To fully express how grateful we are for Cassie and her team would require more words than character count will allow, but to summarize, I believe there's no better wedding planner in all of Austin. Hiring Cassie was absolutely the best decision we made (and the best money we spent) in the entire planning process.
My now husband and I interviewed two other full-service wedding planners before meeting with Cassie -- what we quickly realized after speaking with her is that 'full service' does not mean the same thing across the profession. The first two planners had around 30 and five weddings under their belts respectively, while Cassie has to have done over 300 weddings by now. She had impressive answers to all of our questions and asked us questions about details we'd not even thought of. It was very clear from the beginning that she was incredibly well connected in the Austin wedding world and a seasoned, meticulous planner. The kicker? She charged a full $2,000 LESS for her services than the previous two planners we met with, both of whom were significantly less experienced.
Here's a robust (but not comprehensive) list of resources, services, and support Cassie and her assistant, Casey, provided: a detailed timeline and checklist of to-dos for the entire planning process, a vendor comparison tracker, a vendor tipping guide, thorough questionnaires for us to get a good picture of our relationship, our vision, our wedding party, and the culture we wanted to create on our wedding day, vendor proposals collection and contract reviews, vendor and venue communication and coordination, payment reminders, support and advice on personal concerns, quick responses to our many questions around details and logistics, catering tasting attendance, venue walkthroughs, rehearsal coordination and attendance, and as close to perfect day-of execution as I imagine you can get (which was our number one priority).
Other things we appreciated about working with Cassie: 1) She wasn't afraid to push back on us when we came to her with ideas that, from her hundreds of weddings worth of experience, she knew weren't ideal or wouldn't work logistically. 2) She was very mindful of our budget the entire way. In the beginning, we really had no idea how much a wedding like ours would cost or what our budget should be. Needless to say, the original number we gave her was way off. When we started asking for things that would have pushed us over that original budget, she pushed back. After we let her know that we had some wiggle room and didn't care about going over that first number, she adjusted her guidance and suggestions accordingly. 3) She was no nonsense. We appreciated having someone who wasn't afraid to get serious and give our wedding party tough love when they needed it. 4) She allowed us to be very hands on throughout planning. My husband and I are both detail-oriented people (some would say picky) and type-A perfectionists, so we had a lot of notes, questions, and specific requests for just about everything, from florals and curating the perfect food and drink menus to the tiniest details around signage, linens, décor, etc. We thought that probably made us difficult/annoying clients, but Cassie told us we weren't even in her top 10 pickiest couples (I take that to mean we were number 11 hehe). So I imagine she's worked with clients ranging from totally hands off to totally hands on -- she'll accommodate whatever involvement you want ... as long as you trust her :) Which we 100% did!
The greatest gift Cassie and Casey gave us, our wedding party, and our families was the ability to be fully in the moment the entire night. They took care of everything so that all we had to do was celebrate each other and make once-in-a-lifetime memories with our loved ones. Oh, and they made sure to get a picture with us in the photo booth, too :)
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