Weddingbee boards

I just wanted to post on here in case this is helpful to anyone else.  When I was looking for a DoC in the Hudson Valley area there weren't any review here on the boards (and even my post asking for recommendations only yielded one lead who was too expensive), so I thought I would post my own experience.

I got married September 27, 2008 and hired Anh Sobo of Hudson Valley Events (www.hudsonvalleyevents.net) as my Day of Coordinator.  My venue recommended several planners and they were all out of my budget range.  I searched around and found others I could afford, but they charged extra for everything (mileage, if I wanted them to run the rehearsal, if they had to stay during the reception, if they needed accommodations, if I wanted them to bring an assistant, etc.).

I did a Google search, found Hudson Valley Events, and contacted Anh.  She was really nice on the phone and was willing to work with me on my budget for a DoC.  In the end- after all the work she did for me- I felt guilty that she charged so little, because she did a lot of work on our wedding (in the days leading up to it, as well as afterwards).

Our wedding was 1.5 hours from her office yet she made the drive to meet at our venue one month in advance to work out all the details.  She then came up the night before the wedding, ran our rehearsal (handling the difficult priest very well), spent the night locally and then she went to the church the next morning while her assistant handled the reception venue.  She even managed to track down the priest when he disappeared right before the ceremony was supposed to start!  Even after my wedding, when I had a problem with the photographer, she offered to help.

My venue did give me a fair number of problems- coming up with last minute charges for stuff that wasn’t mentioned in the contract, trying to change the schedule, refusing to accommodate vendors, etc.  Anh was really helpful with this.  She basically told me that I shouldn’t be worrying about X, Y, and Z right before my wedding and that she would handle it.  It was a huge relief.

I didn’t hire a florist of any type of decorations vendors (partly to save money, and partly because the wedding was in the middle of nowhere).  Also, I couldn’t be bothered really thinking about decorating our reception (in a tent), so I purchased a bunch of stuff (garland, flowers, etc) and asked her to take care of it.  Well, I was floored when I walked into the tent!  She and her assistant did an awesome job of utilizing everything I provided (including recycling flowers and pew decorations from the ceremony- I don’t know how they had time for that!).  It looked so good, that on a later trip to the venue I saw they had left the garlands in place!

Overall, she was very professional and very talented- she got everything done quickly and discreetly (I think some of our guests thought she was a fellow guest).  While I thought I was an anal-retentive, super-organized bride, she took care of several things that I hadn’t even thought of- including covering the heating grate in front of the altar so that there was no chance of our rings getting dropped and falling through it!

I really only have one regret in hiring Anh- it’s that I didn’t hire her to plan my whole wedding.  Looking back I could have enjoyed my engagement A LOT more if I had hired her as more than a day of coordinator (even though I think she did a lot more than just the day of).

So, in case any brides out there are looking for a planner/coordinator in the Hudson Valley or Catskills, I would REALLY recommend her and her company.  Hope this is helpful to someone!  Feel free to message me if you have any questions.