One more big day: A day in the life of a wedding planner
Flowers. Backdrops. Photography. Wedding cake. A big white dress. It’s all just another day in the life of Hollie Dobson, a wedding and event coordinator for White Willow and Company in Logan.
Dobson said she has helped plan about 150 weddings since she and her sister Sarah Zaugg bought the rental business Wedding’s Made Perfect two years ago. She said they combined Zaugg’s interior, graphic and floral design background with her business management degree to take the small rental business to the next level. Dobson said the result was White Willow and Company, a wedding and event planning business complete with coordinators, rentals and a floral department.
“We make all the little details happen and fill in the cracks that tend to get overlooked,” she said. “We put together the whole event from beginning to end.”
Although the company can be hired to plan any event, Dobson said her specialties are weddings and entertainment. She does what one might expect a wedding planner to do, and then some.
“I return phone calls, check e-mails, meet with clients, hold staff meetings, run lots of errands, meet on event sites and do blueprints,” she said.
Dobson said she typically has one or two consulting appointments a day. When a client first comes to Dobson to plan a wedding, she said the first question she asks is if they have a wedding budget.
“It is helpful if the client has a budget and we go from there,” Dobson said. “We have a worksheet to see how much they can spend where, and then we give them a shopping guide from there.”
Dobson said the average budget for a wedding in Cache Valley is about $5,000 – $7,000, although she said she has done weddings for as little as $3,000 and as much as $50,000. Dobson said she doesn’t recommend a budget any lower than $3,000.
“If you go much lower than that it is really difficult to have a nice event,” she said.
After deciding on a budget, Dobson said she talks with the client about a wedding color, which is often dependent on the season. The next important decision a client must make is the flowers for the wedding. Although this may seem like a simple decision, Dobson said clients often don’t understand that many flowers are only available at certain times throughout the year.
“If there is a particular flower you like it’s important to find out the details about its season,” Dobson said.
After the first three questions are answered, Dobson said the planning can go anywhere.
“I figure out the client’s personality and show them pictures and give them ideas,” Dobson said.
She said it is important to ask the client what they hope to remember about the event. She said if a client can recognize what is most important to them, then she can spend extra time planning to make that aspect of the wedding exactly what the client wants.
Dobson said she usually begins planning a wedding several months in advance, but has planned a wedding in as little as 30 days.
She said many people will find that hiring a wedding planner will be much more cost and time efficient than trying to do it all themselves.
“When the clients look back on the event they realize some things were not done right because they weren’t done by professionals,” she said. “If I could talk clients into anything it would be to … hire the most professionals you can with the amount of money you have.”
Dobson also said she would not recommend having a family or friend do the photography or catering.
“It’s way too much stress on the family,” she said. “It ends up being a hassle and I’ve seen relationships be ruined because of stress over stupid weddings.”
Lois Shupe from Laketown, Utah, hired Dobson as the event coordinator for her daughter’s wedding in August 2008. She said Dobson was very easy to work with and having a planner saved the family a lot of stress.
“They (White Willow and Company) were really pleasant to work with and did a good job,” Shupe said. “Having a wedding planner saves you so much stress. We maybe could have saved a little bit more money but I don’t think it’s worth it. You meet with them and it’s done.”
Shupe said Dobson’s crew also cleaned up late into the morning after the event so the family didn’t have to.
Dobson mentioned cleaning up is one of her least favorite duties as a wedding planner, but is simply something that has to be done.
Jamie Madsen also hired Dobson as the event planner for her wedding in August 2008.
“Hollie (Dobson) was really helpful,” Madsen said. “She had a whole portfolio to show me pictures. She came to my house and figured out where they were going to put stuff … I didn’t have to worry about anything.”
Dobson said White Willow and Company makes planning and paying for a wedding easy because you can plan, order and purchase all you need in one setting. Besides having their own coordinators, rentals and floral departments, Dobson said White Willow and Company also has a list of preferred contracted vendors for photography and other wedding necessities. All of the separate expenses are put on one invoice for the client and White Willow and Company pays all the individual bills from the contracted vendors.
Dobson said because White Willow and Company has developed a good relationship with many businesses and restaurants around Cache Valley, clients have the option to hold their wedding events in many of these places. Soon, Dobson said clients will also have the option to have a more upscale wedding at the new Riverwoods Conference Center, which is being built in conjuction with the new Marriot SpringHill Suites in Logan. Dobson said White Willow and Company will be the main contracted coordinators at Riverwoods, and will then be able to offer clients an all-in-one service facility.
Dobson said the best part of being a wedding planner is getting to know clients and helping them create their dream wedding.
“I love meeting clients and helping them put their dreams into reality. I love the creative, hands on interaction with clients and getting to know them,” she said.
–karlie.brand@aggiemail.usu.edu