We had our absolute dream wedding and it was totally thanks to Brenda and…
her team. I am English but was living in New York when we got engaged and once we decided to get married in Italy, we knew we would need a phenomenal wedding planner to pull everything together for us. I am used to New York/ London levels of service and efficiency and am a very detail-oriented person so whilst I love the Italian ‘dolce vita’, relaxed vibe, I knew that I needed expert help to plan the wedding remotely and ensure that our local vendors understood and executed everything perfectly.
When I came across Brenda Babcock Celebrations and Brenda, I instinctively knew I had found the lady for us: Brenda offers the absolute best of Italian and New York wedding planners combined: She has an encyclopedic knowledge of venues in Italy, a fantastic network of Italian contacts and vendors and of course, is fluent in Italian language and culture. This, combined with her previous time spent working for Vera Wang in New York mean that you get the New York ‘can-do’ attitude, impeccable attention to detail, a modern and beautiful approach to styling and design aspects of the wedding and a truly instinctive understanding of precisely what you want in the setting of your dreams.
Such was my absolute faith in Brenda that we booked our wedding venue without having visited it- I cannot describe how unlike me it is to have done this! We knew that we wanted a stunning, classic and beautiful but modern, cool and sexy venue ideally on the Amalfi Coast, somewhere that felt totally ‘us’! Brenda has an amazing ability to understand exactly what you’re looking for, almost before you fully know yourself! She totally gets ‘it’ and you which is a real gift. On Brenda’s advice, we chose Hotel Caruso in Ravello – we wanted to get married outside but as soon as possible so were thinking of the end of May, Brenda advised that we waited until the end of June as it is more likely to be dry then – we took her advice, had we not done so the wedding would have been a washout (I religiously followed weather forecasts in the months before the wedding!) but instead the weather was perfect on our wedding day. Brenda really is the perfect blend of being decisive when required without being pushy whatsoever– for us these qualities proved invaluable throughout the entire process.
When we visited the venue for the first time, it was like the most beautiful dream and I cried tears of happiness having fallen instantly and completely in love with it. I could not wait to share such a breathtaking venue with our friends and family. I was so, so grateful to Brenda for her confidence and judgment in the venue and it’s suitability for us and what we wanted. It was beyond perfect, better than we could have hoped for.
Over the following months I bombarded poor Brenda with so many questions about every single teeny, tiny detail of the wedding. She was, without exception, super-helpful, patient, and reassuring and always made me feel infinitely calmer and more confident that the wedding would be perfect. Nothing was a problem. I wanted a legal, religious and symbolic ceremony all in one and in English (not easy in Italy when you’re not an Italian or Catholic) but Brenda worked it out for us perfectly. I wanted Church of England vows – Brenda helped us incorporate those into the Italian order of service.
Brenda would give us options as to vendors with a commentary of considerations – for example, she gave us a choice of photographers ranging from local Italians to a Swedish photographer based in NYC whose work Brenda thought was beautiful. I loved that Brenda didn’t presume to eliminate certain options for us (eg: that we wouldn’t be open to using someone from further afield) and we ended up with an absolute dream team of vendors whose work we adored and whose company we genuinely enjoyed on the day. My husband dealt with the financial side of things and was so pleased that we came in under budget (again, very unlike me!) thanks to Brenda’s advice, contacts and negotiation skills. She has total integrity and guides you on where to spend and where to save according to your venue, your budget and your priorities. Honestly, the absolute best money we spent on the wedding was engaging Brenda Babcock Celebrations.
Everyone says something always goes wrong in relation to your wedding and indeed we had our share of disasters – bridal party members letting us down, our flights out to the wedding were cancelled and our honeymoon hotel was cancelled but not one single thing that Brenda helped us with went wrong. She has the Midas touch! I cannot describe how amazing it is to have a wedding planner you can totally trust – to make the right choices, to connect you with the right vendors and to deal with everything on the day so that you can relax and enjoy the happiest days of your life. It makes the whole process such a pleasure. On the wedding day itself everything was flawless and seamless. Brenda has an amazing ability to be close by when you need her but so discreet in her presence. Everyone at our wedding who met Brenda completely adored her. She is a consummate professional in every way.
Our wedding day was like a fairytale, just perfect and magical and beautiful beyond belief. It was so memorable and life-defining for not just us, but all of our guests. I whole-heartedly and unreservedly recommend Brenda, I cannot state strongly enough how totally amazing she is at every aspect of wedding planning. We are, and shall forever remain, infinitely grateful and indebted to Brenda for all that she did for us. I wish we could do it all over again! Brenda is wedding planning perfection.
Married on the Amalfi Coast
June 28, 2014