Planning Your Destination California Wedding

Southern California is a premier destination for a wedding. The area boasts the Pacific Ocean, nearby mountains, picturesque wineries, and a modern dessert oasis. When choosing your perfect destination, the sky is the limit. Planning your wedding in another state is exciting and frightening all at the same time. With the expertise of an experienced planner, who acts as your agent ensures that the experience is fun and stress-free.

I've planned Southern California weddings for couples residing in Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Colorado, Portland, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Washington DC, and even London, England. Why do couples need the help of a planner you ask? With all the online resources you're thinking you can do it all yourself. This thinking couldn't be further than the truth.

Online planning sites only give you a short glimpse into their advertiser profiles. A profile won't tell you if the vendor is reputable, if they fit in your price budget, fit your wedding style, or if you will mesh with them. You can spend countless hours online and on the phone nailing down all of aforementioned details.

This is where your DESTINATION WEDDING PLANNER is the best investment you can make towards your wedding. Your planner gets to know YOU as a couple. She will have a consultation with you via phone or Skype. During that meeting, she'll find out what style of venue you desire, what design style you are aiming for, your guest count, and your budget. She'll also pinpoint your priorities. Maybe your priorities are food, flowers, lighting, entertainment....and the list goes on and on. The planner will take all of this information and put together a list of venues and vendors that work in your budget and style. The biggest value a planner brings to the table is her vendor list. By hiring us you can expect PRE-QUALIFIED vendors. I've worked with thousands of vendors over the last 12 years and I can pair you with your perfect team immediately after hearing your story.

Here is what you can expect Wedding Jeannie to do for you while you are far away:

• Create a detailed budget for you. This budget will become the road map for selection of venues and vendors in your budget range.

• Planning Trip: You can expect to make three to four visits to your chosen destination. We'll take you to visit 3 to 5 venues that meet your style and budget. We take the guess work out of choosing a venue. You could spend hours online researching venues that sound fabulous, only to find out when you arrive that the venues you fell in love with on the computer screen don't meet any of your needs. Wasted time = wasted money. Wedding Jeannie carefully assesses all of your needs, and recommends only those that are just right for you. We prepare the venue managers for your visit, by giving them all of your information and specifications.

• Vendor Introductions: In addition to visiting venues, we arrange meetings with florists, photographers, DJs/Musicians, etc. We make the most of your visit by bringing you to reputable and qualified vendors. By knowing your budget and priorities, you only meet with the professionals that can deliver what you need. You time is valuable...we make the most of it. Wear comfortable shoes because we'll be doing walk throughs. We may even have the opportunity to sample the cuisine.

• Skype Meetings: Just because you're not in town doesn't mean you don't enjoy the same service. We conduct progress meetings with you via Skype. Stay up to date, and feel comfortable knowing that all the details are handled.

• Accommodations & Transportation: It's our experience that DESTINATION WEDDINGS mean out-of- town guests. We set up room blocks for your guests at nearby hotels. Because of our relationships with local hotels and resorts, we can secure special pricing for you. Need transportation for your guests from hotel to venue? We've got you covered. Our shuttle and limo companies are ready to take care of you.

• Activities: Southern California has entertaining opportunities for your guests. This is where we live, and we have our finger on the pulse of the region. If your guests want to make a vacation out of their visit, we can assist in planning nearby activities for them. From amusement parks, to award winning restaurants, wine tastings, to beaches...we'll plan a great itinerary for you.

• Welcome Bags: When your guests arrive have a gift back for them filled with destination related items. Fill them with water bottles, sunscreen, a local sweet treat, entertainment and city guides, all along with a printed note from you. We offer an a la carte option for filling your bags and delivering them to the hotel.

• Rehearsal Dinner: We'll arrange for you to have the perfect rehearsal dinner at the best restaurants in town. We arrange a private room and a pre-fixed menu. All you need to do is show up.

• Project Management: We manage your vendors, floor plans, timeline and all the activities that a destination wedding includes.

I hope that you are excited about planning your DESTINATION SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WEDDING. Your choices here are limitless. I'm excited to assist you with the myriad of details required to make it memorable and stress-free. Let's SKYPE and learn more about each other. Our first consultation is free. You have nothing to lose. Still unsure if you need a planner? Read what a few of our out of state clients have to say...

My husband and I live in Colorado and decided to get married in beautiful sunny Southern California near the beach! Jeannie Ward helped us make our dream wedding come true, it was more beautiful than we ever imagined it could be.We were a bit worried about organizing a destination wedding but Jeannie's correspondence made the entire process much easier. She was very good about emailing and calling us and our vendors. The vendors that Jeannie recommended were a hit and made our special day a success!

Hiring Jeannie was the best decision that we made throughout the wedding planning process. She was more than a wedding coordinator/planner, she was the glue that held everything (including me!) together. From meeting with me every time I was in town (even when it wasn't necessary to meet, because she said she could tell it made me feel better), to communicating with and managing all our vendors, being our fiercest advocate when it came to negotiating contracts with other vendors, having an incredible team around her that was always on top of it, responding to all my emails (sometimes 5-10 per day) within a few hours at the latest, and creating a gorgeous vision for my dream wedding and then executing it beyond anything I imagined - Jeannie does it all with a smile on her face. Her depth of knowledge, integrity and loving attitude were invaluable and allowed me to just be the bride.