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Wedding Wednesday with Alexa Kay Events | Wedding Planning & Design

I’m so excited to feature Alexa Kay Events today as a part of the Wedding Wednesday series! Each Wednesday, we hear from a different wedding vendor about their stories, their tips & tricks for brides, and what they do!

Alexa Sharkey is the creative mind behind Alexa Kay Events, a wedding planning & design service in Dallas, Texas. Alexa helps brides navigate their way through the planning process & brings their wedding day visions to life! Read through her interview below to hear about her story, what she loves about helping brides plan their weddings, and her tips for brides on a budget. Be sure to visit her website & social media to see more of her amazing work.

Alexa Kay | Alexa Kay Events
alexakayevents.com | hello@alexakayevents.com
Instagram | Facebook

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Tell us a bit about your background/career path.

Growing up I spent a lot of time organizing and planning. Whether it be parties and outings with my friends or color coordinating my drawers and closets. I felt most satisfied and the least stressed when my life was orderly and I could check things off my list. When my friends started getting married I naturally helped them out with the planning by checking their timelines or helping to think of details they may have missed. As I became more involved, I realized this was something I was really good at and it became a passion of mine. After college, I took a job as a marketing manager who planned and executed all events for General Motors. This helped me gain experience on the corporate level and I absolutely loved it. It wasn’t until after I planned my own wedding that I got the idea to turn my passion into a business. That is when I started Alexa Kay Events.

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What do you love about working with brides to design their weddings?

I love that every bride is different and because of that it keeps me on my toes. I enjoy problem solving and can be very resourceful in order to bring a bride’s vision to life. I really enjoy working with a wide variety of personality types. But the biggest thing for me is that there is no better feeling in this career than to watch a bride have her dreams come to life right before her eyes. For many of us, weddings have been something we’ve envisioned and fantasized about since we were little girls. It’s a day we wait our whole lives for, and to have the privilege to contribute even in the smallest way to an individual’s specific lifelong dream becoming a reality is why I do this job, and honestly why I enjoy it so much.

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Day of, month of, full service… there are so many choices for brides! What are the pros & cons of these different options?

The only real cons to utilizing a wedding coordinator can be cost or personality conflict. That is why I believe it is VERY important to meet with or have some form of extended conversation with your potential coordinator before moving forward. I make a very intentional effort to meet each of my brides face to face just to make sure I am exactly what he/she/they are looking for. Choosing a coordinator is very similar to shopping for anything else. Anyone you hire can get the job done, but another may be the BEST fit for you, and if a bride feels I or their potential coordinator is not the absolute best fit, that is perfectly ok because it’s about her enjoyment and experience, not the coordinators.

On the other hand, there may be too many pros to list, but it seems with every wedding just when you think everything is going smoothly, all of the details seem to flood in at once, and to keep every single one of the million details perfectly in order is a near impossible task to accomplish by yourself. By getting a day of or month of coordinator, the bride is really allowing herself to enjoy her own wedding experience to its absolute fullest, which is the main goal of what I hope to accomplish with my brides.

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What’s your advice for brides on a budget?

If you are a bride on a budget make sure you have in mind three things you really want and then be flexible on the other details. Let’s say you really want an awesome venue, great food and a well-known photographer. These items could take a large portion of your budget. To offset this, you might need to compromise a bit on other areas, such as buying and arranging flowers yourself, asking friends to help with videotaping or putting together a DIY playlist instead of paying a DJ. A planner’s job is to try and get you everything you want within budget. If your planner knows what areas are most important to you and what areas you are open to ideas on this will make things easier to keep cost down but still deliver your dream wedding.

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How can a bride find a wedding planner who is a good fit for them, & what’s the number one question brides should ask a wedding planner before hiring them?

I would definitely meet with your planner whether it is in person or on video chat. A face to face meeting will allow you to better assess your impression of each other and whether or not you would work well together. Also, make sure the person you are talking to is the actual person who is going to be at your wedding. You do not want to build a relationship with one individual then have a different one show up at the last minute. Ask your planner how their services work and what the best method of communication is. Most importantly, ask if they offer unlimited communication. You don’t want someone who is slow getting back to you or tries to put limits on how much you can talk as this has the potential to add a great deal of stress to your planning process.

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What is the biggest piece of advice you’d give a bride as she selects her wedding planner?

Make sure you feel your potential coordinator is trustworthy and that you feel they “get you”. You want to know they are putting you first and truly listening to your needs and desires not just smiling and nodding along, while their mind is somewhere else. You will be spending a majority of your engagement communicating or meeting with your planner so make sure you are comfortable and trust them to create and execute your vision (not theirs!). All of this will make for a smooth engagement, a less stressful wedding and wonderful memories of your best day ever!