Katherine Frost is the Owner of A Frosted Affair, a full-service event planning company in Colorado. Katherine shares her experience in organizing approximately 60 beautiful weddings and events over ten years. She has worked on music events for Big & Rich, Train, Sam Hunt, and Dirks Bentley, corporate events for Fidelity National Title and United Bank of Switzerland and many private weddings.
Katherine Frost, Luxury Wedding Planner, and Owner of A Frosted Affair
How did you get into wedding planning?
I’ve been doing events for many years and when it was time to plan my own wedding I discovered an overall lack of organization among wedding planners in the marketplace. As a professional event planner I was surprised by this.
I planned my own wedding and in the process learned that working on an event that facilitates deep connections was incredibly rewarding. I began planning weddings because I could bring my stealth organization skills and attention to detail to what is often the biggest event in someone’s life.
What do you love about it?
I love being a part of someone’s personal event. It’s truly touching to facilitate such a large event in someone’s life.
What makes a great wedding truly special?
I like to make the weddings as unique as the couple themselves so every little touch reflects the personality of the couple themselves. That’s how you make a memorable day.
For example, I recently did a wedding where the couple were Colorado natives and loved the outdoors. I brought in wolves, falcons, and an owl to the event which was held in a huge, luxe mountain lodge. The theme, venue, colors, flowers--everything in the reception room was an extension of the couple so that when their guests looked around, they thought, “This is so John and Amy.”
How do you manage everything involved in a wedding?
I keep a spreadsheet that has absolutely every detail about the wedding on it. It covers every vendor's instructions and responsibilities and even outlines the minutest detail like when the bride wants to be woken up on the big day and which coach has to face the doorway of the reception lounge to give the bride the best view of the cigar bar where her husband will be after dinner.
These seem like details that most people would overlook, but they can be so important. Do you have a similar approach to managing business partnerships?
Managing the many business partnerships that a glam wedding requires takes frequent, comprehensive, and specific communication. Vendor's don't want to be micromanaged, but they do want to have all the information they need when they need it. So, going back to that spreadsheet, I keep all the info about the flowers, the venue, the band, etc. in one place so when I speak to the relevant vendor, I know everything I need to tell them and every question I need to ask them. I will often cut and paste their section of the spreadsheet into an email and send it to them so they have a record of everything we talked about too.
What do you look for in a vendor?
I look for the kinds of products the vendor has in house. (Products are things like tables, bars, chandeliers, linens, vases, lounge furniture, tenting, heaters, firepits, etc.) The products should be current and on trend. I also review with the vendor their turnaround time on building something unique like a special chuppah, a new bar, a tree, etc. How creative and quick they are at building something new matters.
What elements should a luxury wedding have?
A luxury wedding should have elements that no one has ever seen before. That takes a dedication to understanding who the couple is and how best to represent them in all the details of the day. When the wedding planner delves into what is unique about the couple and finds creative ways to demonstrate that in the event, spectacular, unforgettable events can happen.