Your Wedding, Your Way

Cara and Stef at YWYW did a wonderful job with our wedding, from start to finish. Having a wedding planner was a no-​brainer for me, since I travel a lot for work. The number of details related to wedding planning are ridiculous, and I knew that I and my fiancé would need help. From the moment we met Stef at YWYW, we felt like she knew exactly what she was doing. We really liked their system of using Google Docs for information exchange and updates, and not a single detail was overlooked. Partway into planning, we were handed off from Stef to Cara, and we have no complaints about this as they both did a great job.
I won’t lie, the price tag for having a full-​service wedding planner is hefty, but I can safely say, one month after the wedding, that it was very worth it to hire these fabulous ladies.

Folks, if you are looking for wedding planners, you will do no better than Stephanie and Cara and Kaylyn at YWYW. We had no clue who to use, and when we interviewed with Steph and Cara it just all clicked and I could tell they managed details as much as I do. Our daughter raves about them as much as we do, and she is an event planner herself in the hotel industry.
We selected the venue in advance (Pecan Grove at Salt Lick), and then YWYW took over from there. We brought our wishes and suggestions to the table, and YWYW guided us, gently steered us when we would try to do something problematic, and really helped us shape the wedding nicely.
Cara was our lead coordinator, and she is simply fantastic to work with. Terrific personality, and her attitude is bubbly, excited, and willing to work hard to make the day special for all involved, especially the bride and groom. We did an initial meeting with Steph and Cara, and they brought tons of ideas, vendors, and suggestions that worked so well with the venue and what the bride wanted in her wedding.
Anthology Photographers… cannot say enough great things about Laura and Eric. They are highly professional, stayed out of the way, and delivered top quality photos. Very easy to work with, too.
Bobalu, of course, sets the standard for wedding cigar rollers in Austin. We underestimated how many guests would want to light up a cigar. I had 50 rolled in advance, plus the roller was making them as fast as he could. We kept him very busy that night!
Elegant Bee florist was on point and perfect for the rustic look and feel of the Salt Lick Pecan Grove venue.
YWYW even delivered up two beer burros from Groove Labs for our guests. Seriously, the burros were probably more of a hit with our guests than the two bands.
Speaking of our bands, we had John Prather as a solo artist handle ceremony duties as well as play in between sets of the main band. John is a hugely talented artist and wove in a few special request tunes he learned specifically for this wedding. He was a big hit!
Spazmatics was the main entertainment for the reception, and they are well known in Austin as well as across the US. Spaz played great dance music and kept everyone moving all night long. Nice recommendation from YWYW on all the entertainment!
A special shout out goes to Kaylyn from YWYW. Kaylyn handled the onsite duties on the day of the wedding, and she also was amazing. In fact, we never knew there was a problem with the main band, and Kaylyn handled everything expertly and told us about the issue only afterwards. The featured band was Spazmatics, and they had to replace their guitar player who was sick at the last minute. Spaz flew in a replacement guitarist from halfway across the US, and he arrived at the venue about 20 minutes before the band was scheduled to go on. Kaylyn was cool under pressure, coordinated the problem/​solution beautifully, and was totally professional in how she handled the situation. Simply amazing and she kept us out of that stressful experience.
In summary, EVERYTHING worked great with YWYW. We would hire them again in a heart beat for ANY engagement.

We worked with your wedding your way to plan our October wedding. My fiancé and I live in Washington, D.C. but planned our wedding in Austin at a friend’s house. Stephanie was great about giving us advice that I really depended on being so far away and also not really into weddings as some brides are. We were pretty laid back but keen on certain aspects like having a photo booth and welcome drinks. They found us a slow motion photo booth that was so much fun and wonderful bartenders who were really flexible for us. In general, they did a great job about pushing hard for the things that were important to us and keeping us on track for the details that were less important but still needed attention. I would definitely recommend them, especially if you consider yourself to be a bride or groom who wants to plans great party that reflects you and your partner but feel overwhelmed by the craziness that tends to accompany all things wedding.

When I started the wedding planning process, I couldn’t imagine that we’d get to have such a gorgeous wedding! Everything was so beautiful and all the details tied together so well. It really exceeded all our expectations. We had friends and family comment that the wedding was exactly our style, and they were right!
Both of our families commented on what a great job Cara did! Given that I didn’t even see the venue till the wedding week, or try the cake or even the food before the wedding day (I was planning the wedding from out-​of-​town), it amazes me how well things came together. We put our faith and trust in the right person, and I’m so glad we did!
Apart from being nervous right before the ceremony, my husband and I didn’t have much to stress about. We even had mani/​pedis and facials done in the morning/​afternoon on the day of wedding It was a pleasure working with Cara and Stefanie– if it weren’t for them, both my husband and I would still be dragging our feet and our families would still be asking, «When is the wedding?»
Cara was extremely organized, quick in responding to our questions, patient, and very helpful not just to us, but to our wedding guests.

Cara and YWYW were phenomenal. Our wedding was perfect and we couldn’t have pulled it off without all of their help!

Cara is a dream to work with, point blank. As a Venue Manager at an event center, I thrive on event coordinators that are passionate about their work and making the day (and the venue) as seamless as possible! Cara and I recently collaborated on an event at my work, Palm Door on Sabine. Her team went above and beyond the call of duty. YWYW maintained both a level of professionalism and carefree vibe. Needless to say, I look forward to working with Cara and her staff again. :)

We worked with Cara and Kaylyn for our wedding and they did an incredible job! They were incredibly attentive and available for any of our requests/​questions. Cara helped keep everyone on the same page and move things along the day of. They really made our wedding stress free so we could enjoy it. I believe the success of our wedding is largely due to YWYW! Thank you guys so much!

We used YWYW as our wedding coordinators, and they did SUCH an awesome job! I planned my entire wedding, and needed someone to take over the month before our big day. Stefanie and her team are amazing! Very professional, fun to work with and make you feel comfortable, stress-​free and at ease on your special day. They go out of their way to make sure you are relaxed, having fun and not worrying about a thing on your big day. They are so ON IT, I recommend every bride in Austin work with them. They are very affordable, and do so much for you!

My wife and I are busy, disorganized, and procrastinating people. Just being honest. While planning our own wedding, we chose the venue, interviewed with the vendors, and came up with the overall idea of the wedding. However, as the wedding date rapidly crept up on us, there were still items that were undone. We needed someone to pull it all together as the day drew closer and closer.
We signed up with for the Loose Ends package with Stefanie at Your Wedding, Your Way. This includes a month of unlimited contact starting a month before the wedding, and a coordinator on the day of the wedding. Without Stefanie’s assistance and her great attention to detail, my wife and I would have been so trapped in the minutia, that our wedding might have been a disaster.
When our month began, Stefanie become the primary person in contact with our vendors. She kept the table/​chair rental up-​to-​date with our continually evolving list of rental items. She made sure that every vendor received their money and were confirmed for the wedding day. She helped us put together a detailed timeline and task list for the ceremony and reception. She secured an excellent florist at the last minute when H-​E-​B bailed on us. She recommended a caterer for us. She made sure that all we actually purchased all of the things we said we were going to purchase.
The Loose Ends package at YWYW was money well spent. The sense of relief that I felt when I arrived to the ceremony and saw that everything was set up correctly is indescribable. Thanks Stefanie!

Cara at Your Wedding Your Way was an invaluable help to making our wedding day run smoothly. We contacted her about 45 days before our wedding and she hit the ground running after an hour-​long meeting where we discussed everything we had planned or left unplanned. Being spreadsheet nerds, we worked very well with her using Google Docs. Cara also quickly familiarized herself with all our vendors and helped us nail down the last few details we had on our to-​do list like getting insurance, planning florals, planning the alcohol order, and hiring hair & make-​up. She ran our rehearsal efficiently and kept our wedding day running like clockwork, being very available for calls & texts for the whole weekend. I can’t imagine how we could have done it without having her, including the packing up and venue walkthrough at the end of the night. We are so glad we hired her for the ‘Loose Ends — Late Leave’ package.

Cara and I worked a wedding together last weekend, and I was so impressed by how well-​organized she was while being so cool and calm. As a fellow vendor in the industry, I’ve worked with a lot of planners who are often over their heads and I have to step in to make sure things run smoothly, but this wasn’t the case with Cara at all. She exuded the control a planner should carry but did it with such a sweetness. I can tell how much our clients were thrilled with her work and if I work a wedding with her at the helm again, I’ll know it’ll be a terrific night!

Cara was a freakin’ dream. A DREAM!
I came to Stephanie and Cara at Your Wedding, Your Way in a mild panic. The wedding coordinator we were currently working with was creating MORE work for us than we could handle and we needed a change 4 weeks before our (April 10^th) wedding day!
Stephanie took the time to call and tell me about her business, her values, and listen to what I needed. She kindly straightened me out when I had unreasonable expectations about the venue. She said all the right things and made me immediately feel like I could trust her to give me an honest and direct opinion. She met all my questions with straight, complete answers.
When we met with Cara, our coordinator, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. She was organized, had the right questions for me to think about, and made me feel like she could handle the job without breaking a sweat. (I was right. She and Macy handled the day with finesse.)
Cara worked directly with my dad-​in-​law to figure out transportation to the venue for about 20 guests who needed a ride from the Domain area. He raved about her professionalism and ability to field questions quickly. She was kind and could handle our family’s many questions well. They all said how much they loved her!
She got along with my caterer and the other vendors super well. It felt like we had the dream team working for us!
She also took over managing the less-​than-​helpful venue coordinator. She offered insights, industry standards, and more. On the day of, I didn’t have to deal with anything. I stayed out of sight until the big reveal and watched as she coordinated my already beautiful venue into the magical space I had been dreaming of.
If I had to do it all over again, I would have gone to Your Wedding, Your Way MONTHS before and saved myself a lot of work, stress, and anxiety.

Before visiting another wedding planner page, stop RIGHT NOW and hire Stephanie at Your Wedding, Your Way! They literally are the best money you will spend during your whole entire wedding! For one, My husband and I had champagne taste with a prosecco budget and Stephanie and her team made our fairytale wedding possible! I interviewed several planners prior and there was no one even close with regards to attention to detail, regard for our budget, customer service and ability to turn our vision into a reality. Oh and did I mention super cool and down to earth and made me think I was totally normal throughout the whole process. I knew right from the start she was going to make some magic happen. She helped us save money in ways I couldn’t have imagined and allowed us to spend it where it counted: i.e. the band, flowers and liquor!
She is worth her weight in gold and with her connections, she will save you more than what you spend on their service. Also, its truly amazing when dealing with vendors and every single one was so grateful we were working with YWYW because they are truly AWESOME! Also, I am definitely a line-​by-​line budget kind of person and I couldn’t believe how easy it could have been to spend a ton of money leading up to the day – with that said, Stephanie didn’t allow that to happen because we worked out EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING from day 1. Leading up to the wedding, I was cool as a cucumber because I had her by my side.
The wedding was perfect, everyone had a BLAST and Stephanie truly went WAY above and beyond anything I could have ever imagined. Our friends and family are still talking about how much fun they had that night and if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing! Thank you, Stephanie & YWYW!

Great experience with this company for our wedding. I started out working with Stefanie. She was so great and on top of everything and got everything we asked for right or better after one 1 and ½ hour consultation. I felt very taken care of during the month process leading up to our big day. They were always available, quick to answer, and always ready and willing to help with whatever I needed. Cara ended up being my actual day-​of coordinator and she was so great. (I knew about this change ahead of time). Our wedding was basically seamless and everything went better than expected. Cara worked well with the vendors and guests. Stefanie did a fine job letting Cara know the details of my wedding. (which can get lost when more than one person is leading) I was stress free the days leading up to and the day of my wedding.
Basically, if my husband and I had a wedding budget for far less, I would have purchased a less expensive dress or forgone certain fancy aspects in order to hire these two ladies and have a stress free wedding day all over again. Best money we spent by far. Make sure you hire a day-​of coordinator!

OUR WEDDING WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT STEFANIE!!! I had no idea what went into wedding coordination until this year, and I’m telling you– this is the best thing we could have ever spent our money on. Stefanie and Cara are the BEST. 5 star service, lovable, responsive, professional, confident, experienced and overall amazing. There is no crisis they can’t handle, and most importantly, Stefanie helped us finalize a lot of details that we weren’t sure about. She gave thoughtful suggestions without any pressure. Stefanie is all about making your wedding the BEST DAY EVER.
I was so stressed out coming into the last months before our wedding. Our services started 30 days out, and Stefanie literally swooped in and took all my stress off my plate. She has every single detail written out to make sure your vision is executed perfectly. There is a diagram created for the floor plan, the table setting, the seating arrangements– you name it. She handled all of my vendors and finalized every detail with them (details like when they will arrive and leave & how much I owed them etc), and SHE EVEN PICKED UP MY MACARON WEDDING FAVORS!!! I was so stressed on sending one of my bridesmaids to pick them up, and she took the initiative to pick them up AND hand deliver my final payment to my bakery. This is the white glove service I’m talking about here. She’s like a fairy god mother!
During the weekend of the wedding, Cara stepped in to handle the ceremony rehearsal and she was fantastic!!! She took charge of a large room of people and got us all informed in less than 45 min. I felt 100% at ease. There was some confusion as to who should sit where since the room was tight, and she handled it so calmly and smoothly. She asked me a few questions and that was it– she had it handled!
The day of the wedding was a dream. Every single detail was perfectly executed. Stefanie is just this beam of sunshine and organization. She has every diagram and spreadsheet on hand to help guide guests and bridal party members to where they need to be. My décor and vision was better than I even imagined. During the wedding, she is cool as a cucumber and will talk you through every step of the way. I am so so glad I paid extra for late night leave b/​c her team was able to pack up all my things for me and I could leave the night stress free. I literally fell in love with this woman during this process and you would be silly to not hire her.

We had a very negative experience with Cara as a coordinator. Stefanie and Cara have done a good job apologizing for the problems, and we think they’ll try to make changes for the future. However, the company’s response afterwards doesn’t change the fact that our day-​of coordination service caused us a lot of stress and fell far below expectations. We initially chose Your Wedding Your Way based on its stellar Unilocal reviews, so we think it’s important to put our less-​than-​stellar experience out there.
My now-​husband and I signed a contract with YWYW almost a year before our February wedding, and we chose their day-​of coordination service. We also paid for one hour of consultation a few months before the wedding. Here is a list of some of the negative (and positive) aspects of our experience.
1. Communication and attention to detail during planning:
Throughout the planning process, our conversations with Cara did not leave us with the impression that she had fully heard and understood necessary details. For example, at our one-​hour consultation, she offered to help arrange a shuttle. When she sent us a contract with the shuttle company, it listed the wrong hotel name and different pickup/​dropoff times than we’d discussed. There were a few errors in documents she gave us — they were small things, like the wrong sizes listed for some tablecloths, but small details should have been something we could trust a coordinator to get right. We wanted to relax and have confidence that Cara was organized and knowledgeable, but something about her communication and seeming lack of attention to detail just didn’t allow that to happen. Her style of speaking was very fast and we often felt she was talking over us. I know people communicate differently and her style would probably be fine for some people, but it felt overwhelming to us.
2. Failure to deliver a payment during the reception:
On the day of the wedding, Cara left the reception without delivering a check for $ 2,000 to the photographer. I had given her several envelopes clearly marked with the names of the vendors. Delivering the final payments was one of her primary responsibilities. She left the reception around 9pm (the wedding ended at 10:30, but we had YWYW’s «early leave» coordination package). When the photographer apologetically asked about her payment at the end of the night, it was embarrassing and stressful to realize that Cara had left without delivering the payment. Because we didn’t know whether this was the only payment Cara failed to deliver (thankfully, it was), my mom and I spoke with all the other vendors to make sure they had received their payments. This was not something I wanted my mom to worry about during the reception. Cara ended up sending the check to the photographer the next day.
3. Favors not put out:
We had made favors that were supposed to be set at each place setting. They were never put out — I completely forgot about them during setup, and they sat in my car the whole time. Putting them out was not Cara’s responsibility, since she wasn’t there during setup, but she did have a list of items that she was supposed to double-​check. Placing favors is one of the responsibilities listed in the YWYW paperwork.
4. Communication about responsibilities:
In hindsight, there are a variety of details I wish we had discussed further in advance — what time she was planning to arrive (2pm, which meant she was not there for most of the setup and events I’d assumed she would help with), what her responsibilities would be on the day before and day of the wedding, and how much and what types of contact we should expect in the month before the wedding.
5. Good things:
All that being said, Cara did several things well. She kept the timeline on track, ran the ceremony music, checked in with vendors beforehand, paced the processional, and gave great referrals to some vendors. Her assistant Sam did a great job.
YWYW was one of the first vendors we booked, and we were surprised and disappointed by how stressful our experience with them turned out to be. We have communicated with them about our critiques, and they plan to make changes, but based on our experience, we cannot recommend them.

I felt strangely guilty for wanting a coordinator for my wedding (shouldn’t I just be the smiling bride who does everything?), but thank God I swallowed that guilt!
I signed on for the full package from YWYW for my 220 person wedding, and Cara was my primary coordinator w/​occasional assists from Stefanie. Let me tell you, these ladies are tech savvy and super responsive. Like me, they live on gdocs and gchat so it was always easy to get a hold of them during the day when I had questions about everything from vendors to color schemes.
Cara was wonderful, and did a lot of innovative stuff with my choice of a non-​traditional venue where we had to bring almost everything in – restrooms, kitchen supplies, tables/chairs…you name it. A fellow Pinterest junkie, she also came up with great (and money saving!) ideas for décor. It was like having a good friend by your side every step of the way of the planning process, who would set you straight on cost vs. «does this really matter?»
Even when wrenches were thrown into my best laid plans, Cara was always there to calm me down and advise me on everything from food selection to questions of etiquette. They’ve seen it all — and have worked with most ATX venues and vendors, so it was nice to have the inside scoop on their service quality.
The day of my wedding, I just showed up and had a good time. I didn’t worry about assigning family and friends tasks, and they didn’t have to worry about anything either, which I think is one of the best gifts you can give! Everyone had a good time, and the event proceeded perfectly thanks to the timeline that Cara drew up. I would sign up w/​YWYW again in a heartbeat!

I used Stephanie as a day of coordinator for my wedding on 12/​11/​2010. I always meant to write a review but just never got around to it. But I just had my 3^rd anniversary and I was looking at pictures. I just remembered how much she helped me. Even with day of coordinating, she gave me so many helpful hints and tips before hand, including a beautiful cake caterer and very helpful checklists.
We were on a budget, and so I elected to keep the flower arrangements super simple and hand made. Well, my hydrangeas wilted. She went out the day of and got new hydrangeas and rewrapped the bouquets. She also brought extra help and made sure everything stayed on schedule.
Thanks Stephanie, you are the best.

We had a wonderful experience with the Your Wedding, Your Way staff. From start to finish they were helpful, reassuring, and very professional.
My husband and I met with Stefanie several months before our wedding, when we found out that we would be moving out of town and thought having an expert on hand would be helpful. It definitely was!
Stefanie was really great from the get-​go. She has a no-​pressure approach, which I appreciate. Stephanie was booked for our actual date, but fortunately Kaylyn was available for day-​of coordination. About a month in advance of the big day my husband and I met with both Stephanie and Kaylyn to go over details. They were very organized and gently let me know of things that I hadn’t considered. (At this point I should mention that I wasn’t super-​duper organized and that I had taken a fairly laid back approach to things, so I really needed to hear some of these things!)
Kaylyn provided me with really helpful detailed lists and took over communications with the vendors, which for me was AMAZING. I was at the point that calling one more vendor to change another order might put me over the edge, so Kaylyn’s help was invaluable.
The day-​of was unsurprisingly chaotic (because we chose to go the DIY route it was not one of those sit around and have champagne kinda deals)… Kaylyn is such a calm and reassuring presence, and once she arrived, several hours before the ceremony, I really knew everything would be ok. She and her assistant took care of all the last minute touches and everything looked fantastic. If they hadn’t been there to facilitate when we were supposed to end cocktails, start dinner, cut cake, etc. I’m not sure any of it would have happened. I’m really so grateful for Kaylyn’s expertise and professionalism. I would recommend her and Stephanie to anyone.

When I realized we were just a few months away from our wedding and things were only getting crazier — despite my best attempts at getting everything done early — I knew it was time to call for help! After searching around a bit, I contacted a few companies that were well reviewed and felt like YWYW was a good fit for our needs. We were looking for a day of/​month of coordinator who could handle all the day of details, make sure everything would run smoothly, and ensure we didn’t forget anything.
I met with Stefanie and Cara one morning at a Starbucks and they probably thought I was crazy — we pretty much didn’t talk about the wedding at all! But since they are five star reviewed everywhere, I already knew they would do a good job — I just wanted to make sure they were the kinds of people I could spend a whole day with on my wedding day!
Stefanie was already booked for my date, but Cara was still available (though now that she’s about to have a baby, you might not be as lucky as I was!). After our meeting — which seriously felt like hanging out with old friends (at least for me, haha!) — I knew I wanted to hire them.
You know how everyone always says the wedding planner was the best money they spent? Yeah, they’re right. The last two weeks before our wedding were crazy. Like over the top insane. To the point where — instead of being my usual total control freak self — I was just ready to agree to anything just to stop thinking about it!
But since we had Cara, there was so much I honestly didn’t have to think about! I would get an email from a vendor and think «oh, crap, here’s another thing to do…» but before I could respond, I would see a reply from Cara! It was so awesome! My mom had this crazy idea the week before the wedding that we needed a lot more flowers, and Cara and Gretchen (from Petals, Ink. — LOVE HER!) dealt with all the mama drama. It was fantastic! (Though, ahem, after our outdoor ceremony was rained out, those added flowers saved our newly indoor ceremony site!)
I wish I could say our wedding day was perfect, but sadly even Cara can’t control the weather. But she called me first thing in the morning with an update and a rain plan, and I didn’t have to think about *anything* that night. Everything that I had told her/​showed her/​sent her myself was perfect… though the husband and MOB apparently forgot a few things… so trust no one but Cara! I can just imagine how crazy things would have been if we hadn’t had her there — yikes!
So buy yourself some peace of mind and call YWYW — you’ll be glad you did!