Nearly a year had passed since I proposed and we had not done a thing towards our wedding, not even set a date. My bride (then fiancé) and I are working professionals and it was clear we didn’t have the bandwidth to plan the event we were envisioning. I was recommended two different event planning companies, Immaculate Events and another I won’t name directly.
I reached out to both and asked if a meeting could be set for Sunday or Monday. Immaculate Events was able to meet the immediate Monday while the other replied their office is closed Sundays and Mondays. We met with Immaculate Events first since they were available. From the very beginning of the call, Dieudonne exhibited knowledge and experience you’d expect from a recommended event planner. She was professional and sensitive to our timeline concerns. We left the meeting feeling good but wanted to do due diligence and meet with the other planner. I requested a meeting while informing Dieudonne we had not yet made a decision. A week had passed and my text was still not returned. This was a red flag. We chose Immaculate Events for our wedding planning and the rest is the most spectacular history of our lives.
We went with the Luxe Package, which at nearly $7000, seemed initially to be an expensive investment. It took us nearly 2 weeks to make our decision after carefully evaluating each of her service packages. I realize the Luxe may not be a viable solution for everyone. We also considered her lower priced tiers but in the end, it came down to margin of error, and my margin of error allowance was very slim.
As our wedding day approached, our guest list continued to increase from the originally planned 40 to eventually 130+. This created a ripple effect increasing the work needed from all our vendors. Dieudonne helped navigate this by directly communicating with our vendors, scheduled calls to talk through solutions. We also missed the window of time needed for custom invitations. Thankfully, Dieudonne connected us with someone who could accommodate our very short turn-around but also able to incorporate some of our wedding color and design elements. She has relationships with many vendors and met with them personally, even when we couldn’t! She made recommendations based on our preferences and provided critical feedback from direct experience with them. While we used many of her recommended vendors, I opted to go with a different group of string performers. She respected my decision and made sure our string performers had all the information needed and made them feel supported.
Dieudonne’s true value lies in her day-of event performance where her talents are on full display. Dieudonne has no hesitation when things don’t go as planned, and I assure you, things will not go as planned! Our example was, we paid over $5,000 for a large clear tent to be set up over our outdoor dining reception. When I arrived at the venue I noticed a white tent was being installed. Dieudonne met me and told me she was on the phone demanding the mistake be corrected. I was nearly ready to accept the white alternative but Dieudonne informed me the vendor is on their way to install the tent we paid for! This would’ve created significant undue stress and consumed a lot of time if it weren’t for having an experienced, assertive floor director like Dieudonne. She also prepared the day’s itinerary and did an exceptional job keeping us on schedule despite the many uncontrollable forces working against her. Guests will show up late, wedding party will get lost, photographer will need more time, and long speeches will be given etc etc. She handled it with grace and composure.
We’re 4 days removed from our wedding but I worked so close and feverishly with Dieudonne for the past 14 months and now our day is over. I’m certain we communicated every day in that last month of planning. We formed such a strong bond and now it’s sad to say goodbye. I even just asked my new bride for a divorce so we could get married all over again with Dieudonne. I’m joking of course … or am I?
