Detail Oriented Wedding Planning at its Finest!
First things first, I am probably the most organized person out of anyone I know. I religiously plan out events and vacations down to the minute (my husband jokes that I tell him when he’s allowed to go to the bathroom). I am also a control freak who hates to delegate tasks to others because I live by the motto, “If you want something right, do it yourself’. Having an extra year in quarantine to plan my wedding gave me more time to organize and refine my One Perfect Day™. However, I learned that if you want to actually ENJOY your wedding day, you need to let someone else call the shots. Since I have not been able to find a way to clone myself (yet), enter Russell Pinto Jr. of Little Red Bean Productions.
Trying to plan (and re-plan after being postponed) during a pandemic was already stressful enough, but after my first meeting with Russ, I knew he was the proverbial “One” to be that extension of myself on the big day and I could finally put my mind at ease. I knew my wedding would non-traditional and have fewer moving parts than most (no on site ceremony, no bridal party to corral), but he definitely caught a few things I would never have thought of (all those little obscure details they leave out of the Wedding Pinterest boards) and that’s exactly the kind of second review I needed to make sure my event would be a great success. I compared all my color-coded spreadsheets to his color-coded spreadsheets and we always came out on the same page. In the month and a half leading up to my wedding, he was the touchpoint with the venue and all my vendors, making sure they had correct certificates of insurance and knew when to arrive on site and where to go. I was confident that he knew and understood my vision every step of the way (as beautifully showcased when the reception hall was finally revealed to us before guests arrived), so there was never any worry that things required more follow up or intervention on my part. It allowed for the time leading up to the wedding and the day-of to be as stress-free as possible (especially since I was planning and coordinating everything from 2,500 miles away).
My venue, the Bronx Zoo, required a day-of-coordinator be hired in order to facilitate “all the things”. At the top of their preferred vendor list is Little Red Bean Productions and that’s with good reason. No one knows the Zoo better than Russ. His knowledge of the Zoo, its setup & the staff are unmatched. This allowed for the day to truly be seamless - from load in and set up to break down and haul out. I never wanted or worried for a thing. Bride needs champagne? Russ’ got it. DJ’s volume too loud? Russ was on the case. Unexpected rain cloud? Russ has an app for that. My dad accidentally left with the items for our end of the night send off? Russ got them back. If there were any other major problems that would’ve interrupted the day, they were unbeknownst to me. There are probably a million other things I’m leaving out and I’m not even sure I have all the words to express my joy, happiness & gratitude. Russ and his assistant managed to make all of my neurotic planning worth it and all my visions a reality - they helped give me the wedding of my dreams and for that, I am forever thankful.
