Katy Sent on 06/06/2024

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Rebecca made it all gorgeous, organized, and easy!

Rebecca O’Donnell helped us plan an incredibly gorgeous, elegant yet intimate, wedding in under six months. when we got engaged, we knew we would need help if we were going to get married before the summer started. Rebecca jumped in and helped us plan. She recommended the right vendors and helped us efficiently choose. She worked well with the caterers and the venues. When our first venue canceled on us (!!), she had a List of all the possible venues still available within 24 hours and we were visiting what became our new venue within a day or two. In the end, the new venue turned out to be better than the original, in no small part thanks to her help turning it into the perfect place for us.

On the day of the wedding, I really felt like I just got to enjoy my day because Rebecca was behind-the-scenes making sure that everything went smoothly. She managed all of the large components of the wedding, such as the vendors and the room arrangement and the timing. She also managed the small details, like having my grandmother’s champagne glasses filled at our place for our toast. The whole day felt beautifully orchestrated, and we couldn’t have done it without her.

Alex Sent on 03/16/2024

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We love Tarra!

We reached out to The Plannery two months out from our wedding in desperate search of month-of coordination services, and Tarra responded right away and got on the phone to talk through everything I was nervous about and needed help with. Tarra is a consummate professional, calm and relaxed but serious and direct when she needs to be - we always felt confident she was taking care of us and would tell us when she needed us to make a decision. The wedding day was a total breeze for us because of her. I can't imagine having worked with anyone else to make it all happen!

Erin Sent on 02/12/2023

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Rebecca is an incredible planner!

Hiring Rebecca was one of the best decisions we made for our September 2022 wedding. Rebecca worked as our partial planner, providing tons of guidance and help throughout the planning process and then full month-of coordination the month leading up to the wedding. She seriously is every bit as wonderful as the previous reviews have described. Not only is she incredibly knowledgeable about the ins and outs of the wedding industry (especially in the DC/Maryland/VA area), but she was just generally a fun human to work with. Each time I reached out to Rebecca, I knew I would get a quick, honest, and detailed response. She really got to know us and took our personalities, vision, and budget into account, and each vendor that she recommended was an exact perfect fit to what we were looking for. Our families were so impressed with her and she even handled all of my dad's ridiculous dad jokes along the way, which is a feat in itself. On the day of the wedding, I honestly had zero stress the entire day (which I don't think I could say about any other day of my life!). Knowing that Rebecca was there to make sure everything went according to plan really put me at ease. I know everyone says to expect something to not go correctly on your wedding day, but literally everything was perfect, and we have Rebecca to thank for a lot of that. If there's any question in your mind if The Plannery would be helpful as you plan your big day, take it from me - you won't regret it and it will bring you so much peace of mind.

Laura Sent on 11/25/2019

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Rebecca is THE BEST!

We worked with Rebecca for our wedding on 10/26/19 and I don't even know where to begin. We hired her to be our day/month-of coordinator, and the second she jumped in I just felt like a weight had been lifted. She knows EVERYTHING about weddings and, at least in our case, will help point out so many critical things that you never would have thought of. To say she is responsive is an understatement - any time I had the slightest question or worry about anything, I knew I could email her and that she would be right there in it with me within the hour (most of the time within only a few minutes!). She reassured us that we could reach out to her with anything, and it just felt like such a relief to know she was there to help us problem solve through anything that came up. She has an awesome, laid back personality while simultaneously getting s$%# done, which was exactly what we needed on our wedding day. She doesn't force her opinion on anyone, but gives amazing, decisive advice when you ask for it. She made sure that everything was exactly the way we had envisioned, and she even decorated our room with flower petals at the end of the night as a surprise! Our wedding was absolutely everything that we could have ever hoped for, and Rebecca was a huge part in making it all possible. You will NOT regret having her by your side. I only wish she provided general life planning services so I could keep asking her for advice!!

Stephanie Sent on 10/22/2019

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Best wedding decision we made! (...besides marrying each other of course)

My now husband and I had the absolute pleasure of working with Rebecca from The Plannery team, and I can say with 100% honesty that the only regret we have in planning/executing our wedding, is not hiring her sooner. Rebecca is the biggest (and possibly only) reason we were able to fully enjoy our wedding with no stress – and that’s saying something coming from a very high strung and anxious individual…

From our initial phone call I could tell that at the very least, Rebecca was going to be fun to work with and when you are talking to someone close to every day for a month, and some before that, that was important to us. She was incredibly organized and detail-oriented, asking us questions I never would’ve thought of on my own, while maintaining her humor and sarcasm – something that made even the most mundane questions/tasks infinitely more enjoyable. She is also a force who just gets. shit. done. She absorbed every little detail during our pre-wedding meeting with her and very clearly wanted us to have OUR wedding the exact way WE wanted it, while providing helpful advice on the many things we were clueless about. She could answer most of the questions vendors had before I even had a chance to read the email. It was honestly like we had a little wedding guardian angel who could read our minds and knew what was best for us before we even did.

While I knew that we wanted someone who would help us with logistics, and take the burden of all of the day-of stuff off our hands and those of our friends and family, what I didn’t realize was how valuable vendor recommendations would be. Every single vendor she recommended to us was a joy to work with and we couldn’t be happier with the services we received…while staying within budget!

Our families and bridal party have raved to us about Rebecca, and honestly, that isn’t surprisingly in the slightest. She is a complete GEM of a person who we will never be able to thank enough for making planning the nitty gritty parts of our wedding a breeze and surprisingly fun. I’m still grinning from ear-to-ear when I think about our wedding a month later and she had so much to do with that.

Sam Sent on 10/26/2018

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Organized, professional, and effective

My partner and I hired Tarra as our month-of coordinator for our wedding. Tarra is an organized professional and great person to work with, and I cannot recommend her more highly. Tarra coordinated with all of our vendors and the venue the month before the wedding and made everything (deliveries, timeline, details we hadn't even thought of) go so smoothly.

On our wedding day, we had time to enjoy ourselves and talk to our guests because Tarra was behind the scenes making sure everything flowed perfectly for us. We had unforeseen problems with other vendors, including a shuttle that did not come back at the end of the night to pick up our guests and an overabundance of alcohol that needed to be packed into cars, and Tarra handled every mini crisis with grace and professionalism, staying late with our parents to make sure that all loose ends were tied up.

Overall, Tarra went above and beyond in communicating with difficult and unreliable vendors, working with our family members, and hustling like crazy on the day of our wedding. Hiring the Plannery and Tarra was the best decision we made by far and Tarra was central to the success of our wedding day.

Adam Sent on 09/17/2018

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Katie was an absolute delight to work with. Her insights were the right balance: just enough to keep us motivated and making the decisions we needed to make (and calming, to let us know how to prioritize decisions) but not at all pushy or invasive. The vendors she sourced from her deep network - photographer, cake, flowers, catering, linens and rentals among them - were all extraordinary. We brought some of our own ideas and extras, like a live performer and other touches that she embraced and completely took ownership of to ensure everything was seamless. And importantly as a gay couple, we felt that she was as supportive and affirming as could be (something that cannot be said of all planners) and in going through her sourcing, we knew that all vendors she proposed would be similarly supportive. We cannot rate her highly enough!

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Kylene Sent on 08/20/2018

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Working with The Plannery and Tarra specifically, was nothing short of amazing. We hired her to help with the day of coordination, which really started with pulling things together from a month out. I reached out to her during a few hiccups along the way during the planning and she was super helpful and responsive even though I was outside the month of mark. She made the day of no stress and if anything came up, I had no idea. I truly felt like I could sit back and enjoy my wedding and not have to worry and that is the best feeling. I highly recommend working with Tarra and The Plannery!

Jenevieve Sent on 07/22/2018

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The Plannery - POSTED

It was an absolute pleasure to work with Katie Wannen of The Plannery as our month-of coordinator. We learned about Katie from friends who had worked with her during their wedding. Katie was very responsive, providing vendor recommendations and responding to questions, in the time leading up to our wedding. She was also very accommodating when we needed to postpone our wedding for a year and helped us move all of our vendor contracts to the new date. We also worked with Katie’s designer, Kimberly Lofgren, to create a mood board to represent our vision for the wedding and take to vendors to help create that vision; we had a great experience with Kim as well. Starting a little before a month before the wedding, Katie did a amazing job creating a cohesive timeline for the wedding and helped the event come together. She also helped us implement a rain plan and troubleshoot a few day-of issues. We highly recommend Katie and The Plannery!

John Sent on 07/05/2018

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We hired Katie based on the recommendation of friends and couldn't be happier with our decision! At the point we decided to investigate hiring a planner, much of our arrangements were already complete but we realized that we had a lot of different vendors that were going to need coordination on the day of our wedding. Katie's "month-of" planning services were the perfect fit for us. Katie quickly got up to speed on the plans and created a checklist and shared folder to keep track of all of the contracts. Even though our wedding was in June, Katie met with us at the venue in March for a walk through and was engaged in the process until she really took over all coordination about a month before the wedding. In the final weeks, I did not have to worry about anything as Katie was on top of everything and handled the vendor questions/follow-ups. Katie met with our families the night before to show how the venue would be set up and where everyone should walk / stand. The day of, Katie was on-site and we did not have to worry about anything. Everything went according to plan and Katie was nice to check in periodically to see if we needed anything. It was such a help (and relief) to have someone trustworthy in charge of the day and we would highly recommend Katie to anyone looking for planning services.

Ellie Sent on 06/28/2018

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Katie was fantastic. We chose her in part because she had worked in our venue before (Long View gallery). She was so detail orientated and asked us questions we had not even thought about - and it all made sense in the end. Not only did Katie take over all of the wedding coordination a month before the wedding, but everything day of was absolutely seamless. Each part of the wedding was on time or ahead of schedule, Katie would pop over and cue us into where we needed to go without being intrusive.

Nasheed Sent on 03/02/2018

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For background, we have each planned/negotiated vendor contracts/day-of-coordinated the weddings of several friends and relatives. So, while we were totally comfortable planning our May 2017 wedding for over 2+ years, we were also aware that there were certain things we wanted to outsource so we could actually enjoy ourselves on the day itself. We solicited bids from a handful of event planners more than a year in advance of our date and were looking for month of coordination services. The Plannery’s prices were competitive and reasonable. But, we ultimately chose them over the competition because of Katie Wannen. Honestly, she just seemed like she wanted it more than the other planners whose bids we considered. With the other companies, we felt like we would have been one of many weddings for other during our wedding weekend. And we certainly did not feel like that with The Plannery. Also, Katie has a background in theatre, which intrigued us given the ridiculous production we had in mind. We were going for a large (300ish guests), multicultural, non-traditional, fun, complicated, and very silly 2-night event. She never seemed to bat an eye at our never-ending supply of crazy ideas. Instead, she would only improve upon them with logistical feedback and then turned our crazy whims into reality. Our back to back events were held in DC, at largely bare bare bones venues, which required outside vendors for almost everything. She had one assistant for the first event and two for the second event - all fantastic. Also, all of the other vendors have all gone out of their way - completely unsolicited - to let us know how awesome The Plannery was to work with. They went so far above and beyond what they were contracted for. Hands down, hiring The Plannery was the smartest and most worthwhile expense we made for our wedding. Our only regret is that we don’t get to work with Katie anymore! End your search - contact/contract them today!

Claire Sent on 09/29/2017

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We would never have pulled off our wedding if we hadn't found Katie! She really does get things done. She is highly organized, responsive, professional, and a total pleasure to work with. Every time we felt overwhelmed by the planning process, a call or email from Katie would remind us that everything was going to be ok! She was especially clutch on the wedding day itself -- there were a few potential hiccups that she handled beautifully. We didn't even know about them until the following week! Katie ensured we had a stress-free, seamless experience. We recommend her most highly!

Nisha Sent on 09/03/2017

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Where to even begin... Katie was incredible and provided much more than day of coordination services. She gave us extremely helpful advice and recommendations months before the wedding. Her organizational skills made our wedding day so smooth and allowed us to have the best day. She thought of all the little details and made sure we had plans in place for everything. She was very patient when communicating with other vendors when multiple iterations were required, all the while making sure our wishes were communicated. She even helped take home our DIY items. She made sure everything went as planned in the nicest possible way and our families commented on what a nice person she was.

Huma Sent on 06/02/2017

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This review is wayyy overdue, but I absolutely had to thank Katie from The Plannery for her help during our wedding this past December!

Our wedding incorporated many elements of our personalities and backgrounds for a 2-day Pakistani-Bengali-American fusion event. We had a short engagement, with only about 4 months to put a two-day affair together. I first reached out to Katie in September, and from our first call I felt really comfortable speaking with her! She was very patient with my questions and very detail-oriented, which my type-A personality approved :) Even though she was technically responsible for day/month of coordination, Katie was super helpful with any wedding planning questions I had even before she officially came on as coordinator. I felt like Katie and I worked very well together (fingers crossed Katie agrees!), especially considering this was the first time either one of us was organizing a South Asian wedding :)

I cannot stress enough how amazing it was to have Katie be a part of our wedding. The support and organization she provides to each bride and wedding is a testament to Katie's passion and professionalism. She worked wonderfully with all the vendors to ensure a seamless day, and went to great lengths (pun intended) to make sure our wedding stage fit in with the venue's dimensions... and that everyone had a great time both days!

Katie - S & I cannot thank you enough for your role in our wedding. You made a special day for us even more special with your cheerful personality, patience, meticulousness, calmness under pressure, and willingness to take away my worries about late caterers, snowy days, kids jumping into streams to make sure we enjoyed our day. We wish you all the best with everything you do, and hope we can work together on other events in the future!

My Sent on 02/13/2017

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Hiring Katie from The Plannery as our month-of coordinator was, quite honestly, the single best decision my now-husband and I made for our wedding day. And at the risk of using a hyperbole, I daresay Katie was more important than the food, dress, venue, transportation, or flowers because she helped seamlessly tie all the haphazard and confusing components of a wedding together, and made what could have been a stressful event instead a wonderful, unforgettable delight. Her fees are reasonable too (and worth every penny, in my opinion)!

Ours was a modestly-sized wedding of about 80 guests, with the ceremony at the Holy Rosary Catholic Church and the reception at Dumbarton House. Initially, we felt the intimate size didn't warrant a wedding coordinator. But, we considered the fact that we had to corral guests (most of whom were out of town) from one venue to another one way across town. Then we realized we had zero clue of how to smoothly transition from cocktail hour to dinner to speeches to dancing. (Hey, cut us a break, we were new at this!) So we decided to hire Katie!

Katie was SO nice and professional. Not only that, she was an absolutely indispensable liaison between me & the other vendors. She was excellent at taking care (or gently reminding us to take care) of the not-so-glamorous, and frankly boring, details of wedding planning (such as contracts, payments to vendors, who would take home the envelopes and my gowns at the end of the night, when and where the florist would drop off the bouquet, etc.). Her attention to detail is superb, and her attitude upbeat. Best decision ever. Big, heartfelt gratitude to her and her assistant Tara who made our nuptials a rockin' good time for both us, and our guests who traveled from all over the US and Australia!

Angelina Sent on 11/29/2016

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Even if you think you could plan a wedding alone, just trust me and contact The Plannery. I knew as soon as I started planning that I wanted to work with Katie. When she told me she wasn't available on our wedding date but her associate, Tarra, was - I knew that there was no question about it. If Katie trusted Tarra, then I should, too. We used the Plannery for Month-Of services with Tarra. Tarra was awesome, amazing, a mind-reader, really organized, thorough, a true professional - literally anything positive you could want or need in a coordinator/planner can be found in Tarra. We had unlimited communication with her, which was great because she really kept us organized. She knew our vendors, our timelines, our shuttles, our set-up and break-down... everything down to the minute. The day of the wedding went so smoothly - I have no idea if anything even went wrong, to be quite honest. A friend of ours came to the venue at 5:05PM, telling his girlfriend that "there was no way the wedding would start a 5:00pm because no wedding starts exactly on time." Guess what - the music switched over and I was walking down that aisle at 5:05PM. Everyting that day was under control and none of our friends and family felt like they had to step in and do work. I was not worried AT ALL and I never once wondered if anything should or shouldn't be happening. It's a really incredible feeling to be able to experience and live in the moment. Even when one of my bridesmaid took Tarra's purse at the end of the night in an effort to help, Tarra kept her cool and met us at our hotel to get her purse after a long day's work.

Working with The Plannery is logistically awesome, too. Katie is really straightforward and the payment system is really easy. If you're looking for a no-drama, low-stress, professional, reasonably-priced coordinator or planner who just wants to make sure that you have the best day ever, go with The Plannery.

Marie Sent on 11/18/2016

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Katie Wannen and The Plannery were absolutely fantastic. I can’t recommend Katie highly enough for both her skill as an event planner and also her unique ability to manage the unexpected (in people and life). If you’re wondering whether you need a wedding planner, the answer is “yes” and The Plannery offers different packages to help you get the level of service that’s right for you within your budget. Getting a planner was a “splurge” that my husband didn’t really think we needed, but he agreed because I insisted. From a planning standpoint, we had the month-out planning package. Katie gave us enough advice and recommendations to point us in the right direction in the year leading up to our wedding. She also answered a lot of my questions about logistics so that about a month out I could turn everything over to her. She made a fantastic detailed timeline, graciously yet effectively handled interactions with all of our vendors, corralled a very large, loud family at our rehearsal and was perfect on our wedding day. Because Katie and her team were there, we got to experience our wedding celebration rather than manage our event. More importantly, life throws you unexpected curve balls and Katie is great at adapting to and managing the unexpected. When someone close to us passed away very soon before our wedding, Katie was supportive and assisted us in changing arrangements. Also, we got married the weekend a hurricane was about to shower Virginia with three straight days of rain - we didn’t anticipate that even though 80% of our event was indoors and Katie helped us make adjustments and keep a positive outlook. From an event management perspective, Katie and her team executed the event exactly as we requested. From a relationship management perspective, Katie ensured that we had all the logistics information and support we needed (which made handling our family easier) and a safe, supportive sounding board to help us refine, communicate and execute our wedding.

Nicole Sent on 10/19/2016

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I could not speak more highly of The Plannery! Tarra was absolutely instrumental in making sure our day ran smoothly. She kept everything impeccably organized, asked all the right questions, and executed everything flawlessly on our big day (despite bad weather and a possible last-minute officiant switch).

They say that something always goes wrong at weddings, but from our perspective the day was perfect, so whatever problems inevitably arose must have been handled very swiftly and discretely. It was so wonderful to just focus on enjoying ourselves and spending time with our guests and know that everything else was under control.

I'm pretty sure Tarra is a mind reader -- if we wanted or needed something the day of she was there handling it before the thought had even finished forming in our heads.

We also had a fantastic experience working with Katie. From the initial booking process to stepping in for Tarra at the walkthrough when she unexpectedly was not able to join us, Katie made sure the entire process ran smoothly. Based on how everything went the day of you would never know that we had a different coordinator with us at our walkthrough. Whoever you might work with at The Plannery, you're in good hands :)

Rebecca Sent on 09/01/2016

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We worked with Tarra. She created lots of helpful online spreadsheets to keep everything organized. She asked all the right questions at our walk-through and led the rehearsal with the perfect amount of professionalism while my niece repeatedly threw my nephew's pants in the air. Behind the scenes, she communicated with all our vendors so they understood the timeline and gameplan. And then on the big day, she made sure everything happened exactly as we had discussed and imagined. She made it so easy for us -- we just showed up and she had it all under control. People always say that you can expect at least one thing to go wrong, but the entire day moved along as we hoped. I highly recommend!!

Noelle Sent on 08/01/2016

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I am so happy that Tarra from The Plannery was there for our day! We hired Tarra as a Day of Coordinator several months before the wedding. Throughout the planning process I was so impressed and relieved to have Tarra's insight, organization and calm demeanor. When the wedding was greeted with monsoon style down pours, I knew we would be OK with Tarra at the helm. I am so appreciative to Tarra and The Plannery for helping make our wedding day a soggy success! Thank you so much for your hard work!

Alyssa Sent on 12/13/2015

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I don't know what I would have done with out Katie! Hiring The Plannery for Partial Wedding Planning was the best wedding decision I made and I could not have pulled off my wedding vision without them! Katie was well organized and extremely responsive during the year + leading up to my wedding. I also caught her right before she went on maternity leave and she was overly helpful and even reduced her fees (without me asking) when she felt she was not assisting me as much as we had agreed to initially. About a month ahead of our wedding date she was back in full force and helping to ensure I had all the little details organized and keeping me from stressing out over everything! We couldn't have pulled off our fantastic wedding day without her, and I'm so grateful for her awesome "get shit done" attitude! Thank you so much Katie for making our special day even better than we imagined!

Jennifer Sent on 12/03/2015

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I hired Katie for the month of coordination of my wedding and it was a great decision. I booked Katie right before she went on maternity leave and was impressed with how much she responded to my emails despite having just had a child! Her unlimited communication policy was wonderful. My mom really wanted to be a part of the month out meeting, so Katie did it over the phone with the both of us. My mom specifically mentioned at the end of the conversation how at ease she felt after talking to Katie. I felt the same way! I felt so great going into the rehearsal because I knew that I had handed everything over to Katie and I was confident that she was going to make everything look great. And she did!

I thought her documents and tools on google drive were great and easy to use (if only all of the vendors had used them!). She even followed up after the wedding to let us know somethings that she learned from our wedding and encouraged us to follow up with one vendor who did not perform as well as we had hoped.

Overall - great value and great service - thank you, Katie!

Corey Sent on 11/07/2015

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As organized and on top of things as I thought I was, I could never have survived our wedding day without Katie. She is a pleasure to work with - so accommodating and flexible, but also knows how to handle a variety of personalities and vendors! I have recommended her to everyone I know, because I truly believe she is a wonderful addition to any day. She kept my stress level low throughout the day (and in the crazy weeks leading up to the day), was incredibly organized, and made everything happen exactly how I imagined. Including a chaotic 1 hour room flip in between our ceremony and reception! She is amazing. DO NOT be without her.

Blaine Sent on 10/09/2015

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We began working with Tarra at the Plannery a month before our wedding. It was hands down the best decision we made during the planning process. Everything - and I mean everything - went according to plan. Tarra reviewed all of our contracts, contacted all of our vendors, made great suggestions on the itinerary and made sure all of the logistics ran smoothly. Truth be told, I'm a bit of a control freak and I think the only reason I was able to relax and enjoy the wedding was because we came to trust Tarra. Even when it appeared a hurricane was heading straight for DC on our wedding weekend, Tarra kept us calm. She contacted vendors to figure out our options, which thankfully we ultimately didn't need. It's been almost a week since our wedding and my husband and I still can't get over how perfect it was. We highly recommend Tarra and the Plannery, whether you're a control freak or not!

Sally Sent on 08/14/2015

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Katie was so spectacular as our wedding coordinator that we're now feeling sad that we don't get to work with her anymore! We hired her for partial planning and couldn't be happier with our decision. She's smart, funny, creative, helpful, and most importantly - honest. She'll tell you what she thinks in the nicest way possible while still keeping it real. Every vendor she recommended was within our budget and met all of our needs. She was on top of her game during the entire coordinating process and we never once felt behind or rushed. She's like a ninja that comes in and gets sh*t done before you even knew it needed to be done. She helps you stay on top of your tasks without feeling pressured. She always keeps you within budget. And she's pleasant and so fun to be around! If there were any issues on the day of our wedding we had no idea and that, in my opinion, is the sign of a great coordinator! I can't recommend her enough to anyone looking for a wonderful, valuable, practical wedding coordinator!

Katie Sent on 06/06/2015

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As her website promises, Katie "get's sh*t done." I simply don't know what I would have done without Katie on our wedding day! We used The Plannery's Month-Of services with a few extra hours of consultation for our rehearsal. There were SO Many details (and trust me, I'm a detail oriented person), but Katie handled it ALL - from helping me deal with last minute emergencies (the reception venue told us they couldn't turn off the lights; rain spoiled our seating plans; ceremony venue's sound system wasn't working at the rehearsal) to the larger, special moments (fluffing my veil before I walked down the aisle with my dad; telling my husband and I it was time to cut the cake). If I could have Katie to handle ALL of my day-to-day concerns, I would hire her! I want to get married again just so Katie could help us out again. I've been referring her to all my engaged (and, let's be honest, single) friends - snag her while you can. You will NOT regret it.

Brittany Sent on 01/12/2015

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Katie was one of the smartest decisions we made during wedding planning. We used her month-of services, and she was so helpful. I had no idea what goes into making a wedding day run, and I cannot say how glad I am that we had Katie there to make sure it did. First, she is very calm and in charge, if there is something you are worrying about, she will help you figure it out and calm your nerves. Second, she is great at ironing out pre-wedding day wrinkles, she dealt wonderfully with our caterer and even helped to make sure family members didn't get overly pushy with a wedding vision that wasn't ours. Third, the day of the wedding went incredibly smoothly. She helped to make our venue look amazing and even had a bridal emergency kit on hand when my bustle came undone. I cannot recommend her highly enough!

Rebecca Sent on 01/08/2015

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If I could give ten stars, I would!!

Katie was amazing to work with. She is professional, smart, calm, and just a great person in general. Her prices were also perfect for our budget! She has a way of telling you things that makes you feel like everything will be ok. We had a large wedding and knew we would need the extra help in executing all the different parts of our wedding. We hired her for Day-Of (Month-Of) Coordination, and she made sure that everything happened on time and without a hitch (at least on our end!) Not only were all our guests raving about how much fun they had (and are still raving, two months afterward), my husband and I were actually able to enjoy our wedding from start to finish--we were able to eat, drink and dance all night, not having to worry about the little details. It really was one of the most awesome days of our lives. Thanks so much Katie and The Plannery!

Rachel Sent on 11/23/2014

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Katie was amazing. We hired her as our month of wedding planner and she made our lives infinitely easier. It was important for me to not have to worry about the little details on the day of, and Katie took care of everything.

She had our timeline down to the minute and kept us on track. She coordinated all our vendors and anticipated and fixed problems that nobody saw coming. Last minute details build up quickly and she shielded us from so much stress!

She was incredible responsive and always understood exactly what we wanted. She helped us organize all our DIY projects, and the wedding was perfect.

We can't thank her enough and recommend her highly to anyone and everyone!

Andrew Sent on 11/12/2014

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I wish you could give 10 stars instead of just 5. Katie served as our wedding coordinator, and I was completely floored by the effort she put in to make our wedding a success. We had 10 different vendors, and Katie managed all of them expertly. Everything went off without a hitch, and I have Katie to thank for it. I cannot recommend her more highly.

Emily Sent on 10/02/2014

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Katie is AMAZING. Best money we spent on the wedding, hands down. We originally hired her to help us find a venue, and her professionalism, organization and creativity made it evident that we needed to hire her for the whole process. I think we can sum it up by saying we chose the first venue we saw, picked the first caterer she took us to, hired the first photographer she introduced us to and only met one florist she recommended. But, so you don't think we're just incredibly decisive, we talked to many, many planners before we found Katie.

She took the time to get to know us and just "got it," so her recommendations and advice was always spot on and so helpful (and within our budget so we never fell in love with anything we couldn't have). She is a wonderful communicator and consistently available with answers and suggestions when you need them. She is very open to non-traditional options and doesn't push vendors or her personal preferences, and she looked for ways to save us money that I never would have thought about. I could not have been less worried about the wedding logistics and vendor choices with Katie at the helm. Unlike many of our friends, my (new!) husband and I thought wedding planning was super fun and did not find it stressful -- Katie was a big part of that. We would HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend her to any interested couples.

Wes Sent on 08/12/2014

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People neglect to tell you that one of the first, and hardest, things about planning a wedding is... finding a planner!

This is someone that will be with you throughout the process and someone whose judgment you have to be able to trust and rely on for your big day.

Luckily, we found Katie at The Plannery. As soon as we saw her website, we were sold. Her tagline: Where Ideas Become Events and Sh*t Gets Done says it al. It was cheeky, slightly irreverent, and oh so fun. Which is exactly what Katie was. And sweet and honest and diligent and hardworking.

Katie was able to work with us on our vendors, help narrow them down, and help us see our vision in different places. She is so enthusiastic about what she does and it shows!

It was a yearlong process and Katie was with us every step of the way through the fights, the disappointments, the small victories and the big ones. And when our big day came, we were totally confident to step back, enjoy our day and let Katie take care of everything else. It was a wonderful, beautiful day and we know that it wouldn't have been possible without Katie.

Susannah Sent on 08/07/2014

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Katie was an absolute joy to work with. We originally hired her for day-of coordination (which she calls month-of coordination--a very good sign!), and then we ended up hiring her hourly before the month-of to help us with some other things (we had a family tragedy and needed help with things we just didn't have the energy for). Katie was FABULOUS at communicating, dealing with some of our difficult vendors, staying organized, and making us feel like everything was under control. She was knowledgeable but also totally open to whatever our vision was, and she was our go-to person for pretty much every logistical question. Our wedding had a lot of DIY aspects and moving parts, and she made sure that everything ran without a hitch. I can honestly say that all of our wedding logistics worked beautifully, and that was largely due to Katie's hard work. I would recommend her to anyone looking for a wedding coordinator in the DC area--it was worth every penny to work with her.

Ilona Sent on 08/02/2014

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Katie was truly amazing - we could not have pulled off our wedding without her. Katie helped us to pick most of our vendors and and provided month-of coordination services. I felt like she really "got" us, but also let us make our own decisions. I was afraid of hiring someone who would push their own vision on us, but I didn't have to worry that Katie would do that. I especially appreciated her positive and upbeat attitude, particularly at times when the wedding industry frustrated us. Katie was very well-organized, knowledgeable, helpful, and efficient at everything she did before, during, and after. She went above and beyond our expectations and we are grateful that she was there to help us. I would HIGHLY recommend Katie at the Plannery!

Kate Sent on 07/11/2014

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Hiring Katie was the single greatest use of money that we had for our wedding--and we had Teddy from the Washington Nationals at our reception! As a couple planning a wedding in a city where no sets of parents live and with two full-time jobs, we were overwhelmed trying to find a venue that would fit with our budget. We found Katie via A Practical Wedding and felt at ease from our first meeting. She helped us find a venue, then we did 11 months of planning ourselves, and then she stepped in to tie up loose ends with month-of coordination.

Our reception was at a venue that is primarily a yoga studio/gym, so almost everything we needed for a wedding had to be contracted through a vendor and brought into the space. There were tons of moving pieces! Katie consulted with us over the phone a few times before her month-of period started and recommended excellent beverage and rentals vendors. At our month-of handover meeting, she came prepared with a bunch of questions and suggestions--a true professional. We were calm on our wedding day because we knew she would handle the reception set-up and any that we'd trust her completely to make decisions on the the fly.

Katie is warm, empathetic, organized, and funny. I am recommending to her all the engaged people I know and if we ever have need for a party planner again, we will be calling her to see if she is interested!

Emily Sent on 04/12/2014

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Katie helped us to pick a venue, consulted with us throughout our planning, and handled month-of coordination. She thought of every detail, recommended fantastic vendors, and overall helped us put together the wedding of our dreams.

She was incredibly responsive and supportive throughout the entire process, provided us with an amazingly helpful timeline, and it was a huge relief to have her take over with month-of coordination. On top of her accessibility, organization, and professionalism, Katie was super sweet and had an infectiously positive attitude that spread to us, our vendors, and eventually our wedding guests. She thought of literally every detail with weeks to spare, answered every question we had (even the seemingly unanswerable ones) and even ran out to a nearby liquor store when it seemed we might be in danger of running out of wine during the reception. Thanks to her, we didn't, and no one but the three of us knew it was even close.

Overall we cannot recommend her strongly enough. Not only did she help make our wedding more enjoyable and less stressful than either of us could have imagined, but she was always receptive to our thoughts and requests and was generally a pleasure to work with.

Tyler Sent on 12/08/2013

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Katie was a referral from our stationary vendor and was an awesome fit for us. She was extremely punctual with emails, detail-oriented, and willing to do whatever, whenever for our wedding day. We couldn't think of a better person to help plan any event, especially a wedding. Thank you again and again!

Linn Sent on 12/06/2013

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Katie rocks! I was hesitant to hire a wedding planner initially, but in hindsight I think it was the best decision I made throughout the entire wedding preparation process (except for the choice of who to marry, of course.. I think I did pretty well there!). My husband and I threw a "simple" wedding at a pavilion in our neighborhood park, which required all sorts of coordination between caterers, musicians, dj, furniture rentals, etc., at a venue that was anything but traditional. Katie really listened to our vision, gave us great advice when we weren't sure how we wanted pieces of the day to go, and made sure everything ran smoothly on the day of the wedding. Truly, I can't imagine our wedding day without her. I highly recommend The Plannery to anyone seeking month-of wedding planning services, particularly if you are planning a non-traditional wedding. Thank you, Katie!

Charlotte Sent on 12/02/2013

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5 stars is not enough for Katie of The Plannery! Hiring Katie was the single best wedding gift for both myself and my parents. She helped guide me through the process before the wedding and worked with me to make sure she understood my vision, my odd requests and details- from a list of must have photos, ceremony seating chart, marriage license, song list and detailed timeline of the day and all sorts of details I never knew you needed to pay attention to. With Katie's help my family was able to actually enjoy the wedding weekend- not work or watch the clock! On our very first meeting with Katie, she assured me that she was calm under pressure and could handle just about anything and anyone... I'm pretty sure I put her to the test and she was amazing! Nothing frazzled her- not my waiting till the last minute to get her information, not my minister coming straight from vacation to the ceremony, not a 100+ degree heat wave and not even the venue double booking- she dealt with everything quickly and efficiently and I only cried once (until the venue representative came back from talking to Katie with his tail between his legs and apologized). She is worth every penny and more! She was the single best investment of our wedding! I cannot say enough great things about Katie; I would recommend her 100 times over and hire her again in a heartbeat!

User1459292 Sent on 12/02/2013

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People kept asking me how I could be so calm the month running up to the wedding date. I was relaxed and completely at ease because I had Katie as my coordinator. She handled the vendors and the issues and carried all the stress. All I felt was excitement and confidence that my wedding day would go off without a hitch. Katie was thorough and professional. Questions were answered before I even thought to ask them. Our wedding day went exactly as planned. I never had to wonder what was going to happen next or worry that something wasn’t getting done. I heard planning a wedding can be really stressful, but with Katie all I noticed was how perfectly my wedding day went.

Shira Sent on 12/02/2013

4.9 out of 5 rating

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Katie was empathetic and a pleasure to work with. Our initial points of contact were phone calls as we were based overseas, but she quickly established relationships with our other vendors as well as my parents. Her sense of what was important to us was instinctive and allowed her to negotiate and advocate effectively in the run-up to the wedding. On the day itself, she was always a step ahead, and calmly reassuring when that was needed. Strongly recommended.

Lauren Sent on 11/07/2018

4.8 out of 5 rating

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Two Thumbs Up!

We worked with Tarra at the Plannery for the Month of Coordination package and she was truly wonderful from the start. She is a super sweet and caring person and she made sure everything was just as we wanted for our big day! From the get-go she set up some helpful documents on Google Drive to help keep us organized and connected. The first time we met her in person at the final walk through she gave us all (including my parents a hug) and made us feel completely comfortable asking questions about upcoming details and logistics. I had a lot of DIY's that I needed help with setting up day of and Tarra was super flexible with that as well. She met us at our home for the final planning meeting and made a detailed list of all the DIY items and noted exactly where we wanted them to be placed. We ended up adding an assistant, Cami, for the day of the wedding to help out with the decor and she was super sweet and helpful too. The week prior to the wedding I was amazingly feeling pretty relaxed since Tarra had taken over the reigns reaching out to all of our other vendors to make sure everyone was on the same page. It was so nice to not have to stress and to be able to enjoy that time with my family and friends leading up to the big day.

Day of everything was PERFECT. She did a fabulous job making sure we (the bride and groom) had everything we needed at the event throughout the evening, as well as our families and guests. We had a few minor hiccups and Tarra handled everything like a pro. She kept everything moving and did a great job at making sure the wedding party knew where to be and when to make the event flow flawlessly. We truly felt like she treated us like her own friends from the very start. Thanks for making our day the best, Tarra!

Katie was also great to work with from afar for booking and payments. Everything was super easy and convenient and communication was always quick and efficient. I would definitely recommend using The Plannery to others.

On another note, as both my husband and I consider ourselves allies of the LGBT community, I really appreciate how open they are about supporting LGBT couples as well couples of diverse/mixed backgrounds and religions. I love following these ladies on social media and reading their blog. They've helped make many awesome couples' dreams come true... now ours included. It was a refreshing "icing on the cake" to work with a vendor who was so transparent and open about this topic and even though we don't personally identify, we truly admire this honorable approach to their services as we have many loved ones in our lives who do. Two thumbs up, ladies.

Aileen Sent on 11/28/2016

4.8 out of 5 rating

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I cannot overstate how wonderful the Plannery was to work with, and how instrumental they were in making our wedding possible. Tarra is amazing. She was super helpful to us at every stage of the process, from overall planning advice (we had a pretty solid vision for what we wanted but were borderline clueless on how to get it done) to vendor recommendations (she worked hard to help us find a photographer to match our overly specific criteria and recommended our *fantastic* DJ) to the walk through details (she knew all the questions to ask and helped us and the caterers think through all of the contingencies) to week of problem solving to day of coordination (including perhaps the longest processional in history and overseeing a full room flip in the hour between the wedding and reception). She was knowledgeable, gracious, and reliable. All went off without a hitch and we maintained the laid back, fun, mostly casual vibe we were going for.
Katie was also terrific to work with. The initial call helped me understand what the options were and how to decide what we needed. We got clarity and specificity on expectations and services provided. Also, the online invoice/contract/payment system the Plannery uses is super easy and straightforward. It may sound like a small thing, but after dealing with the annoying payments by check, snail mail, and paypal of other vendors, this was a real asset. It gave us the ability to pay by credit card securely and easily sign and save documents online. Hooray for 21st century systems!

Ellen Sent on 12/30/2016

4.6 out of 5 rating

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Tarra from the Plannery was invaluable in making our wedding day run smoothly. She kept us on the ball in the month leading up to the wedding, making sure our timeline was set and our vendors were on the same page. We had concerns about the venue staff, so we felt more relaxed knowing that Tarra was there to handle any issues. The only tiny problem was that at one point, she offered to make us each a plate of all the food served at our cocktail-style reception. I never saw that plate! All in all, though, excellent service. Tarra also did an excellent job of breaking down the DIY decorations and organizing/boxing everything so it was simple for us to pick up the next day.

The Plannery Reviews

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The Plannery