Full-service, partial, and day-of coordination for Southwest Florida couples who want to be a guest at their own wedding — not the project manager.
Every quote, vendor decision, timeline change, and payment in one place. No more hunting through email threads.
Spanish-speaking abuela who can't follow the rehearsal? She'll follow ours. Multicultural ceremonies coordinated in both languages.
We cap at 18 weddings a year. The week of yours, you are not competing with three other brides for our attention.
Pricing is the floor — most clients customize within a tier. Click any package to start a conversation.
Founding rates locked at booking through the first 25 clients or December 2026, whichever comes first. Events that exceed standard scope (above 150 guests, multi-day, off-site builds, multi-venue, VIP/media presence) are quoted using a documented adjustment matrix — see the full methodology on our pricing page.
30-min call. Vibe check. We'll be honest if we're not the right fit.
Within 72 hours. Written, itemized, no surprises.
Portal opens. We work the list together — at whatever pace feels right.
You show up. We handle everything else. You enjoy your wedding.
A comprehensive FAQ that addresses the seven concern categories real brides have — voiced and unvoiced. Cost, capability, fit, process, risk, family, and identity. No marketing-speak.
Our published wedding pricing starts at $850 for Day-of Coordination (founding rate), $2,400 for Partial Planning, and $4,800 for Full-Service. Bespoke Concierge engagements typically run $12,000–$25,000+ for events that exceed standard scope. Standard rates apply after our founding-rate period ends (December 2026 or our 25th booked client, whichever comes first).
Our complete pricing matrix, with founding rates, standard rates, and the documented adjustment methodology for events that exceed standard scope, lives on our pricing page. We're one of the few SWFL planners who publish pricing openly because we think you should know what to expect before you ever pick up the phone.
What's included depends on your tier — Day-of focuses on execution, Partial includes vendor sourcing and design support across the engagement, Full-Service handles planning from the start, and Bespoke Concierge adds extended scope and a larger day-of team.
Each proposal includes a detailed line-item breakdown of inclusions and exclusions specific to your engagement. Common items not included in any tier: bachelorette parties, honeymoon planning, vendor pass-through costs (caterer, florist, photographer fees), travel beyond 30 miles from Cape Coral, and hours beyond your tier's on-site coverage.
If you have a specific question about whether something is or isn't included, ask during the discovery call. We'd rather you know upfront than be surprised later.
Pricing reflects scope. A 75-guest wedding at an established venue requires meaningfully less coordination than a 250-guest wedding at a private estate with multi-day events. Charging both at the same rate would either undercharge the complex one or overcharge the simple one.
The adjustments are documented on our pricing page so you can see exactly what triggers higher rates. Same methodology applies to every client. We don't quote different prices to different brides for the same scope.
Yes. Standard wedding payment schedule is 50% retainer at signing, 25% at 60 days before the wedding, 25% at 14 days before. Bespoke Concierge engagements use a 35/25/25/15 schedule across the longer engagement timeline.
For brides with specific cash-flow situations, we can sometimes structure custom payment plans. Ask during the proposal stage if you need flexibility.
Founding rates are real. They reflect significant savings — typically 25–30% — off our standard rates. The "catch" isn't hidden; it's transparent: we're a brand-new business, and our founding clients become part of our portfolio. Their events get documented (with permission), their reviews build our reputation, and their referrals become our future business.
Founding clients also get our undivided attention because we have limited Year 1 capacity and are choosing each early client deliberately. That's not nothing — it's actually one of the most valuable parts of being a founding client.
The arrangement is honest in both directions. You get professional service at reduced rates. We build the foundation our business is built on. Both sides win.
It happens. Real life intervenes — job changes, family situations, market conditions. If your budget shifts, we work with you to adjust scope where possible.
What's harder to adjust: the planner fee itself, which is locked at signing. What's easier to adjust: vendor selections, design scope, guest count, and event-day choices. We can often help you reduce overall event spend significantly without changing what you're paying us.
We can give you the general landscape but won't quote specific competitor pricing. SWFL wedding planning generally runs $1,000–$2,000 for day-of, $2,500–$4,500 for partial planning, and $4,500–$10,000+ for full-service. Most established planners don't publish their prices openly, which makes direct comparison difficult.
Where we sit: our founding rates are at the lower end of the market, and our standard rates will be in the middle of the market once founding pricing ends. We're not the cheapest option in SWFL and don't want to be — quality coordination requires real investment. We're also not trying to be the most expensive.
Vendor costs vary enormously by guest count, venue choice, and aesthetic preferences. A useful framework:
These ranges include venue, catering, photography, videography, florals, music, attire, stationery, transportation, and miscellaneous costs. They don't include the planner fee. We help you build a realistic budget framework during the discovery call.
Monarch Celebrations launched in 2026. We're a brand-new business, and we're not going to pretend otherwise. Jessica, the founder, has been the family and community organizer for years — coordinating church events, family celebrations, quinceañeras, and milestone gatherings — but Monarch Celebrations as a professional business is genuinely new.
If you need to see fifty completed weddings before you'll trust a planner, we may not be the right fit yet. If you're more interested in finding a planner who's choosing each early client deliberately, who has limited Year 1 capacity, and whose attention isn't divided across many active clients, we'd love to talk.
Our portfolio is being actively built. As of 2026, what we have is a styled shoot we produced specifically to demonstrate our aesthetic and approach, plus the founding-client weddings and events being documented as they happen.
What we don't have: stock photos pretending to be our work, AI-generated wedding images, or borrowed portfolio shots from other planners. Many new planners use those shortcuts. We won't.
The portfolio page on our website shows what's real, with honest captions distinguishing styled shoots from real client events. If you're considering booking us, you're seeing the portfolio at its most modest. By the end of 2026, it will look very different.
If your venue is in SWFL, possibly. Jessica has informal experience at many SWFL venues through the family and community events she's coordinated over the years, even though Monarch Celebrations as a brand is new.
We always do a thorough venue walkthrough before the wedding regardless of prior experience, build relationships with venue staff before the event, and review the venue's standard operating practices. We won't pretend to know a venue we don't.
If your venue is one we haven't worked at before, we'll be straightforward about it during the discovery call. Most SWFL venues are similar enough operationally that planner experience at one transfers reasonably well to others. Where it doesn't — distinctive venues with unusual logistics — we'll be especially diligent in walkthrough preparation.
We can answer this specifically once you tell us who you're considering. We're actively building vendor relationships in SWFL and have partnerships forming across the major vendor categories. Some vendors we've worked with directly; others we know by reputation; others would be new to us.
If you're considering a vendor we haven't worked with, that's not necessarily a problem — we're great at building new vendor relationships quickly. We'll be honest about which vendors we know well, which we know in passing, and which would be new to us.
As founding-rate clients complete their events through 2026, we'll be able to provide specific references. Until then, we can offer:
By mid-2026, we expect to have multiple founding-client wedding references available. We'll be transparent about what's available and what isn't.
Many weddings have unusual elements — multi-cultural family blends, unique venues, specialty traditions, complex family dynamics. The honest answer: we may have direct experience with the specific element you're describing, or we may not. We'll tell you which.
What we can promise: we'll do thorough preparation, consult with relevant cultural or religious authorities if needed, build appropriate vendor relationships, and bring our coordination experience to bear on the specifics. What we won't do: pretend to expertise we don't have. If your wedding requires expertise we genuinely don't have, we'll tell you and recommend planners who do.
Jessica is pursuing the Association of Bridal Consultants (ABC) Certification through 2026, which is the most widely recognized professional certification in the wedding planning industry. Beyond formal certification, our preparation includes industry-standard tools (Aisle Planner for client and vendor management), insurance (general liability, $1M coverage), and the operational infrastructure that professional event coordination requires.
If credentials matter to you specifically, ask during the discovery call. We're not going to inflate what we have.
Yes. We carry general liability insurance with $1M coverage. A Certificate of Insurance (COI) is available within 24 hours of request, which is standard for events at most professional SWFL venues.
If your venue requires additional insurance — increased coverage limits, additional insured language, or specialty insurance — we coordinate that during the engagement. The cost of any required additional coverage is passed through with a 15% admin fee.
Within 24 hours: a welcome email confirming next steps and timeline.
Within 48 hours: a welcome packet with kickoff materials and your first homework (vision documentation, family stakeholder mapping, budget conversation prompts).
Within 7 days: your Aisle Planner client portal is set up with custom checklist for your engagement timeline, branded for our partnership, and ready for collaboration.
Within 14 days: your strategic foundation session — a 60–90 minute kickoff conversation (longer for Full-Service and Bespoke) where we capture vision, document constraints, and start building the master timeline.
Then we begin executing the engagement based on your tier's specific phases.
It depends on your tier and the engagement stage.
During active planning (months 1–6): Weekly digest emails summarizing what's been done and what's coming. Bi-weekly check-in calls or in-person meetings as needed. Aisle Planner messaging for asynchronous communication.
During mid-engagement (months 6–9): Similar cadence with increased volume around vendor selection peaks.
During final countdown (last 60 days): More frequent communication. Weekly calls. Daily Aisle Planner activity. Texts as appropriate.
During wedding week: Continuous availability. Multiple touchpoints daily.
For Bespoke Concierge clients: dedicated communication channel with a 4-hour response window during business days. For all clients: standard response time is within 24 hours during business days. Urgent issues get faster response.
Aisle Planner is the industry-standard client and vendor management platform built specifically for wedding planning. We use it because it's better than email-and-spreadsheet improvisation, which is how many planners run their engagements.
What it gives you: a branded client portal where your timeline lives, your vendor list is current, your design board is collaborative, your budget is tracked, your guest list is managed, and your documents are stored in one place. You can log in at any time to see exactly where things stand.
What it gives us: shared visibility with you so we're never out of sync, vendor coordination tools, document templates, and the operational infrastructure that turns a 12-month engagement into something organized rather than chaotic.
You'll get a walkthrough during the kickoff session so you know how to use it.
Jessica is at every wedding. She's the lead coordinator on every engagement. Our day-of teams include assistants for larger or more complex events, but Jessica is always there as the primary point of contact for the bride, family, and vendors.
This is one of the benefits of a small founding team: you're hiring Jessica, and you're getting Jessica. Not a junior coordinator the firm assigned to you while the senior planner works on a higher-profile event.
Jessica leads day-of coordination personally. For Day-of and Partial Planning engagements, it's typically Jessica plus one assistant. For Full-Service and Bespoke, the day-of team is larger — Jessica plus 1–2 assistants and possibly a runner.
The team's role: vendor management, timeline execution, family coordination, crisis triage, vendor payment distribution, cleanup oversight. Your role: being a bride, not a coordinator.
Easy to add, harder to remove.
Adding: à la carte services and add-ons can be incorporated mid-engagement. Common adds include rehearsal dinner coordination ($400), additional on-site hours ($125/hour), or extra assistant for large events ($250). We'll quote any addition transparently before it's added.
Removing: scope reductions are possible but limited because we're already executing against the contracted scope. If significant scope reduction is needed, we'll work with you to find a fair adjustment.
Absolutely include your partner. We default to working with whoever the primary planning point of contact is, but we welcome partners at any meeting they want to attend.
What we observe: about 30% of our partners are deeply involved in planning, about 50% are involved in major decisions (venue, photographer, vows, design direction), and about 20% prefer to delegate fully to their partner. We adapt to whatever pattern works for your relationship.
Yes, with full enthusiasm and competence. Our coordination approach doesn't change based on the gender composition of the couple — we focus on what matters most to you both, design around your specific vision, and adapt traditional wedding elements to fit your relationship rather than imposing them.
If you've encountered planners who treated same-sex weddings as a special case to be navigated rather than a celebration to be honored, we're a different experience. Welcome.
Yes. SWFL has many interfaith couples — Catholic-Protestant, Jewish-Christian, Christian-Hindu, secular-religious, and many other combinations. We've coordinated services that integrate multiple traditions thoughtfully.
What we do: research the specific traditions involved, build relationships with relevant officiants and cultural advisors, design ceremonies that honor both backgrounds without forcing artificial blending, and coordinate the logistical complexity (multi-officiant ceremonies, dual-language elements, dietary considerations across traditions).
What we don't do: pretend that interfaith ceremonies are simple, dismiss family concerns about tradition, or impose our own preferences about how blending should work.
Yes. Jessica is fluent in Spanish and English (she's Cuban-American). Bilingual coordination is offered at no additional cost across every engagement. This isn't a marketing claim — it's part of who Jessica is and how we work.
Practically: any meeting can be conducted in English, Spanish, or both depending on who's in the room. Family members who prefer Spanish can communicate with Jessica directly. Documents can be provided in both languages. Vendor communications can be translated when needed. Cultural elements (vals coordination, padrino/madrina acknowledgments, last doll ceremony for quinceañeras) are handled with cultural fluency, not just linguistic translation.
What this means for Hispanic families: you don't have to translate for your mother, your abuela, or your padrinos. Jessica talks to them directly in their preferred language. Your role as the bride is to be a bride, not a translator.
Yes. SWFL has substantial bilingual vendor capacity, particularly in photography, music (DJs, mariachis), catering (Cuban, Mexican, Latin American cuisine), and stationery. We have direct relationships with bilingual vendors and can source them for any category.
If your wedding includes specific cultural traditions — Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Colombian, or other Latin American — we can recommend vendors who specialize in those traditions rather than generic vendors trying to adapt.
Possibly. We have direct experience with Cuban-American family traditions, working knowledge of Mexican and Puerto Rican wedding customs, and willingness to research any tradition we don't already know.
Tell us specifically what's important to you and your family during the discovery call. We'll be honest about what we know, what we'll learn, and what we'd recommend bringing in cultural advisors for.
Padrinos and madrinas are family members who sponsor specific elements of the wedding (commonly: bride's bouquet, ring bearer pillow, unity candle, lazo, arras, music, cake). We coordinate the padrino/madrina structure formally — including the formal acknowledgment letters, contribution tracking, and proper acknowledgment during the ceremony and reception.
This is where having a bilingual planner who understands Hispanic traditions matters operationally, not just culturally. The padrino/madrina structure has logistical complexity (multiple sponsors, separate invoicing, formal acknowledgment timing) that planners unfamiliar with the tradition often handle awkwardly. We don't.
With care and structure. We work with you to identify which decisions are yours alone, which involve your partner, and which involve broader family input. We then design the planning process around that decision structure.
For families with strong input dynamics — typical for Hispanic families, Catholic families, and families with significant financial contribution — we often work directly with parents on specific elements (mass coordination with the priest, padrino/madrina logistics, family meal planning) so the bride doesn't have to be the constant intermediary.
For families with conflict dynamics — divorced parents, complicated step-family relationships, estranged relatives — we adapt our communication and seating approaches to minimize friction.
It happens — almost always, actually. Wedding planning surfaces every latent dynamic between mothers and daughters, even healthy ones.
Our role: we're not mediators or therapists, but we are skilled at navigating the practical implications of family disagreements. We can offer our professional perspective on what's typical or atypical, recommend compromise solutions that both sides can accept, and absorb some of the family pressure so it doesn't all land on you.
What we won't do: take sides, undermine your mother's authority in front of her, or make you feel like family disagreement reflects badly on you. Family complexity is normal. We work with it, not against it.
Often yes, when it helps you. Many of our brides explicitly delegate certain communication to us — vendor questions parents have, payment coordination if parents are contributing financially, cultural element planning for traditional families. We become the buffer that protects the bride from being the constant family interface.
We respect privacy boundaries. What you share with us privately doesn't get shared with family. What family shares with us privately stays appropriate to share.
This is one of the most common situations we navigate. Our approach:
What we'd never do: pretend the dynamic doesn't exist or assume it'll work itself out. Acknowledged complexity gets navigated; ignored complexity becomes wedding-day disasters.
This is a real and common conflict. Family involvement is often driven by love, but love combined with strong opinions can become overwhelming.
We work with you to set boundaries — what you want their input on vs. what you want to handle yourself — and then we help enforce those boundaries. Sometimes that means we field family questions before they reach you. Sometimes that means we politely redirect family suggestions ("That's such a thoughtful idea — let me bring it to the bride and circle back"). Sometimes that means we coach you on direct conversations with family members.
What we don't do: let family steamroll you. Your wedding, your decisions. Our role is to protect that even when family pressure is intense.
The honest answer: it depends on what you've agreed with them, and we work within whatever structure you've established. Some families operate "they pay, they decide" structures. Others operate "they pay, you decide" structures. Most operate something in between.
If financial arrangements come with decision-making expectations, we want to know that during the discovery call so we can navigate it appropriately. If you want our help negotiating those expectations with your parents, we can support that conversation.
What we won't do: pretend the financial arrangement doesn't matter. It always matters, and we'd rather acknowledge it than dance around it.
SWFL hurricane season runs roughly June through November, with peak risk August–October. Weddings in those months come with real weather risk that we plan for explicitly.
Our standard hurricane protocol:
If a hurricane strikes and your wedding has to postpone, we coordinate the postponement without additional planning fees, work with vendors to transfer deposits when possible, and rebuild the timeline for the new date.
What we can't do: control the weather, refund your vendor deposits if vendors won't refund them, or guarantee that postponement will be straightforward in extreme cases. Weather risk is real for any SWFL wedding, and we're transparent about it.
This is one of the things you hire a coordinator to prevent — and to handle if it happens despite our best efforts.
Prevention: vendor confirmation cascade at 14, 7, and 3 days out; backup vendor contacts identified for critical categories; vendor relationships built before your wedding day.
Response if it happens: we activate the backup, manage the moment (you may not even know there was an issue), and follow up with the original vendor for partial refund or breach-of-contract handling.
In Jessica's coordination work to date, this has happened a small handful of times. None resulted in a wedding-day disaster — that's exactly why coordinators exist. We don't talk about specific past incidents publicly because it's not fair to vendors who had off days, but we're prepared.
Detailed in the contract. The summary:
If you cancel:
If we cancel (very rare — only for force majeure like serious illness):
Postponement (much more common than cancellation):
We work with you. Family emergencies happen, and we don't penalize them. Our standard postponement protocol applies regardless of cause. What we can control (planner schedule), we'll move flexibly. What we can't control (vendor contracts, venue policies), we'll help you negotiate.
For elderly grandparent or seriously ill family member situations specifically, we recommend discussing risk during the discovery call so we can build appropriate contingencies into vendor contracts upfront.
In a small founding firm, this is a real concern brides deserve a real answer to.
Our protocol: a designated backup coordinator (vetted, relationships established, briefed on every active engagement) steps in if Jessica is unavailable. The backup coordinator has access to all engagement materials through Aisle Planner and meets with Jessica regularly to stay current on active weddings.
This has not been activated in our short history, and we hope it never is. But we don't want to pretend it can't happen. Solo planners who don't have backup arrangements are a real risk; we've designed around that risk explicitly.
Your contract is for wedding coordination services — not a contract to get married. If you decide not to proceed with the wedding, our standard cancellation policy applies (retainer non-refundable, subsequent payments partially refundable based on work completed).
This is a more common situation than people realize, and we handle it with discretion. Our concern is your wellbeing, not pressuring you forward.
No. We commit to no hidden fees. What we publish, what we quote, what your contract specifies — that's what you pay. Period.
What might add to your total over time:
None of these are hidden. All are documented in your contract or quoted before being added. Surprise fees are not how we operate.
Depends on your tier and timeline.
Day-of Coordination: Book 6–12 months before your wedding. Many brides book 12+ months out for popular dates and venues, but our minimum useful engagement window is about 45 days.
Partial Planning: Book 6–9 months before your wedding for standard timeline. Earlier is fine.
Full-Service: Book 9–12 months before your wedding for standard timeline. Earlier is great. We're flexible on later if scope and timeline allow.
Bespoke Concierge: Book 12–18 months before your wedding for the full Bespoke experience. Compressed timelines incur adjustment fees.
The bottom line: book whenever you've decided to hire a planner. We'll figure out what tier fits your timeline.
We're usually on-site 10–14 hours depending on tier and event scope. A typical timeline:
Our published on-site coverage is the minimum guaranteed. We don't leave a wedding before it's done. Additional hours are billed if your event runs significantly beyond standard scope.
The day-of timeline is the minute-by-minute schedule of everything happening on your wedding day, distributed to every vendor and your bridal party 7 days before the wedding.
It includes vendor arrival times, ceremony processional sequence, photography moments, reception flow, vendor breakdown timing, transportation logistics, and contingency cues. Every vendor needs the same timeline to execute in coordination; without it, vendors operate independently and chaos compounds.
We build the timeline in consultation with you, your partner, and your vendors over the engagement. The final version is what makes a smoothly-executed wedding possible.
Depends on tier and event scope.
Day-of Coordination: Jessica + 0–1 assistant for events under 100 guests; +1 assistant for events 100–150 guests.
Partial Planning: Jessica + 1 assistant for most events.
Full-Service: Jessica + 1 assistant for most events; +2 assistants for events 150+ guests.
Bespoke Concierge: Jessica + 2 assistants + 1 runner standard. Larger teams for events above 250 guests.
If you want a larger team, additional assistants are available at $250 each.
Mostly marketing terminology, but here's the honest distinction in how we use them:
Coordinator: Focused primarily on day-of execution and final-month logistics. The bride did most of the planning herself. The coordinator makes sure it all happens correctly. Our Day-of Coordination tier.
Planner: Involved across the engagement, sourcing vendors, developing design, managing the operational layer of planning. The bride still drives decisions but delegates the operational work. Our Partial Planning and Full-Service tiers.
Most companies use "wedding planner" as the catch-all term and then differentiate by tier. We do the same. The label matters less than the actual scope, which is detailed in our packages.
A few things consistently:
We'll surface anything else specific to your event during the discovery call so nothing surprises you.
Aisle Planner shows you. Your custom timeline includes monthly milestones with specific tasks assigned to either you or us. Weekly digest emails preview what's coming. Our check-in calls at major decision points keep you oriented.
The point of hiring a planner is that you don't have to track everything yourself. We do that for both of us. You focus on the decisions that need your input. We handle everything else.
Through our website (the Schedule a Free Consultation button on any page), by emailing Jessica@monarchcelebrations.com, or by phone if you have our number.
The call is free, takes 30 minutes, and has no obligation. We'll talk through your event, identify which package fits, and surface any factors that affect pricing — so when the proposal arrives in your inbox 72 hours later, there are no surprises.
A 30-minute conversation structured roughly as:
We listen more than we talk. The point isn't to sell you on us — it's to understand if we're the right fit. If we're not, we'll tell you and recommend planners who might be.
Nothing required, but helpful if you have:
If you don't have these yet, the call is still useful. We'll work with whatever stage of clarity you're in.
That's completely fine. The discovery call is also useful for brides who are still figuring out whether they need a planner, what tier fits their event, or whether SWFL is the right location. We're happy to talk even if you're months away from a decision.
If we're a good fit, we'll send a proposal you can review at your own pace. There's no pressure to decide on the call.
30 days from the date sent. If you need more time, ask — we can extend with new pricing if founding rates have changed.
After 30 days, we may have new clients we've taken in your timeframe, so we can't guarantee availability.
Possibly. Our standard service area is within 30 miles of Cape Coral. Beyond that, we can travel for events at a documented mileage rate ($0.65/mile) plus lodging if overnight is required, plus a 10% complexity adjustment.
We've coordinated events in greater SWFL (Naples, Fort Myers, Bonita Springs, Sanibel, Captiva, Marco Island, Punta Gorda) without travel adjustment. For events outside SWFL — central Florida, the east coast, true destination weddings — we can sometimes accommodate but will be honest about whether we're the right fit.
For destinations outside Florida, we'd typically refer you to a destination planning specialist rather than try to extend our scope inappropriately.
That's a perfectly fine outcome. Not every planner is right for every bride, and we'd rather you hire someone who's a great fit than feel locked into us.
If we're not the right fit, we'll tell you during or shortly after the discovery call. We'll also recommend planners who might be better matches based on your specific situation. We have working relationships with several SWFL planners and trust their work.
The wedding planning industry is small in SWFL. We'd rather support a healthy ecosystem than try to capture every prospect. The bride who isn't right for us today might refer someone perfect for us later.
Thank you for reading this. The fact that you're still here means you take wedding planning seriously, and that's exactly the kind of bride we love working with.
If you have questions this FAQ didn't answer, the discovery call is the best place to ask. We've designed every element of how we work — from transparent pricing to honest portfolio framing to the deliberate slow growth of our founding-rate period — around respect for the brides who hire us.
You deserve a planner who's straightforward with you. We try to be that.