Schwartz & Woodward

09/30/11

Don't hesitate!

by NCJanssen at Citysearch

The world of weddings can get pretty confusing and overwhelming, and I am so grateful we had Joann and John to help us plan our beautiful wedding. I was out of town a lot, and my mind was put at ease--any questions or concerns, and Joann was right there with answers and solutions. She worked with our vision and budget and in the end, our wedding was perfect!

12/03/10

The Best Day...Care of JoAnn and her Team

by K S Harkey at Citysearch

Joann and her team of professionals truly made my daughters wedding a huge success. The attention to detail and quality was incredible. You know that it is often the simple things that can make a huge impression and difference. As the mother of the bride, there was not one moment where I was uncertain, stressed or worried that anything would not happen the way my daughter had dreamed. Simple acts of kindness, like grabbing my comfy shoes when I kicked off my heels or seamlessly handling the misstep when Grandmother missed her ride to the church from the hotel, made us feel like royalty.

At at a time when you are so emotionally involved in the planning process, the sage advice, professional wisdom and overall support from this team was incredible. JoAnn's vast experience and network of vendors helped us cut through the chaos. Her overall good taste absolutely helped make this a beautiful wedding.

If I were to convey one thing: JoAnn and her team are not only the top wedding planning team in the area, but are warm caring individuals and they convey this throughout the process to their brides. Hats off to excellence!!

08/14/10

Highly recommended

by megpotter at Citysearch

Schwartz & Woodward are the best wedding planners in Houston, hands down. Their attention to detail and taste is amazing. My biggest concern when planning my wedding was my budget. If I had done the planning myself, I wouldn't have known if I was getting the most for my money. Because of JoAnn's experience, reputation and contacts, not only was I reassured that I was getting the best possible within my budget, but I was treated like royalty. I had to ask more than once if we were going over budget because I was so surprised at the quality. JoAnn always said - We will make it fit in the budget. Planning a wedding with JoAnn was easy and relatively stress free.

Our wedding was perfect down to the last detail thanks to JoAnn and John. We had time to relax, have fun and spend time with our friends and family without having to watch the clock or look after vendors.

JoAnn and John took the time and effort to make sure we will have nothing but the best memories of our wedding.

I would highly recommend Schwartz & Woodward for any event on any budget.

01/07/10

warning for those without limitless income

by leexjd at Citysearch

I considering many wedding coordinators, including Schwartz and Woodward. They were by far the most expensive, at least double the cost of even the trendiest planners I spoke to. I couldn't believe it! I'm sure they do a great job, but there are many other coordinators who come with glowing reviews who don't charge anywhere near as much. Just be wary and shop around!

• Pros: friendly and caring
• Cons: ouch, price!

07/29/09

The Best Decision about our Wedding was to Hire JoAnn!

by Mariella at Citysearch

My husband and I made the decision to have a destination wedding. We wanted to make it a wonderful memory for us, family and our great friends who live all over the world. To make things more challenging, both my husband and I are incredibly detailed and pretty much a "perfectionist couple." A challenge for anyone who would agree to help us. A friend of ours talked to us about JoAnn. We went to meet her on a morning, about a month and a half before our wedding date. By that afternoon we had hired JoAnn. She was incredible. Detailed, organized, VERY caring and hard working. She worked non-stop from that day forward and even helped me out with post-wedding follow up's for several weeks after the wedding. We got married at the Ritz Carlton in the Cayman Islands. An absolute dream of a wedding. We had over 100 adults and over 30 children for our four-day wedding; the vast majority of our guests traveled from out of the US. JoAnn knew how difficult it would be to manage our guests schedules. We wanted to provide courtesy transport for many of them as well as to make their stay in the Caymans truly wonderful. That took an incredible amount of planning and organizing on JoAnn's part. She did it all. I was so overwhelmed to see how many of our guests actually made it to the wedding. Our wedding was in December (Dec 9th), which is often a travel/vacation month for many of the countries where our closest friends live. The wedding consisted of a family dinner (we opted to have that instead of the typical rehearsal dinner); a welcome dinner (again something we wanted to do to welcome our guests from all over the world); a catamaran ride and swimming with sting ray afternoon; and the wedding and reception. Being the Caymans, the vast majority of the things needed for the wedding were flown in. She managed that entire process and everything arrived on time; not even a custom glitch! Another element of difficulty was that our wedding and reception were on a sunday. Caymans is a very devoted catholic island and loud music isn't normally allowed on sunday's. Well ... JoAnn worked with the Ritz to get a special permit from the authorities in the Caymans to have that restriction waived. Being that I am Latin and many of our guests traveled from Latin America (we LOVE to dance), we were very pleased to see this.

JoAnn paid attention to the smallest of details - everything, absolutely everything was gorgeous. My husband and I are such "hyper" folks that I never thought JoAnn would be able to keep up with us - - indeed she did and she had us checking our blackberries for pictures of this or that within minutes of being hired. She helped me with everything, absolutely everything, from my dress, hair, makeup to the dresses of our children and the bouquets of my daugther and step daughters; she put together all of the events, the reception; she helped with the ceremony and ideas about the best way for the children to be a central part of it (my two children walked me down the isle, while my husband's two children walked him down the isle - - the cutest thing ever!); invitations, photography, video, music, flowers, special gifts for our guests, etc. Our wedding was featured in a local magazine and showcased as a beautiful destination wedding; the Ritz also featured it as part of their marketing program. And ... my bouquet was also featured in a wedding magazine - I had the most amazingly elegant bouquet. It was exactly what I wanted.

She is the best! We truly felt connected to her and this is a result of her physical and emotional dedication to our wedding.

• Pros: Incredibly organized; creative; great vendors; hard worker
• Cons: none