An Inside Look at Wedding Planning with Ali Barone of Ali Barone Events

Hey people!

I know I promised you this post five thousand years ago, and I apologize for the giant delay, but it’s finally here: my interview with Ali Barone of Ali Barone Events from my time at PB Live. We chatted about how to not got lost in endless inspiration, how she combines her expertise with her client’s vision, and more! Ali is incredibly knowledgeable, warm, and is a straight shooter when it comes to her clients. I’m sure you’ll love this one!

Everyone in weddings wants the next best thing. Everyone is trying to outdo each other. How do you recommend that brides and couples keep their heads on straight and not get lost in a sea of inspiration?

That’s a great question. I always want to know what is the root of who they are. So I want them to be inspired by who they are, not what they see from everybody else. So when I start to onboard a client, I ask them a lot of questions. It’s almost like this meet and greet slash let’s go have a drink, a bite to eat, slash interview. But I’m asking very specific questions to try to get to the heart of who they are as individuals and then as couples. And then I’ll guide that conversation a little bit further. We’ll find out what their budget is and what their overal vision is. If I see they have like 20 pictures and everything is a farm and a barn and whatever, then obviously that’s the vibe they want to go towards and I’ll steer them in that direction, however it doesn’t have to be like Pinterest threw up all over it. So you love llamas, I see llamas everywhere. But do you really like llamas? Or do you just want llamas at your wedding because you saw 5000 people have llamas and you think it’s cute? Because here’s the thing, llamas are a little stinky, they might spit, are you cool with that? And when you have livestock it’s just like having kids, it’s a wildcard. If you’re cool with that and you like that spontaneity and you guys have traveled everywhere and you have pictures of yourselves with llamas, cool. But if it's just something that you want to do because you think it's one upping somebody else, it's so not cool. And I'm so not into it.

So what about if a client comes to you with this vision, and you're like, “That's not going to work,” or, “You're going to regret that.” How do you navigate helping them stay true to their vision, but also giving your expertise in a tactful way?

I think you can always extract something from what they come with, and bring it to life in a way that feels authentic to them. I mean when people come with all of these ideas, on some level, it's speaking to them. So I think it's about finding what is really, truly authentic. Oh, yeah, so you grew up at the beach, and you love snow cones and this and that and whatever. I think that would be super fun. Even if it is a winter wedding, it's okay. I like that because it makes sense to you. People are going to understand that. The guests are going to get that. But if it's just because it's something that you saw that you thought was cool and pretty and photographs well on Instagram but has no relevance to the timing of your event, where it's going to be, or who you are, I'm just going to say it straight out, just like that. What's your motivation? Why do you really want that? We can look into it. But it's going to add this, this, and this to your bottom line budget. It doesn't quite go with this, but we can make it work if we do this and this. Do you really want to invest? I'm ready to run with it, but it has to be something that you really, really want. Otherwise, I'll try to steer them into putting their time, money, and efforts toward something that I feel like is going to really elevate the experience and feel like them. I'm a straight shooter. So if you haven't guessed so far, I am not the planner that's going to tell you everything is amazing. I'll say, “I hear you. I think this is cool. Let me digest this. Let me look at what you're looking at, and what you're thinking about, and see how this can fit with your budget, with your style, where we are.” Then I come back and I edit it. I edit out all the ideas. I encourage my clients to come at me with everything and anything, and it's my job, I feel like, to be the editor. It's not their job. They've never done weddings before. That's how the process goes.

Last question! What is one thing when planning you feel like an element that's usually overlooked, not spent enough on, or something that people are last minute about?

There's a couple things, and they're not sexy. None of them are sexy things. So I think that ample funds need to be always put aside for ample transportation—as luxury level transportation as you can. Not all areas have a lot of luxury level transportation options, but if you can, have the coach buses with the leather seats and all the amenities. I'm not really a fan of shuttling double duty. I'd rather have everyone come in one run. But I think that there should be a large hair and makeup team so that you don't have to start your hair and makeup at 5:00 in the morning, or 6:00 in the morning. If you have more hair and makeup artists then it's less time that you have to have people in a chair. You can be enjoying, and you can be taking photos, and that's more money. But those are things that I think are important, and often overlooked until I kind of finesse that a little bit. I do think that, it's not that it’s often overlooked, but it shouldn't be overlooked, the power of a really beautifully branded paper suite throughout. So I think you can have very simple seasonal flowers on a table and beautiful candles, but if you have a beautiful table number and a menu, and you have little details in the escort cards, and it's branded throughout, there's welcome signs, I think those things really make an event feel very pulled together. And you can do that on a budget. I think that's a way that anybody can, no matter what your budget is, whether it's super high or super low, can achieve that really pulled together look.

I hope you all enjoyed this post and got a piece or two of advice to use when planning your wedding! You can follow Ali on Instagram at @alibaroneevents. Once again, a huge thank you to LLG Agency and PB Live for having me!

*Please note, this interview was lightly edited for clarity.

Hero image: Lavishly Lux Studio