Transparency and trust are at the heart of what we do. Here you’ll find answers to the most common inquiries about our services, process, and approach.
FAQ
What are your typical wedding budgets?
Our Full Service couples have budgets between $150,000 to $500,000+.
Our Partial Design + Planning couples typically have budgets between $120,000 - $200,000.
If you are interested in our Design-only services, we mainly recommend setting aside a thoughtful design and decor budget that aligns with your aesthetic goals.
We always advocate for successful budgets that support the client's wedding vision and guest count, and may give preliminary guidance on this on our first consultation call - regardless of the service booked.
If we book our Venue prior to Faye Fern Creative, how much do you recommend investing in our Venue, Catering, and Bar?
On average, we strongly recommend that couples spend no more than 30% to 40% of their budget on Venue, Catering, and Bar - though this amount may vary with much higher budgets.
For couples who have already secured their venue, we would love to explore how we can seamlessly integrate into your planning process from here.
Nonetheless, where possible, we - along with the majority of industry professionals - would recommend booking your Wedding Planner prior to your venue. By working in reverse (venue first, planner second), clients are missing out on critical guidance and expertise that might have protected them from budget challenges, contractual pitfalls, aesthetic mismatches, or production complications later in the process.
What is your package pricing?
Most of our design + planning packages are custom, based on the wedding's location, scope, guest count, potential setup needs, and team size required. As such, we have not found it helpful to list inaccurate numbers on our website. Please fill out the inquiry form on our Contact page and we'll get back to you within 24 to 48 business hours.
In the meantime, we recommend viewing our typical wedding budgets (found below). Our pricing is aligned fairly with couples within these budget ranges.
Budgets + Pricing
Do you offer Month of / Day of Coordination?
Faye Fern Creative is a full service design, planning, and production house. We do not offer day of/month of coordination - or any package without design services. However, we do accept 2 to 3 clients for Partial Design + Planning each year.
What makes your Partial Design + Planning service different?
Our Partial Design + Planning package is a design-focused service geared towards couples who prefer a more hands-on involvement in their wedding planning. We have found that certain non-design aspects of planning, such as catering, hair and makeup, hotel blocks, music, and entertainment, may be more naturally suited to direct involvement from the couple - and many even enjoy the process. On the other hand, most couples struggle with design and with creating a cohesive aesthetic. We produce design decks, mockups, renderings, and schematics. We also curate decor, select linens, and provide creative direction for florals, lighting, staging, draping, stationery, graphics, and all design vendors. Additionally, our team understands the production complexities of setting up and designing for a tented event, and creating custom builds. This is where we come in.
As well, while some other planning companies offer Partial Planning services that begin 3 to 4 months out from the wedding date, we only offer packages that service couples from the point of contract, and work with them from the very beginning. We have found that entering the process halfway through is a disservice to both the client and the planning team, and greatly impacts our ability to mitigate design or planning errors before they happen. It causes undue stress and additional work for both the couple and Planner in the final months before the wedding. This is why we encourage our couples to book their Planner as their first vendor, and assist with their venue search, even with a Partial Planning package.
General planning consultations and all design services (including event design, and booking/managing design vendors) begin from the point of contract - typically 8 to 12 months out or more. We will take over full management of all vendors 3 months out. As well, our team will be on site to style and manage your wedding day.
Where are you based?
We are a bicoastal company, based in California and New York. Our NYC in-house production team also works out of studios in Tribeca and Connecticut.
Services
Do you work with out-of-state clients?
Yes, all the time. Most years, more than half of our couples actually live in a different state than our team and/or their venue. Some have even lived halfway around the world, like Australia.
Do you plan destination weddings or only work in certain locations?
Our team travels anywhere worldwide.
Within the USA, many of our weddings also involve a destination element - whether they are out of state, or even within the same state (e.g. in New York - to the Hamptons, Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley, Catskills, Adirondacks; or in California - to Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, Ojai, Carmel, Sonoma/Napa).
For our Full Service clients, we provide destination concierge services and management for the guests and vendors traveling in.
Does your team speak any other languages?
We have team members who speak native/fluent Spanish, French and Italian, and conversational Mandarin, Teo Chew, and Hebrew. Please ask about having a Planner or Assistant on your team who speaks your preferred language if it will enhance your guest experience. However, if a dedicated translator is needed for any guest(s), we recommend hiring one for the Wedding Day, as the Planner will not be able to remain by your guests to translate all directions, vows, and speeches.
Do you recommend Full Service Planning for everyone?
In an ideal world, yes. This is especially true for six-figure++ weddings, due to the natural scope of production that accompanies higher budgets. That said, if your total wedding budget falls below our recommended budget range for Full Service (see Question #2 under the "Budgets + Pricing" section), we do not recommend Full Service Planning as the cost may eat up too much of your budget.
What if I only need Design services?
We have a limited number of Design-only client spots available each year. Our Design packages may either be strictly virtual, or include an on-site event styling team. They are best suited to couples who are working with a Planner/Coordinator that does not do any design work.
Please note that our design work is copyrighted, and the Planner/Coordinator must credit Faye Fern Creative as the Event Designer when posting any images or media from the wedding to avoid confusion.
How may I benefit from Consultation services?
COUPLES: Hiring a Full Service Planner is a luxury - and we completely get it. Our team understands that it's not doable for every wedding. If you could benefit from professional guidance in your design or planning process, are running into issues, need help developing a cohesive wedding aesthetic, or simply need a planner to review your work and offer feedback, Consultations might be for you.
VENUES/VENDORS: Separately, we also offer Consultations for venues/vendors looking to refine their brand and offerings for luxury clients. As planners who collaborate closely with our couples, we've seen what resonates and what doesn't. Our goal is to share that insight and help elevate your presence.
Have you worked at my venue?
There is a chance we may have worked at your venue but even if we have not, I promise you that it will have very little impact on our ability to plan or design your wedding - only increase our excitement for creating something special in a new space. As destination planners, we work at fresh venues most of the time and are experienced in the techniques and logistics of working at a new venue. Most of our best work on our portfolio was produced at venues we had never worked at before.
Likewise, we do not believe that having worked at a venue should be a strong factor in the selection of your photographer, videographer, florist, etc. Our most trusted vendor partners are experts. They are adept at reliably executing beautiful work anywhere. We've seen it.
Process
Do you work with a list of preferred vendors?
Our vendor recommendations are specifically tailored to each couple and their aesthetic, venue, and budget. While we only ever recommend reliable and experienced vendors who we trust, our goal is to pair couples with their best fit for style, communication, personality, and cost.
We have also collaborated with couples on selecting certain vendors they may have their hearts set on (e.g. photographer, hair and makeup, band, etc.). The main instances we have rejected a couple's suggestion is when the proposed vendor has provided negative experiences for our past couples/vendor team or failed to deliver according to expectations. We wholeheartedly share your goal of a successful event, and are transparent about any element that presents significant obstacles.
How far in advance should we book your services?
Most of our Full Service couples book us between 1 to 2 years out, while most of our Partial Planning couples book us 8 months to 1.5 years out.
While we have designed and planned weddings in as little as 4 months, our client spot availability - particularly for peak seasons - tends to book up far in advance. Many choice venues and wedding dates also get snapped up 1.5 to 2+ years out.
That said, feel free to inquire - regardless of how far out you are.
Can you speak to your experience with multicultural or cultural weddings?
The Faye Fern Creative team are specialists in executing refined weddings that weave imaginative artistry with cultural traditions. Our designs blend heritage with modern execution that holds meaning to the couple, and celebrates their individuality.
Some of the extraordinary weddings we've planned over the years include: Persian, Indian, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Jewish, Singaporean, Indonesian, Filipino, Burmese, Lebanese, Mexican, Bolivian, Puerto Rican, Caribbean, and Nigerian celebrations.
Creative Director, Natalie Faye Fern, grew up in Singapore before moving to Australia, and then Massachusetts, New York, and California. She has also traveled to 30+ countries, which has deeply influenced her personal, stylistic, and cultural perspectives. As an Asian American, she inherently understands the deep and complex role families may play in certain cultural/multicultural weddings and is experienced at navigating the dynamics.
How many hours do you spend on each wedding?
While each project is unique and we offer unlimited communications, our team invests between 400 to 600 hours of work on average for each full service wedding.
