Erin-Chanel VanDerVeer
5/5
I can’t recommend Volare Planning enough!
To tell you how great my experience with Caroline from Volare was, I have to give you back story:
I am not originally from Texas. My fiancé and I were moving from Ohio to Texas and decided to have our wedding here for convenience. We looked for multiple venues and settled on a ranch style venue In Boerne. The venue itself was beautiful and the original POC was so amazing that we decided to buy a package from them. The package included, the venue, Photographer, Videographer, Caterer, Bartender, Wedding Planner, Florist, Decor & Cake. We bought the package 15 months before our wedding date to lock in our date. Twelve months before our wedding, we officially moved to the area and reach out to the contact. She mentioned that she no longer works there. But told us the manager of the property will be the wedding coordinator AND will start coordinating wedding activities. This is where the chaos begins. Long story short, the manager was habitual liar and made excuses on why nothing was done or why she couldn’t schedule tastings. We had finished paying the package 6 months before the wedding. And a month out none of my vendors were paid and nothing was planned. I didn’t see a floral proposal, I haven’t seen layout of the wedding venue, no information on the timeline, no information on any vendor extras etc. When I reached out to the vendors they were nice but did not help because they haven’t been payment. When I called the venue manager, she just waved it off as, “Oh usually they are OK being paid the day of”
This was when I knew I was in trouble. I am the only person in Texas and needed to involve someone locally. I found Volare Planning thru The Knot. I told her of my situation and even before I put a deposit down. Caroline reached out to the venue to get information. Then she reached out to her colleagues who had worked with the venue to understand more about the place and see if my situation was unique.
She called me back and said, “Listen, even if you don’t hire me, you need to hire someone.” Evidently this place has a bad rep for screwing over brides. I was sold and said you are hired. Caroline reached out to every vendor requested for items needed & pricing for extra items. She even set up time to go to the venue to make her own layout and to meet the venue manager and myself. She stayed on the venue manager to pay the vendors and begrudgingly the venue manager did.
Every vision, I wanted for my wedding she ironed out for me. For example, 3 weeks before the wedding we found out the bartender, did not supply cups straws or garnishes. The venue manager never told me this information (mind you she was supposed to be the coordinator). Caroline found this out and calculated the exact number of cups and straws I would need to buy for my guest count. She did the same thing for the alcohol amount as well.
She created a timeline/agenda for EVERY vendor from the make-up artist to the caterer, etc. She even had a timeline for my wedding party
The day of the wedding she did so much. Here is a list although I am sure I am missing stuff:
1. She placed the favors, set up the candy bar, set up signage/gift table, cake table
2. Greeted vendors told them where to go
3. Any questions or catastrophes reached out to maid of honor or my mom.
4. Made sure everything was going by timeline.
5. When the DJ had the wrong entrance song played, she ran told him to change before we walked down.
6. Made sure the alcohol was near the bar
7. The venue was hot, she coordinated having coolers brought in
8. Packed all the food and had it for us the next day, including the cake for groom
9. Assisted with packing all the décor and items I brought up so I could pick up tomorrow
Last thing I really appreciated about Caroline. She was a listening ear. Throughout the process, she continuedly said “don’t worry I will make sure this day goes well” and she certainly did. I truly cannot recommend her enough. My wedding day would have a disaster without her. But with her it was PERFECT!