Pulling my hair out over details....

Photo by Christina Barreraz

Just about every bride hits a moment where nothing looks right, the colors are all wrong, the style of cake becomes a 5 tier nightmare and your stuck in a world of tulle verse satin. Details can be completely overwhelming on all levels. Friends and family grow tired of hearing about the 6 shades of pink that are completely different to you but all the same to them. It's a brides dream to have the perfect wedding. I don't care if your throwing a wedding with a guest list of 20 or 200. The fact is it's your day. If your anything like me you searched the web for every photo of red shoes you could find and nothing seemed quite right.


...(Insert Big Sigh)....Take a deep breathe and back away from your pile of Modern Bride magaizines and log off your computer. I know it's hard but you can do it.


When I put this wedding together Lisa became my Mom, Sister, Wedding Planner and Friend. She took my endless amount of emails, phone calls and drama. She was the boat that carried me to the shore, when I thought I couldn't handle one more wedding choice. Sometimes, a wedding planner is simply there to calm you down and set you back on track. She is there to look at your five shades of pink, give you tips on tulle, find you just the right cake, decode your endless emails on the type of location of your dreams, and simply take your calls on all the drama of planning a wedding. She is a professional mind reader, during one the most important times in your life. Best of all she is more than happy to be there for you!


Here is a Toast (raise engagement ring) to all the wedding planners, who just simply understand the mind of a bride, fried on wedding choices.

Do you really need me as your Wedding Planner? Look at the smile on Vivian's face, I say YES!

I have been getting many phone calls and emails from couples looking to elope within the next 6 months.  One of the first questions asked of me is "Do we really need a wedding planner?".  In the end, that can only be answered by you and your partner. But my advise as a wedding planner is this... planning a wedding whether big or small is pretty stressful, now planning a destination wedding can double that stress and take up a lot of time and energy. Compound that with an island time mentality and a language barrier and you multiply that stress level. This is my hometown, I do lots of business here, I am fluent in Spanish, I have many many contacts and sometimes it can take me an entire week to get an answer to a very simple question.  Now can you imagine your phone bill and time consumed on emails? 

My most popular Elope Package is my San Juan Package which starts at $2000 and covers everything except the doctor's fee, marriage license and reception.  This fee includes unlimited emails and phone calls, unlimited recommendations for ceremony and reception sites, an officiant, your flowers, sand ceremony and keepsake vase to take home with you, 20 digital photos with access to Kodak Gallery, bottle of champagne, transportation from the airport to the doc's office (sometimes I am able to get the doc to come right to your hotel lobby), transportation and translation at the Demographics Office to get your marriage license and stamps, set-up and breakdown of the ceremony site, set-up and organization of the reception site. I can recommend live music, hair, makeup, videographer, entertainment and well just about anything that you can think of.  And last but not least, I am available to you during your stay to help with anything that may come up... a desired tour, golf outing, God forbid an unexpected visit to an emergency room or maybe something as simple as where to go for lunch.  In fact, I practically become your assistant before, during and after your wedding.  

Also, I am a very unique planner I am not an assembly line, cookie cutter wedding business. I do not overbook myself, I treat each couple exclusively and just so you can understand the relationships I build with my couples, I send them an anniversary card every year and every year I receive holiday cards, birth announcements and phone calls and visits when they make it back to PR. PR Wedding Planner is more than a business, I pride myself in making couples feel special, they should, they are visiting my island, turning over the most precious day of their lives (besides the birth of their children) and trust in me to be the professional planner that I expressed to them I was. I have never let a couple down.  I strive to meet not only their high expectations but the ones I have placed on myself.  I want every couple to go home with great memories of their wedding day, the people they meet along the way and of this enchanted, gorgeous island that is MY Puerto Rico! 

So, if you still have any doubts about hiring me as your destination wedding planner... try doing all of that from your home town!

Fondly your wedding planner,

Lisa

P.S. I have lots and lots of references collaborating my blog post, just ask! :)

Puerto Rico Wedding Planner

I would like to introduce myself and share my experiences as a wedding planner.  My name is Lisa Rodriguez, I am 43 years young, I am the mother of a smart, articulate and gorgeous 11 year old daughter and wife to an amazing husband.  We live in a wonderful unique community in the town of Humacao in a resort area called Palmas del Mar in Puerto Rico.  Since relocating our primary residence to PR from NY, I yearned to continue my love of "event planning" and so PR Wedding Planner was born.  My experience is extensive in the "event planning" industry.  I have planned hundreds of weddings, birthday parties, baby showers and a like in the States and now here in PR.  I have decided to narrow my services and am now specializing in "eloping packages" for couples looking for something, unique, special and memorable.  I have to say that of all the weddings I have planned the most memorable one was my own destination wedding which was magical and perfect.  In researching for my wedding though I realized their is a lack of information and assistance available to couples looking for a different experience in planning the most important day of their lives.

The advantage of acquiring my services here in PR is that I am fluent in Spanish.  I know the island well.  I have extensive relationships with numerous vendors, hotels and out of the way places that most people know nothing about.  I can get all of you paperwork expedited and I have a keen sense in helping couples with decisions and management of orchestrating a perfect destination wedding. 

If you are looking for simple perfection in every aspect of the most special day of your lives... look no further.  I am here awaiting your email or phone call. 

Do You Need A Wedding Planner?

Movies like the Wedding Planner have shown the general public how much a wedding planner is needed. In the most basic sense, wedding planners are the ones who assist and take care of everything related to your wedding. The question is, though, does a couple really need a wedding coordinator? Can’t they just do everything themselves?

To answer this question, let’s look at a scenario, which, though hypothetical at this point, is probably true for many couples planning a wedding. The moment a couple gets engaged, they start to become inundated with all sorts of details needed to come up with the perfect wedding. From the bridal shower to the invitations to the venue to the gown to the reception, a couple about to get married will have to deal with all these things scenarios.

If you are the average couple, with both partners working and having to deal with a whole host of other responsibilities, you just might find yourself overwhelmed with all the planning. Take for example the simple matter of choosing a company to take care of the photos and videos during the wedding day. There is definitely no shortage of companies that can take care of this for you. The problem actually lies in the fact that you have too many choices. So how do you choose? The same thing goes for the entertainment for the reception, the caterer, the florist, and a lot of other things.

This is where the wedding coordinator can actually contribute most. A wedding coordinator only needs to know your preferences and needs and budget. He or she can then do all the legwork and negotiate with various caterers and providers. Of course, he or she would need to coordinate closely with you and your partner in order to ensure that what you will be getting is what you want.

Now throw in a destination wedding and you have a few more obstacles added in, such as, the language, knowledge of the destination site, contacts for venues, marriage license requirements, etc. and you definitely have a scenario where having a wedding planner makes a huge world of difference.

More than this, experienced wedding coordinators, like myself, have lots of contacts already. We have established relationships with florists, caterers, photographers and the like. This means that for the most part we can get better rates than if you were to do the negotiating yourself. This translates into savings for you and your partner.

Bottom line is... although you may think the added expense of a wedding planner is not worth spending... in the long run, hiring a wedding planner will save you money, time and stress. Now isn't that a much better way to plan one of the most important days of your life?