Passiamour

Passiamour is a wedding planning agency with two bases: its Swiss head office in the Zürcher Unterland, and a second base in Rheinau in the Ortenau, near Baden-Baden in Germany. It plans weddings for couples in Switzerland and southern Germany, and its footer names the area it covers as Zurich, Winterthur, Schaffhausen, Lake Constance, the Dreiländereck (where Switzerland, Germany and France meet), Offenburg and Baden-Baden. It was founded in 2013 by two friends, Kathleen Kolditz and Nicole Vonderstein, and it describes itself as a member of the Verband unabhängiger schweizerischer Hochzeitsplaner, the association of independent Swiss wedding planners.

The two founders

The about page tells the story. What began as themed parties among friends grew, over a good ten years, into a small wedding agency. The name comes from the English words "passion" and "glamour". Running a business together was a dream the two had shared since their teens, and in 2013 they founded Passiamour. They have known each other for more than 25 years and describe themselves as friends for life who complement each other.

Both are listed as owners. Kathleen Kolditz is an event manager and media designer. Her training as a media designer, she writes, gave her a trained eye for image, color, form and text; further training as an event manager and then as a wedding planner taught her to stage what she calls "fantastischer Wow-Momente" (fantastic wow moments). She calls herself an optimist and a down-to-earth perfectionist who always has a plan B, and she likes hosting, designing, painting and decorating. She also designed the stationery for the agency's styled shoot described below.

Nicole Vonderstein is a business economist, Betriebsökonomin (FH). She writes that she puts great weight on realistic organization from the start, so that wedding plans do not stay daydreams, and jokes that people put this down to her Swabian roots. The agency's working style is summed up in three words on the about page: "Ehrlich. Fachkompetent. Absolut loyal." (Honest. Expert. Absolutely loyal.)

Services

The service page lists four offers:

• Locationsuche (venue search). The agency finds venues that match the couple's requirements.
• Koordination am Hochzeitstag (day coordination). For couples who have planned everything in detail and need helping hands on the day to take responsibility and handle the final touches.
• Komplettplanung inkl. Tageskoordination (full planning including day coordination). A complete concept for the celebration, built on an individual offer.
• Heiratsanträge (proposals). Help planning a marriage proposal, with contacts for the moment itself. This is the only service with a price note, and the note reads "Preis auf Anfrage" (price on request).

The same page invites couples who only want individual consultation hours to get in touch.

How the process runs

The service page sets out the steps in order.

1. Unverbindliches Kennenlernen. The couple calls, the agency takes the first details and arranges a first meeting, which can also be held virtually. The page calls wedding planning a matter of trust and says this meeting is where both sides find out whether the chemistry works. The footer offers this first conversation free of charge.
2. A personal offer. Based on that conversation, the agency writes an individual offer and discusses it in person.
3. Administration and concept. Together they give the day a structure and a style that fits the couple and their guests, and the agency becomes the contact for every question.
4. Decoration concept. Once venue, date and a rough schedule are fixed, they define the common thread of the celebration and organize it down to the detail.
5. Supplier matching. Whether in Baden or in Switzerland, the agency draws on its international network to suggest suppliers. The home page adds that these are partners it has worked with for some time.
6. Coordination. All arrangements and administrative work for the day run through the agency.
7. The day. On the wedding day, the page says, the team is on site with at least two people, coordinating discreetly in the background.

Destination weddings across the border

The home page has a section headed "Destination Weddings für Schweizer Paare" (destination weddings for Swiss couples). It says the agency has good contacts in both countries and invites Swiss couples interested in a wedding in Germany to get in touch. For an international couple with family on both sides of the border, the two bases are the clearest reason to look at this agency.

The blog shows the style. A styled shoot published in November 2021, "Hochzeitsinspiration elegant und klassisch", was photographed at the Landhaus Illenau in Achern, in Germany, and tells a staged story of a couple, Silke and Christoph. It features a small outdoor ceremony, a stationery series with gold embossing from save-the-date to menu and name cards, restrained table decoration, and a cake edged with fans decorated with edible gold leaf. The post lists every supplier on the shoot by name. Another post, from September 2021, gives couples tips on choosing a planner: look at the website and references, ask where the planner's network is, meet in person before signing, and insist on transparent offers that show what is booked at which price.

Language and contact

The site is written in German, using the informal "ihr", and it does not say which languages the planners work in. The name is built from English words, but that says nothing about the working language, so an English-speaking couple should ask in the first message.

Kathleen Kolditz can be reached on a Swiss mobile, +41 76 344 39 55, and Nicole Vonderstein on a German mobile, +49 170 280 64 84; both share the email mail@passiamour.com. The home page also has a contact form, and the menu links to appointment booking and to a bride meetup, "Bräutetreffen".

What the site leaves open

The site publishes no prices for venue search, day coordination or full planning, and no hourly rate for consultation. It does not state a minimum or maximum guest count, a lead time or how far ahead to book. It does not describe help with guest accommodation or travel for a destination wedding. And apart from the styled shoot, it does not show real weddings with names, places and guest numbers.

Who it suits

Passiamour suits couples in the Zurich area, northeastern Switzerland or southern Baden who want two experienced planners from first meeting to the day, and couples marrying across the Swiss-German border who need contacts on both sides. The step-by-step process and the promise of at least two people on site on the day are clear strengths. The caveats: no published prices, a German-only site, and no statement of the languages the team works in.