Why You Should Hire The Gathering Co as your Wedding Coordinator
The best decision we ever made concerning my daughter’s wedding was to hire a The Gathering Co as our day-of wedding coordinator. Want to know why it was the best decision? Read on.
I am no stranger to planning and decorating for parties. Having two quinceaneras under my belt, I knew how much time and planning went into each one. ( If you aren’t sure what a quinceanera is read this post.) When my older daughter, Maddie, got engaged to Lex, it was a year ago last May. Shortly after, they loaded up all their belongings and headed across the country to California to pursue their PhDs. So when me on the East coast and them on the West Coast, you can imagine how hard it was to plan a wedding.
The very first and the best decision I made was hiring a wedding planner to help navigate all the ins and outs of the wedding. Along with Maddie and Lex ( who also said this was the best decision), we decided to hire a planner for the day of the wedding. We would just handle the details leading up to that day.
And honestly, I wanted to spend as much time with Maddie on her wedding day as possible. When it came to deciding who to hire, I knew that we would employ Chelsy and her team from The Gathering Co. Chelsy was a few years ahead of Maddie in school, and I often filled in for her mom, Donna, at school. ( Who, by the way, taught Maddie in elementary school. Donna also makes cakes, more on that soon.)
I had actually interviewed Chelsy a while back and never got around to writing the post about her. ( Sorry Chelsy) Within a year of starting her company, which began when she planned her own wedding, she was able to walk away from her corporate job and go full time.
So enough background, let me tell you why it was the best decision. First and foremost, Chelsy was always just a text away with an answer to any question we had for her. She helped us navigate all the little details. And even some big ones as well.
Her attention to detail was incredible. She was arranged the times for all the vendors for the wedding to come and set up- dealing with them first hand, so we didn’t have to. Which honestly was such a blessing. Maddie’s wedding was at the same place that the other two quince anos were at, but in the past, because my husband works there, we weren’t treated like we were paying customers. In fact, some of the things we wanted were passed over, but having someone to stand up and for us, we got all that we required this time.
She even arranged for the month out walkthrough at Lane Tree and was also in on the surprise that my daughters cooked up for the walkthrough. She was there through it all, answering any little question we had and even offering suggestions.
Fun Fact: Maddie and Lex, were looking for a minister. Since they lived in California, they could not receive premarital counseling with the minister here in NC. So I asked her if she knew if her brother-in-law, who was a minster and taught Mikaela, would officiate. Chelsy threw out that Thomas, her husband, was a minister, so guess who married Maddie and Lex. That’s right, you guessed it, Thomas.
So back to Chelsy and her team, honestly, I can’t begin to tell you how calm the day of the wedding was. Not having to do anything to get prepared besides, hair and makeup were bizarre. We are so used to doing it all from decorating to clean up. Chelsy and team of her mom Donna and Jen had it all together.
We gave them a general idea of how we wanted the Lane Tree to be decorated. Y’all, they took those ideas and ran with them. Even making use of extra items that weren’t in the plan, but we had just brought along just in case. Honestly, I found myself calm, relaxed and collected, and I think it shows in all the pictures. This was the first party we ever held that I could actually enjoy it, I usually am so tired from putting everything together.
Y’all I can’t begin to describe all the things they did they went above and beyond our expectations. We had a candy buffet for guests, and they made individual bags out of the leftovers.
They took some foam roses that we had bought and made them into works of art.
And they tied every bow that was on the back of the chairs for the reception and the ceremony.
They created a unique atmosphere that was intimate as well as inviting. After the ceremony, while the wedding party was taking photos. She went around and asked if we would like something to drink. ( Think about it, August in North Carolina is hot- so this was something we weren’t expecting.) She even made sure that Maddie and Lex were served before anyone else, bringing their plates to their sweetheart table. She also made sure that they had a to-go meal packed in their car to enjoy at the hotel. Y’all her team even packed up everything and put all the boxes in our cars. We didn’t have to lift a finger.
From top to bottom, everything she did was done with class and elegance. She even had to handle a few sticky situations with the sister I mentioned in this post who tried to ruin my daughter’s wedding for me. From start to finish hiring The Gathering Co was absolutely 100% the best decision we made when it came to Maddie’s wedding. Her team went above and beyond and handled all the details, big and small, to make sure that the wedding was the wedding of my daughter’s dreams.
If you are planning a wedding, I highly recommend hiring a wedding coordinator. If you can’t afford them planning the whole wedding, see how much it would be to hire a day-of coordinator. It is so worth stress-wise and money-wise. And if you are in North Carolina, I highly recommend The Gathering Co. She knows her stuff.
It sounds like it all worked out awesome with your decisions. I’m happy for all of you! It looks like it was a beautiful wedding:)
Yes she was amazing. My only regret is that I didn’t hire her to do the whole wedding from start to finish. She really did an amazing job.
It seems like everything is pretty much well decorated & executed very efficiently. Wedding day is very important to not only the bride & groom but to the both families also and the smiles on your faces says it all.