Planner - Chavah Grant
- Business: Vida Chic Weddings and Events
- Location: Honolulu, Hawaii HI
- Experience: 10
- Profile: Vida Chic Weddings and Events
- Website: www.vidachic.com
1. Introduction: What's your story?
Hi I'm Chavah Grant, the owner and lead coordinator of Vida Chic Weddings and Events. My first memory as a child was my mom coming into my room with a lit candle and singing Christmas carols softly to wake me up on Christmas morning. At dusk, with a twinkly candle in hand, she sang Christmas carols until I opened my eyes and hopped out of bed and together we went to my little brothers’ room to do the same for them. It’s one of my favorite memories. My excitement and anticipation for special days and events was born when I was 5. She made everything worth looking forward to. She made events exciting no matter how big or small. We never believed in Santa - we didn’t have to - she made things magical enough.
20 years later I built a company that creates events that people look forward to. I make them fun, unique and most of all... memorable. I encourage people to take the “how do people normally do it?!” question out of their mind and work from square one to build events people will talk about. I love weddings and at Vida Chic Weddings and Events, we put together something magical your friends and family will never forget.
2. What's your experience as a wedding planner? How many weddings have you planned?
I actually started my events career working a corporate event planning job where we held meetings and hosted social events and I loved that...until...I planned my first wedding. It was like a sugar high. There was so much emotion and happiness crammed into one day and I went back to work on Monday realizing what I REALLY loved to do. And so I started my Wedding Planning career back in 2011 and never looked back.
Since then, I've been a part of countless luxury destination wedding events and the designer behind several fabulous styled photo shoots. I've planned weddings of some BIG Hollywood celebrities, some celebrity authors and reality show stars.
And after a decade of being a part of over a thousand events, more than 800 of which are weddings, I'm still doing what I do best, helping couples make their dream wedding a reality. I love what I do. I love celebrating love and making each moments unforgettable.
3. What sorts of services do you offer (month-of coordination, full-service planning, or à la carte planning)?
I own several wedding centered companies to include an event planning firm, wedding membership community site and wedding planners and folio products.
We help couples plan the most important day of their life through whichever means is best for them through:
1) Wedding planning kits (for Super budget conscious brides)
2) Wedding Planning Membership site (a website with free downloads, monthly Q&A, guides and checklists created for brides on-the-go)
3) Wedding Coordination and Planning Packages - our expert planners will hold your hand through the process and will see to it that everything goes exactly as planned on the day of your big event.
We offer these packages: Day-of Coordination, Partial Planning and Full Service Planning to our couples. We also offer one-free wedding consultation with our coordinators if you inquiry via our website.
We also help wedding vendors connect with couples and make more money through adding them to our wedding vendors list and setting up Styled shoot and collab opportunities.
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?
With Day-of Coordination, we come in 30 days prior, wrap up all your details, create a timeline and diagram from all your details, facilitate your rehearsal the day prior and organize and facilitate your day from beginning to end. The investment amount is $2,598.00
For Partial Planning, we come in after some of your details have been taken care of (things like your venue, date, photographer, etc). It's a package that we offer when you've already started the process and need help finding additional vendors and putting design or vendor details together. Investment amount for this service is $3,998.00
Our most popular and most recommended, Full Service Planning is best way to "impress without being stressed". We are taking all the loads off your shoulders from beginning to end. We find the right venue, vendors and budget for you and plan from start to finish. Investment amount to cover these expert services is $5,998.00
We normally split the payments into half down as deposit and balance due 30 days prior.
5. Who else is in your team and how many people on your staff will be at the wedding?
Vida Chic is made up of both local coordinators and military spouses who have various skills sets within the wedding industry. My team (mostly comprises of wonderful and skillful women) works tirelessly to ensure every detail is perfect and that every event is executed with ease because we know that even though this is the best day of a person’s life, it can also be the most stressful. We take the stress of such an important time and we make it our responsibility to ensure that everyone feels like a VIP.
I work with a small team. I have an assistant and an associate coordinator who works closely with me and assist every client's concerns whenever I'm not available.
6. What happens if you're sick or otherwise unable to be there on the day of the wedding?
As a planner, you always plan for the worst cases and like I said, I always work with a small team. With my 10 years of experience in the field, I've developed this 3-person system in our company which works for me and my clients so well. My associate coordinator and my assistant also knows all the tiniest details and so on those very seldom occasions that I won't make it, my team is always ready and capable to execute all our plans with ease.
7. How many meetings will you have with the couple and how will they be involved?
An initial wedding consultation will be scheduled upon inquiry of our wedding planning packages.
A couple of meetings more after the contract has been signed. From there, we'll start working with the timeline and contacting vendors to service your event. Every once in a while before the 30-day mark, we schedule phone meetings with our coordinators and the couple to talk about some changes on the plan while maintaining constant communication via email. 30 days before the wedding date, meetings will be as frequent as once a week or as often as necessary.
With both Partial and Full service we work to negotiate to get the best bang for your buck. We love what we do but we are also known for adding special touches to events to make each event special.
We welcome couples to add any DIY elements and we'll work out the pickup, set-up details as we go.
8. Will you handle the invitations, from wording and ordering to the addressing and mailing? What about guest list coordination and RSVPs?
We use an online planning system to keep all your details in one place. It is password protected and has everything from notes, to photos, to contracts, to budget details all at your fingertips so you always know where we are in planning.
We have fabulous invitation templates that our couples can choose from. We use a system to take care of all your invitation needs. We can also create wedding website upon couple's request to make sure their guests can send their response to the RSVPs and communicate all wedding-related infos.
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?
No more worries cause with both Partial and Full service package, we work to negotiate to get the best vendor there is for your event. We will coordinate all rentals, deliveries, arrival and set up times with the photographer, the florist, the musicians and the caterer/banquet manager.
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?
The online planning system we use to keep all our couple's details in one place is very efficient that it sends email notifications to the couple on specific dates based on their timeline so they'll never miss any vendor invoices needed to be paid or tasks needed to be done leading up to their wedding day.
By the 30-day mark, couples have a weekly meeting with the lead coordinator to polish all details and keep everyone and everything on schedule.
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