Elizabeth Allen: Here is a lot of elements involved with planning a wedding you have to be very creative, very organized, you are putting on large production, and you have to be able to stay pretty calm. Oh it can be a wide variety of things we could do something from like --
Female Speaker: Elizabeth Allen knows all about grace under pressure. She has been helping brides and weddings for the past 6 years. After cutting her teeth as a caterer at New York City's top hotels.
Elizabeth Allen: I've always had a passionate for parties I didn't start the business saying I'm going to be a wedding planner. That was not my design either, it happened that way.
Susan Allen: So these were the three options that we were talking now.
Female Speaker: Her sister Susan with her own back ground in hotel management join the team a year ago, they have a Boston office in addition to their home based in New York City and our planning weddings around the country all without advertising.
Elizabeth Allen: We agree that the copy if you use this orientation.
Female Speaker: They also happen to be one of the few sister acts in the business.
Elizabeth Allen: Top having well as you said yesterday.
Susan Allen: People make fun of us, because when we were in the office together or at meetings together. We can't finish each others sentences we just through even without words a single gesture and I will say yes. Elizabeth will just turn on me I was thinking the same thing.
Elizabeth Allen: Is it down stairs.
Susan Allen: We do enjoy working together, but when we are on location, it is business.
Female Speaker: In this business the devil is in the details.
Elizabeth Allen: And I will be happy to actually out line what I would put on a premium bar.
Female Speaker: Wedding planners help find vendors negotiate contracts, and make sure thinks run on schedule and on budget. They do the worrying for the bride. And in the process, can save money.
Elizabeth Allen: We review all the proposals and will ultimately negotiate the best contract for them. If left to their own or on their own, and their listening to either girl friend their aunts their mother's friend, they will go and see 15 photographers you know 10 floweriest, it is crazy. I will go when we work with the bride is that she isn't involved with all this fun, and involved in everything but in a very, sort of, way so that she is saying things like, I like this I don't like this can we do this what about this, and then what we do is take that idea those thoughts and one with them.
Female Speaker: Then Allen's and their associates help out for a fixed fee, most planners do this for charge a percentage. Usually about 15% of the wedding's total cost. Planners may work with the bride on her wedding day only, or through out the engagement.
Elizabeth Allen: We loved to get involved on our projects, as soon as a couples engaged, don't have a date, don't have a location, have any what really decided what type of wedding they've want to have. And we love walking and through the entire process.
Female Speaker: Off course in nothing is more important them putting all the pieces together on the wedding day.
Elizabeth Allen: The doubt starts when I get up and it does I truly I mean I get up and I make a big pot of coffee al right. One of the first things that I do after I have had that cup of coffee, is I call the bride and the mother of the bride, that's the first thing I do. It's for that. How is last night how is the rehearsal dinner, how is everybody feeling, did you sleep well, is there anything that I can get you, is there anything that you need?
Susan Allen: Where that you have.
Elizabeth Allen: And then we are on location, right when all of the vendors start loading and setting up. One of our associate is with the bride making sure that her make up is on schedule, their all eating.
Susan Allen: At the same time we'll have somebody with the groom and the groom's men. we will be there to put on the boot, tie the bowties or we'll have somebody at the church making sure that that the decor is being set up that the ceremony programs are there that the musicians are there in rehearsing. And then there is always one of us and it's usually who ever is lead on job at the main location, working with all the vendors, reviewing the time line for the evening.
A time line is our bible, it literally out lines, when every body is doing what, down to the minutes. So we all leave off that I might.
Male Speaker: Okay great.
Susan Allen: It does happen that something doesn't work out exactly the way, we have planned, couple of weeks ago, creamers the matradee comes up to me and he said we don't have enough creamers unlike. Okay what do you mean you don't have enough creamers, we have 15 of these wonderful ivory creamers, you have 22 tables were short 7 creamers, so what do you do? You improvise. We use two ray radios to communicate onsite. So the day off we are in constant communication, not only amongst ourselves but every one of our vendors is on two way radio.
Elizabeth Allen: So you have to definitely kind of keep your sense of here until say okay this is not the end of the world you know with this we will get through this. I really enjoy the ceremony particularly the processional and seeing the bridal party down the Aisle cueing them when to walk cueing the music and it's just for me its just such a nice moment because I get connect with them even for a brief second before they walk down the Aisle and really, really enjoy that.
Susan Allen: That's a magical moment.
Elizabeth Allen: That is a magical moment.
Susan Allen: Once the ceremony we do the formal photos of them together. And then it's a question of making sure the evening flows smoothly with all the toast and the dances in the food service and the band and that the guests feel that it's just a seamless flow from beginning to end. I have talked with people who have not worked with the planner, who could not wait until the wedding was over because they were so stressed out, and that's not the experience we want our brides to have.
Female Speaker: And for those that don't want or can't afford a planner, some words of advice.
Elizabeth Allen: If you have friends or family members who've gone through planning a wedding before. Talk to them find out some of the good things some of the bad things that pit fall's you know they might also have some great ideas about vendors. Try not to control yourself when interviewing vendors you do not have to interview 15 for talk of us, limited, limited down to four or five. Are you realistic about your budget, I think a lot of people I don't think that also causes a lot of stress amongst couples some times is unrealistic expectations of what they want verses what their budget can afford, so be you know keep that in mind to you know be realistic.
Female Speaker: The most important thing the planners say is to make your wedding personal and to have fun, as for the Allen sisters.
Elizabeth Allen: The Allen sisters are not married and neither one has a desire to be married. At this point it would be a possible, it will be impossible if marry late.
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