I'd still be a wedding planner, because it's what I love to do!
3. What sorts of services do you offer (month-of coordination, full-service planning, or à la carte planning)?
Wedding Design + Planning
If you have no idea where to start with planning your wedding and you need inspiration, guidance, and decision-making help from the moment you get engaged until you leave for your honeymoon, the bespoke Wedding Design +Planning package is just for you.
After an initial consultation to get to know you and your fiancé(e), I customize inspiration boards and help you choose an overall look and feel for your special day.
I help you select ceremony & reception venues and all of your vendors, and I am with you every step of the way throughout your planning process. Includes all planning and coordination services.
Because of the highly personalized and time-intensive nature of this package, I accept a limited number of Wedding Design clients each year.
Pricing starts at $7500
Full-Service Wedding Planning
If you already have your venue selected and have some idea of what you want your wedding to look like but need hands-on help with the nuts and bolts of planning a wedding, then the Full-Service Wedding Planning package would suit you well.
This package is especially useful for couples who live out-of-town or have demanding, time-consuming jobs.
I recommend vendors to round out your wedding team and coordinate communication among them, provide advice on budgeting and stationery, make hotel and transportation arrangements, and keep you on track throughout the planning process. Also includes all coordination services.
Pricing ranges from $5500 to $7500
Wedding Coordination (aka Day-of Coordination)
For those couples who want to handle all the planning themselves but need someone to come in at the end to make the day run smoothly, the Wedding Coordination package is for you.
This is much more than just “day-of” coordination, which is an industry misnomer. I get involved about two months before your wedding, prepare a detailed wedding schedule, manage your ceremony rehearsal, and make sure your wedding day goes off without a hitch.
Pricing ranges from $2250 to $3250
Wedding Consulting
À la carte services, including venue searches, honeymoon planning, and general wedding consultant services, are available at an hourly rate of $75 if you need assistance with individual tasks.
4. How do payments work (a percentage of the wedding budget, a flat fee etc.)? What are the different packages that you offer and which one is your most popular package?
Most of my planning packages are a flat rate. Wedding consulting and venue searches are offered at an hourly rate. Custom packages can be designed if my standard packages don't quite fit your needs.
5. Who else is in your team and how many people on your staff will be at the wedding?
I work alone, but I do have several ad hoc assistants who join me on the wedding day, depending on guest count and logistics.
6. What happens if you're sick or otherwise unable to be there on the day of the wedding?
I have close relationships with several other planners in the Sacramento area. If I had to replace myself at a wedding, I would call one of them, or one of my long-time assistants who have seen me handle many weddings over the years.
7. How many meetings will you have with the couple and how will they be involved?
It depends on what service level clients choose. For coordination clients, we have an initial phone consultation, another long phone conversation about three months before the wedding, an in-person site visit at the venue, then the rehearsal and wedding day. Full-service and wedding design clients have more frequent phone and in-person meetings, including meetings with other members of the vendor team.
8. Will you handle the invitations, from wording and ordering to the addressing and mailing? What about guest list coordination and RSVPs?
I assist full-service planning clients with invitation wording and ordering, along with addressing. Clients handle invitation mailing themselves. Clients also manage their own RSVPs and their own guest list. Coordination clients handle all aspects of invitations on their own.
9. Do you handle rentals? Will you coordinate delivery, arrival and set up times with the photographer, the florist, the musicians and the caterer/banquet manager?
I manage the rental order for my full-service planning clients. I do coordinate arrival/delivery/service times for all vendors on behalf of all my clients.
10. Can you create a timeline that tells everyone involved in the planning process (other pros, members of the wedding party, to-be-weds and families) what to do and when to do it? How will you make sure everyone sticks to the schedule?
I use an online timeline program. The meeting we have three months before the wedding is the beginning of the timeline creation process.
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