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Who is Jo Wittmann?
I am the owner and lead certified wedding planner at Witt & Co. Events. I have a very typical Type-A, organized personality, but I’ve been artistic my entire life.
When did you start your business?
I started Witt & Co. in 2015, but I’ve been in the wedding industry since 2009. In high school, I had my heart set on doing something in the wedding industry. I started in serving banquets and bartending at a local hotel, worked my way into the sales office where I helped nearly 100 couples plan their wedding every year. Although I got to help so many couples tie the knot, I didn’t truly get to know them or their love stories, so I ventured off on my own, and here we are today!
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What is your business all about?
Witt & Co. Events is a full planning company located in downtown Neenah, Wisconsin. We work with up to 10 couples a year to give them the full planning experience, from their engagement to a wrap-up meeting, two weeks after the wedding. Our specialty is in outdoor, tented and backyard estate weddings. However, we do live and work in Wisconsin, so we’re totally open to different 4-wall venues as well!
We assist in making wedding professional recommendations by matching our clients’ needs to the best in the business. We provide guided checklists during the planning process. We offer a calm voice of reason and a listening ear when needed. When it comes to the weekend of the wedding, we hold hands and assist the couple, their family, and their wedding party through the rehearsal until the end of the wedding evening.
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What is the main reason people hire a wedding planner?
For the majority of our clients, this is the first time they, and even sometimes their families, are planning a wedding. Many of them have dreamed of having a tented backyard wedding and have no idea where to begin. These couples understand that it’s easy to miss big items like electrical needs, garbage receptacles, and they know that weather can make a huge difference in creating Plan Bs, Cs, and Ds!
Hiring a wedding planner offers incredible peace of mind, knowing that someone who’s seen just about every scenario is planning right next to them and ensuring that they haven’t missed a beat! These couples are able to sit back and relax, not just on the wedding day, but the days leading up to the wedding because they are confident that their planner is taking care of the last-minute details and is keeping the party running smoothly behind the scenes.
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Do you have a favorite type of wedding to plan?
Backyard weddings. Outdoor tented weddings. These locations are always so unique and personal to the couple. It’s usually a childhood home that holds so much meaning. These weddings are not limited or bound by 4 walls. The tent could be a custom size to fit the backyard, it could be a fun shape to accommodate the lawn space, and most of all, the tent is a completely blank canvas that we can use to create the couples dream wedding atmosphere.
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When Planning a Wedding, do you offer various packages for weddings?
We offer a single planning package, our Full Planning.
We do also offer a few a la carte services for those who would just like some extra assistance and planning guidance, or need a helping hand. Services like Wedding Coaching allow a couple to meet with us one-on-one to talk about anything and everything related to their wedding. We’re like a behind the scenes planner for these clients. We also offer assembly services for clients who simply don’t have the time (or patience) to put together their invitations or party favors, as well as Stationery Review services to ensure that they’ve included all the proper information, and to help catch any punctuation or spelling errors. We also offer décor set-up services for the clients who have limited availability at their reception venue to setup prior to the big day.
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How does the planning process work?
We begin our planning process up to 16 months in advance of the anticipated wedding date. We start by meeting for a consultation to be sure we are the best fit for their wedding planning personalities, needs, and the event’s style. We love when we can meet in-person because we can show samples and really have some relaxed conversations, but for many that isn’t the case. We help numerous couples plan from out-of-state, so video calls are a big part of our relationship too! We use an online planning platform to keep things organized in a personalized account for each couple. Here we can communicate on tasks and ask questions between planning sessions.
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If you could give brides and grooms a huge reason to book a planner for their day, what would it be?
I can’t pick just one reason! So, first, we are your advocates! Sometimes your voice gets lost while you are planning YOUR wedding because everyone else has an opinion as to how it should be. And second, we make sure that your day is running smoothly behind the scenes (before and during the wedding), so you can sit back and simply celebrate!
What does a wedding planner do, Before, During & After the Wedding?
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Before the wedding day: A wedding planner assists with, you guessed it…planning, and designing the wedding details based on ideas presented by the couple. Whether their inspiration comes from a single Pinterest photo or simply a favorite color. We curate customized checklists and check-in to be sure every task and planning details is accounted for. Wedding planners provide their expertise when it comes to recommending the best services for each couple. We meet with our couples on a regular basis and often times attend multiple meetings with the wedding professionals that the client chooses. We help develop a timeline of the wedding weekend and finally attend the rehearsal to help coordinate the timing and offer advice to those standing up and those witnessing the ceremony.
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On The Wedding day: A wedding planner is generally the first to arrive to check things over and make sure that everything is in the proper place before the rest of the wedding professionals arrive. Once the team of wedding professionals begin to arrive, wedding planners greet them, answer any last-minute questions and sometimes update them with last minute changes. Great wedding planners will do just about anything during the early hours of a wedding day to make sure everything is set and ready prior to guests arriving. Sometimes this includes straightening chairs, lighting candles, setting décor, placing programs and menus, steaming linens, grabbing lunch for the wedding party, and doting on the to-be-married couple. In additional to being the go-to contact for the couple, wedding pros, friends, family, wedding party attendants, AND guests, wedding planners oversee the flow of the event and assist in cuing the activities throughout the day. Towards the end of the event, wedding planners will often begin packing the personal items that belong to the couple, such as photos, champagne glasses, and their guestbook, that way as the party winds down, it ends on a high note, and means the couple can continue with their good-byes rather than cleaning up their things.
After The Wedding day: Wedding planners can assist in reviewing the event as a whole with the client, the high points and even sometimes any low points. We can assist is addressing difficult conversations. After the event and the honeymoon are over, we also love maintaining a relationship with our couples. There are many lifelong friends that are made after helping with such an important milestone!
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What happens once someone becomes a client?
After the contract is signed, we sit down and talk about the initial details of the wedding – If they have any wedding professionals in mind that they’d love to work with, their budget, and small details like their favorite colors and what kind of meal they would like to serve. After that we meet to walk through a budget guideline that we have created to assist in finding the right services for their ideal price points.
After these initial planning sessions are done, we meet monthly to go over the planning progress, and as their planner we attend requested meetings with professionals like florists, bakers, caterers, and entertainment providers to help ensure that the event stays cohesive throughout and that all their questions are answered. As the planning progresses, we’ll meet again to specifically talk about their ideal wedding day timeline to help everything come together seamlessly.
