Knowledgable, Responsive, Best Decision Ever Made
Tara is without a doubt the planner you have been looking for! I can not recommend her enough. Tl;dr - she knows her stuff (both big and small details), she is unbelievably responsive, and she is an all around amazing person to work with!
My (now) husband and I knew from our first phone call with Tara that she stood out. We had little to no idea where to start with wedding planning and knew we would need someone to really hold our hands through the process. We had interviewed with many different planners; what we appreciated most after our initial consultation was that she seemed easy to work with, transparent and trustworthy, and comfortable supporting us even though we had very little vision to start with. Needless to say, in the year+ that followed, she proved us right time and again!
There was some flexibility with including certain elements of the event (venue, rehearsal dinner, etc) in her package vs. doing them on our own, with associated cost savings (most other planners we talked to did not have this option, or at least did not tell us up front!). At no point did she try to “up-sell” us on details we could manage on our own, but once we had our top venue picked out, she still assisted with reviewing contracts and locking everything in.
It is no surprise that the number of potential vendors in NYC is overwhelming. Tara presented us with a manageable pool of potential options for each vendor (photography, hair/make-up, florals, etc) in a variety of styles, so we always felt like we were able to find one that suited our unique tastes. Needless to say, they were all top quality.
The amount of work she put in behind-the-scenes coordinating and communicating with our vendors can not be overstated. We picked a venue that has not historically done a lot of weddings, which can be a bit of a gamble in itself. Tara made sure everyone had all of the documentation and timelines they needed, that all of our decisions were communicated in a timely manner, and that we were staying on track with important milestones (when to send invitations, when to have the tasting completed with the caterer, when to have all of our vendors finalized). Every minute of the day felt smooth and effortless for us - she even made sure that all of our belongings made it back to our hotel so we could enjoy our after party right away. She went above and beyond for every. single. detail. that, if you haven’t planned a wedding before, you may not even think of.
But the number one takeaway I have after working with Tara is that we always felt like we were her number one priority - her responsiveness is unparalleled. Every text, email, or phone call was answered promptly; I swear I think she must have more hours in the day than the rest of us! While the usual pre-wedding jitters came up, she was always calm and collected, and just generally on top of it all.
Our wedding was the best day of our lives, thanks mostly to her beautiful work. She is not only amazing at what she does, but she is just an all around wonderful person to work with. I sincerely hope we get the chance to work with her again in the future!