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Pgh Wedding Coordinators

roo2510roo2510 member
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in Pennsylvania-Pittsburgh
Hi all,

We just got engaged a week ago (so, obvi, I'm new to the Knot).  I'm debating hiring a wedding planner.  Neither my fiance nor I are originally from Pittsburgh, our families and the members of our wedding party are all out of town, and we've never been to a wedding here.   Soooo, we feel like a wedding planner might be a smart expense, even with our limited budget.  I'm afraid we'll end up with bad/unreliable vendors, and I was in a wedding recently where there wasn't a coordinator, and it was not a great experience for the bride or the bridal party.  My poor fiance spent 2 days running errands for my friend in a city he'd only been to once before, and after that experience, he really wants to hire someone who's job is to make sure everything goes well, and to troubleshoot.

We've met with Erin from Divine Celebrations, and we're going to meet with Sumer from Simply Perfect, and maybe one other planner.  Does anyone have any recommendations or good/bad experiences with either of the planners above?  I would really (really!) love some recommendations.  

Thanks!
Jenn
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Re: Pgh Wedding Coordinators

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    KRMacKRMac
    Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Hi Jenn!  Such a popular name on this board!  ;)

    Welcome and congrats on your engagement.  I didn't have a wedding planner, but relied heavily on the recs from this board and had a great experience with our vendors!

    If you click on the Welcome to the Pittsburgh Board post, you can find a link to some of our recommended vendors, including a few wedding planners that knotties have used in the past.

    Hope you post often! 
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    hey_its_jennhey_its_jenn member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Welcome to a fellow Jenn!  Congrats on your recent engagement. 

    I highly suggest you take .KRM.'s recommendation of checking out our vendor list.  And pretty much before I booked any of my vendors for my Sept. wedding, I asked the lovely ladies here for any feedback - positive or negative.

    As far as wedding planners, I know that .slm. used Jodi at Accents Unlimited.  You could page her for more questions.  I've heard many good things about Jodi. 

    Do you know if you're going to need a planner for the entire time while planning or more of a day of coordinator?  I know that there is usually a big price difference between the two, since you mentioned you were on a limited budget. 

    I know several girls here also asked one of their friends to just try and help the day of the wedding and that helped alot.  So maybe if you've just got an organized friend wouldn't mind helping out, that would also be a budget friendly option.

    Let us know if you need any more recommendations or any other advice!! We're here to help!

    Good luck!

    - just another Jenn


    Married 9/19/09
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    elishanbelishanb member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Congrats on your engagement and welcome to the board, hope to see you around.
    The ladies around here are very informative and super friendly.
    As KRM previously said check out the vendor rec post to get some ideas, but def let us know if you have any questions or things to get off your mind. :) 
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    kbielak17kbielak17
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    edited December 2011
    Hi and welcome! I don't have any insight on those coordinators since I didn't use one, but I was in a smilar situation as you. I did live in Pittsburgh for college, but neither myself, my husband, or any of our families or wedding party live there now. It was a little challenging at times but if you do a lot of research and ask a lot of questions, it can be fine :)

    Good luck!
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    roo2510roo2510 member
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    edited December 2011
    Thanks everyone!  I checked out Accents Unlimited, and sent them an email. 

    Even though our budget is fairly limited, we're looking for someone to help us with the whole deal.  While I have some very well-organized friends (and I'm fairly well organized, myself), I would prefer to ask for help like this from our wedding party, and they all live out of town.  I think that, given our situation, a wedding planner is a worthwhile expense. 

    - Jenn


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    ast11ast11 member
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    edited December 2011
    Hey Jenn,

    Katherine Shaw from Trends to Traditions is my planner and she is wonderful! I actually just hired her for day of coordination but that includes vendor recommendations which has been very very helpful. I feel like to some extent wedding planners pay for themselves. I feel like vendors have thrown in extras or given a discount here and there because they have a good relationship with my planner. Also, with Katherine, and I'm sure with other planners, you can order things like bridesmaid dresses and invitations, etc through them and they give you a discount as well.  I think it is definitely work the $$!!! Plus I just really want to enjoy my day and not have to worry about all the little details that come upon the big day!
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    slm13slm13
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    edited December 2011
    Just wanted to say that I did not use Accents Unlimited.  Kwynn and Tigress (who's not around anymore) did though.

    I used Trends to Traditions, as a day of coordinator, and we had a few issues with them.  It honestly wasn't worth the money.  We thought that they would make things easier, but in reality they made things much more difficult. 

    I got much more information and definitely more useful information from the women on here than from the planner.  If you ask questions here and follow up on the reviews above, you'll get much better information than you would from the planners.
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    morainemommorainemom member
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    edited December 2011
    Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

    We didn't use Jodi from Accents Unlimited as a Wedding Coordinator - but we did hire her to put on all of our chair covers  and sashes at the reception.

    She also was  the DJ.

    I highly recommend her!  She is incredibly nice and efficient! She did a wonderful job with everything.  And she was an awesome DJ!  She kept the dance floor packed all night long.

    I know that kwynn highly recommended Jodi as well.
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    kwynnkwynn
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I used Jodi Collela from Accents Unlimited like Shannon said and I liked the work she did for us. I have a lot of contacts in the wedding industry, so I relied on her less than someone who doesn't know the area.

    She also made my invites (I designed them and she did all the dirty work). My invites would never have gotten out in time had she not done a huge majority of them.

    You will never see the work of a good DOC because they are invisible. Jodi did all the boutonierres, decorating for the ceremony, and ran my rehearsal. She also ran interference when my lighting guy dropped the ball. I'd highly recommend her. We actually keep in touch fairly often now; she's a great lady.
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    roo2510roo2510 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    This is all so great.  Thanks everyone so much for their input.  We are going to meet with a few other people and make a decision.  
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    lonnie marie brownlonnie marie brown
    First Comment
    edited December 2011

    One of our friends also used Katherine Shaw from Trends To Traditions.
    They loved her! 

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    ChelsFChelsF member
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    edited December 2011
    I agree with AST, I know KAtherine because she is a zumba instructor at the YMCA in Crnaberry TWP and he is very perky, fun and very upbeat. I was just actually looking at her website yesterday (Trends to Traditions) and they have some really good pictures up!!! She would be a great person to consider!!!
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