Meet the Designer: Tekila

She is the Owner of A Little Extra Help, a planning & floral design company, where she has been designing and producing events for her discriminating clientele. Her design sensibility and approachable style draw clients to her. She has traveled to numerous cities, states and to the country of Jamaica with her clients, bringing their vision to life, creating lifelong memories and having a great time through the process. 

Why hire a wedding Planner?

A planner will not only ensure that you enjoy your engagement and remain stress-free in the planning process, but they'll also enable you to be a guest at your own wedding!  The average wedding can take more than 200 hours to plan!  A wedding planner will help save you time searching for vendors by guiding you to wedding professionals who match your vision and budget.  A planner isn't there to make decisions for you, but to guide you, enhance your decisions by making recommendations, and help you make informed choices.  A range of services is usually available, but most planners will create a timeline for the entire day, manage the arrival and set-up of all vendors, and place wedding favors, escort cards, guest books, and other detail items in the location where the bride and groom have chosen.  They'll also organize the bridal party and families for the ceremony and grand entrance, cue the processional, and communicate with the DJ, photographers, and banquet captain to ensure the timing of all events.  Because of their knowledge and industry experience, a wedding planner can help you create a budget and vision, negotiate contracts, provide etiquette advice, organize your vendors, and handle all the behind-the-scenes details and any emergencies that may arise on your wedding day.  This way you can relax, have fun, and enjoy celebrating with your family and friends!

I already have an onsite venue coordinator; do I still need a wedding planner?

An onsite or venue coordinator is an asset to both you and your wedding planner.  They work for the venue and have seen many weddings at their location.  They have the knowledge to answer any questions you have about the venue such as the set-up and layout, limitations, and services they provide.  However, their services end there as it is not their job to handle all of the details or anything unrelated to the venue.  A wedding planner is there just for YOU!  They coordinate every little detail, not just the items related to the location. They communicate with all vendors, set up your decor items, cue your processional, make sure everything happens on time, and handle any emergencies.  We'd love to work with your venue coordinator, catering manager, banquet captain, and/or onsite contact because we believe that by working together we can better ensure that your wedding day will be everything you imagined and more!

What should I look for in a wedding planner?

Of course you want to look for someone who is organized, professional, and experienced, but you should also look for someone who makes you feel at ease and you like to be around.  You'll be spending a great deal of time working with them so it's important to meet them in person and consider their personality, communication style, and perspective to ensure that you are comfortable with them.  Always make sure to sign a contract (this goes for all wedding professionals...not just planners).

Can we afford a wedding planner?

Think of a wedding planner as insurance for your wedding day.  After all the money you've spent, a wedding coordinator will be there to ensure that everything goes as planned.  You won't be able to oversee the set-up of your venue, so a wedding planner will do it for you.  They'll assist with the set-up of your decor items and ensure that your vendors arrive on time and carry out their agreements properly.  Furthermore, wedding planners can actually save you money by helping you to avoid making costly mistakes, by getting you discounts with vendors they've built relationships with, and by offering more cost effective alternatives and solutions!

Interview with Tekila

I would like to share some questions I have received from potential clients during the interview process:

Meet the Designer: Tekila Frazier

She is the Owner of A Little Extra Help, a planning and floral design company, where she has been designing and producing events for her discriminating clientele. Her design sensibility and approachable style draws clients to her. She has traveled to numerous cities, states, and to the country of Jamaica with her clients, bringing their vision to life, creating lifelong memories, and having a great time through the process.

I would like to share some questions she has received from potential clients during the interview process:

How long have you been doing weddings? What inspired you to start A Little Extra Help?

I started A Little Extra Help in May of 2000. I have been around showers, parties, and weddings since I was an adolescent. I was inspired by attending wedding events at my church, as well as family and friends functions. I would be the person who would be asked to help plan the wedding, be a hostess, or help the brides get dressed at weddings. I have always loved weddings.

My enthusiasm for anything wedding, my organizational skills, and my ability to stay calm when a crisis happens, makes me an asset to couples planning their weddings.

Although I attended several weddings before I started my business, I saw a necessity for couples who had the desire for, but lacked, the tools to plan their wedding and someone to assist in bringing their vision to life. When I talked to people about weddings, there were times when the stories about their experiences were filled with horrible encounters of their weddings falling apart and vendors not being professional. I wanted to create a company for couples, where they could trust the professionals to do just what they said they would do and more. I want to help build families one couple at a time. So that we could have homes where there are loving and married mothers and fathers who would be examples to their children.

What are your services?

At A Little Extra Help weddings are our first love, but we also can assist you in planning other social events if you are looking to host a couture event.

We offer everything from full service planning to hourly consulting. We also offer full service floral and event design. These services include centerpieces, table linen, chair covers, ceremony décor, wedding party personal flowers, lighting, draping, invitations, wedding accessories, etc.

Who are your ideal brides?

My ideal bride is newly engaged and has started to think about what she wants for her wedding. She knows she wants a tailored dream wedding, but she isn’t sure where to begin. She has limited time due to work and family commitments and therefore, values having a professional guide her through the process, providing ideas and suggestions along the way. She has not booked with any vendors just yet and prefers to make informed decisions under the guidance of her planner. She is ready to invest in making her dream wedding, the wedding that she wants and deserves, and wants to delegate all her desires to a professional who can make all her dreams come true in the process. Most importantly, she wants to enjoy her engagement instead of stressing 24/7 about every last wedding day detail.

If she is somewhat ahead in her planning process, there are no worries. We have packages for brides who would have started the process but would like you help too.

Who is not going to benefit from your help?

I absolutely love working with brides and love the relationship I build with my couples and their families throughout the process. I especially enjoy working with brides who think outside the box and who don’t want their wedding to feel “cookie-cutter” or like a version of someone else’s wedding.

It is critical, however, that we be a good match for each other if we are going to effectively collaborate on your wedding day. If you are a Bridezilla, tend to see things negatively, don’t know how to delegate, and/or do not see the value of hiring a wedding planner or floral designer, then we will not be a good fit. It is important that you genuinely want our help in order for us to assist you in the way that you deserve.

I believe that since you’re here on my site, you’re ready to find out how to make your vision of your dream wedding into reality. And I’m here to help you do that, by making your wedding desires our own.

Will my wedding still be about me and my ideas?

Each wedding is unique and represents you as a couple. I schedule a dream session with all of my clients because I want to know what your wedding looks like to you. It is about your ideas and what you want for that day.  You and what you want will always be the main focus.  You tell me your ideas, and together we will figure out how to make them into reality - and you are always the final decision-maker. My job is to facilitate and assist where needed, and represent you and your interests. I’m here as an added resource and facilitator.

 What can I expect at the complimentary “dream” consultation?

This is a free, one hour, meet and greet where you're invited to get to know us better and see if we'll be a good fit! Please bring photos, color ideas, guest count (with your written list of guest), if you have any dream venues that you like, and what ever you have to share your dreams with us. We can't wait to hear all about your wedding plans. You are welcome to ask as many questions as you like!  We'll tell you about what services we can provide for you on your big day. Should you decide that we're a good match, we'll send you a contract and have you pay an initial retainer to reserve your wedding date.  Then, we'll get started planning your special day!

I love what you offer, but I am not sure I can afford or need a wedding planner.

What is great about our services is that we can customize them to meet your needs! We have payment plans available for our planning, floral design, and all inclusive collections.  We can help with some or with all of your planning or vendor needs. A Little Extra Help is tailored to be just that for you, A Little Extra Help!!!!!!

Do you take credit cards and can we have a payment plan?

A 25% deposit is necessary to get started. We offer the convenience of monthly payments for the remainder of the fee. You can pay by cash, check, or money order. We accept all major credit cards through PayPal. I will send you an invoice before your payments are due, which you can pay online.

Do you schedule more than one wedding a day and do you have other staff that assist you?

I do not schedule myself to be at more than one wedding per day to make sure I give your wedding all the attention that it deserves. We do have other team members and designers who assist with additional events, if we take a request for more than one event per day. It is our goal to only coordinator one wedding per day, but we offer floral design services to more than one client per day. I have, bring in, assistants who are available to help me for events, and I make sure that they are informed and prepared with all the details for the wedding or event that we are working on to ensure that you, as our client, will receive all the services that we are providing for your special day.

 Who else work with You?

 I work with Angelica Rose. Angelica is my right hand in floral design. We have worked together for the past three years on a variety of different projects. She is affectionately called Preston Bailey because she is one of the industry leading professionals, who shares with Preston Bailey, a vision for upscale and couture style, and amazingly ironic, they are both natives of the country of Panama.

I have been blessed to have family support from my mother, niece, and a few women that God has placed in my life to help me reach my goals. I have some men in my life who are strong supports and are also helping hands when we, ladies, need to move heavy containers, boxes, tables, stacks of chairs etc. I won’t name call but each and every one of you knows who you are.

I work with a list of very exquisite professionals who help me make each event a success. They range from cake bakers, disc jockeys, photographers, videographers, officiants, beverages services, etc. When you select A Little Extra Help you get the best of the best. We are always building our team so if you would like to be apart of our team of vendors please email us your resume and why you would like to work with us. We will schedule an interview with you. We have volunteer and paid positions available.

A Little Extra Help sounds like what we’ve been looking for. How do I get started?

Please take time to get acquainted with what we offer. We customize our services to meet your needs, so don’t worry if you don’t see exactly what you need – we can always do some customizing. Click here to fill out our Contact Form to schedule a complimentary consultation. We will contact you at our immediate convenience to confirm a date for your complimentary “DREAM” consultation. Once we determine your needs, we will review our service collections in greater detail and find the one that best fits the dream that you have for your special Day. We can't wait to meet you and hear all about your wedding plans!

I have a few questions before getting started. Can I call you?

Of course! Feel free to call us 678.698.4738 or you can email us at info@ALittleExtraHelp.com and we will be happy to provide you with the information you need in order to make an informed decision.

Congratulations on your engagement!

Wedding Wishes!

                   Tekila Frazier