“As a very indecisive person, deciding to have a destination wedding was an extremely hard decision for me. I was introduced to Amanda through a mutual friend, and after just one meeting with her, I finally felt confident enough to take the leap and plan the destination wedding of our dreams.
The best way I can describe working with Amanda—especially when navigating a destination wedding and a large resort—is that she becomes so much more than your wedding planner. She truly acts as your agent and advocate throughout the entire process. I never once questioned whether she had our best interests in mind. She was always conscious of our budget, never pushed us to spend unnecessarily, and consistently spoke on our behalf when navigating contracts, pricing, vendors, and decisions with the resort. There is no doubt in my mind that she saved us hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars along the way.
From the beginning, Amanda was transparent that she had never worked with our particular venue / country before. I appreciated her honesty, but any concern about that disappeared almost immediately. She learned the property, processes, people, and every tiny detail so thoroughly that you would have thought she had planned weddings there for years.
Throughout planning, I was balancing graduate school, a demanding full-time job, and everyday life, so having someone I could truly trust to take things off my plate was invaluable. Destination weddings come with endless emails, contracts, decisions, unexpected expenses, and moments where you question whether you're making the right choice. Amanda handled so much before it ever became something I needed to worry about. I never felt like wedding planning had become another full-time job. And when I did worry—which was often—she was always there to talk me through it and give me an honest opinion.
By the time we arrived in Aruba, I wasn't wondering whether everything would come together. I trusted Amanda completely. To travel to another country for your wedding and actually enjoy it—which was one of my biggest asks from the beginning—knowing someone else understands your vision and is advocating for you behind the scenes, is invaluable.
Her day-of coordination and attention to detail were beyond anything we could have imagined. I can genuinely say there was not one moment during our welcome party or wedding day when I noticed something had gone wrong, felt like I needed to step in, or wondered what was happening behind the scenes. I was able to be completely present with my husband, family, and friends and actually experience every moment of the weekend we had spent so much time planning. That was one of the greatest gifts Amanda could have given us.
Beyond how incredible she is at what she does, Amanda is genuinely kind and incredibly personable. Somewhere along the way, it stopped feeling like we were working with a wedding planner and started feeling like we were planning our wedding alongside a longtime friend. She made it easy to be honest about what we wanted, what we didn't love, and what we were worried about. You can tell how deeply she cares about her couples and truly wants the absolute best for them. We never felt like just another wedding on her calendar.
Looking back, choosing a destination wedding felt like such a huge decision. Amanda was actually the smartest and easiest part of it—and truly one of the best decisions we made. Our day was so special and so much of that was due to her.”
