Everything But The Ring

My daughter got engaged this past spring, and, although she and I have done quite a bit of entertaining and hospitality, I knew that a wedding planner was not optional, if we were going to enjoy the wedding. The engagement was 4−½ months long, and we invited over 400 people to the wedding, so it was not a small wedding, and obviously there was lots to do in a fairly short amount of time. Additionally, my daughter lives in Seattle, and would only be home for a couple of very brief visits, so that was also a challenge. Although I knew that we needed help with the wedding, I was not hopeful that we could find a wedding planner to whom I would be comfortable relinquishing responsibility and control, but, boy, was I wrong! We were referred to Chelsea, the owner of Everything But the Ring (EBTR), by the Carol Perrard, event coordinator at our reception venue (The Westin at Memorial City). I had told Carol that I wanted to find someone who was not only a great wedding planner, but that was not a snob and would absolutely not add drama to our event. EBTR was arguably the best and most important recommendation we got from anyone to ensure that our wedding was everything we dreamed it would be — and it was!
Chelsea is amazing to work with — very professional, punctual, communicated frequently, very accessible, so pleasant, flexible, helpful, forward-​thinking; she understood what our vision was, and was fabulous at implementing it. Her experience and judgment were invaluable and contributed immeasurably to the success of the wedding.
Since my daughter and I are very organized, we knew there were parts of the wedding that we would like to handle ourselves. At the same time, there were also parts of the wedding that we knew we didn’t want to handle at all, and then lots of items in between. Chelsea customized a wedding package for us in which she was up-​to-​speed on the big picture and the details, but was okay with letting us handle those things we like doing. She kept everything on track, thought of everything, no matter how tiny a detail, and was great about updating the to-​do lists and reminding us of upcoming timeline deadlines. Additionally, she negotiated better rates with vendors than I was able to get myself, and reviewed all our vendor quotes and contracts with those vendors I was working with directly, and identified costs that could be reduced or seemed out of line, which information I used to go back to the vendors and get a better quote (my florist and décor company, for example). There were other vendors she dealt with without my involvement at all, except to approve their bids, and everything she arranged was top-​notch and reasonably priced.
I knew from my very first meeting with Chelsea that she was the right person for us, and that feeling was reconfirmed over and over, but never more than the week of the wedding itself. We had our last sit-​down meeting with Chelsea and Carol at the reception venue one week before the wedding, and I was BLOWN AWAY by the details that the two of them together had figured out, and, wow, what a blessing that the two of them worked so beautifully together. They thought of the tiniest little details and logistics that made my daughter and I know that we could just enjoy the wedding week. We were in such good hands!!! Chelsea came by our house a number of times the week of the wedding, transported to the reception venue, to the church, to the rehearsal dinner, etc etc etc.
I can honestly say there was not one moment the week of the wedding when I felt anxious or worried, in large part because of the decision we made to hire Chelsea at EBTR. I recommend her and her company unreservedly. Several of the guests at our wedding have contacted Chelsea regarding their own weddings. I hope you have the good fortune to have her help you make your wedding everything you’ve dreamt it would be.