When we first began planning our wedding, we quickly became overwhelmed by all of the little details, the (often unsolicited) advice people shared with us about what to do and how to do it, and the cost. Having never planned a wedding before, I didn’t know what I should be investing in versus saving on. And, as a result, we originally selected a different planning team (earlier in their career, less knowledgeable, less expensive, etc). Dear reader, this was very much the wrong choice and did not go well for us but there is a happy ending! And while this is a very long review, I hope to impress upon you that investing in a team like Aspen & Ivy is an investment in the elements of your wedding that *actually* matter: the joy you will feel on the day, the experience you share with your guests, and your peace of mind leading up to it.

We hired Casey and the Aspen & Ivy team about six months before our wedding, after our original planner shared that she had over extended herself and would need to shift us to someone else on her team. That, along with a general lack of communication, compelled us to find an entirely new team to work with. We hired Casey two minutes after first speaking with her - she was compassionate, professional, and friendly. But what I most appreciated about her was her honesty - she completely validated that our instincts were right and that despite what our original planner was telling us, we were quite behind. This transparency gave me the confidence that when she committed to helping us, she would successful help us get to where we wanted to go.

On paper, our first planner committed to the same suite of full service planning that Aspen & Ivy offer - from design, to coordination, to execution. However, the reality is that our original planner wasn’t able to do any of those things because she was constantly focused on triaging the most imminent wedding she was planning. We were the ones pushing to get vendors locked in and then when she would finally share options, it was under researched. At one point, her team tried to present that the cheapest transportation option for our guests was $8k (note we ended up spending closer to $2k). Other vendors of ours even began reaching out to us because she wasn’t answering questions they had. It became confusing to keep track of who had been told what, and how we should even help.

After we hired Casey, we never had to manage any of the vendor research, communication, logistics, or coordination. In fact, the only time vendors ever reached out again was to share how much they enjoyed working with her. Beyond all of the logistics, she completely redid our design and went above and beyond to make it perfect. Following the trial with the rentals and florals, she went back a second time (a 1hr+ drive each way) to take pictures and propose some new combinations she thought we might like better. This blew my mind because we liked the options from the first trial! Anytime we had an idea, a proposal, a rogue comment from a parent, she responded with recommendations, options, and solutions. Her communication was unparalleled - she responded to emails/texts within the same day, she sent meeting notes, clear follow ups, and even zoomed us at midnight her time while on a work trip to Italy. Although we had more to do, the last six months of planning were by far the most enjoyable part of the process for me and my husband.

To be clear, there is a sizable difference in cost, but the investment is worth it. Weddings are a huge milestone - they are the first (and often biggest) “group project” you tackle with your partner, they symbolize the commitment and love you want to honor and safeguard together, and they provide an opportunity to celebrate the community that has supported you (as individuals and as a couple). Ultimately, with our first planner, we didn’t have the confidence that her team would be able to pull it all together to make the day special for our guests and easy for us. However, with Casey, the weekend of our wedding was something I could sink into and enjoy - I knew everything was totally handled and if/when we ran into obstacles they would be taken care of without me being involved.

An immense thank you to Casey - Jake and I felt so present on our wedding day and we are so grateful for the Herculean amount of work and effort she put into the day to help us get there!

We are based out of state and wanted to have our wedding in Steamboat, CO. Planning a destination wedding can be a big undertaking, but Casey with Aspen & Ivy was the solution to all of our problems. She was organized, honest, thorough, responsive, and extremely professional. I would absolutely recommend hiring her as your wedding planner. Since we were out of state, we didn't know much about the local vendors. Casey had many resources and recommendations for us, and even when told that the initial recommendations weren't the right fit, she made sure to find us something that worked for us perfectly. We even had to change our venue in the middle of our planning process, and Casey handled the situation so well. Casey helped us to find another venue in a matter of days. Rather than having a major disaster on our hands, it was merely a small hiccup for us!

As cliche as it sounds, our wedding was perfect. It was the best weekend of our lives, and it wouldn't have been possible without Casey. She is quite honestly amazing at what she does, and she truly cares about your wedding as much as you do as the couple!

We loved working with Kelsey from Aspen & Ivy for our big day! As the bride, I was consistently asked “how are you not stressed right now?” And I owe this all to Kelsey! She was absolutely amazing from being organized, making sure I was informed, handling anything with vendors the month before. If there was anything that went wrong (which I don’t think there was) I had no idea about it and was able to enjoy our absolutely perfect wedding day.

When we were picking a Coordinator it was a bit overwhelming. Weddings are expensive and as we were choosing our vendors all I could see were massive dollar signs and not really knowing how a coordinator could help it was an annoying (at the time) requirement from our venue. However, it was THE BEST investment and I would recommend doing at least the package where you start working together two months out to anyone. Kelsey took the time to get to know our wedding, us, our vision etc and helped keep all the ducks in a row, making sure we were missing deadlines, keeping other vendors on time, timelines etc.

One of the biggest things that stood out to me is Kelsey handling all the changes of people not making it last minute. This will inevitably happen and instead of being stressed about table arrangements and venue communication she was able to handle it so I could enjoy all the events leading up to our wedding. Invest in a coordinator! Because even though you think you may be able to do it yourself, it gives a professional helping hand and allows you to enjoy your big day and build memories that last forever.