The SOMOCO Experience was a blast. David gave us the VIP treatment all up and down Monterey…read moreCounty's wine grape corridor. In short, we hit four wineries overlooking breathtaking vineyards with a small group of friends. The music in the van was great, David provide us with a different snack (cheese, crackers, mixed fruit, chocolate, etc.) in between vineyards. It was our fault that we didn't hit the fifth vineyard (we were having a blast) but that was something we could all live with. David provided us with some interesting facts about Monterey County and the wine industry and really went beyond the call of duty. Was it worth it? Yes. Would we do it again? Oh hell, Yes!

From the owner: Wine tasting Pinnacles National Park hikes…read moreHistorical mission tour Steinbeck country tour transportation

Aw, I love this arc -- from "uh oh, what have we done?" to "okay wait... this is magical." That's…read moresuch a real travel experience. Let me shape your note so it flows beautifully but still feels personal and honest: Arriving at The Pinnacle Inn late in the evening was a bit of an adventure for us. We reached the gate around 8pm in complete darkness, with no network service and no easy way to get in. The winding dirt road lined with grapevines felt a little intimidating in the dark, and I have to admit, we were feeling a bit unsure at first. But once we sorted out the gate and settled in, everything changed. The next morning, we headed out for a hike in the forest, and with the sunrise lighting up the hills, we finally saw just how incredibly beautiful this location truly is. What felt a little scary the night before transformed into rolling countryside, peaceful vineyards, and breathtaking views. When we returned from our hike, I began to fully appreciate and fall in love with the entire property. In the daylight, The Pinnacle Inn feels warm, welcoming, and truly like home. Thank you for creating such a special place. What started as uncertainty turned into a stay we'll always remember.

We loved our stay. Three generations of us were there -- Us, Our parents, and our teenagers…read more Phil the Inn's caretaker and his companion Laurie crushed it. Great company, food and wine tasting. The West side of Pinnacles is just 1 mile away. Phil was a former ranger and gave us great tips for hiking as well. It felt more like staying with friends than going to a hotel or Inn. The Inn is gorgeous. Just a mile or so from the park and we had a pool, free breakfasts and wine tasting. Loved it. It was really special and Bill Brosseau makes great wine (son of Inn owners). Jon and Jan, Phil is a keeper! Thanks for sharing your lovely Inn. Pinnacles is very special and we loved our hike. My parents really enjoyed themselves. Good work Phil and thanks to Jan for the delicious scones and muffins (homemade). Clearly this place was a labor of love.

My husband and I made an unexpected stop at Scheid Winery while driving through Monterey County for…read morethe first time. We spotted it just off the 101 in Greenfield and decided to pull in on a whim. We were greeted by Laurel, who ended up making the experience even better. She was friendly, knowledgeable, and took the time to walk us through the wines. We decided to try some of the reserve wines and were blown away. The winery itself is beautiful, modern, relaxed, and surrounded by great views right next to the estate vineyards. What was supposed to be a quick stop turned into one of the highlights of our trip. Needless to say, we enjoyed ourselves enough to join the wine club and buy a case to bring back home to Temecula. Looking forward to opening those bottles and remembering a great day.

Our server, Valerie was just wonderful! Personable and knowledgeable! My husband and I work in the…read moreindustry and were impressed by the tasting room and the wines!

Anita was absolutely incredible to work with as my wedding planner. She consistently went above and…read morebeyond to help bring my vision to life, and my wedding truly wouldn't have run as smoothly without her. Throughout the entire process, she gave me so much peace of mind--she was reliable, extremely detailed, and always prepared. Her thoroughness with even the smallest details saved me so much money, which was especially important since I was planning a destination wedding from Florida to Big Sur. She stayed super organized, always made herself available for calls, and eased any worries I had along the way. On the wedding day, the presentation of the tables, linens & flowers were exactly what I envisioned. My jaw literally dropped seeing how beautifully everything came together. I've heard horror stories from other brides about planners who were unresponsive or added stress to the process, but I never experienced that with Anita. I trusted her completely, and you truly cannot go wrong by hiring her. Anita kept all my vendors organized, took the lead on everything, and made sure I could fully relax and enjoy my big day. She even found thoughtful ways to save on costs, like sourcing local fresh picked mint & for our bar service and recommending trusted partners. I highly, highly recommend Anita. You will not be disappointed--she is exceptional.

A STARR Events is excellent. I had the chance to work with Anita last year at a wedding in…read moreMonterey, which I photographed. She had great communication leading up to the wedding day, and I felt like the wedding day went by smoothly. Anita is very professional, friendly and approachable. Hope to work with you again in the future!

I am still waiting on my photos to come back but I have a few to share! Let me just say this...if…read moreyou are thinking about Hiring Diane...DO...if you need a wedding planner hire Diane!!!! She is ABSOLUTE MAGIC!!!!! I live in los angeles so don't have the ability to know the vendors in Big Sur and she handled EVERYTHING!!!! Her recommendations were top notch and everyone gave us the wedding of our dreams! Truly we were all blown away and all of our guests said it was the best wedding they had ever been to! I will upload more photos as I get them! I don't have photos yet of the reception but it was everything!!! The food, the dj, the flowers, the drinks, the ceremony...all of it. She is an angel...a magical angel! Super reasonable, super attentive, super helpful! She only wanted us to have exactly what we wanted. I cannot recommend her more highly!!!!

I had almost the exact same experience as Olivia below. Our wedding was 1 week before Olivia's and…read morewe had almost an identical experience. I hate to leave a negative review as I knew Diane was dealing with some personal stuff, however, this is not the person you want ghosting you for months leading up to the event or cutting ties with you a week before the event. Also, I heard from an assistant of hers who said she would be taking over (we never knew Diane had an assistant) however when we emailed this assistant back, they never responded. We tried reaching out to Diane several times and eventually took matters in our own hands and organized our day assuming Diane would be nowhere to be found. Then 1 week before our wedding when everything was set, she began emailing our vendors (photographer, flowers, videographer, officiant, hair and makeup) and communicating a completely different timeline and old information that was wrong!?! She had not read our emails we copied her on for months and caused so much unnecessary headaches the week before our wedding bc we had to go back to each vendor and explain that Diane's information was old and dated and to stick with the timeline we had communicated. This is. Not what you want to be doing last minute. In the end, we all agreed to part ways. Our wedding turned out exactly as we wanted minus the Loss of the $750 for Paion that she suggested and minus the headaches and drama leading up to the event. I can say that she gave us a list of vendors which we paid for, however we did hours of our own research to find hair and makeup & photographer and deserts. The only vendors we used from her were our catering company, Catering Monterey- phenomenal btw - officiant, Soaring Starkey- HIGHLY RECOMMEND, and Big Sur flowers, they were pretty good and made a gorgeous bouquet but had some issues delivering the flowers to us the morning of and left them at Glen oaks reception instead of the house which was frustrating bc we were on a timeline and the reception is not close to the house. The worst part about this experience is that not only did things get so contested and we agreed to part ways 1 week before the event, she also listened to my vision and then booked us for Paion Estates which after talking to my photographer, Lynn Lewis (HIGHLY RECOMMEND) we realized that my vision would not happen at Paion. So we lost our $750 deposit for that location in order to take the wedding photos on the Rocky cliffs (north of glenoaks) which is all I explained I wanted from the beginning and showed very detailed images of my vision. Lynn Lewis, our photographer ended up putting together the day of timeline and making all our dreams for our elopement come true. her services include vendor referrals and timeline management. I'd you're having a small wedding, skip the coordinator all together and just go with Lynn. Lynn was the photographer we found on our own. I'd be happy to talk to any future bride about my experience. Drop me a message and I'll email you. Diane was a nice person and in the beginning I thought this would be great, but as time passed it was clear she's had other things going on and was not 100% committed or at least she wasn't with Olivia and myself.

We had such a lovely time at the Steinbeck House Mother's Day Tea. The service was exceptional, and…read moreknowing that the staff are all volunteers made the experience even more special. Everyone was so warm, attentive, and welcoming. The food and tea were absolutely excellent -- beautifully prepared and delicious. And of course, the house itself is charming, with gorgeous table settings that made the afternoon feel elegant and memorable. Everything was done with such care and attention to detail. A wonderful way to celebrate Mother's Day!

My wife and I had an amazing lunch on Thursday for our anniversary. The food is always terrific and…read morechanges monthly. Our server told us about the free monthly tours which included all three floors of the house and one was this Saturday, today. The tour was great and there was so much information on John Steinbeck and the history of the Salinas area. Our tour guide was John and he did a terrific job and had so many personal stories that he added into the conversation. Probably from over 12 years experience and knowledge of Steinbeck. Highly recommend and chicken mushroom crepe is hard to beat. Thank you and we can't wait to be back!