My biggest piece of advice to someone planning a wedding is, "Book a Day of Coordinator." And if your wedding is in Boston, it's "Book Carly of Pave the Way Events."
Our wedding was small (40 people) and logistically pretty simple (the reception was at a restaurant, so we didn't need to coordinate caterers, rentals, etc.), but planning a wedding is a huge undertaking! Particularly for the average person who a) has never planned a wedding before; b) has never planned any event larger than a birthday party before; and c) has a full time job taking up most of their time. My budget didn't allow for a full-blown wedding coordinator (nor did I think I needed one), but I wanted someone who I could bounce questions off of leading up to the big day. And most importantly, I wanted someone who would take care of the details on the day of, so that my mom, bridesmaid and I could be fully present and enjoy the day itself instead of dealing with logistics. This is exactly what Carly did for me.
Starting several months before the wedding, Carly was readily available for me to bounce ideas and questions off of (Do you have recommendations for florists? Do you think florals are necessary at my big meeting house ceremony space, or is that one place I can cut in my budget? When should I be booking what vendors?) It was so incredibly helpful to be able to chat with an expert on these things!
On the day of the wedding, I barely saw Carly, but her hard work was evident in how smooth everything went. Everything was set up at both the ceremony and reception venue just as we had discussed, and I didn't set foot in either location before the ceremony! Carly was calmly in the background making sure that everything went off without a hitch.
I can't say enough great things about Carly and her services. If I could do it all again, I wouldn't change a thing. Thank you Carly!!!! read more