When I was first looking around for a wedding planner over a year ago, I was a little hesitant to…read moresign up with AJ because there were no online reviews. So now that all the wedding craziness is over, I thought I should post something about how great AJ and her crew are.
As out-of-towners planning a small (36 guest) wedding in Anna Maria, we were looking for someone who could help us with planning and also provide that crucial local knowledge--where to get flowers, where to rent a sound system, etc. From our first meeting with AJ, we knew we'd made a good choice. She is warm, personable, and incredibly knowledgeable about both wedding planning and all aspects of the local area. I know she has lots of clients, but I really felt like she took the time to listen to us, get to know who we were, and make sure that we ended up with the exact vibe we wanted: casual and beach-y, but still classy.
We had AJ's team handle all three of our events (a welcome party the night before, the wedding itself, and a brunch), and they provided planning, rentals, staging, AND all the food for all the parties. It was a great option for us and it took away a lot of the stress of trying to put all the pieces together ourselves. Since we live over 1000 miles away, I had to rely on AJ to make a lot of the decisions, including choosing new linens after prices went up and we had to change suppliers. She took our invitation as inspiration and selected the PERFECT table settings--I can honestly say that she could not have chosen anything that was more perfect or that I would have liked better.
From the beginning of the first party, we were blown away by how beautiful everything was and how smoothly it all went. AJ has a great eye for detail, and she is really good at choosing decorations that complement the natural setting. Our Welcome party was a backyard picnic, very casual, but she added funky details like lanterns and picnic cloths that really elevated the look. All of the design elements associated with the wedding itself were creative and cool. The day before the wedding, she e-mailed me a photo of a driftwood arch she'd made for a photo shoot earlier in the week and asked me if we wanted to use it for our ceremony. We'd been planning on standard bamboo, but as soon as I saw the photo I decided to go with the driftwood! She even added pearls to the arch to echo the pearls on my dress.
All of the food was excellent. We did a cocktail hour with passed appetizers, followed by a buffet dinner with a Caribbean BBQ theme. Unlike with a traditional caterer, AJ's team does all the cooking on-site, so everything is fresh. The food isn't overly complicated, just top-of-the-line ingredients and great flavor combinations. All four passed appetizers were awesome, and the chimichuri sauce they made was one of the best things I've ever tasted. One note: Although AJ's team provides food, you supply your own alcohol--which is great from a cost perspective, but it can be a bit of a hassle if you're from out of town.
In short, AJ knows what she's doing, and her team goes way beyond the cookie-cutter stuff you see everywhere. If you're looking for something elegant with unique design elements, I don't think you could make a better choice. The only real complaint I could make is that communication in terms of quotes and costs is not as clear and polished as you might get with a larger company--you need to be on your toes and make sure that what you've requested is accurately reflected in quotations and that sort of thing. But for us at least, the quality and personal service that we got from AJ was well worth any additional effort on our part to keep up with the quotes.