If you're on the fence about hiring a wedding planner, let me save you some time--do it, and make…read moresure it's Kate! My husband and I came to her with nothing but a venue and a vague idea of what we wanted our autumn beach wedding to look like, and she took that and turned it into one of the most magical days of our lives. From the very beginning, Kate was an absolute dream to work with. She is incredibly knowledgeable about all the local vendors and made the entire design process easy and fun. My husband and I were pretty clueless when it came to wedding planning, but Kate knew the answers to everything--even the things we didn't know we didn't know! Her expertise gave us confidence every step of the way. Kate is also beyond organized. She handled everything--from RSVPs and seating charts to coordinating vendor cleanup--so that on the day of the wedding, we didn't have to worry about a single thing. She ran the entire show behind the scenes, allowing us to be fully present and soak in every moment of our special day. And let's talk about Kate's personality--she was the calming force we didn't even know we needed. As the wedding day got closer and stress levels started rising, she remained completely unflappable. No matter what unexpected twists came up, Kate handled them with confidence and ease. She was also incredibly thoughtful, truly taking the time to get to know us as a couple, which made our wedding feel even more personal and special. Looking back, my husband and I both agree that hiring Kate was, without a doubt, the most important investment we made in our wedding. If you want a wedding planner who is knowledgeable, organized, and an absolute joy to work with, Kate is the one. I would recommend her to absolutely anyone!

When we got engaged, all my husband and I knew was that we wanted to have a wedding that felt like…read more"us," but we had no idea how to put that into words, let alone make the vision come to life. We knew we could plan a wedding on our own if we really had to, but that we'd be blind to the things that would make it a "wow" wedding and to be honest, we really wanted to enjoy being engaged and not have to worry about planning every single detail. We had several consultation calls with different planners, but Kaitlin stood out from the get-go as someone who is experienced, professional, and most importantly, has a skill for really listening and understanding what was important to us. Kaitlin took small pieces of what we said was important to us and made our vision come to life. We wanted a wedding that felt like an experience for our guests. We wanted them to feel relaxed, have great food and drinks, and be delighted by small surprises at every turn. Kaitlin had incredible ideas for unique vendors to bring in, from a live guitarist who fit our vibe perfectly to our own coffee truck service. She also knew how to respectfully encourage us to consider color choices or other decor that she knew would make the event feel more timeless and well-rounded. The entire weekend of our wedding, Kaitlin and our vendors were perfectly in sync. I never felt stressed over details or timing at any given point. They were attentive, caring, and incredible detail-oriented. My husband and I had the best year planning our wedding with Kaitlin. We're so grateful that our vision came to life and we'll be forever reminiscing on our perfect day. If you are looking for a planner who will be a partner with you in creating the wedding of your dreams, cares deeply about you and your loved ones, and can create an experience that wows your guests, look no further than Kaitlin!

We worked with Ellen as our officiant for our wedding in Ben Lomond. We appreciated being able to…read morespeak with her on the phone to prepare for the wedding, and we appreciated that she allowed us to fully customize our wedding ceremony script for her. She brought both a joyful and wise energy to our event, and we are pleased to have worked with her for our special day. Thanks Ellen!

Ellen is a delight and we're so glad our photographer Tatiana Scher (her daughter-in-law) pointed…read moreher our way!! Before our elopement, Ellen was communicative, knowledgeable, answered our questions, and gave us helpful advice about picking up our marriage license at the County Clerk's office in Salinas. As mentioned, Ellen gave us ceremony scripts to choose from and was also super amenable to all the edits we wanted to make. On the day, she held us with great care and sweetness and we couldn't have been happier. We are so grateful - thank you, Ellen! ‍ My wife and I are queer/I'm nonbinary. Ellen is an LGBTQIA+ ally.

We had our July wedding at Monterey Beach Station and the venue did not disappoint! Everything…read moreday-of was PERFECT, but we had a bit of a rocky journey midway through planning when we weren't told our assigned Event Manager we had already met and planned with and trusted was no longer with the company. The 3-4 months leading up to the day left us feeling unsure of who our day-of Event Manager would be and insecure in our communication with the venue. I was very close to hiring my own day-of coordinator after doing all of the planning myself, but ultimately decided to have faith in the Events by Classic team. Luckily, Susan was our day-of Event Manager and ended up staying with us the entire day. She did a great job executing the decor, managing vendors, and making our day as smooth as possible. The event staff were friendly, kind, and very attentive and the food was fantastic! Many of our guests commented on how good the food was. All in all, we are happy we had our wedding here!

Monterey Beach Station helped us have our dream wedding by the beach. My main requirements were an…read moreocean view and great food, and this venue absolutely delivered on both. Charlene was amazing to work with and partnered seamlessly with our vendor team. The Events by Classic team is organized and pleasant, and they made everything easy. When we wanted something custom they didn't typically offer (like mezcal), they made it simple for us to acquire and have it at our wedding. On the day of, their experience really showed. It was super windy, and Charlene had great advice on how to handle my long veil. They were prepared for everything. The food was a major highlight--all of our guests complimented how delicious it was! Thank you so much to the Events by Classic team for helping us have the wedding of our dreams!

Our wedding was everything we hoped for and more! The Perry House is beautiful, the food is…read moreincredibly delicious, the staff is amazing and most of all, our day-of coordinator, Jennifer D. was fabulous! From the moment I met her, I knew our day was going to be spectacular. All my worries went out the window. She made sure every detail I envisioned came to life. She is sincerely kind and loving. We cannot thank Jennifer enough for the effort she put into our day. Her assistant Alyssa is also a breath of fresh air! She is always smiling and always offering a helping hand. I feel so blessed that they were a part of our experience and I highly recommend the Perry House to anyone looking for an unforgettable, classy and beautiful wedding!

My husband and I got married at The Perry House on May 2nd, 2026 and it was the best day of our…read morelives! We had an intimate group of 34 which felt perfect at The Perry House (though they can certainly accommodate much larger groups than ours). The venue itself has so much coastal charm already that you don't feel overwhelmed with needing to infuse a lot of personality through decor. At the same time, it can still be transformed with florals and any additional decor elements. It was truly the best of both worlds. Our venue provided coordinator Alyssa was fantastic to work with! She answered so many of our questions and was always quick to respond over email. The catering provided by the venue was phenomenal and all of our guests raved about the food. We went with the New York steak and tarragon crusted salmon as our entrees and they were even better than we remembered at our tasting. Since we had a small guest count we even got to add on a slew of extra desserts to reach our food and beverage minimum and additional decor/rental items which was great because it felt like every dollar went towards something. They were even accommodating to our specific signature cocktail requests which were off-menu and our specific NA beer requests. Everything the day of the wedding went smoothly and without a hitch. We cannot recommend The Perry House enough to anyone looking for a charming, Monterey wedding.

I Will always reccomend Dean to anyone who wishes to get married in the Monterey area. Dean was so…read morehelpful and went above and beyond with assisting heather our photographer and helping with moving to different locations throughout the day. The speech he prepared was so heartfelt I needed a copy of it afterwards. Dean has definitely found his calling as not only a writer but as an officiator. I'm beyond happy to have had Dean be apart of my wedding, will definitely recommend him to friends and family.

All I can say is that Dean is absolutely amazing. If you're looking for an officiant - RUN, do not…read morewalk, to book with him. He was incredibly friendly from the get go when we had a phone consultation/interview and we immediately felt comfortable with him leading our special day. We exchanged many emails back and forth and he was incredibly kind and cooperative while working to perfect the specific vibe (for lack of a better word) we were looking for. It turned out better than we could have possible imagined. He was very punctual and SO friendly. His speech was perfect and we truly felt like he had known us our whole lives. With his work, Dean honestly does an immeasurable service to this community. So if you're looking for an officient who is genuine, kind, and has a special talent for bringing two people together in love - look no further!

If you are considering Holly Farm as the venue for your wedding, and you just want the tl;dr, then…read morehere are my three most important suggestions for you: 1) You should absolutely go with Holly Farm. 2) You should accept every piece of advice Erin, Ryan, and the rest of the incredible team have for you along the way. 3) You should start getting excited right now about La Creme because their food is out of this world. Picking Holly Farm as our venue was the first choice we made in our wedding planning process, and trust me when I say that it was by far the best one. The pictures speak for themselves, and yes, it's as amazing as it looks (though if you haven't visited, you should take the excuse - it's truly stunning in person), but the real game changer is the team. The Holly Farm fam has been at this for decades, and it SHOWS. They cater to your needs and your vision, whether you want to be super hands on and into the nitty gritty on everything, or whether you want somebody to completely take the reins for you. We were so so appreciative for Erin's help during the planning process; any time we were stuck on something, she had a recommendation ready that was never just "off the shelf". We didn't want to be totally consumed by wedding planning all the time, and even though Erin had a big list of vendors ready to go, we were more than happy to listen every time she said "here's the 2 who I think you guys would love". It's really really telling to me that every single vendor we spoke to - without exception, including the ones we didn't end up choosing - all said some version of the same thing: "oh man I LOVE doing weddings at Holly Farm". Here's what I'll say about the weekend itself - it truly feels like you are staying at a luxury resort where you and your friends are the only guests. The entire staff is so attentive, so friendly, and they take care of all the details and logistics so that your only job really is to just enjoy the weekend and stay relaxed. We cooked a huge friends and family dinner in the Adobe and they cleaned the entire kitchen for us! Anytime we were hanging out in the evenings they rolled the portable heaters up without us asking! They moved our rental equipment around to make cool outdoor spaces for us so that we could get more use out of it than just the wedding itself! And nothing felt so satisfying as passing by Ryan on a path and hearing "hey I just lit your fireplace for you!". Of everything we loved about our wedding, the thing we loved most was getting to have this full weekend experience with our closest friends and family in one place, made truly special by the care the entire Holly Farm team put into making us feel at ease and at home. And one final thing - lest I leave you with the impression that this is only about good vibes - the operations for the wedding itself were incredible. Every vendor knows the team and knows the venue, everything works like clockwork without you having to supervise anything, and Erin, Ryan, and their staff have things so tightly coordinated that we didn't have to stress about logistics at all once the weekend got started. I can't emphasize enough how big a difference that made to us compared to some horror stories we'd heard from other weddings. Here are some final quick hits on other things you might be wondering about - but seriously, pick Holly Farm: - I didn't write an entire review for Tamie and La Creme, because it would be just as long, but they do amazing work. This is straight up excellent food, not excellent "wedding" food. - The rooms and buildings are very cool and very comfortable. - Yes, the Paraiso suite is "open air". Yes, it really does stay warm. Having a roaring fire in there, plus a heated blanket on the bed....A+. - The optional River House for extra space is definitely walkable (~3 mins), but it's nice to have flashlights at night. - Having the flexibility to use the space however you want for the entire weekend is a highly highly underrated perk. We had people hanging out on Thursday and Friday and it was a ton of fun. Highly recommend making plans that utilize the space every day. - We were nervous about the higher cost at first, but asking friends and family who stayed on site to pay for rooms turned out to not be a very big deal, and what we charged them was still way less than area hotels. - The music has to switch from DJ's speakers to house speakers at 9:30pm, but the house speakers can stay on all night if you want. We had just as much fun after the switchover. - No curfew is also a huge perk not to overlook. Erin and Ryan if you're reading this THANK YOU SO MUCH AGAIN YOU GUYS ARE ROCK STARS!!

As my husband and I drive up the central coast to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary, we…read morethought this was the perfect time to share a little bit about our insanely incredible experience getting married at Holly Farm. Our wedding was an absolute dream come true. The love we had for each other and for our family and friends that traveled from across the country to celebrate with us was reflected in the beauty and spirit of Holly Farm and all of the wonderful folks that work there. From the moment we arrived, we were blown away by the warmth and charm of the space. It was as if every inch of the venue was designed to make us and our guests feel at home, while still capturing an elevated, magical atmosphere that was simply unforgettable. Everyone at Holly Farm went above and beyond to ensure each detail of our wedding weekend was flawless. Their attention to detail was extraordinary, and it was clear they genuinely cared about making our day perfect. Ryan and Erin were so caring and attentive, and they made us feel like family. They were there for every little detail and made us feel completely at ease. The food, catered by La Creme, was nothing short of five star restaurant quality. We've received countless compliments from our guests about how delicious everything was! This was a big deal, especially coming from our families who are used to extravagant New Jersey weddings with an abundance of food. They all told us it was the best wedding food they'd ever had, which is about the highest praise you can get from a family who knows food! Everything about The Holly Farm was perfect--from the gorgeous, tropical setting that felt like a hidden paradise against the coastal backdrop of Carmel to the impeccable service and food. We couldn't have imagined a more beautiful, heartfelt, and memorable experience, and our friends and family STILL haven't stopped raving about it! Our wedding weekend was made even more special thanks to the onsite haciendas where we, along with some of our close friends, stayed. The houses were cozy yet luxurious, and perfectly appointed with a level of service that truly felt five-star. Each detail was perfect, from the unbelievably comfortable beds to the wood burning fires that were lit by hand each night and the wonderful house staff that made everyone feel at home the moment they arrived. Getting to spend the whole weekend in such an enchanting space made the whole wedding feel so much more special, a truly immersive experience vs a single-day event. We loved discovering the countless nooks and crannies throughout the property where our friends and family could relax, chat, and soak in the surroundings. It created a sense of intimacy and closeness that made the entire experience feel so special. When the weekend was over, we genuinely didn't want to leave. Heck, we may even crash the wedding that's probably getting ready to kick off this weekend! The Holly Farm made every moment magical, and we will forever cherish our time spent there with the people we love most.

The only reason this gets two stars is that my husband and I did indeed get married to each other…read more But the day of the wedding and our interactions with our officiant were very - to be blunt - unpleasant. And further, the way that the company handled our complaints was insulting. Here's what happened. My husband and I were married by an officiant through Lyssabeth's on 7/5 at 8 am at Lover's Point in Pacific Grove. We were disappointed. We were 10 min late and called the officiant about 20 min before our start time to let her know. Until this time, through our interactions she had been pleasant to deal with. When we arrived to the site we were met with a very cool reception. No nice to meet you, you must be so excited. Nope. Instead the first words out of her mouth were 'Where's your paperwork?' and then she asked if we were missing something... where was our witness? This was very upsetting. We had just been rushing and our witness (our photographer) was walking down to the site, just a minute or two away. You could see her from the site. We had gone to the site the day before to pick the perfect spot (on Lover's Point in Pacific Grove) and had a few in mind. Where the officiant was standing was not a site we even considered. But we felt we couldn't even ask to move, based on her behavior toward us. As the photographer walked down to the site, the officiant complained that she had been up late working, got 4 hours of sleep and our 8 am start time was very early. She knew this all well in advance and could have better prepared. Instead she made us feel as if she didn't even want to be there and we were inconveniencing her. We would have gladly paid to accommodate our being over the 10 min grace period. As it were, we arrived right within the period. In short, we were uncomfortable and did not feel welcome at our own wedding. Luckily the ceremony was short - she did a good job of reading the vows - and then it was over and she left. But we were very disappointed with the way it turned out. Keep your negative feelings to yourself. This is our wedding day. Not your morning to be grumpy. We are glad we did not have any guests there to witness how uncomfortable this all was. Further - we knew we wanted to give feedback on all this to Lyssabeth's. But my husband wisely suggested we wait until we received our marriage license in the mail before doing anything. Just playing it safe, you know? Well California takes forever. Nearly six weeks after we were married, we received an email from Lyssabeth's asking for feedback on our experience. We still hadn't yet received our marriage license, but we figured what the heck, let's tell them how unsettling the experience was. So I filled out the survey and then had a second email exchange with them. I told them we laugh about all this - because really that's all we can do. If we thought to hard about it, we would become very upset. (We still don't like seeing her in the pictures.) They were at first apologetic. They contacted the officiant to see what happened. We received her forwarded email. "The sleep-deprived wedding" is what she called us. She said she had considered having someone else do our service but it was too last minute. She had been up late working with a longtime client. That's understandable but we were her current clients and were depending on her too. So with that, Lyssabeth's offered to send us a token gift. That would be very nice, we responded, saying we wanted a gift certificate to Amazon. A week or so went by and I got an email saying we'd received an Amazon certificate. Opened it up. The amount? $40. We were incredibly insulted. We had paid $239 for our service. $40? That's not even 20 percent. Considering the officiant copped up to being tired and frankly crabby (although in her email she seemed to be more apologetic to anything negative she had done for the company - NOT for her behavior toward us), we felt we deserved something more. So my husband contacted them, explained our views and asked for a refund. Then they told us oh sorry you have 30 days to request a refund. It's in the contract, they said. It's not in the contract anywhere. (Plus they told us we admitted the end result happened - we were married - and we laugh about it. But yes we do that so we don't cry.) And if you have only 30 days to ask for a refund, why does the company solicit feedback on its services precisely 40 days after said service was completed. So if we had asked for a refund in the original feedback survey, would we have been denied the refund (full or partial) because it was beyond this supposed 30-day period? Even thought it was the company that solicited our opinions well after the 30 days were up?! That's where we said forget it. We're married. But felt we were treated poorly at our wedding and then even worse by being belittled afterward. Tread lightly. Or at least make your service later in the morning so the officiant can get enough rest.

My then bf and I booked a weekend stay in Monterey, one of our favorite getaway spots. We didn't go…read morethere with the intentions of eloping, it just kind of made sense. Prior to leaving Sacramento, neither of us made any concrete plans on how to get this elopement underway. But, thanks to Lyssabeth's wedding officiants, it was a breeze. We arrived Friday but didn't make any phone calls until Saturday evening. They were ready to meet up with us that same night. Considering it was already dusk, we figured we couldn't get any good pictures so we postponed until the following day. All they needed to know was the place and time. My DH and I had spent many weekends staying at The Sanctuary Beach Resort which is located on Marina State Beach. So we knew immediately that beach would be the perfect place to recite our vows. We met up with the officiant at the parking area where she explained what our ceremony choices were. She was very professional and had a warmth about her. Even though she had been doing this for years, she still managed to make us feel like our wedding was special. My DH and I knew the exact spot on the beach where we wanted to profess our love and she hung in there and made the trek with us. Immediately after the ceremony she offered to take some pictures for us which we truly appreciated. It was awesome! I highly recommend them.

I could not have dreamed of a more perfect officiant for our wedding! We had an intimate wedding of…read more25 guests at Folktale Winery in Carmel Valley. Every step of the way, Fr. Francis Duda was patient, warm-hearted, and very accommodating with us. We discussed our wedding at length together over a coffee. He took the time to get to know us and our story as a couple. After our meeting, he promptly followed up with an email of several versions of potential ceremonies for us to review. The day of our rehearsal, he was well-prepared and thoroughly walked us through the whole ceremony. The day of our wedding, Fr. Duda was a pillar of strength and the utmost professional. He had such a calming presence and with poise and humor, guided us through the whole ceremony. We cannot thank him enough for making our wedding so special!

Rev. Duda was such an amazing officiant and we are so glad that we got the chance to work with him…read more He made the process very seamless and easier to understand for us. He was accommodating to our wants and needs for the specifics of our ceremony. The ceremony went perfectly and Rev. Duda even added in a beautiful homily of his own. It was a joy to work with Rev. Duda and he helped make our wedding night that much more special. Would highly recommend!