Frequently Asked Questions

Typically, it takes most couples about 250 hours to plan a wedding from the time of getting engaged until the wedding day. So, if you are a person who values their time and does not like handling stress, hiring a professional Wedding Planner or Coordinator only makes sense. Working with an experienced professional can help save you time, money, it can help you get organized by priority, equip you with all the questions and tools to optimize your vendor-client relationships.

With professional Wedding Planners and Coordinators who handle weddings and events all year round has prepped them well enough to help set you up for success as you plan one of the best days of your life! Life does not simply stop or wait just because you are planning your wedding. So all we want for you is to enjoy your engaged period, let us handle all your stress, and for you to be fully present on your wedding day! We want that for your family/ friends too so they can also fully enjoy your wedding!

A Wedding Planner is a professional guide that is hired early on in your wedding planning journey. They help with mapping out your entire planning process and design direction. We handle tasks like: venue scouting, vendor search and vendor bookings, budget analysis and management, vendor contract reviews, design decks and mockups, venue walkthroughs, food tastings/ menu crafting, and anything wedding-related that you may need help with, we’ve got you!

We are available for you from the day you hire us. We are also there all day for you and your vendors on your wedding day.

A Wedding Coordinator, also called Month-of-Coordinator, is someone who usually starts working with you closer to your wedding date. It varies with each coordinator but typically they begin working with you around 8-10 weeks prior to your wedding. At this point most, if not all, of your vendors are booked.

As Wedding Coordinators, we come in at this point to use our expertise to put every piece of the puzzle in place. We confirm that every single vendor has all the information they need to be ready for your successful wedding day. We are answering questions, triple checking and finalizing all the little details, crafting a flawless, well-cushioned timeline, and making sure that we are putting out any “fires” that may arise closer to your wedding day so you don’t have to worry about them!

One thing that we feel distinguishes us at AWE is our experience, skill, knowledge, and the caliber of personalized service we offer.

In order to exceptionally execute a curated, refined experience for our clients, we commit to only taking on a limited number of weddings per year. This way, we can devote sufficient time getting to know our clients on a more personal level, so that we can plan, design, and execute their event the way that they want.

One of the the things that we pride ourselves in is how we place our focus on making sure we are telling the client’s love story through our carefully crafted and intentional designs in a way that will highlight the couple’s personal style, vision, as well as the ambiance they are wanting to bring about. We do this with the common goal of elevating your entire wedding planning experience. Wedding planning doesn’t have to be hard or stressful.

The short answer is yes! The venue coordinator may be very helpful but they do not take care of all your needs as a wedding couple. Simply put, since venue coordinators are hired by the venue, they have the venues’ best interest in mind, in most cases. That means that their main goal is to coordinate things that may be provided by the venue such as helping with general set up of the tables, chairs, or any other item included in your chosen package, as well as in-house catering if the venue offers the service. The venue coordinators ensure that the venues’ guidelines are followed and they ultimately protect the venues’ assets, but usually there are many other facets and specific details of your wedding planning that venue coordinators do not help with.

That is where we as your Wedding Planners and Coordinators come in, with your best interests in mind, in order to fill in those gaps in your planning journey and wedding day execution. We work with you directly to serve and support you from the beginning, and coordinate with all your other vendors too, to ensure that your special day is running flawlessly and is in accordance with your specific desires and wishes.

We craft custom timelines, review vendor contracts, create schedules for transport, makeup, and all the things that pertain specifically to you as a couple.

In order for your wedding day to run successfully, both your wedding planner and your venue coordinator work together in tandem to produce your beautiful event. They each have different roles to play that are equally important.

Yes, most wedding and event venues require that vendors who work on the property to have liability insurance. AWE is insured with General & Professional Liability.

AWE is based in Los Angeles, California as well as in Salt Lake City, Utah, but we are available for travel.

In Southern California, we serve in and around the Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County, and Ventura County. In Utah, we mostly serve in and around Salt Lake County, Utah County, Weber County, and Davis County.

Please Note: Travel and accommodation fees will be applied for events requiring travel outside of our serving areas as well as multi-day events.

Ayanda Whiting Events is inclusive of all the love stories that are to be celebrated, no matter what form, shape, or color they come in!

We believe in making our clients feel welcome, seen, heard, and celebrated as the priority that they are!

Ayanda Whiting Events (AWE) may be the right fit for you if you are planning an event and are looking for an organized, stress-free planning experience that is customized to your needs.

If what you are seeking is a transparent, seasoned professional who communicates and works in tandem with their clients, then AWE would be a great fit for you. The common denominator we have discovered from our clients is that they they not only love our work but they also trust us (as well as the other vendors they’ve hired). Mutual trust is a big factor when vetting our clients.

Unfortunately, we have not had the best experiences with disengaged or micromanaging clients. If that resonates with the experience you are seeking, we may not be a good fit for you.

We have had the best successful events with clients who are actively engaged, trusting, and collaborative during the planning phase. As a client you make the final decisions while we, as trusted experts in our field, offer our professional guidance in the direction that will set you up for success. That is genuinely what we want for you and your event: success!

No two weddings or events are the same, each has a unique budget. We work with any budget. Our packages are curated for each individual couple based on their event location, venue, guest count, scope of work, entertainment needs, coordination, or design needs.

Typically most of our Wedding Planning & Design clients’ investment ranges from $500 - $800+ per guest, with an average guest count of 100+ guests. The investment per guest slightly increases with multi-day events.

If your budget looks slightly different than what our typical couple spends, that is totally okay! As mentioned, we work with all budgets! We can collaborate and craft a package for you that would fit within your budget so you can have the beautiful wedding you love.

Our pricing takes into account our experience, education, and the personalized, luxury service that we provide our clients. With that in mind, event planning packages are not a one size fits all. No two events are the same where the clients have the same priorities of investment.

Your overall event planning or coordination investment will be determined by these key elements: location, desired venue, guest count, scope of work requested, entertainment preferences, design standard, and all the things that fall under your priorities.

Event Coordination clients typically allocate about 10% of the wedding budget and about 15 – 20% of their wedding budget for the Full Wedding Planning & Design package. The starting rate for Month Of Coordination is $2600+. The Full Wedding Planning & Design package starts at $8,050+