When planning my daughter’s October 8, 2011 wedding, it was my intention to hire an event planner for “day of duties” only. After an initial meeting with Anna Richardson of ANNA LUCIA EVENTS (formerly LUCIA|PAUL DESIGN), I immediately recognized that her involvement in the planning process would be a valuable asset. It is only after the wedding that I realized how right I was!
Anna epitomizes what a mother of the bride wants and needs in the planning process from an event planner. She recognizes the inevitable varying opinions of all the parties involved and offers gentle guidance leading to decisions. She is mindful of balancing budget with creative ideas and provides direction that leads to getting the most “bang for the buck.” Anna hears what is being said and is intuitive about what is not being said. She is able to move the planning process forward with effortless grace and poise. The wedding we envisioned involved using three different spaces at one beach hotel–one for the cocktail hour, one for the dinner, and one for the dessert.
In addition, the ballroom for the dinner was to be flipped to a lounge complete with moving of the bandstand and the addition of lounge furniture in a forty-five minute time period. The challenges were significant. First and foremost, Anna had to take our vision and use her creativity to devise a workable plan–no small feat. Anna had to coordinate the work of the floral designer, the draping and lighting vendors, the band, the hotel staff, etc. She even had to deal with rain requiring the cocktail hour to be moved forty-five minutes before guests arrived. Anna’s calm methodical approach resulted in a seamless transition from location to location throughout the evening. She was able to instill a spirit of team in all the participating parties and the work was accomplished on time. I was impressed by the pride the staff conveyed in accomplishing the room flip from dinner to lounge and believe this ownership in the process and the excellent result are directly related to Anna’s management style.
In all meetings, and there were many, with vendors ranging from floral to invitations, it was apparent that Anna had an excellent rapport with the people with whom she worked. Their respect for her and her knowledge was apparent, but, more than that, they genuinely liked her.
Anna made herself available for as many meetings and phone calls as we needed. She emailed regularly. I always felt I could consult with her on any matter. Even when the matter was a trivial mother of the bride detail, Anna never made me feel as though my concerns were insignificant. I honestly can not imagine how we would have planned my daughter’s wedding without her–without her guidance, without her common sense, without her sense of humor, without her genuine caring. I noticed that Anna uses a lot of exclamation points when sending an email. I like that it conveys her enthusiasm. Anna Richardson is an exclamation point in the industry.
