Honey Bee Events is a St. Augustine wedding planner run by Brittany Alphonso, who came to weddings from event planning and fashion production. She sells three planning tiers, and she also caters and does florals in-house, which is unusual.
We have worked weddings beside her. That is why she is on this page rather than being a name we found on a directory. We do not list planners we have not actually stood in a room with.
Day-of is the tier to price first
Most couples assume hiring a planner means hiring all of it - every decision from engagement to exit, at a number that ends the conversation. That is one of three things she sells, and it is the biggest one.
If you are budgeting carefully, price the day-of tier. You have already done the choosing. What you are buying is one person whose only job that day is the timeline, which means it is not your mother-in-law chasing the caterer while you are in photos.
She does not publish prices, so you have to ask - and she offers a free consultation, so asking costs nothing. Be straight about your number in that first call. A planner who steers you to the smaller package instead of talking you up is telling you something worth knowing.
The catering is worth one question
She runs an actual kitchen alongside the planning. We are not going to tell you that is automatically cheaper, because that depends entirely on your menu and your headcount.
But on a tight budget the hidden cost is rarely the line items - it is the number of separate companies you are coordinating, each with their own deposit, contract and arrival time. If you are already talking to her about planning, ask what a combined quote looks like. It might change nothing. It might be the thing that makes the math work.
What we notice on the day
The two moments most likely to knock a reception sideways are getting people into dinner and getting them back out. Both run on the kitchen's clock.
When the person holding your timeline also knows exactly when plates are landing, the dead air between the last toast and the first dance shrinks. That gap is the enemy - guests settle, they get comfortable, and you spend the first twenty minutes of your dance floor coaxing them back onto it.
When you might not need a planner at all
Straight answer, because we would rather you put the money somewhere you need it. If your venue includes a real coordinator - an actual one who runs your timeline, not a manager who unlocks the door - and your wedding is small and in one room, you may not need to hire one.
Ask your venue exactly what their coordinator does on the day, and make them be specific. If the answer is thin, that is precisely where a day-of planner earns her fee.
Honey Bee Events • St. Augustine, serving Northeast Florida • Honeybeeeventsplanning@gmail.com • honeybeeeventsllc.com
She books her own calendar and quotes her own work, so talk to her directly. Tell her AE sent you.