She made being a bride fun!

When I came to Raechel, I was frustrated, stressed out, and totally bitter about planning my wedding. By our fourth session, I had completely changed my viewpoint on so many of the things that were making wedding planning a drudgery.  I began to enjoy all parts of being a bride – even the tricky subjects and potentially boring tasks.  I had so much fun being a bride that I was sad to see it all end.  My wedding day was exciting and totally fun.  In hindsight, the only thing I would have changed would have been to start working with Raechel sooner!!

Kaylin Mart, Wedding date: December 8, 2012

She helped me get the support I needed.

For most of my life, I’ve been a firm believer that not being able to do everything myself is a sign of weakness and asking for help burdens others.  Well, Raechel called me out on that, right away, and not only did it change my wedding, it’s changed my life.  Because of her challenging me, I realized the benefit of asking for help in planning my wedding.  My burden was lessened, AND my family and friends felt honored to be asked to help.  I didn’t want to hire a wedding planner, because I wanted to have a personal touch on everything, and Raechel helped me find a way to do that, without being overwhelmed.  She helped me build a team to support me.  I can’t imagine what it would have been like to have done the wedding all by myself, with no support.  Plus, I’ve learned to ask for help in all areas of my life – I’ve even hired a housekeeper, a personal assistant, and someone to chauffer my kids around.  What would life be like for me now, if I hadn’t hired Raechel for help with my wedding?

Mary Snowden, Wedding date: July 21, 2012

She saved me thousands of dollars!

I was a few months into the planning phase when I realized this wedding was going to send me reeling into financial despair.  I was shocked with how expensive weddings were.  So, I started searching for ways to reduce costs.  What happened, as a result, was that the wedding planning was turning into a full-time job, that overlapped with my real full-time job.  I began getting less and less done at work, because I was spending so much time researching different options.  I’m a VP of Sales, so not only do I sell to earn a commission, but I’m also supposed to supervise and inspire others to sell, which I earn money from, too.  Well, that can’t happen when I’m spending hours each day, at the office, hunting down the best bargains.  On top of that, I wasn’t able to enjoy any of the fun parts of the wedding planning, like looking for a dress or exploring venues, because I was obsessed with finding the perfect thing for the perfect price.  I was also wasting time – which is money, for me – by visting fifteen (no exaggeration) different stationers to find the best bang for my buck for my invites.

I called Raechel in tears, and, during our first session, she talked me off the ledge – a ledge I never re-visited.  I made an investment with Raechel – in fact, I used money that was budgeted for my Fiji honeymoon, to pay for sessions with her.  At that point, I didn’t care about anything after the wedding – I just knew something needed to change.  Sure enough, right away, Raechel was able to shed some light on why I was so obsessed with saving money.  We dealt with that and the other things that came up for me, while I was planning my wedding.  When all was said and done, I totaled up the amount of money that I spent on my wedding and compared it with how much I would have spent in time, loss of income, and financial consequences for poor decisions.  Working with Raechel actually SAVED me well $25,000, and that’s after I deducted Raechel’s fees.

Oh, and, as a result of not sacrificing time at work, combined with the efficiency and energy I had because of the joy I experienced planning my wedding, I earned a commission check that doubled my original honeymoon budget – Two weeks in Fiji, instead of one!  I almost took Raechel with me… almost.

Laura Olson, Wedding date: August 17, 2012

She helped me actually improve my relationship with my in-laws.

I’m one of those people blessed with in-laws who are very involved – very, very involved.  It never really bothered me, but then their baby put a ring on my finger, and it all changed.  They all had an opinion on how various parts of the wedding should play out.  Oh, and there are certain things that just have to happen, because “that’s just how we do it.”  As I was trying to please them, my dream wedding was disappearing before my eyes.  As I was trying to hold onto it, my relationships with my fiance’s family were more and more strained, which often ended in arguments and tears.  I was starting to understand why so many women can’t stand their in-laws.  I hired Raechel to help get my wedding back.  Using the techniques and skills that Raechel shared, I ended up with the wedding perfect for me, AND outstanding relationships with my husband’s family.  So much better than it ever was.  Raechel made such a positive impact on my family, that my newly engaged sister-in-law is hiring her.

Angela Swanson, Wedding date: November 12, 2011

Raechel wouldn’t let me get away with anything…

I hired Raechel to help me put together some plans to accomplish things, quickly and efficiently.  I needed help in structuring that and help with accountability.  I didn’t need help with any of the “touchy feely stuff” – I just needed to accomplish tasks and achieve goals.  Whenever a task didn’t get accomplished, I was focused on renewing it or revising it to make it work for me.  But, Raechel wouldn’t let me do that.  She really challenged me on why it wasn’t accomplished – especially when there was a pattern or repetition of not doing something.

That’s the awesome thing about Raechel – she doesn’t let you get away with thoughts that don’t serve you.  She questions and challenges the beliefs that you don’t even realize you have, and she does it with such genuine curiosity, love, and humor.  I’m a force to be reckoned with and not many people call me out, because of that.  It was refreshing that Raechel had no problem doing that.  In the end, I accomplished FAR more than I had ever intended to accomplish, but the greatest acheivement is the learning I had about myself, which another coach might have just swept under the rug.

Pamela Christian Edwards, Wedding date: April 27, 2012

She helped me find a way to kindly tell my mom to back off!

As soon as I began planning my wedding, my mom began sharing her ideas about the wedding.  Shortly, I realized that she really meant more than just “sharing” her ideas – she became upset when I didn’t use her ideas.  The thing that made it harder is that she and my dad were very generously paying for the entire wedding.  I tried to get her to back off as kindly as I could, but she just got offended and upset.  I felt like I was walking on eggshells around her or having to hide things from her.  Eventually, I just snapped.  I couldn’t deal with her any more and we had a huge fight about it being my wedding, not hers, and she declared that she wasn’t paying for anything.  Working with Raechel helped me understand where my mom was coming from, and helped me define what I really want – what my non-negotiables were.  Then my mom and I collaborated on the rest.  It went so smoothly that I could actually tell my mom to “back off” without her being upset – Raechel taught me how to validate her and make her feel valued, so when I had to be firm or felt strongly on an issue, it didn’t impact her at all.  The tools Raechel shared about interacting with my mom during my wedding have directly translated to my interactions with everyone – my husband, family, friends, employees, and even waiters, store clerks, and the very unhappy lady at the drivers license facility!  Who knew a wedding crisis call to Raechel would enhance my relationships in all aspects of my life?

Karen Johnson, Wedding date: June 16, 2012

I went from an ornate wedding debacle to eloping in peace.

My dream was like every other little girl’s dream – a huge puffy wedding dress, tiara, ballroom, with tons of people.  When I got engaged, that’s the direction I headed.  As I was exploring all the different options, I started to get stressed out and couldn’t make decisions.  That was happening so much that I started getting really anxious, which ended in panic attacks.  I couldn’t understand what was happening to me, because I had the budget and the resources to have the wedding of my dreams.  During my sessions with Raechel, I realized that my anxiety and panic was a result of internal dissonance.  Huge aha moment – I didn’t actually want a big wedding!  A small, quiet destination wedding was what I truly wanted.  So, my fiance and I spent the wedding budget on flying my close family and friends to Hawaii for a week of wedding celebrations and then a private week for our honeymoon.  Hiring Raechel: Best decision ever.

Breean Schwab, Wedding date: March 3, 2012

She helped me organize my time to get everything accomplished.

I am the CFO of a pretty large organization, and I got there, in spite of being a female and only 28 years old, largely because I was a dynamo at accomplishing things and getting them done well.  When I got engaged and started to plan my wedding, I began to realize that I had met my match!  I wasn’t able to accomplish everything for the wedding in my off hours, so it began to creep into office time.  My To-Do list started creeping higher and higher; for every three tasks I added, only one got taken off.  Nervous about losing my reputation and coveted spot in the organization, I sought help from Raechel.  We planned to work together for twelve weeks to get things under control and establish patterns to continue on after our sessions ended, but I was accomplishing so much and loving Raechel’s snarky, humorous method of holding me accountable, I didn’t want to stop!  She agreed to work with me all the way until the day of the wedding, and I got more accomplished while planning my wedding, than any other time in my life!!

Callie Peters, Wedding date: October 15, 2011

We found a way to make everyone happy!

I come from a huge Italian Catholic familiy, and my husband’s family is Jewish.  I read a lot of articles online and in magazines about how to make weddings with families like this work.  I knew we were going to be experiencing some conflict as we tried to plan our wedding, but we didn’t think we were going to need to put on body armor everytime we needed to have a wedding conversation with either family.  However, that’s what happens when families are so different, with different values, different desires, different traditions.  Nothing could make everyone happy, and I was feeling like just giving up and eloping everytime a decision had to be made.  That wouldn’t have made me, happy, though.  When working with Raechel, I learned about top values and the importance of honoring top values – for myself and my family.  Through a very clear method, she showed me how to honor everyone’s values, and I found out that when everyone has some of their top values honored, our families were wanting to work together and willing to give on issues they were previously not budging on.  The wedding ended up being perfectly enjoyable for us and our families.  I was sure our families would never agree or enjoy our wedding; we were prepared to just “get through it.”  Instead we had a great time, and I learned a huge life lesson about relationship and values.

Katerina Goldenburg, Wedding date: June 25, 2011