Budget first, then the venue.
Most planning trouble starts with a venue booked before anyone added up the rest. So we add it up first, then manage every vendor, and plan for weather from day one.
A realistic number, early
In our first month together we build the budget sheet with you: your guest count, the total you are comfortable with, and where every dollar has to go. Only then do we visit venues, with the site fee already in its place.
Okanagan weddings have costs that catch couples out. A winery's site fee often covers the lawn and nothing on it. An orchard needs power, washrooms and a tent. Guests who have been tasting all afternoon need a shuttle back to Kelowna. We price all of it before you sign anything.
The sample on this page is an example, not a quote. Your sheet is built from real quotes for your date.
A sample budget
110 guests, a Saturday in late August, a winery in West Kelowna.
- Venue and site fees
- $8,400
- Food, bar and service
- $20,500
- Rentals, tent and power
- $5,600
- Photo and video
- $6,200
- Flowers and decor
- $4,800
- Music and sound
- $2,900
- Attire and beauty
- $3,800
- Planning (full)
- $7,900
- Contingency
- $1,900
- Total
- $62,000
We find the vendors, then we manage them
- Shortlists of threeFor each category, three vendors who are free on your date and fit the line on your budget sheet, with a note on why each one.
- Contracts, read line by lineCancellation terms, overtime rates, power needs and weather clauses, explained before you sign.
- One point of contactIn the final month, vendors talk to us. You get one update a week instead of forty emails.
- Payments trackedEvery deposit and final payment on one schedule, with a reminder a week before each is due.
- An arrival scheduleWho arrives when, where the trucks park, who needs power and where the generator sits.
- On the dayWe hold the run sheet, feed the vendors, cue each part of the day and sign off the teardown.
Every outdoor wedding gets a plan B
Here the risk is as often a 36-degree afternoon or wildfire smoke as it is rain. So each plan names a backup space, what it costs to hold, and the hour we make the call.
- Booked at the start. A tent hold or an indoor room, priced when you book the venue, not the week of.
- The call. We read the forecast and air quality with you 72 hours out, and decide by 10 a.m. two days before.
- Heat. A shaded ceremony time, water at the aisle and a later start when it is over 30 degrees.
- Smoke. An indoor ceremony option and a covered space for cocktail hour.
From booking to the day
- 12 months or more
Budget and venue
The budget sheet and a first guest count, then venue visits. Your date is held once the venue contract is signed.
- 10 months
The big bookings
Caterer, photographer and band or DJ. A tent hold if any part of the day is outside.
- 8 months
Design and guests
Design direction, florist and rentals booked, hotel blocks opened for out-of-town guests.
- 6 months
The details
Invitation wording, the officiant, and a shuttle plan from Kelowna hotels to the venue and back.
- 3 months
Tasting and floor plan
Menu tasting, a first floor plan, and the rain plan confirmed with the venue and the tent company.
- 6 weeks
Everything in writing
Every vendor confirmed in writing, and the first version of the run sheet shared with all of them.
- 2 weeks
Final numbers
Guest numbers to the caterer, the seating chart, and a final walk-through at the venue.
- 72 hours
The weather call
Forecast and air quality, read together. Plan A or plan B, decided by 10 a.m. two days before.
- The day
We run it
Both planners on site from the first delivery to the last shuttle, so you can be a guest at your own wedding.