Natalie Durham Events created my dream wedding! Like many other brides, once I got engaged, I did not give any thought to hiring a wedding planner. First, I thought there was no way I could afford one. Second, I had thrown several successful ev...ents in the past (bridal showers, baby showers, gender reveal parties, etc.) so I thought planning my wedding would be similar. Boy - was I wrong! I wish I would have hired Natalie Durham Events the moment I got engaged - that would have saved me so much stress and worry! I finally worked up the courage to DM Natalie on Instagram on May 29, 2019. At this point, I had already booked my venue and photographer for a November 9th, 2019 wedding, and had a really clear idea of what I wanted for my wedding day in my mind (and on Pinterest haha). Natalie replied to me almost immediately. After our first phone conversation, I knew that I needed her guidance and expertise. Not only is Natalie an incredibly talented wedding planner (with over 10 years and 400 weddings under her belt), but she is also an insanely talented floral designer! I didn't even know I cared about flowers until she helped me design my flower palette. Trust me - flowers make *all the difference* in any venue on your wedding day. My advice? Don't skimp on flowers. Hire Natalie as your wedding planner, and then definitely hire her to do your flowers as well. You will be absolutely blown away with what she can do, and hiring her for both services makes more sense from a budget perspective. Working with Natalie Durham Events also gives you access to an elite group of vendors that she is connected to. For example, makeup and hair artists normally need to be booked 9+ months before your wedding. I was about 5 months from my wedding, and Natalie connected me to a very popular team of makeup and hair artists who were able to accommodate my large bridal party, including my mom and my mother-in-law. The only reason they agreed to fit me in with my tight timeline was because of Natalie's positive relationship with them. Another example of Natalie's connections in the industry is related to our caterer. We had a rough experience in our first tasting with one caterer. After that, I didn't know how to move forward, so I just didn't. Once I hired Natalie, catering was one of the first issues that she tackled for us. She put me in contact with a premier caterer in the area (who I thought I couldn't afford), and told him our situation. Much to my surprise, he happily agreed to cater our wedding (on a tighter timeline than normal). Even more surprising, his price was lower than the other caterer with which we had a bad experience! Without Natalie, we would not have had the ability to work with this caterer within our budget and our timeline. Natalie is extremely organized, very responsive, and an absolute joy to be around. Every single person in my wedding party loved her. Especially my mom! My photographer even took the time to tell me how much she enjoyed working with Natalie. She can truly work with any personality type without any issues. She is so kind, but also very assertive, and she stands up for her brides to make sure their best interests are always the priority. You do not have to be a big budget bride to take advantage of all that Natalie has to offer. Don't be like me and wait until you are in a time crunch to reach out to Natalie - the sooner you reach out to her, the more you will enjoy the wedding planning process!