Today is not about the why, it’s about the where.  What are the exact reasons you should hire a planner for your luxury proposal that lives in the state or city you are planning?

If you haven’t heard of proposal planning, here is a great article on what exactly we do!  

Let me first say that a large majority of my clients are out-of-town clients.  Being that I specialize in Chicago proposals (we are Chicago’s Proposal Planners ™), it would only make sense that there are a lot of men that want to make a big impact for their proposal plans and do it on vacation to our wonderful city!

I believe Chicago would come up as in a survey for top cities to propose in the US, but I’m not even sure if that is a survey!

 Timeout…Before we get into all the reasons we think you should hire local, why not hear it from a gent in Chicago firsthand of his experience with national proposal planners.

When weeks of research into national proposal planners left me with more questions than answers, I realized I should have hired a local proposal planner from the start. After contacting Visions Event Studio, I quickly learned a local proposal planner has already developed a relationship with local venues and vendors which meant a streamlined process, better prices, and better access. Hire anyone if you want a generic proposal with no personalization. But if you want your proposal planner to share in your vision and make that vision come alive, hiring local is a must.  

So why does it matter to hire a planner locally and why wouldn’t you want to hire someone who claims to plan proposals nationwide?

I LIVE HERE

Visions Event Studio |Chicago’s Proposal Planner ™ (sorry I have to put that I can’t resist!)  we eat, breathe and sleep in Chicago!  This is where our office is, this is where we do life, our relationships both personal and professional are in this city and beyond.  That means should mean something when hiring a proposal planner.  

I SHOW UP 

Day of planning is included in ALL of our full service planning packages so when it comes time to pop the question you want to know that the planner who will be standing there is the one you started with.  To know that the planner that you started talking to from the start, meeting with and creating all of these intimate ideas…that she is the one who is going to physically be standing there, not someone else is huge!  We don’t pass clients on to other vendors, we don’t hire out our services to gophers who just set up props for an extra buck.

We are here and we are not going anywhere.  We are committed to our clients from start to finish.  

RELATIONSHIPS

One of our core values at Visions Event Studio is building relationships that go beyond the proposal.  We have grown with our clients into other life events from the one bended knee, to down the aisle and of course to the celebration of the baby shower!  

We are not here to make a quick buck off the top ten proposal ideas in Chicago, or the same staged proposal that you see time and time again. 

You should feel as though your planner knows all the intimate details of your relationship, what your visions is and that she is 100% committed to for making this event a success.

RESOURCES

Did I say I’m local oh that’s right, there are so many new creative business that open up in the wedding/proposal industry every month that you need someone who is in the know.  This could be photographers who specialize in proposals (no not hiding in the bushes paparazzi style, sorry we have a little more class than that), videographers, florist, chocolatiers, musicians, the list goes on.  You need someone who is on the ground working and talking with these people.  

A PLANNER WHO DOESN’T USE GOOGLE TO PLAN

How do you know the best place to get a custom sign made in Chicago a day before an event if you live in California?  Well you don’t… you may know how to google something or ask some questions but when you are placing one of the most important days of your life into the hands of a planner you want that planner local.  

Trusting someone on the other side of the nation and having a gopher do all their day of work to me is a nightmare.  

That person is not engaged with your event ,they couldn’t care less if you don’t get your sign.

THEY ARE NOT DESTINATION PLANNERS

The nightmares I have heard over this just breaks my heart and no one really knows that these “nationwide proposal planners” aren’t living here, working here, they are just trying to get as much business as possible and to me that is wrong.  

I get having destination services available where you legitimately service an area.  You have connections you have select cities maybe two or three major cities that you serve nationwide.

Maybe you are willing to go where the client takes you…obviously traveling abroad to serve a client well is again not what I’m referring to.  I have many vendors who travel all over the world to serve their clients,  they do not however hire other people to do the work for them and claim to be a nationwide vendor.

When you have a city on your coverage area because this is a area you service well all I can say is welcome to Chicago, but when you are claiming to serve all major cities in the US this is where I believe you can’t possibly be a true planner that serves their clients well,you are just using a business model that is hurting the entire wedding industry.

Clients get under serviced and it leaves a bad taste in their mouths, I can’t tell you how many clients have signed contracts with these “nationwide proposal planners” and beg me to help them get out of their contracts.  Unfortunately, at that point it’s too late, and my goal is not to bash other companies but to try and educate.  It isn’t helping by saturating the market with bad service period.

COMMITMENT

I touched on this briefly but again so many clients have come to me saying how they feel like a number in these national proposal planning companies that claim to be planners in all major cities across the US.  

They don’t care about their clients, they don’t want to get to really know them because TIME IS MONEY and they don’t have the time to give when you are selling a package to “create a proposal in 30 minutes” just to make a quick buck.  

I care, I’m committed and I will do whatever it takes to make your vision a reality and I’m committed to telling you the truth, if something isn’t quite right I’m going to tell you so we can adjust and come up with something that works.

I care about how this process feels, how you are served and how confident you are standing there before the love of your life knowing you put all this effort into making this day happen.  

SERVE

No not customer service, there is a HUGE difference in answering a call to help brainstorm ideas and having poor customer service and actually serving your clients.  I’m here to serve, it’s what I do.

I serve with my heart, I serve with with no limits.  

You are my client and as such you are going to get cared for with answering of emails, scheduled calls and timely planning.  

I desire to come along side you in this process, not hand you a pre-made form to fill out and then tell you the same ideas I just told the guy that called in on the 1-800 number before you.  

I think that about covers it, well I think the reasons why you should hire local vs. national might have grown from five to five hundred, I could go on and on.  It has also interwoven into why Visions is set apart with their service and you can see that with our outstanding reviews and ongoing relationship we have with our clients.