Black Tie Optional

Chelsea and Black Tie Optional gave my husband and I the wedding day of our dreams! My relationship with Chelsea is unique because I have known her for over a decade when we met and became friends when I was living in Arizona. I always knew Chelsea to be a go-getter with incredible drive and skill at whatever she put her mind to, so when I got engaged, I quickly reached out. My pitch to her was also unique because we planned on getting married in the mountains of our home state of West Virginia, far away from Chelsea's wheelhouse in the Southwest. Always up for a challenge, Chelsea enthusiastically agreed to be our planner and navigate a whole new region of the country where we would mostly be working with vendors she had never met before. I wasn't the slightest bit surprised to find that Chelsea was extremely knowledgeable with a wealth of useful resources at hand even without a local network of her preferred vendors to pull from. For example, Chelsea has created an absolute masterpiece for all aspects of planning - including budgeting, design, contact databases for vendors, and loads of resources for various elements of guest tracking - in the Aisle Planner system. I utilized this system thoroughly, and any time I had a question or issue, Chelsea was quick to guide me through my needs. As an incredibly hands-on bride, I opted for a partial planning package because I love being the decision maker and "driving the car, while BTO is the GPS" as Chelsea would say. We were a planning dream team! I eagerly looked forward to each of our planning calls. Even though we are personal friends, Chelsea was always incredibly professional, and she was the kind and encouraging person I already knew her to be. Even though I was a West Virginia bride, I shared with Chelsea that I really wanted highly customized invitations and was having trouble finding someone in the local market who was creating the types of designs I was looking for. Chelsea was able to match me with a wonderfully skilled stationer who actually ended up being my favorite vendor we selected while planning! We ended up working so well together, we had her design all of our day of paper products and even had her design custom thank you cards after the wedding. I can only imagine how wonderful it would have been to have been able to have been an Arizona bride receiving all of Chelsea's wonderful vendor recommendations for various elements of our wedding. She is incredibly well connected and is a master at vendor relationship management. When wedding weekend rolled around, we had a blast setting up together, and she pulled off a very productive rehearsal. Our wedding day, of course, was full of her positivity and perfect direction. While I live for being the boss, someone else needed to steer the ship that day, and Chelsea did so with ease. People will tell you that multiple things will always go wrong on your wedding day, but essentially NOTHING went amiss at ours. It actually went perfectly. It was truly perfectly planned. She also made me feel like I was the only bride in the world, the most special person to ever live, and she is the ULTIMATE hype woman. You want her cheering you on. You can FEEL her positive energy. Even if you are a super planner like me, you would be doing yourself an incredible favor by hiring Chelsea and her team. Chelsea and her team are unmatched; there is a reason they are the best. We would choose her over and over again and can't thank her enough.

I do not even know where to start. Chelsea did such an amazing job with our wedding. We opted for the partial planning option because I wanted to play a big role in the planning process and Chelsea was still right there with me every step of the way. The Aisle Planner website, budget tool and checklist, I would not trade for the world, it made everything so seamlessly easy, not only for making sure we were not forgetting anything, but also keeping all of the necessary information in one place that was accessible by Chelsea, myself and the groom. We also connected with the majority of our vendors from her preferred vendor list, including our DJ, the favorite of the night. From the beginning Chelsea gave informed and sound advice, allowing me to ask questions, but never once bulldozing me into making decisions that did not reflect who we are, that takes a truly special skill. On wedding weekend, Chelsea did an amazing job of communicating with everyone, doing a great job of traversing our family dynamics and wrangling in a very large wedding party. Wedding day ended up being about 15 degrees warmer than what had been reported just a couple days prior on all of the weather apps, and with my hair extensions, veil, boots, shapewear and wedding dress, I overheated, quickly. Even though I tried to keep it together and not let many people know that I was struggling, Chelsea saw right through it and came to my rescue with a cold towel, draped it over my shoulders and reassured me that everything was going to be okay. I made it down the aisle on time (I am a stickler for time) happy and as cool as a cucumber. At the very beginning of the wedding planning process, I was adamant that I plan the wedding myself, I am so glad my fiancé pushed for a wedding planner and so grateful we chose Chelsea, I wouldn't trade her or all of her expertise and skill for the world.