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Belle Fete Reviews

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18 Reviews
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    Regina Sent on 08/27/2018
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    Cara was simply amazing! She was so organized and helped up day-of make our vision come to life. I had so many questions and she answered everyone. When we had a snafu come up with our first look photos, Cara worked quickly to help us find a plan B. Our decor at our venue looked AMAZING and I couldn't have asked for someone to help our day just come together perfectly. Cara is a GREAT value and it wouldn't have been a success if it wasn't for her. I highly recommend Cara to anyone looking for someone to help your day go smoothly.
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    Jessica Sent on 07/21/2018
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    Cara was simply incredible. Very reasonably priced, insanely fast to respond to all of our emails, always willing to hop on a call, Cara made us feel like we were in good hands the whole time. Our day went off without a hitch, which was not super easy as we had numerous locations for pictures, getting ready, etc. I also had a tricky family situation, which Cara was completely unfazed by. I honestly don't know how we would have gotten through the day without her - 1000% highly recommend!!!
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    Stephanie Sent on 06/06/2018
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    Cara is the best coordinator in the business. Seriously. We LOVED our experience with her and she was worth every penny.

    My husband and I were engaged for two years so we didn't need a planner - we had plenty of time to do the planning on our own. What we did need was someone who could keep track of all the things we had planned, the timelines, other vendors, other contracts, various players in our wedding, and layout and decor for the reception as well making sure everything was moving smoothly and on time the day of our wedding. I also have four sisters, one brother, two brothers in law, and six nieces and nephews. My husband had a whole group of friends and family flying in from England. Needless to say, our families needed a lot of support and direction on the wedding day that my husband and I needed to outsource. Cara was INCREDIBLE. Leading up to the wedding, we met in person a few times but emailed a ton. Cara responded to every email within 10 minutes or less. And every contract I sent her way was read and acknowledged without me having to check in or follow up. If I was ever confused about anything we had planned or discussed, Cara could be counted on to remind me. The week prior to the wedding she checked back in to ask any questions and fill any gaps in the wedding day timeline so she was ready to hit the ground running for the wedding weekend. The day of our wedding, Cara showed up in the hotel at 10 a.m. and stayed with us all day until the reception ended. She made sure coffee was sent to the bridal suite, coordinated with my groom on the slideshow, ran errands, picked up my veil when I forgot it at the hotel, had water and snacks ready for us mid portrait shoot, had caterers pack up cake for me and my husband when we were too busy dancing, and was entrusted with final payments and tips for all our other vendors. Anything we needed, Cara got done. She was amazing and I don't think my big day would have been half as enjoyable without her.
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    Alex Sent on 05/28/2018
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    Cara at Belle Fete was absolutely wonderful to work with as our day-of coordinator. Ahead of the wedding, she was responsive and helpful, providing excellent recommendations, guidance, and reassurance that everything was going to work out ok just when it was needed.

    She was amazing on the day of -- professional and efficient while still remaining friendly and approachable. She kept our outdoor wedding running right on track even through the adjustments required by substantial rain. We could not recommend anyone more highly. If you're on the fence about whether to hire a day-of coordinator, just hire Cara. It'll be worth every penny.
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    Katy Sent on 10/30/2017
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    We could not have asked for a better planner than Cara at Belle Fete. She was very organized and took the time when meeting us to talk through everything we wanted. She was also flexible and a great help at answering many of our questions along the way and always responded quickly. She helped us tour venues, even driving us in between locations. You could tell she had experience and was very familiar with vendors in the DC area and helped us put together the perfect team.
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    Cecilia Sent on 07/19/2017
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    Cara was everything I could've hoped for! She was a steal for the price, she gave great advice for all things wedding related, she was quick on her feet for things that were out of our hands, and she allowed me to really enjoy my day and not have to worry about all the little details. We hired her as a day of coordinator and I would recommend her to anyone in need!
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    N Sent on 08/27/2017
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    Cara is fabulous! She was so helpful with our wedding at Top of the Town, very organized, couldn't have asked for more!
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    Flannery Sent on 04/14/2017
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    We absolutely loved working with Cara. I would have never expected a wedding planner to be so responsive, but Cara was always on top of any emails we sent to her. She helped me find our florist, photographer and makeup artist, all of whom worked out great. There was a lot of back and forth with some vendors and Cara was involved the whole way and helped us solve two major issues that we came across, and she was an absolute life (and budget)-saver in both cases. I always felt like she was a part of our team, and not just a hired individual to work on our event.
    When it came to the wedding day itself she was a great presence to have around - on top of everything going on, you could always find her, but you didn't feel her presence. Our wedding was at a large venue in DC with about 175 guests and she handled all of the logistics really well. We are so happy that we worked with Cara!
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    Jeff Sent on 03/31/2017
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    Cara has to be rated 10 out of 5 stars just to start. She was our unsung hero, the glue that kept our wedding together, the maestro orchestrating our wedding symphony, the shield to all vendor issues and the serenity to my wife's sanity! No matter how big or small your wedding is, you NEED Belle Fete (aka the wedding planner) to facilitate your special day. If not you can guarantee you'll be a couple of stress balls faking smiles on your special wedding day, no bueno.
    When we first met Cara she was very pleasant and chill as a cucumber. We presented our ideas and said we want/need/must-have this, this, this, etc. Her reaction basically was sure not a problem, we can make that happen. My wife and I looked at each other and we knew this is who we need for the job at hand. If we had any issue or conflict arise, we'd contact her and she'd take care of it.
    When it came to the day of our wedding she handled everything in the background so that we could enjoy our day and be where we had to be at any given moment. That day went by so quick yet so perfectly. Part of the reason was because Cara made sure to get us smoothly over any bumps that arose. Cara, for that we are forever grateful for all your hard work to ensure we had a memorable wedding celebration. We are so honored you could be a part of it.
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    Michele Sent on 08/30/2016
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    I can't say enough about Cara. I'm fairly certain she is the only reason my wedding didn't crash and burn to the ground. She is extremely communicative, super responsive, and insanely efficient and organized. She was always available for me through phone and email, and I knew that I had nothing to worry about as long as she was in charge. Although we had some very adverse weather, she kept everything under control. She did it all - delivering salad to a table, mopping up a very wet dance floor, and fixing mistakes in my table seating. She executed everything so well that I never even noticed these things until after the fact. From my perspective, my wedding day went perfectly smoothly and Cara never once flinched under pressure. My wedding was in great hands with Cara and I cannot recommend her enough.
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    Alisha Sent on 06/26/2016
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    Cara was super easy to work with, very kind, and always there for to answer any questions I had (very responsive in e-mails and phone call/text). She did a great job on the day of the wedding and I was happy to rely on her to take care of the wedding day schedule and the set-up of decorations. Very happy with her service and would highly recommend her to anyone!
  • User2634101 Sent on 06/04/2016
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    Belle Fete (aka Cara) was wonderful all through the process of working with her. She offers unlimited communication upon booking her services instead of limiting it to a certain number of weeks, and tied for the lowest price we found. Especially the last couple of days, we were extremely grateful to have her on board!
  • User2238877 Sent on 07/23/2015
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    Words cannot describe how glad I am that I made the decision to have Cara as my Coordinator! It was truly one of the best decisions I made, and probably made the difference in my wedding being a total success vs. a huge mess. In addition to just feeling completely at ease upon meeting her (she just has that quality where you love her instantly!) she was so calm and organized throughout the whole process. I had so many different DIY details and ideas, and I thought I would have so much time to do every one of them, but I was way behind with all the details by the time the wedding rolled around. I had talked over most of the ideas with Cara, but wound up leaving out some of the things I had wanted done - turns out she reads minds, because she made them happen. When I walked out and saw how she had set up the tables, it was even better than what I had imagined in my head. She has an amazing sense of design, but it is combined with the ability to stay organized and on track, and also keep cool when things pop up (like a tropical storm that rolls overhead as the last song plays, forcing an immediate evacuation of the tent and moving everything to the dance floor - true story). I am so very grateful to her and Terri, who was her assistant that weekend - they were absolutely amazing and I would recommend them 100%.
  • User2170284 Sent on 06/09/2015
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    Working with Cara was the perfect experience! She was a delight to work with from the first day we met. Throughout the planning process, she had the perfect balance of guidance and listening to our vision, and helped us every step of the way. She was always available to join in on meetings with other vendors, was incredibly organized with all of the other vendors, and made the run-in to the wedding day a piece of cake. On wedding day, she really shined. She was amazingly calm despite some behind-the-scenes chaos with a few other vendors. In that setting, she took control, got everything sorted out, and kept the stress away from the two grooms (which was invaluable). At the end of the day, our wedding couldn't have been better, and Cara played a huge part in that. I would recommend her services without any hesitation.
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    Alyssa Sent on 02/24/2015
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    Cara with Bella Fete was wonderful to work with! She literally was a lifesaver! She made every detail of our wedding perfect and did so with ease and at a great value....I cannot express how great Cara and her staff are to work with and highly I recommend them for any of your event planning needs!
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    Joriana Sent on 03/02/2015
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    Over the last 10 years of shooting weddings, we’ve worked with a lot of full, partial and day-of planners, but we just clicked with Cara. We met Cara and her husband at Bailey and Ron’s wedding. I’m not sure whether it was her personal warmth, her sweet Southern charm or the fact that she was always in motion throughout Bailey’s wedding, but we just knew she was someone we would want to work with in the future. So when it came time for Jay and I to get married, Cara was the first person who popped into my mind!

    Cara Shirley is, simply put, my knight in shining armor. She not only helped ease any wedding worries I had throughout the day, but made my reception run incredibly smoothly. Just to go into a little bit of detail about only one of the many tasks Cara handled, I had over 160 cylinders for centerpieces which needed to be filled with water in just a few short hours. It was a monumental task!! Not only was Cara able to do that with grace and style, she made sure Jay and I had everything we needed, kept track of the gifts we received, and was basically Wonder Woman. We couldn’t have done our wedding without her!
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    Bailey Sent on 12/18/2013
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    I cannot say enough about Cara Shirley. I've planned large events for many years and upon first meeting to discuss the wedding I realized just how out of my depth I was and how grateful I was to have someone like Cara to work with. She is careful, thoughtful, organized and calm. Having her there for our wedding meant that we could truly relax and enjoy the day. She has an eye for details, many years of experience, and a general ease dealing with vendors, wedding parties, and details.

    There are many things that may have gone by the wayside without her support on our wedding day. There were so many times that our wedding party and family said just how lovely and wonderful she was, and how helpful it was having her there for the rehearsal and day of.

    What I couldn't have anticipated when planning our wedding was how many details there would be in the weeks leading up to the event. She never missed a beat. Without Cara's help I would have certainly not been able to let the reigns go and be the bride. I would highly recommend her to any of my friends and family in the future.
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    Jessica Sent on 10/13/2017
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    We used Cara from Belle Fete for our wedding. She was amazing, we had several meetings leading up to the wedding weekend, she was always super quick to respond to calls or email. She made our wedding day stress free by being the contact for other vendors, coordinating the rehearsal, creating our timeline, just in general making sure everyone was where they needed to be. She also did the setup for all of our decor perfectly. She really listens to what you want and need and makes it happen. Best money we spent!