You squeeze your dad's hand then look at us. You are ready. We hand you your bouquet then fluff your dress. You smell the fragrance of your bouquet one last time before you walk down the aisle. We cue your song. You hear the music, we open the doors. There he is. You catch your breath. You see him catch his. This is the moment you planned for. We can make sure it happens as planned.
But, who does the planning? You do. Our wedding planning approach is a little, well, out of the box. Only 4% of brides in the Twin Cities hire a full-service wedding planner. We offer a variety of smaller services for the other 96%. Whether it is full-service planning with one of our colleagues or a smaller service with us, every bride can enjoy the wedding planning and her wedding day.
Jacki V. Photography
Lora Grafenstein-Kinzel is the owner of At Your Service Weddings, LLC of Minneapolis, MN. She first started in the 'wedding business' in 1992 in the catering industry. Lora's wedding expertise developed through her work in several wedding-related fields including bridal gown sales and men's formal wear, catering, floral design, graphic design, and various positions in the hotel industry. Lora graduated from the University of North Dakota with a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Advertising & Public Relations. Following graduation, she relocated to Minneapolis where she worked in public relations and advertising. She later worked in the non-profit sector where she gained valuable event planning skills. While working full-time, she attended the University of St. Thomas in downtown Minneapolis and earned a Master of the Arts degree in Business Communication. She also assisted one of the first wedding planners in Minneapolis that opened her doors over thirty years ago. It was after this time that Lora decided to merge her event planning skills with her wedding vendor knowledge to create At Your Service Weddings. She is certified as a Professional Bridal Consultant through Association of Bridal Consultants.
Lora and her husband live in uptown and enjoy all the activity of the area. They have three sons, Mikolas (6), Sebastian (4 1/2), and Pavel (3). Interesting fact - all three boys have a different color of hair. They have a red head, a brunette, and a blondie. Lora is also a member of the Minneapolis Goju-Kai Karate-Do and is close to earning a black belt.
Jennie, Lora, and Chelsea at the Twin Cities Wedding Professionals holiday party. Jennie and Chelsea are just two of the fabulous At Your Service Wedding's assistants. Go team AYSW!
We are honored to have worked with so many creative and tasteful clients. We can't take 100% credit for the pictures below. It is always a team effort. Some of our clients simply need to talk through their design ideas to make them a reality. Others want us to pick up their decor and set it up. Some brides just want rental while others want our day of coordination service. What is the one thing our clients have in common? None of them were born into the Rockefeller family. Our clients have realistic budgets and champagne tastes. We have a service for every client whether their budget is $5,000 or $100,000.
Our Goal: To be there for you during your planning and wedding day without hijacking your plans. We simply enhance them and make sure they are realistic without changing the integrity of your design.
Our Philosphy on the Wedding Day: "It takes a village to raise a child". It is going to take a big team effort from all of your vendors working together to make sure your wedding day happens successfully. We are not church coordinators, reception event managers, DJ's, or photographers. Nor do any of them do our job. We all have our role and by communicating with one another, we really can have a fun day while getting the job done.
Our Service:Day of coordination is our most popular services. It is designed for the couples that want to plan their own wedding but not work on their wedding day.
This service really goes beyond just the day of the wedding. Throughout the course of your planning, we are your own personal wedding coach. Call and email us with your specific planning questions anytime. We already know the details of your design, family, and taste so the answers are specifically to you. Our day of coordination service can take away hours upon hours of internet research for problems and trying to figure out the wedding planning process and what to do next. The internet for brides is a huge planning tool. Use it to get inspired for design ideas, have a wedding website, and track your RSVP list. Leave the hard questions for us.
Our day of coordination service also includes face-to-face meetings. During these meetings, we can personalize vendor referrals to you, talk you through family or etiquette issues, help prioritize your to-do list and budget, offer lower cost alternatives, etc. We also assist you in developing a master timeline. How long does it take to put on 300 chair covers? How long will a receiving line take? How long should family pictures take? We can assist with any question. Finally, right before the big day, we attend your final reception and/or ceremony meetings. This is to ensure that you, your sites, and At Your Service Weddings are all on the same page.
On your wedding day, the sky is the limit with what we do. Think of it this way, if we are busy managing this beautiful event for an entire day, this would all be on your shoulders without us. That is time taken away from your friends and family to be working. With us there, you just focus on, well, getting married!
The following list doesnt even begin to describe the services we provide on the day of your wedding, but here are a few main highlights:
•At least two coordinators present for the big day
•Conduct rehearsal with your officiant
•Light decorating of ceremony and/or reception sites
•Be the point-of-contact for your vendors
•Handle issues that may arise
•Field questions from guests
•Make sure the day flows smoothly
•Give cues for walking down the aisle, grand entrance into the reception, toasts, etc.
•Make sure the reception is executed as planned
•Tear-down your décor at the end of the evening.
•Arrive on-site with our Wedding Day Emergency Kit which consists of over 150 items that we use to tackle any problem that arises.
We also own sets up linens and chair covers. Our inventory is available for client rental . In most cases, we can offer discounts for "bundling" together day of coordination and rentals.
What is the cost for day of coordination? Weddings are like snowflakes, they are all different. We simply can not just show up on the wedding day and start rolling out your plan without having had some knowledge of the plan before hand. It would be like you trying to pick out a gift for someone that you hadn't even met before. You don't know their personality so you are just guessing. And, we need to make sure your plan is realistic. We have started working with a client and asked them to send over the timeline they have started. On it we find that they have one person scheduled o put on 300 chair covers in fifteen minutes. Ah, not realistic. However, we will help you make it realistic. Even for day of coordination we work with our clients for about 40 hours even before the week of the wedding arrives. This would be answering their questions, creating the timeline, meetings, and other types of assistance to the couple. This enables us to make sure the train stayed on the tracks during their planning before we jump into the conductors seat. Also, it creates trust between us and the client so they feel comfortable turning over their baby to us on the wedding day and relaxing 100%. So, what is the cost? Give us a call so we can discuss the details of your snowflake.
At Your Service Weddings Action Shots
Still think you can do it all yourself? These clients did too until they met us and saw everything what we could do and did do for them. To read the complete reviews, click on the two links to the left.
THE BEST DECISION WE MADE!!! Absolutely worth every penny and by far the best decision we made in our wedding planning!!!....
Carolina & Cullin
11.12.11
Every couple needs At Your Service Weddings!
When my fiance and I started planning our wedding, we didn't think we would need a wedding coordinator - once we hired Lora we realized we couldn't survive without her!...
Britt & Matt
7.9.11
Best of the best!!
At the time I met Lora with At Your Service Weddings, I was trying to take on coordinating my own wedding. After a few minutes of talking to her (where I met her at a Bridal Fair) I realized that I had forgotten so many details. My husband and I had not planned or budgeted for a coordinator for our big day, but after meeting Lora, I insisted and she was worth every penny...
Gretchen & Dave
5.29.11
I was hesitant about utilizing a day of wedding coordinator. I knew most of my vendors personally and had my wedding at Calhoun Beach Club, where most details are planned out for you. Just because I knew I would be an anxious mess the day of, I thought it might be worth it to contact Lora at At Your Service Weddings. I could not be more grateful and happy that I decided to contact Lora. Not only did she meet with us several times before our wedding to create a detailed, minute to minute timeline or pick up and deliver anything that needed to be moved that day, she saved us in a moment of distress. Lora confirms with all vendors the week of, and in doing so, discovered a huge error that had occurred with our florist. It was the night before and she made herself available to correct the issue (we had not ordered enough centerpieces). Lora was...
Elisabeth & Andrew
7.30.11
Hourly Coordinating
Review from a 11.12.11 bride that used hourly consulting:
A service for everyone!
I met with At Your Service just to come up with a timeline. We planned our own wedding, and just wanted to sit down with someone to go over some questions we had and this was the only company that I could find that offered a sit-down service. Just in an hour they answered any questions we had! I would recommend this service to any bride that is planning the wedding and is at a 'breaking point'
_________________
In the Midwest, brides want to do their own planning. We offer hourly consulting to help brides "talk through" their ideas and the planning process. They visit us at any point in their planning. Right after the engagement, we can help to set you up with a plan, estimated budget, and timeline to accomplish your planning on your own. Sometimes, couples come in for routine "tune ups" to get questions crossed off their list fast. Or, couples visit us right before the wedding to make sure they haven't overlooked anything.
Couples are amazed at how much can be accomplished by sitting down with us for just an hour or two.
Cost: $25/hour
************************
Hourly coordinating can be a confusing service. We have several "perimeters" that you need to fit into to call it hourly coordinating. This is for our clients benefit also since 99% of our clients are not professional event planners. It is not the same service as our decorating service. With decorating, we come ready to crawl under tables running extension cords and climb trees to hang lanterns. Hourly coordinating is for a couple that needs someone to work with their vendors, get the ceremony started, assist the family in making sure the day is up and running in a professional manner. You are basically hiring a trained, experienced wedding planner but in a smaller role. However, hourly coordinating is not right for every bride. This is not a full day of coordination service nor are we able to walk in to your event and we just jump in. Sometimes we get calls that start with "I just need you to show up. I have done everything else". Sorry, that isn't possible. We can't walk into a plan that wasn't put together well and be expected to pull it together when it is already in motion. However, with a few phone conversations or a meeting to discuss your details and a peak at your paperwork, we can come up with a realistic game plan to work together. We are not able to accommodate every hourly coordinating request unfortunately. Sorry, we can't drive to Duluth for two hours on a Saturday in June. Please give us a call so we can discuss your details and see if we can come up with a game plan. We have a three hour minimum for hourly coordinating and a six hour maximum at $125 per hour.
**************************
Trust us, tearing down is the lasting thing going to be on your mind that night. You are going to be exhausted at the end of the evening. And, it will also be the last thing on your family’s mind also. Do you really want your drunk sister carrying rental vases out to the car at midnight? With this service, it includes our staff packaging up your tabletop décor, guest book, cake cutter, champagne flutes, etc. and delivering everything to you on the next day or that night. We take care of everything on top of your tables. Can you guess who our #1 client for this service is? Parents that have helped one child plan a wedding that now have a second child getting married. They don’t want to repeat the same mistake in thinking that they will be energetic enough to do it themselves at the end of the evening. Give yourself and your family the gift of hiring us to tear down your event décor.
Cost: $400-$800
*************************
We know that the beginning of your wedding day will be spent at the hair salon surrounded by your family and friends. After that, you will be off to meet the photographer and start your pictures. Who is going to be doing the set-up for your décor? We can! Our decorating set-up service provides you with peace of mind that the décor and ambiance of your wedding will be taken care of by professionals. Our staff will pick up your décor, deliver it to your site, and set it up. This would include décor such as: Card box, centerpieces, guest book, cake cutter, champagne flutes, favors, menu cards, table numbers, escort cards, and light table top décor. At your ceremony site, our decorators will lay out your aisle runner, petals, unity candle, guest book, programs, ceremony décor, etc. Our Decorating Set-Up Service takes the stress out of finding friends to do the transporting and decorating for you.
What in the world is a "rental collection"? This is a one of a kind collection that only At Your Service Weddings offers starting with a rental, non-floral centerpiece. If you already have your centerpiece designed, a collection may still interest you so keep reading.
If you are not wanting a floral centerpiece, you are left to build your own. Local places rent vases or you can purchase cheap ones. No local place rents objects like marbles, feathers, or faux flowers. We have twenty pre-made centerpieces designed to stop the hassle of running from Michaels to Michaels every Sunday with that coupon to get one bag of marbles. And, after the wedding, what are you going to do with 40 lbs. of marbles? If we do not currently have a centerpiece already designed that interests you, schedule an appointment to visit our design studio and you can build your own. Our per centerpiece rental fee includes delivery, set-up, and tear-down. We do not just rent the marbles or vases to you. We work with you on designing your own centerpiece then it magically appears on your reception tables. Most centerpieces rent for between $25-$45 per table. We can work with your budget to customize something smaller but then need to include a set-up/tear-down fee. All of our centerpieces are designed to be beautiful and trendy without fresh floral. However, if you would like just a few flowers added, we can assist with that also. For most of the centerpieces, we can make color changes or substitutions upon request. Additional changes may apply.
But, it gets better. Each centerpiece is part of its own collection. These are At Your Service Weddings designs. We did not just purchase bits and pieces off the internet. Some of the pieces are rented while others are for purchase. You do not need to purchase the entire collection. Each collection piece can be purchased or rented ala carte. For each of our designs, it is paired up with a coordinating linen, chair cover, cake cutter, ring bearer pillow, guest book, invitation, candy buffet, table numbers, program, hotel welcome baskets, and other items for a complete design. For non-Twin Cities residents you are welcome to buy our purchased items then take the design concept to a local rental company to work with. Are you excited to get started? Contact us for more information and forgive our terrible pictures. Professional pictures of the designs coming soon.
Each collection includes a coordinating:
******************************************************************
Build Your Own Collection
Beach Wedding Collection
Wine Wedding Collection
Winter Wonderland Collection
