What to Expect When You Hire Julian Leaver Events

The wedding planning process is notoriously overwhelming. From hiring a laundry list of vendors to identifying a design direction, it’s no surprise that many couples want to throw in the towel before getting started. But it doesn’t have to be that way!

At Julian Leaver Events, we believe in an intentional approach to planning that strips away all the noise. Ultimately, we’re only interested in planning a wedding driven by your story. And we’ll utilize every resource at our disposal—plus decades of event planning experience—to make that happen. 

Whether you’ve already booked our planning package (*happy dance*) or are preparing to send an inquiry (we can’t wait to hear from you!), we’re here to lay out everything you can expect when you hire Julian Leaver Events. Have a question we don’t answer here? This post may help!

When should I reach out to hire Julian Leaver Events?

Whenever you’re ready! Our typical process takes 12 months, but we’ve worked with longer and shorter engagements. Unlike many planners, we don’t limit ourselves to a 12-14 month planning period or ten weddings per year. If you feel drawn to our work, we’d love to chat with you and see if we’re a good fit! 

Where do you travel?

Anywhere! Have passport, will travel. We’re based in Dallas but have planned weddings all over the world, from Aspen to San Miguel de Allende. 

Who will I work with to plan my wedding? Do you have a large team?

We’re a team of two with 30+ years of combined event planning experience. Sarah Kane and Julian (our namesake!) are the lead planners. We also work with a fabulous admin who always keeps us on track! If we’re traveling, there’s always someone at the desk to answer your questions. 

How does communication work during the planning process?

We’ll adjust our communication style to fit your preferences. We understand you’re a busy professional, so if it’s easier for you to jump on a Google Meet for 20 minutes instead of answering a long-winded email, we’re all about it. We’ll adjust to your schedule, not the other way around. 

We’ll always schedule calls and set expectations for them in advance, so nothing is a surprise. And we’ll pace those calls according to your planning path. If you have an unexpected question between meetings, there’s no need to worry or rely on Google! You’ll have both of our cell phone numbers. So, you can text or call and make an appointment anytime.

How does your design process work?

The design process always begins with stationery. We see stationery as the keystone of design: it’s your first opportunity to touch and observe different styles up close. You can look at modern and traditional invitations and really get a sense of what you love. It’s the perfect jumping-off point for the rest of your wedding design. We plan an in-person or video meeting for this step, depending on your location!

At that point, we’ll ask you to create a Pinterest board pulling images (from anywhere—they don’t just have to be from Pinterest!) of things you love. And it doesn’t just have to be wedding-related images, either. It could be your favorite music, vacation destinations, home décor, flowers, gardens, or non-wedding events.

Then, we’ll have an in-depth call to go over every image. We’ll learn what you love and what you hate. This process helps us tremendously with curating a final design vision since there’s always a throughline of images for us to pull from. Our blog goes over more information for navigating this step! And through it all, you’ll have us by your side: your can-do team committed to seeing every step through and transforming your vision into reality.