F.A.Q.s

What happens at the first meet and greet wedding planning consultation? 

Like you and your fiance, Your Dream Day wants to have a first date with the two of you and anyone who will be a decision maker during the wedding planning process. With a wedding planner you aren't buying cake -- you are buying personality, work style, contacts, and nearly two decades of event planning experience. We want to be a good fit for you AND for us. We will give you a flavor of what to expect from our planning style at the appointment, but we will not give you advice or referrals like our paying clients get. After that we determine whether we go on a 'second date' -- moving forward with a planning package!

Who is my consultant? 

Through the years we have had up to three teams of consultants per weekend, but now, we are being choosier about the weddings we do. Kathy Piech-Lukas is now our only lead consultant and she is only accepting one event per week. She loves to spoil couples and being able to focus on just you allows us to do that. She brings a team of consultants with her to assist on the day of the wedding. Should Kathy be ill or not in a position to do the wedding due to unforeseen emergency circumstances, she has relationships with dozens of experienced planners in Dayton and Cincinnati that can assume responsibility of your wedding day management. The dream team is also composed of wedding planners and wedding assistants with at least ten years of wedding planning under their belts.

Do I need a planner? 

How do you help me when there are wedding planning websites out there? Wedding planning websites are a great resource; however, they can become overwhelming with all of the details that need to be done, how much to spend on what, and sifting through the thousands of wedding vendors. It is enough to make your head spin. Hopefully this is the only wedding you will ever plan, whereas we have planned more than 265 weddings.

How does my time work with my packages? 

The procrastinator's package (up to 30 hour package) is a partial planning package (vendor referrals, schedule appointments, pull the details together a month prior to wedding, schedule, day of coordination with a team of a minimum of two people.), procrastinator's plus is up to 50 hour package, while the full service package (event design, vendor referrals and attending all appointments, checklists, vendor confirmation, schedule development, pull details together month of, rehearsal, day of wedding, and any other activities that week like rehearsal dinner, day after brunch or other party) tends to be around 150 hours of work. Quick answers to text messages or emails are unlimited. Anything that requires specific follow up, prescreening vendor availability, scheduled in-person or conference call meeting time, or going to meet you at a location, is deducted as time from your package.

What is your cancellation policy? 

It depends on how you paid. If you do our installment option all payments are nonrefundable. If you paid in full at signing, the refund is based on the number of weeks out from the wedding. Since we are a service business and we only book one wedding per weekend, we likely turned other business away to keep you as a happy client of ours.

Do you offer discounts? 

You get 10% off when you pay in full at signing for your package. If you are active military, you get 15% off when you pay in full at signing for your package.

How do you save me money? 

We are a 'returning' customer with most vendors, which allows us to negotiate for you. You won't make common rookie mistakes, which in most cases equal or exceed the cost of our service. When you don't hire a wedding planner, you will have a part time job from the time you become engaged to the time you walk down the aisle. The big question is, what is your spare time worth to you?

What do you consider your work style?

 Kathy is a quick communicator with email, text messages and voicemail. Most communication is returned within hours, but no longer than 72 hours. She is excellent with social media, extremely creative, and loves to brainstorm ideas with you. She thinks of herself as glue -- keeping you as a couple, parents, vendors, and details together so they all flow together smoothly. She likes to anticipate, predict and recognize a problem before it becomes one, and nips it quickly. She has an outgoing, energetic and bubbly personality, and a quick sense of humor. However, she is very laid back, easy going and can quickly adapt to last minute changes and demands. Many of our couples and parents keep in touch with us after the wedding because we have developed such a strong bond with them.

What areas do you serve? 

Though the majority of our business is in Southwest Ohio (Cincinnati / TriState area and Dayton / Miami Valley) we travel anywhere we are needed as long as the client covers our transportation, lodging and food for any wedding more than 50 miles away from Cincinnati or Dayton, Ohio.

What methods of payment do you accept?

Personal checks, cash, Visa, MasterCard, Discover & American Express.

Can I choose my own vendors?

We will recommend wedding vendors to you, but ultimately the choice is up to you. We do require that your vendor team is compromised of real business owners that are registered with the State, licensed and insured up to 1 million dollars. To ensure that your day is designed and executed to perfection, we need the third party services you receive from your vendor team to be second to none. For full service clients, we do require that you use one of our preferred floral designers and that we take care of coordinating your rental decor for you, This will help us to make sure that the exact items you need to achieve the look you desire are achieved. If a venue requires, per their contract, that your rentals go through them, we will work with them directly to ensure that the correct items have been ordered.

Will you set up decor for us?

We charge an additional setup fee to set up any major decor that you provide such as silk centerpieces, arches or large custom decor pieces, because we have to bring additional staff to unload, setup, and tear down the items. Our staff will not setup or move anything weighing more than 20 pounds or get on ladders. We do include smaller items, like place cards, signs and favors, with your package. Check with our staff prior to the wedding to see what items are acceptable for setup by our staff.

Will you serve food, remove trash and run the bar?

Like most wedding planners, Your Dream Day is not licensed to serve food. We do require that you hire a full service caterer to take care of serving, transporting and disposing of food on your wedding day.