Planner - Rebecca Grant
- Business: New Creations Wedding Design & Coordination
- Location: Kirkland, Washington WA
- Experience: 19 Years
- Profile: New Creations Wedding Design & Coordination
- Website: www.newcreationsweddings.com
1. Introduction: What's your story?
Hi There! My name is Rebecca Grant and I am the owner and lead planner for my Seattle-based wedding planning company, New Creations Weddings. I started out in the wedding industry working and training in Hawaii on the island of Oahu. I worked with one of the top wedding planners there before coming back home to Seattle and launching my business in 2009. I went full-time into wedding planning in 2011 and been going strong ever since! I've had the honor to be featured on several media outlets such as King 5's New Day NW, King 5 News, KOMO News, Seattle Times, Lynnwood Times, Everett Herald, From Ring to Veil Podcast, and Get to Know Your Wedding Pro Podcast as well as in many print features such as Seattle Bride, Style Me Pretty, Martha Stewart Weddings and many more.
Because of my experience with Asian cultures during my time in Hawaii, I have also been the key-note speaker for several networking organizations in Seattle such as NACE, ILEA & Wedding Network Seattle educating fellow wedding professionals on the details and nuances of Asian & Pacific Islander wedding customs and cultures.
Due to the pandemic of 2020, I also was 1 of 4 that worked directly with Governor Inslee's office to help get weddings and events reopened to get wedding professionals back to work and couples down the aisle.
Because of my excellent reputation, tenure within the industry, and an industry leader, I have grown to one of the most sought out after wedding planners in the greater Seattle area.
I also have served on the boards as Chapter Director for Wedding Network Seattle, and currently serve as the VP on the board for WIPA Seattle.
As if that weren't enough, I also own a wedding venue in Snohomish, WA, Twin Willow Gardens.
I love what I do and am continually looking for ways to better serve my couples, grow my network, and be a leader within the wedding industry.
2. What's your experience as a wedding planner? How many weddings have you planned?
In my 19 year tenure I estimate I have planned well over 500 weddings, and probably now hovering close to the 600 wedding mark. There is very little that surprises me which is why I charge what I charge. Couples are paying me for my experience and expertise to know that it will be a smooth process and for me to be their guide through next steps. I aim to make wedding planning fun, because it SHOULD be! You only do this once in your life, so it should be a process that is exciting and memorable.
3. What sorts of services do you offer (month-of coordination, full-service planning, or à la carte planning)?
My specialty service is Full Design and Planning or otherwise known as "Jesus, Take the Wheel" planning (as dubbed by many of my couples). This service is unlike any other in Seattle where we have a collaborative approach between all vendors at a creative partner round table meeting to discuss layout, decor, design, lighting scheme and paper goods all in one group meeting. This cuts down tremendously on the amount of time and emails communicating with each vendor individually and allows each vendor to know what the other is doing making the setup seamless day-of. This also allows them to collaborate with other vendors to discuss ideas on logistics or unique design ideas that will make your day truly one-of-a-kind. This service is for my $100k or more planning couples.
My most popular service is Partial Planning where I help you bring your vision to life with communicating with each of the design related vendors (florists, paper goods, rentals, lounge seating, lighting, draping, etc.) to ensure all comes together cohesively. You handle the non-design related vendors (music, hair & makeup, photo, video, etc.) with my vendor recommendations to bring the rest of the team together.
This service tends to be for my $60-$90k planning couples.
I take on a limited amount of Final Planning & Day-of Coordination couples where I come in ~3-months in advance to help guide you through the last of the planning process and help you tie up any loose ends. This service is very limited as I use it to fill in any gaps in my year and tends to be most popular with my $35-$60k planning couples.
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?
I offer flat-rate pricing so there are no surprises with your overall budget. Each of my services are listed directly on my website along with pricing for each service. There are no changes based on variables like guest counts, as regardless of if it's 50 or 200, my planning process remains the same. My most popular service is my Partial Planning services which is for couples that need help bringing to gather their vision but can handle the other logistics. Planners should take up no more than 10% of your overall wedding budget, so this service tends to be my couples looking to spend ~$60k - $90k for their wedding day.
5. Who else is in your team and how many people on your staff will be at the wedding?
Regardless of size of wedding(*), there will always be minimum 2 of my team on-site. You will have 1 lead and 1 additional assistant. The lead will be the planner you book with, as I have multiple Associate Planners on my team.
*Elevated Elopement services receive 1 lead planner on-site.
6. What happens if you're sick or otherwise unable to be there on the day of the wedding?
The reason why I have multiple Associate Planners on my team is 1 to ensure I a have consistent pool of tenured day-of assistants, but also they are able to fully run their own weddings. If anything were to happen to me (or whoever your lead is), someone else is able to fully able to pickup and run your wedding right where you left off. All Associate Planners have access to a shared Dropbox account to have access to all files. This is one of the things I pride myself on is to ensure in the event of an emergency, things can run smoothly still.
7. How many meetings will you have with the couple and how will they be involved?
My process is very specific for the service selected. At minimum with Final Planning & Day of Coordination services, we will have 4 virtual or in-person meetings prior to wedding day. For Full Design & Planning there is a lot more involvement on my end in which I will attend meetings as scheduled throughout the planning process.
8. Will you handle the invitations, from wording and ordering to the addressing and mailing? What about guest list coordination and RSVPs?
I leverage my industry stationary partners to work with my couples for invitation design, wording, ordering and addressing the couples invitations and paper goods. For Full Planning and Partial Planning couples, I am involved in the design process of all paper goods and hand off to my creative partners to execute. I do not handle guest list coordination or RSVP's as my couples generally like to handle that piece to know who they need to followup with as well as have the list immediately handy to begin working on seating assignments.
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 do have a very large piece in vendor communication throughout the process. Even for my Final Planning & Day of Coordination couples, at minimum, their vendor team will hear from me with the timeline ~2-months prior to wedding day. For Full Design & Planning couples there is a lot more communication with the vendor team throughout the planning process. I handle rentals for Partial & Full Planning couples and can be hired on an hourly basis for Final Planning couples looking to curate a tablscape that requires specialty rentals.
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 have been told numerous times by fellow wedding pros that I have the best timelines out there in Seattle. They are extremely detailed and list arrival/departure times for each vendor, couple, family and wedding party. I have been doing this long enough that I know when to build in buffer, how long a plated meal for 150 people is going to take, accounting for bathroom breaks and so much more. There is always room for flexibility within the schedule, but the joke within my team and me is "Oh, look! First dance at 9pm (referring to the timeline)? What time is it? 9PM BABY!" I'm pretty dang good at writing timelines, lol! Oh, and I also start my ceremonies on time. ;)
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