I am so glad we hired Sandy Walker to be our wedding planner! I'll say now, if you're on the fence about her just hire her. I was very overwhelmed at the prospect of planning a we...dding, and I am so grateful we hired a competent, experienced, professional, and friendly planner. I interviewed around a dozen planners, and as soon as I spoke with Sandy I knew she was the right fit. She took charge during our initial call which was the first good sign, as with other planners I was needing to take the lead.
We originally thought we'd get married in Arizona, but Sandy agreed to follow us to Mexico when we booked a venue in Cabo. She found all of our vendors for photography, rentals, flowers, hair and makeup, photo booth, paper products, and live musician for the ceremony. She gave me multiple options for each to choose from. She stayed within our budget and did the initial negotiating, and didn't mind at all when I would reach out to vendors to negotiate further or change things. She chased people when they weren't being responsive, and always found time when we needed to talk. She also communicated with our venue and made sure that all my questions were answered and everything I wanted confirmed was confirmed.
My absolute favorite thing she did was handle and coordinate the entire itinerary and vendors, and stay with us the entire time at our wedding (it was a LONG day)! I felt so calm and happy on my wedding day, I wasn't stressed at all. She handled when a guest who didn't have a plus 1 brought one anyway and didn't tell anyone, she let me use her room to wait out of the sun, freshen up, and change into my reception dress, and she helped when one of our guests had a medical emergency and needed to go to the hospital. She encouraged me to do a first look which I am so grateful for, and she let the DJ know when we impromptu wanted to take pics with all the tables during 1 song. I'm sure she did 100 other behind the scenes things to make our wedding run smoothly. She was always in control and was always aware of what was happening. She also sent us such a thoughtful wedding package before we flew out.
When I realized I wouldn't be corresponding with her anymore after the wedding I actually felt pretty sad! She is a lovely human being and she is an expert at her job. Trust that if you hire her you will be in great hands, and you will love your wedding as much as we did.
Additional advice - I really wanted her to do everything for me, but in reality that's just not possible. She will take the lead, but know you will have to work with her on things and give answers, even if you don't care what the forks look like haha. Also know that she has her own system with emailing and stuff, so reply to the threads she creates to keep everything organized. It will be a lot of emails in the beginning as she gives you options, but you'll be glad when you can quickly find things as you make your selections! If you want to make your own spreadsheet or something to keep track on your own like I did, using google docs would be a big help.