Frequently Asked Questions
We generally recommend 9-12 months of wedding planning as the sweet spot where you’ll feel like things are moving along at a steady pace without feeling hurried or that time is dragging. That time frame is a good balance of exciting planning momentum and time for relaxation and enjoyment in the process. If you are in law school, med school, medical residency, have a demanding work and/or travel schedule, we generally recommend 15-18 months of planning time to account for exams and the like where you may need to step away from planning and lend your focus elsewhere.
You will work directly with Owner + Creative Director, Gina. As a boutique firm with a limited yearly client roster, you are never passed along to lesser experienced or junior planner of any type.
Gina launched Shi Shi in 2005 but her experience in events predates that with work in production within the music industry, and event planning for a tech company and experiential marketing agency. Her experience is vast and well-rounded, and while Shi Shi Events focuses on wedding planning specifically, working in the music and marketing industries helped shape her wedding planning approach in ways driven by immersive experiences, hospitality focus, and the art of really epic parties.
There are three ways that set us apart beyond the subjective measures of design aptitude, impeccable project management, and exceptional hospitality. They are:
1. We really value direct communication and full transparency with our clients. We aren’t yes people that will just appease if we know an idea or request can be finessed to produce a better end result.
2. We value our relationships immensely – both our client relationships and our vendor relationships. We treat everyone with respect and fairness, and communicate in the interest of collaboration. We are gracious and warm but we’re sticklers about quality and processes and our vendor partners are fantastic about consistently meeting and exceeding those expectations for us. Our reputation in the industry precedes us and that’s something we strive to always uphold in the best possible light.
3. You will never wait more than 24 hours for a reply Tuesday-Saturday (unless we are on a previously noted holiday). Most of the time, you will have a reply to an email or call within hours or minutes. We are that attentive.
No. As a boutique wedding planning and design firm, we limit both our service offerings and the number of weddings we plan each year. We have two offerings, both of which are full service. The first is full planning, design, and production services for your wedding day itself and the second is full planning, design, and production services for your entire wedding weekend. If you need a recommendation for a company offering day of coordination or partial planning services we’re happy to offer up our favorites.
Yes 100%. Our approach to wedding planning is a collaborative one, where we guide and provide options and you make all final selections. We never rubber stamp a decision without your approval. Nor do we consider planning your wedding a carte blanche affair where the best decision at every corner is to spend more money. We focus on open and clear communication with our couples so that throughout your process we together can continue to ensure your priorities are being met and preferences adhered to with each decision made.
We love moms! We love when your mom, dad or family are a part of the process and we get to know all of you. Every family has their own unique dynamic and we love for them to be as much a part or not as you all would like. We can include your parents as planning partners within our online planning platform as well so they can see along with you and us in real time where the checklist, budget, guest list, and more stand and what’s up next to be done, paid, etc. We find our couples and their parents love it!
We try to avoid having a double booked date on our calendar at all costs. There are times when it’s unavoidable, but it is our intention each year to make every effort to ensure there is only one wedding per any one calendar date.
Yes definitely! We love destination weddings and especially welcome locations on the East Coast, in the South, and Midwest, but we will travel to any US state to plan and design for you!
Yes! Our remote planning process makes planning from out of state super streamlined and stress free. You’ll be amazed at how much we can accomplish without even having to book a flight.
Yes! We of course have vendors we love and know we can count on to give our couples the very best end result possible, but if there is someone you’d love to work with that we haven’t had the opportunity to as of yet, we will happily help you vet them. Once we review their work and connect with them directly, we’ll give you a fully transparent assessment of how they’ll fit in with your vendor team. Most importantly, if there’s a vendor we’ve not had a great experience with, we can steer you toward a better option. Our industry insider knowledge is like having an insurance policy on all of your vendor selections – pretty invaluable!
This is a hot topic of conversation in the wedding industry. Some planners believe flat rate pricing is the best model and others feel percentage is best. Since our founding, we’ve had time to offer many different types of services as well as try different pricing models. What we’ve found is the most fair way to price for all parties involved is to combine flat fee and percentage pricing into a hybrid pricing model. We offer a flat fee to a pre-determined maximum budget. If a wedding is beyond that maximum budget cap, we charge our flat rate + 10%. Having a flat fee up front absorbs some of the heavy handed pricing a fully percentage based model can hit clients with, and charging the 10% ensures we are being fairly paid for the scope of the work we’re producing.
We accept checks and all major credit cards. To begin work, we require a 50% deposit and the final 50% payment is due the week of your wedding.
Absolutely not! While this is a relatively common industry practice, we don’t mark up anything or take any kickbacks for working with a particular vendor. Any discount we receive, we pass along to you, and any vendor we recommend is because we love and trust them.
You can check out some snippets of reviews on our home page in the “What our couples say” section and for full in-depth reviews visit The Knot.
Visit our Get In Touch page and fill out our contact form or feel free to call us at 440-623-3822 or email at info@shi-shievents.com. We’ll connect and see if we make a good match! If yes, you’ll receive your contract via our online planning platform and once it’s signed and deposit received we can get to work!