We hired Donna to coordinate our wedding which we held in our backyard. She was very helpful leading up to and during the wedding itself which required a lot more work than a wedding at a rented venue.

She let us pay her over time so as not to burden us with a lump sum the day of the wedding.

All of her recommended vendors were awesome. She also worked with all of our vendors and made sure to get updates from all of them, so we only had to work through Donna to get everything we needed. This was a huge help in saving time and reducing stress.

Donna also went with me to try on dresses and helped with my dress decision making at no charge. You can tell she genuinely loves weddings and has a passion for helping soon-to-be brides create the wedding of their dreams.

She came a week early to our house with her husband to make sure everything would be setup perfectly. Her husband and her brought power cables and lights and spent hours helping us illuminate our backyard for the big day. Her and her husband really transformed our backyard with lights around our trees and bordering our flower beds and made sure everything was beautiful.

She also did so many little extra things I was just too busy to think of or execute like bringing a wedding sign to direct guests and decorating hurricane candles and holders with our theme colors for the ceremony. She also put some flowers on our cake to dress it up a bit and it turned out perfect!

The day of the wedding, she brought donuts over for us and helped get going with setting up. She got all the table cloths, runners and centerpieces out and set up. After the ceremony she moved the chairs over to the tables for dinner.

At the end of the night she left us a very special gift in our hotel room that evening! She also helped clean up our yard and bring our gifts inside.

Donna was very helpful and we would highly recommend her for any wedding or party planning!

Donna, was our wedding coordinator for my daughter's wedding at the Renaissance Hotel, Austin. Donna's staff was amazing, she was there when all the vendors arrived to set up for the wedding. I left the entire setup in Donna's hands, no worries she knew exactly what to do. Everyone at the hotel was very pleased with the services the Wedding Belles (Donna) provided. I highly recommend any bride to Wedding Belles (Donna).

Sandra A.

Donna Gostecnik, the owner of The Wedding Belles, was a pleasure to work with. She did an excellent job planning my wife's 40th birthday party and celebration events surrounding this important day. I would recommend her to anyone looking for a professional event planner. As a result of how happy I was with her services, I will be using The Wedding Belles for my company Christmas party later this year.
Isiah

Ladies, do yourself a favor and hire Donna! Hiring her was the best decision I made throughout the entire planning process. She knows what she is doing and how to handle all of the vendors. She has a great attitude and is always willing to go above and beyond! Her husband, David is also a huge help! Together they coordinated all of my vendors arrival times, met with us at our venue multiple times and were always flexible. We could not have pulled it off without them! If you want a stress free day on your wedding, hire her. You can thank me later!

I hired Donna as a Day of Coordinator for my wedding. My venue (The Umlauf Sculpture Garden) did not come with an onsite coordinator. I seriously think this is one of the smartest things we did for our wedding planning. Donna took care of confirming all of our vendors, setting up delivery times, distributed tips and countless other things that I am sure I am not even aware of. If there was a problem on my wedding day I am certainly not aware of it, as it was taken care of long before it filtered down to me. My wedding day really was relaxed and relatively stress free because I had every confidence that Donna and her staff would take of everything and keep everything on track.

She is very organized, responsive and professional and above all a really lovely person. She was wonderful to work with and very budget friendly. I highly recommend you contact The Wedding Belles if you are looking for a coordinator, they made my beautiful day even more.

Donna was the most incredible vendor we had for our wedding day. I couldn't have asked for more. We booked her services with little more than 3 months left in the planning, and I still can't believe we were fortunate enough that our date was open. She COMPLETELY exceeded our expectations; she brought a team of FOUR with her to help set up, organize, and execute the whole day; they followed all my specifications to a T, and made them better; they took some of the most beautiful pictures that are certainly going in our album. She was the perfect kind of bossy, enough to make people get moving but in a nice way. The value of her services far exceed the amount she charges; she's worth every single penny, and then some! If you're thinking you don't need a day-of coordinator, think again. Don't hesitate; this lady will make your dreams come true, and you can relax and just smile the whole way through!

My daughter was planning her May wedding, and had a modest budget. As the day grew closer, I realized a problem was developing. The problem was: who was going to have the time to take care of the thousand details that would have to happen on the day of the event? Things like get the tables ready, attend to the half-dozen vendors that were involved, see that everyone in the wedding party was on cue, etc etc.
One month before the event, I decided we HAD to hire a coordinator. Even tho there was no money in the budget, I figured the need was so great that the budget would have to crack. My daughter searched the web and contacted several coordinators, and chose to interview The Wedding Belles. They were picked because they were available, they had solid reviews, and the price was very reasonable.
We met with Donna, and in one minute I knew The Wedding Belles would get the job. Donna is totally professional, completely orgainized, had many years of experience, has a down-to-earth, get-the job-done attitude, and is just plain easy to work with.
Over the next month, I could tell I had made a good decision to get a coordinator and to hire Donna. She helped calm jitters, gave insight and advice on problems that needed fixing, and told us everything would work out and would be beautiful.
When the day came, Donna and family were truly 100% involved and dedicated to our event. It was like her own child was getting married. I was absolutely amazed by how much work they took on, how they totally relieved me of all the stress and hassle of making a complex, wonderful, beautiful event happen.
She is a miracle worker and seems capable of anything. For example - no one in the wedding party brought a decent camera. Just completely slipped our minds. We had only some so-so cell phone pictures to look at until the professional pictures were ready. Well, Donna and her husband had taken lots of snapshots, and sent us digital copies of them. I went from zero pictures to 100's, thanks to Donna.
2nd example - my tux trousers fit good when I tried them on. 2 days later, after running around getting things together for the event, I had lost several pounds (sweated them off). Mentioned to Donna 'my pants are loose!'. She and assistant came in with needles, thread, safety pins, etc, and tightened them up! Who'd a thunk it? She can fix or rig anything, I swear.
3rd example - needed more decor stuff for decorating. Donna took the initiative, went to a crafts store and bought what was needed. (Of course I reimbursed her for the expenses.)
If you are on the fence about hiring a coordinator, believe me, you need one! Talk to the Wedding Belles, then hire them. You will not be disappointed. Like I told Donna after everything was over, "The luckiest brides in Austin are the ones that hire you." And I mean it.

To Donna, David, and the wedding Belles,
I can't tell you how much I appreciate all ya'll did last Saturday. The event was so beautiful and perfect, all thanks to the magnificent efforts of you and your family. Everyone commented on how gorgeous the hall and the wedding site were; all agreed it was a perfect wedding. Kay and I know that it was so perfect thanks to you folks.
Our entire family HAD A BALL.
We were so, so lucky to find such an outstanding, 5+ star coordinator for our wedding. I cannot express how deeply I appreciate the knowledge, insights, and effort you gave us.
Sincerely, Sam B.

The Wedding Belles, Austin TX-Donna and David! These 2 people made our wedding experience easier than anyone else involved! They were always right on top of the to-do list, making sure everyone was getting their part done. I thought I could do so much by myself, boy was I wrong! Their help was so invaluable to me. I am very grateful for all the things they did, big and small. Who would have thought to bring an easel for a small picture frame to rest on? Not me! That small picture was of my beloved deceased grandmother and it meant a lot to me to be able to see her face on my wedding day. They came with ideas that had never crossed my mind, which added so much to our day. Everything turned out well because we had them.

Donna and her husband did an amazing job at our wedding and reception!! We were about to have to coordinate our wedding without any help : ( My husband called me from Iraq telling me that he had found a planner with a great rate and was he right! Donna and her husband don't charge tons of money like all the other planners but do more than an amazing job! Donna will stay on you to finish everything on time which helped for me because I procrastinate! The wedding and reception were decorated beautifully! I'm so happy we didn't spend tons of money on a planner asking for a boat load of money but on Donna and her husband! We couldn't have asked for a better planner!

Thank God for Donna!!

Donna and her husband did a fabulous job coordinating our son and his fiance's wedding! Donna stepped in after they had already started planning, and she quickly got all the vendors lined up, set up the schedules, and worked well with my son and daughter-in-law. During the wedding day, Donna was well prepared, and went above and beyond with everything that needed to be done. Above all, she and her husband were a joy to work with. With all the hectic activities, they were calm, friendly and seemed like part of the family. I would highly recommend The Wedding Belles for anyone needing a wedding planner.

Donna was amazing! We were on a tight budget and had a DIY wedding, but we knew that we needed someone to set up for us, as we only had access to the reception venue ONE HOUR before our wedding ceremony began. Donna never made us feel like our wedding was "too small" to invest in.Though she was technically only hired as our day-of coordinator, she did the work of a full-on wedding planner. She was emailing me tons of stuff way back in December when I first hired her. She was also communicating with the other vendors all along to make sure that everything was confirmed and all the payments, etc, were sorted out.

For my bridal portraits, I wanted to be outdoors in a rustic environment, but I didn’t know where to go. She found a location, phoned her contact there to make sure it was available, and made the whole day possible! I got ready at her house and she drove my bridesmaid and I to the location, making sure that we were blasted with air conditioning and drinking tons of water. We were out in the hot sun for a long time, but she didn’t complain once. She also thought to make a bouquet for me to have so that I could carry it in photos! She took her own photos during the shoot, and, a few days later, she sent me a disc with all of her pictures. She also printed out a huge poster-size print and left it for us in our hotel room on the wedding night…in addition to a bottle of chilled champagne, chocolates, and a card congratulating us. As for the reception set-up, we left so many decorations with her the morning before the wedding—table linens, signs, vases, favors, and several cases of alcohol. We did all of the flowers ourselves, but they weren’t fully open by the time we dropped off our wedding stuff, so (after we worked on them late Friday night) her husband came by early on Saturday to pick up all of our centerpieces. We also had some leftover flowers and julep cups, which we gave to him and said that if they could use them, we welcomed it. When we got to our reception location, she had utilized every single leftover rose and filled the space with so many little arrangements. She also brought a table from home for us to set up the sound equipment on, and brought her own mercury glass votive holders for us to use. At the end of the night, they sorted out everything and packed up all of our decorations. She made sure that our delicate cake topper and toasting flutes were carefully packaged. She also took pictures at the reception and ceremony and set me a cd with them three days after the wedding. She was there the whole day, from early in the morning until late that night. Oh, and she also orchestrated and ran our rehearsal the night before. (This review is quite long, but I just want to stress all that she did as a DAY-OF coordinator!!) She and her team are just awesome and their prices are absurdly low. Everything went smoothly, from the music cues for my walk down the aisle, to the cake cutting and speeches, and it was thanks to her. We’re so happy that we hired her.

TGF The Wedding Belles!
Just a few months short of the wedding we found ourselves overwhelmed with pinning down the final details and making them fit our modest budget. After just a few minutes of meeting with Donna our stress started melting away.
With a day-of coordinator included with our venue, we were looking for guidance with the final stages of planning our wedding. She met with us several times going over budget and working up all our floral decor herself!
She was supportive throughout the process showing up for fittings and even my bridal portraits. We were happy to invite Donna and her husband to our wedding to see the final presentation of all her hard work, and true to herself - she even found ways to help out on the big day.
From start to finish she was quick to respond to emails and even happy to text communications (which is a huge help when you work full time).
We highly recommend working with Donna no matter how big or small your needs for your wedding day, she can make a big difference on a small budget :)

The Wedding Belles came to me upon recommendation by a past bride and personal family friend. My son and his fiance both lived out of town and as mother of the groom it was up to me to make all of the arrangements for the wedding. The bride had told me her colors and theme and I was to take it from there. I knew immediately when I met Donna that she was the planner I wanted to work with. She is so easy and laid back, but has a great attention to detail. There is absolutely no way that I could have handled all of the arrangements and details without her help. In fact, I had booked a venue for the reception and when Donna went to look at it, she found some drawbacks to the site that I had not even noticed, and she quickly went into action to find us another reception location close to the wedding venue that was absolutely perfect. When the minister forgot to bring his robe for the ceremony, Donna was able to make a phone call and get one for us. Donna helped me with the choices for the decor and suggested a few vendors, and once things were put together the day of the wedding, it was exactly what the bride wanted. The Wedding Belles also handled the decor and set up for the rehearsal dinner. There were 3 small children involved in the wedding and Donna and her staff went the extra mile to be sure that the children felt extra special. To our surprise, they set up a children's table at the rehearsal dinner to match the adult tables, along with the added bonus of gift bags and treats to keep the children occupied. We were all so suprised at that added touch.
We have had many guests tell us what a beautiful wedding and reception it was and I tell them that I could not have done it without Donna's help. Donna and her staff were there throughout the entire day to see that the bride, groom and all of the family were relaxed and taken care of. I cannot say enough how much I appreciated everything she did. There was not a detail that was not taken care of and attended to. I would highly recommend The Wedding Belles to anyone wanting the personal care and attention that Donna provides. She truly makes you feel as though you are her #1 priority.

My husband and I booked The Wedding Belles after realizing we were only given an hour of set-up time for our reception. We decided rather than stress, we'd hire someone to take care of setting up our centerpieces, and we'd just enjoy the day. Little did we know we were getting much more. Donna and her team were AMAZING. They worked diligently to make my vision (which embarrassingly enough came with numerous diagrams of where things belonged) a reality. From the ceremony to the reception, the night was amazing and all I had to do was sit back and enjoy. Donna took care of everything from coordinating our vendors to bustling my dress to handing out sparklers for our departure. She was AMAZING!! Not even a week after my big event, I received CDs with photos from the rehearsal, wedding, and reception. That was even faster than my family got my photos, and they were AWESOME pics. If you are looking for the best deal in wedding coordination...Donna cannot be beat. She is amazing, and your wedding will be stress-free because she is coordinating it.

Donna is amazing! She helped out SO much!! She took care of everything so I was able to enjoy my wedding day stress-free. Anything I needed, she was there 110%. There are so many people and details involved with planning a wedding, and Donna kept it all under control. My wedding was PERFECT thanks to The Wedding Belles =)