Are you interested in an all-inclusive wedding plan? When you hear "all-inclusive weddings," you just might think of the many options in the Caribbean...but we found a wedding planner in California who offers many all-inclusive plans! Lovetripper.com interviewed Michelle O'Connor at Lake Arrowhead Weddings for her tips on planning the wedding of your dreams with a minimum amount of fuss.

What makes an all-inclusive wedding package different than a wedding package at a traditional hotel?

Truly all-inclusive wedding packages include ALL vendors required for the wedding and coordinating and handling the details of the event from the day the bride books until the last guest has left the reception and the reception location is cleaned up. We at Lake Arrowhead Weddings work with some of our brides for one-and-a-half years prior to their wedding. Our all-inclusive wedding packages include coordination of the entire event and ALL the vendors for a successful wedding (caterer, baker, photographer, videographer, minister, location/s, florist, staff, setup crew, cleanup crew, coordination crew, bartender/s, servers, live music, DJ, linen rentals, chair cover rentals, table and chair rentals, wedding invitations...).

Depending on the time of year, we also run promotions where we offer free services with our packages. Such promotions include free invitations, free wedding cake, free bartender, and even off-season discounts! The beauty of our all-inclusive wedding packages is that the bride gets all the best vendors at STEEP discounts - it would cost more for the bride to go out and do the wedding herself than it would to buy our package! Plus she gets full coordination and a professional staff and crew! We have no "extra fees," we do not tack on an additional $2.50/slice to cut the cake or and additional $3.50/bottle to serve the champagne. We give you no surprise fees as the wedding day approaches - our package prices even have the tax included!

What is your most popular all-inclusive wedding package?

By far our most popular package is at our Destination Wedding Package at our lake front location in Big Bear, California. This package features an outdoor ceremony in a gazebo right on the lake! The reception is held just feet away from the lake in a gorgeous tent fitted with a ceiling canopy of white bridal lights. This lake front wedding location was named one of the top 10 most beautiful outdoor wedding locations in all of Southern California! As with all of our all-inclusive wedding packages the couple gets everything for their wedding - all they need to bring is the dress and rings! There is even a hotel on site to accommodate all the wedding guests and almost every room has a lake view.

Couples may visit our site to view details of the package and photographs. With Lake Arrowhead Weddings, "all-inclusive" means we do the hard work and the bride makes all the fun decisions! Our wedding packages are custom - we do not give the bride a list of 5 choices she must choose from. We encourage our brides to bring us photos of what they want - this is their day!

What special touches can brides add to an all-inclusive wedding package to personalize the ceremony?

The beauty of our wedding packages is that the bride customizes the package. We do not have specific selections they are required to choose from. They bring their ideas to us and we create the perfect wedding. We are there to offer suggestions and help guide them through all that is involved in planning and running the full-scale event that is a wedding.

How do all-inclusive wedding packages simplify a bride's work in setting up the event?

Our all-inclusive wedding packages save our brides over 100 hours of work! Planning and putting together the specifics of an full-scale event, which a wedding is, takes numerous hours and event expertise. The bride meets with us, tells us her wishes, and we make it happen.

With our packages the bride gets the best professional vendors in the area at STEEP discounts. We represent volume business for our vendors and have contracted pricing with them. The bride and groom are a one time client and do not have that bargaining power. We use our bargaining power to save our brides money and time. With our all-inclusive wedding packages there are no endless vendor interviews, mailing out 10 different deposits and contracts, orchestrating who arrives when (will the tables and linens be delivered and setup before the cake arrives? Who will setup the tables? Who will pick up the linens and set them up, and then return them? Who will pick up and setup all the chairs, linens, favors, flowers, decorations, bar, beverage table, gift table, sign in table, buffet tables? Who will run the buffet and keep it stocked? Who will cleanup from the ceremony and reception and the kitchen at the end of the night? Who will clean and package up the bridal keepsakes at the end of the night? Who will cut and serve the cake? The champagne? What happens when the florist gets sick the morning of the wedding and can't deliver the flowers? Who will run out to find some somewhere?) triple confirming arrival times and services with vendors. When the bride gets 15 more RSVPs trickling in 18 days before the wedding, we call and arrange for 15 more plates, 15 more glasses, 15 more slices of cake, 2 more tables, 2 more table cloths, 15 more napkins, 15 more sets of silverware, more beverages, more food.....and the bride and her family can actually enjoy the days leading up to the big event.

Are you seeing any trends in all-inclusive weddings?

More brides and grooms are choosing all-inclusive wedding packages. With today's busy lifestyles, buying a complete package you can customize to your own tastes and desires - while getting a BETTER PRICE THAN IF YOU DID IT YOURSELF can't be beat. We encourage our couples to shop around to see what it would cost them to piece together their own wedding (not to mention their time, usually over 100 hours), then compare it to the all-inclusive wedding packages we have to offer them. We offer them discounted pricing and a stress free event, that is run based on their own wishes....they always come back and book!

Anything else you'd like to tell brides about all-inclusive wedding packages?

We specialize in planning and running weddings. We offer brides and grooms the opportunity to take advantage or our discounts with the freedom to plan the wedding they have dreamed of while saving their time and their sanity.