Interview with East West Event Productions | Type A Bride

Shana is a talented up and coming event planner of East West Event Productions. With her currently being voted the 3rd best wedding planner by MyFOX Los Angeles Hot List, I got 30 minutes from her to get some hot tips to help plan your wedding.

You started this event planning company, East West Event Productions. What do you do and how’d you get that name?
Since just November 2008, we have been a full service event planning company that supports corporate and non-profit event, social parties, and weddings!

Throughout my life, I’ve had a pattern of moving from east to west. I was born and raised in Taiwan. I moved to the US and lived in Ohio when I was 7. I lived in the Midwest until after college, and moved to CA six years ago. These 2 occurences of moving from East to the West really made me who I am and I wanted to incorporate that into my business as well.

What makes you different from other wedding planners out there?
My motto is that I provide quality event planning services at an affordable price. Not all event planners are as affordable as I am because I’m not out there just to make money. My desire is to help the couple. I understand how hard it is to fund the wedding. The average wedding now is $30,000 so I don’t want to add more stress by charging a ridiculous amount to offer my service. I tell my couples that if there is a budget that they need to work with, I am flexible to meet it.

What is included in the “full service” event planning for a bride?
For weddings, I have 3 packages:

1. Efficiency Package (Basic Day of Coordination): I provide 3 in-person planning meetings that start about 3 months prior to the wedding date. These couples have most of their vendors locked down so I could jump in during that process, understand who their vendors are, and what has already been planned. I guide them through the next 1-3 months. A majority of my time would be spent creating the wedding day timeline and running the show on the wedding day. I am available for up to 12 hours on the wedding day to coordinate.

2. Essentials Package: I include 6 in-person planning meetings that start 3-6 months before the wedding day. I would help in more of the planning process in terms of giving vendor recommendations and going with the couples to their appointments.

3. Everything Package: This is for the couple who just does not have the time or desire to do any planning for the wedding. In that case, I would manage EVERYTHING from the RSVPs to the theme so, in the end, I’d be their personal assistant for anything related to their wedding.

With all 3 packages, I’m available for UNLIMITED phone calls and e-mails so that the couple can always get a hold of me.

How do you help a bride find her style/look for the wedding?
I never dictate a style. But if a couple is clueless on where to begin, we check out certain websites:
· Here Comes the Guide: Great resource to find venues
· Wedding Bee: This site is awesome for DIY projects. It’s also one of my favorites because it is a community of real brides from all over the nation who share their best practices and ideas. It’s not filled with glamorous celebrity weddings to which people can’t really relate. They’re real life couples.
· Utterly Engaged: Great e-magazine
· Serendipity: This is a new bridal magazine targeting specifically Asian brides. I am going to be writing in the Summer 2010 issues. Since Asians don’t really have a lot of wedding resources targeting us, it’s a new media that provides Asian make-up tips, traditions, cultures, etc.

From your experience, what are typical issues Asian brides have in their weddings?
There are many multi-cultural weddings nowadays, like yours and David’s. I really love doing them. I think often times couples want to do something cultural but they don’t know what can be done and want guidance. Also, another challenge they usually face is that Asian families REALLY like to be included in the decision-making. But you can’t satisfy everyone so sometimes I need to talk to the families to do what will make the couple happy for the wedding.

Planning a wedding is stressful. What advice do you give brides who stress out about every detail?
It's important to have a wedding planner, not because I’m biased, but I honestly think it’s very helpful for the bride to have an extra set of eyes, ears, and hands. A wedding planner is really the best advocate they will have.

Could they just have a friend be their wedding planner?
An event planner, an experienced one, would have connections and know the best vendors out there. For example, photographers will post only their best work online. A wedding planner would have already seen what they really do and would be able to tell you.

Also, a professional would have the experience to figure out emergency situations, whereas a friend might not. You won’t need to worry about having your friend come up to you during your wedding and ask you what to do with the vendors. I would be the liaison.

How accurate is the job as it was depicted in The Wedding Planner? Do you really have a toolkit of emergency items?
I actually have a plastic box where I carry all the emergency items: scissors, tape, paper towels, antibacterial, trash bags to name a few, on top of my binder, cell phone, and pens. Recently for Christmas, my boyfriend gave me a fanny pack so I will use that!

What would you recommend on how to cut the cost of their wedding without making it ugly?
Focus on 3 top priorities. Spend more time and money on those than the others.
· Photography vs. Videography: I think photography is a higher priority than videography. Couples may not need both so they can just cut one out.
· DIY (do it yourself): There are favors and decorations that you can very easily do just DIY. There are lots of images and directions on how to do that online.
· DJ vs. iPod: If a DJ is not important to you, just make a playlist on your iPod.

What do you see as the biggest factors on what makes a great wedding?
· Venue
· Food: Not every couple thinks the food is important but, trust me, the guests do.
· Photographer: You’re not going to remember every memory of your wedding.

What makes a wedding entertaining?
Guests don’t usually like cookie cutter weddings. They like ones with personal touches that showcase the couple’s personalities. In one wedding I did, the couple was really into movies. They had a movie themed wedding just like you two did (click to see our movie themed wedding posters). The couple had movie posters in the receptions & the place cards were movie tickets. They REALLY incorporated their passion and interest into the wedding.

How much work would a typical wedding actually take you? It’s more than just on the day of the wedding, isn’t it?
Definitely! It’s a common misconception that I just show up on the day of the wedding. Each of the in-person planning meetings take 2-3 hours at a time. I also do a site visit to make sure I know the ceremony/reception site before the day of the wedding. Developing a timeline is the biggest part! I spend 5-10 hours to make my timeline very detailed so that we don’t miss a step. Of course, there’s also the 12 hours of support on the day of the wedding. For the most basic package, I do at least 30 hours of work!

What are the typical mistakes brides/grooms make on their wedding timeline?
They do not allot enough time for:
· Pictures
· Traveling from one site to another
· Table Greetings: Asian weddings love doing table greetings but almost never allow enough time for it!

What precautions would you give a bride/groom before picking a wedding planner?
· Meet the planner in person: It’s very important that the planner and couple be comfortable in talking with each other.
· Make sure the planner is responsive: You shouldn't need to wait more than 24 hours.
· Use word of mouth: You’ll get the best providers when you ask people who’ve gotten married and who have seen these planners at work.
· Don’t use Craigslist: These planners usually offer really low prices but have no experience. Can you really sacrifice the quality for this kind of service? Planners can make or break your day.

Congratulations on your recent award! Can you tell our readers about it?
So far I’ve been voted 3rd out of 38 organizations that were nominated under the Wedding Planner category for the myfoxla’s HOTLIST. I’m against really tough competition! I’m always amazed at how couples have heard of me. There are a lot of different vendors or past couples referring them to me. I feel very fortunate.
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To hear more about what Shana is up to, check her out at http://www.eastwesteventproductions.com/.

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Meticulously Yours,



Drexelle
The Type A Bride