Elegant Event Planning and Design

We thought long and hard about whether or not it was worth the money to get a planner or not. In the end we decided to splurge....spend the money to save ourselves tons of heartache on the day of. Being able to ask her for vendor recommendations (we feel she saved us a ton of money and heartache by providing tried and true vendors that she has worked with) or etiquette/general questions leading up to the event was so helpful. She also checked in every once in a while to make sure we hadn't gone astray with planning, which gave us a nice nudge during that stressful period.I have to agree with what everyone else has already said, especially with the reviewer that said: 'Lisa Nelson has the calm presence of a therapist and the organization of a NASA launch team.' It's so true! This is why we chose her after interviewing her. The 2 weeks leading up to the event, we found ourselves saying over and over: 'Thank god we have Lisa.' On the surface, she seems very calm...almost too calm. But you can tell that underneath it, she has a 'Don't mess with our day' core, and she will BRING IT if she needs to. The day before, she ran the rehearsal (thank god - I'd never been in a wedding before and had no idea what needed to be done) like a pro - she was able to wrangle excited wedding parties, parents, kids, nearly 45 of them without an issue. Then she did a walk through with us and the decorations so we could explain what we wanted where. We left the decorations in her capable hands and her assistant and herself put them up as we were taking photos before the wedding. They did a smashing job! Everything looked better than I could have imagined. On the day of, she helped the men with their boutonnieres (no one knew how to do it), and her and her assistant were at the wedding hotel with us, managing the photographers, pre-wedding photos and general setup. During the reception, Lisa's assistant brought me my flip flops - I almost cried - having someone there for me? It was almost too luxurious. Those two ladies really spoil you. And if they're not by your side, then you can be sure they're taking care of something else that you don't want to have to be doing yourself.We had heard that most planner's jobs were done the second the cake was cut. Our wedding was on a boat, so that wasn't an option ;) but when we asked Lisa, she looked shocked. She feels that her job isn't done until about an hour after the wedding, after she and her team have loaded presents into one waiting car, and all the wedding decorations into another.If you're a control freak like me, it takes a bit to be able to get a hold of yourself and to hand the reins over to someone else, but in the end it was just so worth it. You have to enjoy the day because it goes so quickly. Hiring Lisa will give you that day back without compromising any of your vision. I thought that I could do it all, but looking back, it's really not possible. Once family starts arriving into town, any and all plans fly out the window, and time to do whatever you needed to do does too.Trust Lisa's expertise and ability to carry out what she says she will, and you will be able to sit back and breathe and focus on the important parts - the people who have come to spend the day with you, the food, the cake, and the moments that you will remember for the rest of your life.

Lisa Nelson has the calm presence of a therapist and the organization of a NASA launch team. Her very reasonable fee was the best money I spent on my daughter’s wedding.I was initially reluctant to engage a “day of coordinator,” believing myself to be a well-organized person who could accomplish the same thing. However, from the moment I decided to hire Lisa, I realized how much more smoothly everything would run and how liberated I would be from the pressures of directing things on the day of the wedding. With Lisa coordinating, every member of the wedding party was fully able to be present in the moment, and not looking at their watch or giving orders. Also, Lisa brought a wealth of experience that I lacked. She ensured that details I had not even thought of were covered. Her timeline brought order and calm to a very packed day by allowing adequate time for everything.When difficulties and misunderstandings arose with our venue in the final two weeks, Lisa was an invaluable consigliore and go-between. I always knew she was on our side and would do everything she could to produce, in every detail, the wedding we envisioned.Late in the process, we worried that we would need a replacement for our officiant. Lisa’s familiarity with clergy to provide interfaith weddings enabled us to relax in the knowledge that a back-up plan would be found if needed. (It wasn’t.) Three days before the wedding, we feared we would need a rental chuppah to replace the hand-crafted one the father of the bride had built. Once again, Lisa calmly devised a Plan B, which, happily, we did not need.Although the service we contracted for is called “day of coordination,” Lisa provided so much more than that. In addition to directing the rehearsal with a gentle touch, responding immediately to scores of emails, interfacing smoothly with other vendors, devising a detailed timeline with room to breathe, and bringing breakfast to the wedding party, Lisa came to a dry-run at our home to learn how to set up our chuppah and brought her characteristic calm to the situation when unexpected problems arose. Lisa provides a fabulous service in the most professional way possible. Her calm, low-key personality spreads serenity at a time of stress. I cannot recommend her services highly enough.

Lisa was the perfect wedding planner for the day of our wedding. We had purchased her services for "Event Direction" and she went above and beyond our expectations for those services she promised/contracted with us. She was always quick to respond to any question or concern we had, had the best professional advice, and was even an exceptional listener. I had a lot of reception set up details for her to follow the day of the wedding and I couldn't be happier with how amazing it all turned out! Our family all commented on how perfectly professional Lisa was. We couldn't agree more!

I never thought I would use a wedding planner and now I can't think how I could have done it without one. Lisa is wonderful to work with. I was much to busy at work to spend hours calling and checking with vendors. Lisa handled all of that and always kept us informed-- and by "us" I'm referring to the entire delegation of people handling part of the wedding planning, my fiancee, my mother,my sister, and my venue manager. She was very calm, which was exactly what i needed. And, she handled every problem that arose (and they always do!)On the day of, I didn't worry about anything. Lisa and Valerie were completely behind the scenes, yet kept everything running smoothly. We highly recommend Elegant Event Planning and Design.

Lisa Nelson is a wonderful person to work with. She is, as others have said, laid-back and relaxed, which is exactly what we wanted our event to be. She is a GOLD MINE of helpful information and can source vendors for you that will make you very happy AND save you money. She takes you at your word, she will be there for you both before and during your event. Originally I thought to hire her only for the day of, I am so glad to have asked for more help planning, and only wish I had found her sooner!

We hired Lisa for "day of" event planning for our wedding in May. We planned to meet with several wedding planners to see which was the best fit with our personality as well as the best price within our budget. After meeting with Lisa for just a few minutes, we knew that she was going to be our wedding planner. To start, she loves what she does, and how many of us can say that about our jobs? The care and quality that she puts into everything is obvious. Lisa consistently stayed in touch with us over the months before the wedding to see if we needed help with anything and also to start finalizing the details. Anytime I sent her an email, she responded almost immediately with an answer. She even went above and beyond to visit the venue several months in advance because she had never been there and she wanted to make sure she knew the ins and outs of the venue before we even started finalizing our planning.As an overly organized person, I was more then impressed with her "day of time line." Every minute was planned, but she also helped us a bit with the day before planning to make sure that everything was in order. Lisa also came to the rehearsal as part of her fee, which was wonderful.The day of the wedding, as normal I had pre-wedding jitters about things getting done, but I decided to trust that Lisa would get everything done. I'm glad I did because I was able to relax and get ready as she made sure that every one of my 8 million details was taken care of. She was everywhere and on top of everything. Then as if a little timer had gone off, she would pop her head around the corner no matter where I was the entire day, to let me know what my next move was. All in all Lisa provided exceptional service for a very reasonable price. I would not hesitate for a second to recommend her to help with your event.

Elegant Event Planning and Design is an excellent choice for your wedding coordination needs. Very well connected to all the vendors you will need, very nice, and very organized. Lisa and her staff did an amazing job with our wedding. She is highly recommended, she truly took our visions and brought them to reality.

Lisa was hired as our day of coordinator, but she did much more than that. She identified several other vendors, which we ended up hiring and she helped with coordination and communication with the hotel. We had a couple of issues (the band needed insurance was one) which she helped us get through. One the day of she worked well with the hotel staff to make sure everything went smoothly. I was glad that she was available to me to bounce ideas and questions off of.

Lisa is very good value for the money. She's smart, responsive and delivers. She is NOT high maintenance and difficult, which I'm afraid, I found many to be. She's helpful and calm and collected while all about seem to be getting nervous. She found vendors for me fast and easily and delivered terrific quality. I knew generally what I wanted and needed help in the implementation. She was superb. She also thought of things that I didn't which was very helpful.

Lisa was a necessary component of my wonderful wedding day. There were some issues that I was made aware of afterwards but all in all I had a wonderful day.

Lisa has a lovely and pleasant personality. She's quite laid-back as well and so at first I wondered if that meant she wouldn't be able to handle things. But she ended up helping us plan a wedding that was so beautiful, so full of character and class. She came up with ideas for decor, she listened to us, and most of all, she truly and deeply cared about making everything work well. She was completely committed and I would recommend her with absolutely no reservations.

I am a very organized person and I have to say that I was on top of the wedding planning process the whole time. Even so I decided to hire a day of coordinator as a form of insurance and a backup for me on the day of the wedding. I thought that this was definitely worth the money and more than anything it was worth my own piece of mind. It was nice knowing that there was someone to take care of the set up and be there to greet my vendors as they arrived. I really struggled with picking a coordinator...some were just way too pricey and others seemed too bossy and opinionated. When I met Lisa I was very impressed by her professionalism and she came off very on top of her game without being pushy. I felt like if something went wrong at the wedding she would definetly be able to stick up for me. Luckily everything went great but even my fiance who thought that this was just a waste of money told me several times after the wedding that he thought it was worth the money!

Elegant Event Planning & Design helped us have a beautiful wedding!! We are so grateful to Lisa Nelson for all her help during the final stages of our wedding planning process and wedding day! Everything was absolutely gorgeous, and was exactly how we imagined it would be. We hired Lisa to help us in the final stages of wedding planning since we live in NC and the wedding was going to be in MD. She even helped with unexpected catastrophes...for example...ordering brand new wedding invitations one month before the wedding...since our previous vendor gave us poor quality in the original invitations we ordered. We couldn't believe that was happening to us one month before the wedding! We called Lisa and asked if she could help. Sure enough, she came through and helped rush invitations to us. There were a few snags with getting the rush order, but all in all it really was great to have her help resolve that huge problem as efficiently as possible. She ran our wedding rehearsals...thank goodness...because I turned into a basketcase the day before the wedding. Despite that, she helped keep everything together and running smoothly. The day of the wedding she was very calm and reassuring as well. Our wedding day went without a hitch. The wedding venue had their own coordinators. Lisa worked very well with them to help us have exactly what we wanted on our special day. I never had to think of anything...and if anything went wrong (I'm sure it did)...I had no idea about it...Lisa had things under control! Best of all, Lisa had a personality that was so genuine. We felt like we gained a friend during our wedding planning process. My husband and I are so happy we made the decision to have Elegant Event Planning & Design help us pull off our wedding day. It was a choice we will never regret. Lisa, we are so blessed to have met you!!

Lisa at Elegant Event was wonderful! I really canÂ’t thank her enough for doing such a great job at the wedding and for her level of professionalism throughout the whole wedding planning process. Although I hired her for day-of wedding planning services, I really got so much more. She was a great resource from the day that I hired her and was very responsive to all of my emails and calls. Upon our first meeting, I was concerned because she was soft spoken and polite (I thought I needed a more aggressive, all-business type of person), but that proved to be no reason to worry. I think she was able to get more done because of her kind demeanor; however, when the situation required, she was firm and assertive. If you are debating whether to spend the extra expense of hiring Lisa, I think you should definitely do it. She was so integral to the success of the wedding; I really canÂ’t imagine what it would have been like without her and her assistant, Valerie (who was also wonderful).

Lisa was always available when I needed her and attended to every need and task I asked of her. It was a pleasure working with her and she helped make our wedding day wonderful.

Lisa Nelson, you are awesome!Lisa was so great and easy going. My husband and I were married two years ago, and decided to have a formal reception and renew our vows. We were having some financial troubles (as most everyone else) and Lisa was very understanding. We set up a payment schedule. The wedding day was perfect!!! I should have listened to her and had more assistants for the ceremony decorations. (the venue would only let us on one hour before the guests arrived to decorate!!!) They got almost everything up in time. And there was only 4 people (including Lisa) who decorated the place!Lisa is the one calming you down, and reminding you of what's next. No matter how many times you memorize your timeline, you will definitely forget and the time flies by!!Thank you so much Lisa. It was such a pleasure working with you, and I am so glad that I decided on having a wedding coordinator!!!

If it weren't for Lisa and her assistant Valerie, I'm not sure our wedding would've come to fruition. We booked Lisa in December and our wedding was in October. Lisa was an amazing source of wedding tips and resources, and even though I emailed her on average about 3 times a day she always replied back with an answer. For our last meeting, Lisa and I sat down to discuss the loose ends we needed to take care of. She had organized every aspect of the wedding, including details that I had completely forgotten by that point. She has an amazing ability to keep all of your preferences and tastes organized so that your wedding will be absolutely unique. One example of Lisa's dedication to her profession occurred when Lisa, a few days away from giving birth, informed me that while in labor she would be working on my wedding day timeline!! Lisa's organization and ability to tackle the many small elements that we brides tend to forget towards the end was what made her an amazing coordinator. When we had a last-minute change in the time of reception set-up, Lisa had already hatched a new plan while I was still stressing about what to do. She and Valerie had taken care of everything so that the ceremony and reception sites were exactly what I'd said I wanted during the last of the 14 or so decor changes I'd made. You get a lot of Lisa for your buck and we are so relieved to have had her taking care of so much while we were able to enjoy our wedding day!

I hired Lisa and her team about two months before my wedding to help me wrap up all the loose ends of our wedding and provide me with an extra set of hands in the last few weeks before the wedding. I was thankful for the help and insight that Lisa and her staff provided in closing up the details of the wedding and know I would have been going crazy without the assurance that I had someone in my corner to handle any issues that would arise during the day (thankfully nothing big did). Hiring Lisa and her team of Valerie and Lisa was well worth it!

Lisa at Elegant Event Design was sensational ! She was patient, understanding, very professional and bent over backwards to try to make our day as special and unique as possible.We were having so many problems trying to plan ourselves and the establishment that we had booked at was giving us the run around. We thought we wouild have to call the wedding off, then we found Lisa and she took over and everything just fell into place.We were very lucky to find her !!!!Any bride and groom to be would be in great hands with Lisa planning their wedding.

I had a great experience with the staff of Elegant Event Planning and Design. They were very flexible with the planning of my Annapolis wedding and we were able to work together closely despite being geographically a good distance apart. The day of wedding was wonderful thanks to their help. My husband and I were apprehensive about having a wedding planner because we did not want to feel "pushed around" on our day but Lisa kept everything on track in a very subtle and calm way. I highly recommend their service.