The Groom's Perspective

I will be honest. It's not the easiest conversation to have with a newly engaged couple that the fee for our services can be between a $1500-$7,000 expense. Though I truly believe that in this day and time, many couples recognize the benefit of a Planner, I highly doubt most are prepared for the cost.

As the couple and I sit in our office and we entertain the concept of what a fantasy wedding means to the Bride, I'm always amazed at the eager, yet silent spirit exuded by the Groom. Is he excited? Of course. Opinionated? Of course. But somehow, we live in a society where the "groom's perspective" is often overlooked and everything defaults to the common notion of "It's all about the Bride, whatever she likes".

My outlook on planning is a little different in that it is very important for me to include the Groom in the planning process. After all, what good is an equation with only half of the formula?

I received a recent review on weddingwire and I must say, not only was I honored, I was humbled by what my recent Groom Colby had to say:

Jennifer and I found Isis through a co-worker. We went to Philly around the middle of November to interview Isis along with a few other planners. The first thing that I noticed about Isis was eye contact. To explain, other planners that Jennifer and I had interviewed had about 85% eye contact with the Bride, as if I the groom did not exist. To me, that is a sign that the planner will not consult the groom or interact with the groom about wedding decisions. With Isis, she gave both Jennifer and myself equal eye contact when interviewing. She was confident in answering questions, and she appeared to be a sensible and reasonable person. Jennifer and I knew that Isis would be our pick before we even left Philly that night. During the wedding planning process, Isis was persistant, motivated, and attentive to all of our needs. She even went over and beyond to make sure we were satisfied. What I liked the most about Isis is that if she happened to miss our call, she gave us a call right back. Email was the same as well. It is not uncommon for her to email back in the same minute you sent her a message. She is always accessible and even though she is also planning other weddings, you would never know it. We always felt like she was our own personal planner. We sort of got jealous when we saw other wedding pictures. We were like, what is our Isis doing planning their wedding!!!! LOL. From the interview to the big day, Isis stayed on top of all of our milestones, deadlines, and insured that we did everything we were supposed to do when we were supposed to do it.

This was our first wedding and neither one of us had a clue as to what we were doing. We were blessed to have someone like Isis that helped us put the pieces together to create a wedding that my family is still talking about almost a month after. If you have been contiplating whether you should get a wedding planner, take it from me, when you are about 2 months from your big day, you will see why spending the extra money on a planner is worth it; especially if it is Isis. There are so many loose ends to tie 2 months out that it is almost impossible to enjoy your big day if you are worried about everything going right. Isis will tie all the ends and put all the pieces together to insure that on the days leading to the wedding and on the big day, you will not have to worry about a thing. Just tellem to "Call Isis"!!!! LOL

Isis is passionate about what she does and loves to plan weddings. This is not just a job for her, this is what she lives for. If you are the type of person who believes that paying attention to detail is important, good quality of service is fundamental to excellent customer support, and addressing small issues may solve big problems, then you will be more than satisfied with Isis. Believe me, when it is your big day, you want someone who has all angles covered and is prepared for anything.

I loved Isis so much that I am actually considering getting married again!!!!!!

Just kidding... LOL

Thank you Colby and Jennifer. For allowing me to be a part of your big day!

All work and no play

makes a pretty normal Wedding Planner...atleast during this time of the year.



I was able to sneak away today for some much needed recreation with my gorgeous soon to be Bride, Sheilla. We are fortunate enough to be blessed with access to the Virtua Skate Center Skate Zone, home of the Philadelphia Flyers practice ice,and we certainly enjoyed every minute of it!



As a former ice skater, I can honestly say it felt great to be on the ice again. I can also honestly say, after 3 years of not being on the ice, it was GREAT not to fall. While we circled the rink, we discussed menus, guestlists and decor.

Below is my version of the infamous "feet shot" I absolutely adore when looking at Wedding photos. I know, I know, I'm no Scarlett Lillian or Jasmine Starr ,but I just couldn't resist.





Thanks for a wonderful day Sheilla, can't wait for the Wedding!

Order in the Court!

With the size of bridal parties increasing at what seems like an exponential rate these days, I thought it only fitting to give a little advice to help couples "rally their troops".

While the members of your Bridal party may have the best of intentions, it's quite common that when they get together for the rehearsal, chatter between family members and long time friends, will overtake any directions given that day.

To avoid potential chaos at what should be a 60 minute rehearsal, here are a few tips:

Prior to wedding day, assemble a Bridal party contact information sheet with the names of the Bridal party members, role in the Wedding, cell phone/contact phone numbers and email addresses. This worksheet will definitely come in handy on the day of the Wedding to give to your Day Of Coordinator, or your "person in charge"
for the day.

Approximately 1 month before the wedding, send an email to the bridal party giving a brief synopsis of the major events leading up to the wedding. In it, include the contact information for your "go to person" and request that going forward, all questions are directed to them. This will allow some of the common "stressers" to be alleviated so that you and your fiance can concentrate on your wedding ceremony (and honeymoon).

Two weeks before the wedding, send a follow-up email to the bridal party of the actual details of the day. In it, include items such as:

Attire pickup information and times. Remind BP to check out all their attire inclusions to assure everything fits.

Rehearsal date, time, location and address. Request that your bridal party arrive atleast 15 minutes prior to the rehearsal start time.

Rehearsal dinner date, time, location and address. Bring a hardcopy of directions to the rehearsal to hand out afterwards.

Bridesmaids dressing location. Include notation for information on directions for hair/makeup start times. If Bridesmaids are not getting hair and makeup done together, directions on arrival to site time and that they should come dressed and prepared for pictures.

Groomsmen dressing locations and arrival time.

Transportation information-This can be broad. Just a quick reminder to let people know what time transportation will be arriving.

You also want to include a reminder to the Bridal party to eat. This may sound pretty obvious, but with the excitement of Wedding day, along with the hectic schedules that typically follow, many people simply forget.

Lastly, a sincere thank you for everyone's participation and another gentle reminder of who the "go to" person is going forward and viola, good to go!

If you have a Day Of Coordinator, this service will typically be part of thier service inclusions and I can tell you after years in the business, it definitely works!