“I’ll start by saying that nothing is simple about throwing a big, important party. Our vision was as basic as it could be; ceremony and reception would be at the same venue, which was a restaurant with a kitchen, cutlery, and wait staff. The venue decor was already pretty great, so we figured we would just add some flowers and candles and poof, wedding planned. It’s incredible how much complexity can emerge from even the simplest plan like the one I just described. Luckily, my betrothed had the divine foresight to hire Athena.

Athena did so much for us it’s hard to list it all here. She arranged preliminary conversations months and months ahead of time and her experience was invaluable. Her insight helped us decide on crucial details like our guest list, when we should mail our save the dates and invitations, and how to lay out the venue. She made great suggestions for vendors, helped us decide which ones to hire, and handled all communication with them.

I’m going to pause here because this is extremely important if you are getting married. I mentioned how simple our plan was, and for the most part we stuck with that plan. Even so, the amount of vendors we ended up having to hire grew each month. In the end we had the venue, a photographer, a florist, a car service, a second venue for the after party, another venue for the brunch the next day, another venue for the welcome drinks, a donut shop, a gluten free donut shop, a bagel place, two hotels, and a few more that handled small details. Athena not only found most of these vendors but also WE NEVER HAD TO SPEAK TO THEM. Managing the vendor list, which she did in a very organized spreadsheet, and handling communication with them is worth the price of her service alone.

Athena created the schedule for the day of the wedding, which was also an incredible service. She took all of our ideas for the day, laid them out in a well thought out timeline, and distributed it to everyone who needed it. She did the lion’s share of work to set the venue up the day before and day of the event, handling all communication, doing physical labor, coordinating with the floral team, and taking extra care to make sure it matched our vision for the wedding. I later learned of at least 2 issues that required creative problem solving that Athena handled without us having to even know about them, but I’m sure there were a few others as well.

If we had to do all of that vendor coordinating, scheduling, setting up, learning on the fly, and problem solving then I would have been so jaded and miserable that the wedding would have been a chore to accomplish and a relief to be done with. Instead it was the greatest party I’ve ever been to and will be one of my fondest memories forever. We focused solely on having a good time and everything went exactly according to plan. The event exceeded our expectations and Athena’s work was the main contributing factor.

If you are on the fence about hiring a wedding planner, DO IT. If Empiria Studios is available to plan your wedding, HIRE THEM. If they aren’t available for whatever reason, BEG THEM. If you know your classics then you know that Athena is the original Mentor; reality is no exception. Athena made our wedding day perfect and there is no better way to spend your money.”