Once the decision has been made to complete your nuptials in this popular destination wedding  town, your next step is to find help in this process.  Lucky for you, Sedona has an amazing selection of highly experienced, professional vendors and interesting venues to assist you in every aspect of your planning journey!  

Your first call or email should be to one of the premiere, locally based wedding and event planners.  The reason we highly recommend using a Sedona planner is due to the fact that Sedona is a fairly small town and local planners have typically had a chance to truly vet each vendor they suggest for their clients.  They will have a better idea of how each vendor varies from the other in the same field.  Maybe one caterer is great for barbeque but not so great with special requests or special dietary needs.  Maybe one DJ is awesome with having the clients choose all of their own music but not when he/she needs to choose how to get guests out of a non-dancing funk!  Each vendor will have something they are really good at and a good experienced planner will know all of this, ensuring a very successful event.   

Things to take into consideration when selecting your planner is first of all, does this person really seem to understand your wedding vision?   Do you feel a good vibe or connection with this planner and/or the assistants who may be handling your actual wedding day?   Will this person or entity have real and working relationships with the vendors they are suggesting?  Will this person know the intimate details of the services this person/company provides,  how they function in different situations, how reliable they are, and are they the absolute best option for your needs? 

Oftentimes, out of town planners may not be as well versed or familiar with local vendors.  They may just be looking up contacts online the same way you would, without really knowing who or what they are referring you to.  Believe me, this is how this all works when you are a new planner trying to assist a couple in a new area or town that you really haven’t had a chance to fully explore.  I have been there, done that, when I first started wedding planning in Hawaii!  I understand that we all have to start somewhere, but you don’t really want to take that chance for a day this special.   Here are a couple options of some of our favorites to get you started! (link options here?) 

Secondly, choose a venue and lodging that will fit both you and your guests needs and wants.  Sedona offers a pretty complex variety of options when it comes to selecting the right space for your event.  Some offer both on site lodging and event space in one.  This makes keeping your guests in the right place at the right times much simpler than having guests staying all over town.  Others are event spaces specifically where you will need to consider about how you and your guests will get from one place to the other.  How will you shuttle guests staying at various locations?  How will you get to and from the venue?  How will you exit?  Will you provide options for your guests?