Wedding Melodies

Wedding Melodies is the wedding planning business of Petra Vogel, who lives in Basel and has worked in the wedding industry since 2010. Its tagline is "modern. bespoke. emotional weddings in Switzerland", and what sets it apart is music: Petra is a wedding singer as well as a planner, and she brings her own sound system and microphones to the weddings she coordinates. She offers full or partial planning, day coordination, destination weddings, elopements, proposals and a separate music package.

The planner

Her about page tells the story. Music has been with her all her life, starting as a singer in a school band in her teens, where she discovered her love of performing. She writes that she has proved her organizational talent many times in her career and private life, and she has now been in the wedding industry for more than 15 years. The planning page adds that professional training as a wedding planner is the foundation of her work, but in her view it is experience that makes planning safe: knowing the trends and also the typical problems that crop up on the day, and how to avoid them in advance.

Her pitch to couples is personal. The home page calls her "Your Professional Bestie, for the Big Day!" and says she accompanies couples like a best friend, only professionally, with honesty, trust and an open ear from the first conversation to the day. She stresses that couples get no standard wedding from her.

Music on the day

The signature idea is on the home page: music is usually thought of only for the ceremony and the late party, so what happens in between? As the planner on site, she provides background music at the aperitif, the dinner entrance and the cake cutting, and sets the mood for the bouquet toss. A high-quality sound system and microphones for guest speeches are included. On the coordination page she specifies a wireless sound system with 2 microphones. Whether live music or the couple's favorite recordings, she writes, everything is possible.

The separate music package covers weddings, christenings and proposals, for couples who want her voice and sound without the planning.

Planning services and prices

The planning page is unusually open about money. It promises transparent pricing from the start, with no hidden costs: couples pay only for the time, information and support they actually need, from CHF 100 per hour. She also states that she works independently and without commission, so couples book and pay suppliers directly.

What the planning covers:

• Venue and supplier search. Venue search to the couple's ideas, recommendations only of professional, vetted suppliers, handling inquiries, coordination and comparison quotes, and recommendations chosen for the couple rather than from mass lists.
• Budget planning. An individual budget plan set by the couple's priorities, a realistic cost estimate and comparison of quotes, savings tips and alternatives, and ongoing checks so the couple stays within budget. She compares it to hiring a tax adviser: it costs something, but the savings are higher.
• Network. Her long work in the industry, she says, has given her a hand-picked network of suppliers, and if a booked supplier drops out unexpectedly, she has a plan B.
• Elopements. Weddings for two or with close family in the Swiss landscape, in the mountains, on a beach or in a forest clearing. The elopement photos on the page are captioned Kandersteg and Lake Oeschinen.

Wedding Day Coordinator

This page is the most detailed on the site. Her point is that the jobs of the wedding day usually land on the best man and maid of honor, who cannot hand out place cards, check the seating plan, coordinate suppliers and be at the couple's side while getting ready. She lists how the collaboration runs:

• a preliminary meeting, where the couple hands over all booked suppliers
• building the day's schedule together
• a few weeks before the wedding, contacting all suppliers and starting coordination
• check-up calls
• acting as the direct contact for guests and suppliers
• contacting the venue and visiting it in advance
• being first on site on the day and coordinating setup with all suppliers
• looking after guests as first point of contact
• crisis management, whether a cake delivered too soft or a failed power supply

Destination weddings, both directions

The destination work runs two ways. For couples from Switzerland marrying abroad, she lists Mallorca, where she planned her own wedding, Lake Como in Italy and the Côte d'Azur on the home page, and names a network of vetted suppliers in Mallorca, at Lake Como and in California. The destination page asks how to plan a wedding from more than 1300 km away, and promises couples they need no English and can leave the planning to her, with her as their contact both at home and on site. A 2025 review from Salome and Beny describes her planning their wedding in Como and being there on the day.

For American couples marrying in Switzerland, she works with Vandervows in California. She lived in San Francisco for a time, and her partner there, Chelsea Miller, is the founder and local contact. Design and planning happen in the couple's US time zone, while Petra is the professional on the ground in Switzerland for venues, suppliers and the running of the day.

Language, contact and what is left open

The site is written in German with English taglines, and it does not state which languages she plans in. The Vandervows partnership shows American couples are part of her work, but English-speaking expats should still confirm how the planning itself runs.

Contact is by email (hello@weddingmelodies.ch), by phone (+4176 698 11 80, as the site writes it), or through the free inquiry form on the home page, which asks for the service (planning, day coordination, partial or full planning, music), the wedding date and a short description. The site does not publish a price for day coordination, the music package or elopements, only the hourly planning rate. It does not state a lead time or a guest range, and it does not say how travel costs are charged for weddings outside Basel.

Who it suits

Wedding Melodies suits couples who want a hands-on planner present on the day, and who care about the music between the formal moments. The hourly rate and commission-free model make costs easier to follow than most Swiss planners, and the day coordination checklist is clear. It is a natural fit for American couples marrying in Switzerland through the Vandervows partnership, and for Swiss couples marrying in Mallorca or at Lake Como.