Janice at Bellwether Events is a great wedding planner -- very professional and definitely an EXPERT at putting on an awesome wedding. There were so many things we hadn't thought about or accounted for that Janice helped us with. She is very flexible as well -- we had a non-traditional, offbeat wedding and she was all for it, helping to add some awesome, above & beyond creative touches. Her vendor recommendations are invaluable -- we loved everyone she helped link us up with. Janice had another event already on her calendar for our wedding day so Rebecca was our primary day-of coordinator (another helper, Sara, was also great). Rebecca was brought on board super early in the process so she was totally involved and familiar with everything. Rebecca did an outstanding job on the actual day -- we had some complicated pieces and everything ran PERFECTLY the whole night. Rebecca was professional, calm (super important), and anticipated everything. I know people always talk about how something will go wrong with your wedding, but that really didn't happen for us. We were lucky, and by lucky I mean: Thanks, Janice & Rebecca & Sara!

I chose Bellwether Events because Janice was all business upfront. On our first phone call she had a prepared set for questions she wanted answered, so there was no chit chat until the important details were covered. She kept the conversation on topic on what she could deliver and what could be expected of a wedding planner. She was also very virtually connected which was important me when working with someone across the country. On the wedding day all my bridesmaids were complimenting her straightforward delivery and thorough scheduling. Everything went absolutely perfectly with Janice sweating out the details.

We hired Janice as our "day of" wedding planner, but she offered her services for the month or two leading up to the wedding. She was consistently organized, reliable, responsive, and helpful, and she retained a great sense of humor throughout the process. She was not at all pretentious, which I'm guessing is unusual in a wedding planner, and her vendor recommendations were excellent. She was also flexible with some of our changing logistics, remaining calm and pleasant. On the day of the wedding, she worked tirelessly, and enabled my husband and me to feel like guests, rather than hosts, at our daughter's wedding. We were really able to enjoy the day, thanks to Janice's hard work!

Janice and her entire staff were spectacular in every way possible. They were very professional, creative and made sure that every aspect of the wedding reflected our wants and visions. Bellwether Events exceeded our expectations.

Janice at Bellwether Events was amazing! My husband and I never had to worry that things weren't going to get accomplished prior to and on the day of the wedding. Everything went as smooth as could be on our special day! Janice thought of many personal touches to enhance our ceremony and reception...just a fabulous person to work with. I can't recommend her enough!!!

I am so happy that Janice assisted us in our wedding planning. The day ran so smooth because she was attentive and a step ahead of everything!

Honestly could not have done our wedding without Janice!! She was so wonderful to work with, easy to talk to, always available, extremely organized, took care of every little detail, had wonderful/modern ideas and suggestions and was just all around amazing!!! I can't say enough great things about her and how much she helped my mom and I plan an amazing event that truly was the best day of my life! We also received tons of compliments from the bridal party/parents of the groom/guests on how awesome she was. :) Thanks Janice-you rock!

Janice was phenomenal to work with as our day of coordinator this summer! She was our best investment as she ensured that throughout the wedding weekend we could relax and just enjoy our special day. We hired Janice with the intention of having someone who was professional and knowledgeable about executing a large event such as our wedding. She was exactly what we wanted, and more. I thought I was type A and organized throughout our wedding planning process, but once Janice stepped in 2 months out she proved her worth by identifying things we had not even thought of, and she made sure everything came together seamlessly. We had a long and detailed Mass and she made sure that it was easy and beautiful from the processional to the recessional. Had we not hired her, I would have focused on the execution of the details and not enjoying the wedding. I would highly recommend Janice any day!

Janice was on top of our wedding from the day we met. She didn't let any small detail pass. Her communication skills are the best. We thoroughly enjoyed working with Janice and highly recommend her services.

Janice is absolutely perfect and extremely professional! We absolutely adored working with her and felt nothing but confident that she'd give us everything and more that we asked for. Not only is she professional and gets the job done but she's very down to earth and personable which made the experience that much better! She always gets back to emails, multiple times a day, constantly gives advice and website links for ideas. Anytime I had trouble finding something I wanted for the wedding and wasn't sure where to look, she always found something....very promptly I might add! I always felt very comfortable with her and never had to worry that something wouldn't get done. Very organized and I love that!

I would highly recommend Bellwether Events for any bride having their big day in the Washington, DC metropolitan area! Even though I'm from the area, I've been away for many years. I was living and married in New Zealand, when my husband and I decided to do another reception for my side of the family and friends back home. Janice was absolutely essential to planning this event, as what I envisioned seemed to change constantly from a full-fledged ceremony to a simple dinner party.

Janice was in constant communication (even though I was often hard to reach-even with a couple months abroad in a 3rd world country!) She was an endless fountain of ideas, had an extensive knowledge of vendors (vegan bakeries-yum!), and was able to work with my very slim budget. There was no limit to the dedication Janice provided me during the planning process, even with no arriving to the area until 9 days ahead of time! So, please, make her your top choice especially if DC is the site for your destination wedding!

My event was also the night after a record-breaking (and unexpected) snowstorm. Janice was able to find me alternative transportation in minutes. She had a complete game plan ready, having everything ready without a hitch. In fact, we ended up with TOO MUCH of everything, as many guests couldn't make it through the snow; but Janice magically did :) I am so thankful I worked with her, as I heard many horror stories of weddings happening that day with NO help from planners/vendors. Yikes!

Janice is a magician, an absolute fairy godmother. She will transform whatever vision you have into reality-plus so much more!

Janice Carnavale, owner of Bellwether Events, was another life saver for us!!!

Her professionalism, experience, flexibility, reliability and overall approach helped us in so many ways. I was impressed with how she handled so many different situations. Whether we were dealing with a simple matter of gathering information or the reality of managing unpredictable and unexpected emotions, she managed everything, and most importantly, everyone, so well and appropriately - it was quite amazing !

During the hectic times, she was quick on her feet with words of encouragement or new solutions. Throughout the planning process and the wedding day, I felt very well-supported.

Thank you Janice for making our wedding day as carefree and fun as it actually was!!!

Janice Carnevale from Bellweather was very easy to work with from day one; she's also got a great, highly competitive rate (since she is the boss and can be more flexible based on your needs and budget). I have a strong personality and am highly organized but she still taught me alot - she had such an amazing check list of not only what needed to be done, but choices to consider that I had never even thought of. She brought order to my wedding and noone even noticed; all they knew is that it was flawless. Janice was nurturing and comforting, but also strong enough to control personalities in a professional way. For example, me! One of the greatest gifts she gave me was explaining the reasons why I should reconsider my adamant decision not to have a videographer by asking why I made the choice and explaining to me why she was concerned that I would regret the decision. She finally convinced me to do it and I am forever in her debt because of that!

We hired Janice as our wedding planner for our backyard wedding in September 2009. Because of the logistics of having it at home we knew we could not do it alone. We were new to the area and didn't know where to start. Upon first meeting, Janice impressed not only me, but my husband (which is hard to do). She came prepared with photos, ideas, and also gave us a realistic view of what to expect with a 85 person at home wedding...did I mention with a 6 month planning time frame.

Janice spent the next 6 months helping us find professional/reliable vendors, shopping for flowers with me, getting permits for the tent, meeting with fire inspectors, and keeping us on track. The day of the wedding it rained all day. We were too cheap to spring for a walkway tent from the caters tent to the main tent so Janice personally escorted each of the servers to the tent so that the plates would not get wet (I tried to convince her that it was ok for the plates to get wet, but being the true perfectionist that she is she could not stand to see that happen). We had a blast and didn't even notice the rain, but we did notice Janice's dedication to making our day special. Hiring her was one of the best decisions we made.

Janice was great and a definite must-have when planning your wedding. She was most helpful in organizing the vendors and keeping contact with them from the beginning of planning through the end of the wedding night. This included keeping all of the details straight with each vendor, coordinating between vendors and the reception site, and making sure everything happened the way it was planned on the day of the wedding. She was also comfortable talking to the vendors to help with our last minute linen change and coordinating a special delivery time for the cake that worked for both the bakery and our reception site.

In addition, her years of experience definitely helped us through the planning process. As the first of our friends to get married, we had limited 'close-encounters' with wedding planning. She was a great person to bounce ideas back and forth with. As we were two consultants getting married, we analyzed a lot of options for each piece of the wedding. She was always able to point out the positives and negatives of each option and add valuable perspective based on her previous experiences. Janice was also always quick to respond when you had questions regardless of how small they were. Lastly, she was there to reassure us that we were on track and doing a good job or politely suggest we really needed to start working on those seating arrangements. :)

With so many friends and family in town for the event, it was great for us to be able to enjoy their company rather than make sure the vendors got their meals or the photographer got those 'must-have' shots. We'd highly recommend Janice to help relieve many of the stresses of planning a wedding!

I do some event planning for work, and was initially not interested in having a Day of Coordinator because I was sure that I was well organized and could handle everything myself, along with family and friends. I was having a pretty laid back wedding and trusted my vendors. However, as we got close to the wedding, I was dealing with buying a house, work craziness, and normal wedding nervousness, and just wanted someone else to pull together the detailed timeline, take over for the last few days, and handle things day of. Janice was perfect. She is extremely professional and organized, positive without being overly perky and annoying, and understood the vision and laid back nature that I wanted. She was also willing to flexible about pricing because of the location and simplicity of the wedding. I am sure that she would also work well for brides/weddings who have more complicated (or high maintenance) visions---and she strikes me as being excited about all kinds of weddings, and incredibly competent. I would very much recommend her for any type of event planning service.