Becoming an award winning destination wedding planner was a huge honour and achievement for me as Chief Magic Maker at Elegante by Michelle J – but it didn’t happen overnight, and it didn’t come easily. To help you understand what it really means to have such an accolade attached to the business, we’re letting you behind the veil to show you exactly why we’re now officially ‘Favourite Destination Wedding Planner’ according to the RSVP Club Vienna Awards Gala for Europe, Africa and the Middle-East.
I’m Michelle J – a destination wedding planner with 15 years’ experience working in London and throughout Europe, specialising in Jewish celebrations, interfaith weddings and all-round unforgettable events. I consider myself a bit of a Fairy Godmother of weddings, blending luxurious details, elevated design and high-end supplier teams with our signature warm, embracing approach.
The secrets behind becoming an award winning destination wedding planner…
Time & Experience
15 years of wedding planning in Europe means that we’ve done a lot of learning, refining and perfecting how we work, and how we collaborate with local suppliers. Not only do we now have an extensive network of contacts at wedding venues, hotels and with countless vendors throughout Italy, Spain, Portugal, Mallorca and more, we’re also well versed in the way they get things done – which can be very different to the way things work in your home country. Good relationships are key to successful wedding planning, and we’ve worked hard on building them throughout the years. We’re now proud of the reputation we have in the wedding industry, both in the UK and Europe, and confident that we and our supplier network can deliver an incredible wedding for you anywhere.
Add to this another layer; creating a wedding that is utterly yours, with a good flavour of the country you’ve chosen to get married in. We so often say that we shouldn’t try to replicate the wedding you would have at home, copy-and-pasting it into Italy or Portugal, for example. Blending what’s important to you, including the customs and traditions of your faith or religion and your personal preferences, with the essence of your location is how real magic happens.
Becoming an award winning destination wedding planner requires an advanced skill set of adapting to local suppliers and venues and getting the best out of them, and this is something we believe comes only with time and experience.
Choosing A Team
Planning a wedding is a team effort, and I often feel like the conductor of an orchestra bringing together each of your suppliers and ensuring they’re all playing from the same score. But what you may not know is how important the Elegante by Michelle J team is to the success of your wedding day. Delivering a destination wedding requires a much bigger team than, say, a one-day event at a London hotel – we often work across multiple locations, entire days and well into the early hours, and we strive to provide the absolute best experience for you and your guests throughout. This means we are often a team of 5 or 6 at your destination wedding, with each Elegante member bringing their own skills and experience to your event and everyone with the same goal in mind: helping you have the most incredible time.
On the Elegante team at your wedding, you’ll always find;
- Michelle, of course. Overseer, connector, coordinator, and hands-on wedding planner. You’ll find Michelle at each of your wedding events, meticulously ensuring no detail is missed and the extra mile is always gone.
- A local language speaker. Wherever we are in the world, we’ll have someone on the team who can fluently communicate with suppliers, drivers, porters and other people involved in your wedding who may not speak English
- An in-house travel advisor. Not only does our Elegante travel agent help with planning flights, hotels, guest accommodation, transfers and activities ahead of your wedding, they’re also present throughout your celebrations should any issues arise or new questions come up
- Specific experts for particular faiths, customs or events that require them. For example, we recently delivered an Indian-Jewish interfaith wedding and had on our team an Indian wedding specialist to assist with the Jaan, Haldi and Indian wedding ceremony
- Finally, at your wedding there will always be several experienced wedding day team members, helping to ensure everything is set up as planned and suppliers are where they should be at the right time, supporting you as a couple, guiding your guests and helping to enable the magic.
Guest Considerations
Part of being an award winning destination wedding planner is understanding the different requirements for your guests’ experience; bringing your loved ones overseas to celebrate with you is a much bigger ask than inviting them to a one day wedding at home. Not only do we have to carefully plan many more logistical elements such as transport and accommodation, we also have to treat them to an experience they will never forget.
The way we do this is by curating a wedding to the highest standards, and taking your loved ones on a journey – beginning with your welcome party and going all the way through to the wedding and post-wedding event, if applicable. Everything is planned, designed and delivered with no detail overlooked, and our goal is that everyone feels they are being treated like royalty. This shared experience for your guests lasts a lifetime, and they’ll always have your wedding in common. What we’re looking to do is make these memories utterly magical, in a beautiful location of your choosing. We’ll ask you to consider things you may not have ever thought of before, such as curated welcome bags, planning guest activities, and handling the logistics of the best way to get them to and from your wedding venue.
Technical Details & Paperwork
It’s not the pretty, glamorous part of weddings, but it’s the part that allows all the visuals and atmosphere to come together seamlessly – the technical details, paperwork and logistical considerations. Our event plan for your wedding is huge, with nothing left to chance or allowed to be forgotten. We know exactly who should be where at what time, which specific tables, canapes or florals should be at each event, and who the most important members of your family are. We know about the technical equipment for the band, the religious details of your ceremony, and the best napkin fold for your dinner tables. Everything we agreed and arranged during your wedding planning journey makes it onto our timeline, which is truly the boring, beating heart of all the gorgeousness you’ll see on the day.
So much of becoming an award winning destination wedding planner has less to do with flowers and food tasting, and more to do with dedication to our couples and always striving to improve. When you work with us you’re in safe hands because we’ve ensured it, and you can be confident your wedding will absolutely blow you away – because it’s what we do. If you’d love to work with us, get in touch to arrange a consultation with Michelle.
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