F.A.Q.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

With a focus on celebrating personal milestones, we understand how difficult the decision to hire support can be. We have received a lot of questions over the years from couples making this careful decision so we’re sharing our answers below to the most common ones. For good measure, we’re sharing a few more ones we feel are important to ask, too.

  • We have planned events ranging from $30 to over $200k. Budgets range based on needs, wants, and guest counts. Full planning clients tend to set an entire wedding budget of $100k, tent weddings around $125k, and event management $70k, though again, there is so much variation in each. We find that on average our clients’ total budgets land around $900 per guest.

  • For the wedding season a a whole, every event is so different from the next and the time required varies greatly, making it hard to set a specific number as a limit. Our biggest priority is that our clients are given the proper amount of attention they deserve so we don’t limit the total number of events per season, but rather, we carefully consider when we have reached the threshold we can handle based on the number of each service type hired.

    As for each specific weekend, between Laura and Heather, one of us will always be on-site for your day (plus at least one associate planner) which means we would do a maximum of two weddings in one day if each of us is leading a wedding, though we limit the number of double wedding days per season. It will be clear when booking who your lead planner is.

  • We don’t have a minimum guest count, and we love intimate weddings, but all of our service pricing maxes out at 150 guests or less. We typically do not do weddings over 250 guests.

  • We always include rehearsal coverage in our planning services. However, this is subject to our availability. Due to the limited number of dates we have available each season, we ask that you confirm our availability before scheduling your rehearsal as we may have another wedding scheduled for that date.

  • A hybrid pricing structure consists of a base fee for the efforts we can calculate to be required for the common things that don’t change from wedding to wedding, plus a percentage of all contracts signed to properly reflect the scope of work required. This pricing structure applies to Full Planning and Design and Management services. You can read more about why this structure is important here.

  • A signed service agreement and a non-refundable retainer secure the event date. The retainer amount changes depending on the service(s) secured. We accept e-transfers, cheques, and credit cards (service fees apply to credit cards).

  • The long and short of it all is that we want you to enjoy your day with family and friends as much as possible! The same goes for your friends and family. It is a big day, with lots of moving pieces, and our team is here to ensure you have the best experience from beginning to end, with some of the best vendors in the industry. We work as a team, bringing your vision and ideal day to life.

    Whether you are looking for assistance in planning or design (or not quite sure where to start) we can help you create an event that is beautifully grounded by love.

  • Most venues now have coordinators, but that doesn’t mean they are specifically wedding planners and, to be frank, they are there for the venue. The venue coordinator will not support other aspects of your day that do not affect the venue. They offer no support in sourcing vendors, creating your wedding day timeline, confirming details with vendors, etc. They’re going to be there on the day of your wedding, but they won’t be there when you need them to bustle your dress (and then fix it when it breaks), hold your bouquet, tell you when to cut the cake, etc. That’s where our expertise comes in and is so valuable!

  • We offer a wide range of planning support to meet our clients where they are in their planning journey. These services are also available for corporate or private events.

    Learn more on our services tab.

  • Laura Olsen Events has been planning beautiful days for over 12 years! Learn more about our team and past experience on our About Us page.

  • Absolutely! Take a peek at our Portfolio or our Instagram page for some of our favourites.

  • We recommend 12-18 months in advance, especially for Full Planning services though we have planned weddings in very short timeframes. This will give you the most of the experience with our team and provide you with as much support as possible. For Event Management clients, we always welcome questions and vendor suggestion requests and include automated to-do lists and reminders to keep you on track!