Planning and styling a wedding is probably one of the most enjoyable yet one of the most stressful events of your life. After all, it’s the biggest and the best party you’ll ever host and you’ll want everything to look perfect, run smoothly without any hitches to worry about and above all treat your guests to a spectacular evening. Step in Vanessa of The Wedding and Event Creators your wedding planner, wedding coordinator and wedding stylist. Vanessa can create, style, liaise with other vendors, and coordinate all the details so that your wedding day is stress free and as perfect as you imagined it would be. She also has a large range of items to hire to add that finishing touch to your decor – making the difference between ordinary and ‘wow’! Just relax and have the best day! Here’s Vanessa’s story.
Where are you based?

Shoalhaven Heads, NSW (near Berry) on the South Coast.

Image by Samuel White Photography Styling by The Wedding and Event Creators

What areas of NSW do you service with your planning, styling and coordination services?

We primarily focus on servicing the South Coast, Shoalhaven, Illawarra and Southern Highlands, but do travel!

Would you explain to us the difference between a wedding planner, a wedding coordinator and a stylist?

Sure- good question! So we offer all three services but basically a wedding planner does all of the planning (hence the name!) in the lead up to your wedding, from things like sourcing quotes, liaising with suppliers to confirm in details through to creating a run sheet and generally keeping you on track during the whole process.

A wedding stylist covers the hire, styling and set of your event, normally assisting with floor plans and ideas from conception through to executing the set up on the day, they generally leave after everything is set up, and sometimes include florals.

A wedding coordinator, pretty much manages and overseas the entire wedding. They are your go-to person and act on behalf of the couple on the day, liaising with suppliers to ensure all questions are answered, troubleshooting issues like wet weather, keeping the timeline flowing, through to literally ensuring enough toilet paper in the toilets, lighting candles and ensuring the bride has a champagne at all times!

Image by Jason Corroto Photography

What are the advantages in having a wedding planner, coordinator and stylist from the one business organising your wedding?

So many! Keeping everything with the one company means there are no details lost in translation or lost between third parties. The person managing your entire wedding has their finger on the pulse and is across all the nitty gritty details from the styling and set up, through to logistics, supplier liaison and more.

Image by Yeesum Lo Photography

Do you offer varying packages to accommodate the different needs of bridal couples?

Yes we certainly can! We have a range of set packages, some are listed on our website but we can tailor those to individually requirements.

You have a large hiring arm to your business. Are you able to send these items Australia wide?

Not really at the moment….it’s primarily collection from our office, but watch this space!

Image by Samuel White Photography Styling by The Wedding and Event Creators

Broadly, what do your ceremony packages include?

We have a range of fantastic ceremony packages and the majority include an arbour or arch, chairs or bench seats, a rug or aisle runner, a sign/easel, signing table and a few additional props.

Image by Jason Corroto Photography

In your Hire section you have images of themed items in groups, such as the Gypsy Boho Collection, or the Gold Copper Collection. Are you able to give couples advice on items to use for their particular theme to give it the wow factor?

Yes we love to do this! One of the first things we ask our couples of people trying to nut out their styling, is to send us a few inspo pics or their pinterest board and we can see the type of style and vibe you are going for. This then helps us to offer up suggestions of hire items that we have or styling ideas that they may not have come across or thought of.

Image by Terralogical Photography

Are you able to source special items if you don’t have them available?

As part of our styling packages we can definitely assist in sourcing items, our couples are sometimes after specific things they have come across and if we don’t have it we generally know who does and can point them in the right direction of one of our colleagues.

Have you seen trends influence the items that you hire out (over the years), and how do keep items in your range current?

Yes for sure, the natural, bamboo, Hamptons styling is such a lovely neutral look that you can personalize by adding so many things to it so we love to work with this styling and have a wide hire range to suit.

Image by Samuel White Photography Styling by The Wedding and Event Creators

What colours and styles do you see emerging as favourites in the next year or two?

Good question, Living Coral is the Pantone colour of the year which is such a fun, brighter colour, so I am secretly hoping there will be some lovely brides that want to inject a bit of bright colour into their weddings this upcoming season- that would be fun to work with!

Image by Alana Atkins Photography

Do you find that bridal couples most often prefer for you to set up, coordinate and style the venue using items they find on your website rather than do it themselves?

Yes, we do find that couples realise there is enough work involved in planning their wedding that to outsource is another thing off their plate. We find our couples are always really grateful they choose to do this, as we do this every week so we can pick up on things they may have otherwise missed which is invaluable for peace of mind.

What do you consider important when styling a wedding?

It has to be stylish but practical and comfortable. There is no point having a massively over-styled wedding only to find you have allowed 10 chairs for 150 guests and everyone is uncomfy! So a combo of gorgeous styling but also being realistic is important.

Image by Red Berry Photography

What do consider to be the ultimate final touch when styling a wedding, where you can stand back and look with joy at what you’ve created?

Lighting the candles! I love candlelight, its cheap and creates such a good vibe and ambiance, when the day hits the evening I love to light the candles and watch the whole mood change to party vibes.

How do you keep your ideas fresh for each wedding?

Getting to know the couple, we have a questionnaire we get out bride and grooms to fill out to find out a their likes and more importantly their dislikes, meaning we can really tailor both the wedding and the styling to be personalized to them.

Image by Alana Atkins Photography

What is the best advice you can give to bridal couples planning their day?

Make sure you have your top 3 non-negotiables set out early on in your planning. Discuss with one another the most important 3 things to you both and don’t digress from this when making choices across dress, venue, styling, food etc.

In terms of service what does being a professional in the wedding industry mean to you?

We really do pride ourselves on being efficient to respond to emails (something that can really be lacking in our industry) and also going above and beyond with advice and attention to detail for our clients.

Image by Samuel White Photography Styling by The Wedding and Event Creators

What is the best piece of advice you received when your business was new (or you were deciding to set up your business)?

Fake it till you make it! If I didn’t do that with my first few weddings by winging it and being confident, I wouldn’t be where I was today.

What do you like to do to relax after a busy wedding day?

Wine is my best friend and a great Netflix series, also hanging with my two little cuties (kids) Harper and Ted.

Thank you Vanessa for sharing your story. With Vanessa coordinating your wedding, you’ll be sure that all the details big and small will be attended to seamlessly. To find out more about The Wedding and Event Creators visit the website.

Headshot courtesy of The Wedding and Event Creators.