For almost two years, Karen Brown firmly stuck with me throughout the whole long process of making…read moremy wedding a reality. My husband and I got married on a perfect weekend last April in Brooklyn. The wedding went on without a hitch, and it was better than anything I imagined. Our guests keep saying that it was one of coolest weddings they've ever been to, but judging from that you wouldn't think that there was a long backstory involved to make it happen. Karen is a master in keeping the plan on track, and she coordinated all possibilities no matter what happened the entire time. Something new always seemed to pop up, from an unexpected wedding date and location change, to me suddenly having to move to a completely different city 300 miles away, to ceremony changes, and to us considering starting from scratch to do a city hall wedding midway (which we didn't). AND she seriously saved the day when our photographer couldn't show up at our wedding. Karen Brown's crisis management skills are the sh*t. We would've had to make do with someone's iPhone pics if it weren't for her finding another photographer at the last minute! We couldn't have been more grateful for having her as our planner that day. I thought she took care of that amazingly well: the original photographer called her the night before explaining he couldn't come, and Karen then immediately contacted another photographer, who was thankfully available, and booked her that same night. Karen handled the crisis on her own before she told me on the morning of the wedding so that I didn't have one more thing to worry about. I was completely stressed out in the days leading up to the wedding. If she called me the night before about this I would've lost my mind. So I was engaged for a long time but kept putting off wedding planning since I was always too busy. Karen got me started, making it easier for me by preparing a neat folder of all the info I needed and discussing the big picture. All my husband and I really wanted was a small casual party with good food, and Karen helped us develop a creative concept that fit our budget, which was also small. Being a former interior designer, she knows how to design good-looking events well. In working with her, I felt that she really took the time to really understand us and our needs to give us ideas that spoke to us, using her extensive knowledge of wedding places and people in the NYC area. Karen also had a great way of helping me see answers more clearly when I'm indecisive about things in the process, and that was great since being the decision maker on most everything was pretty stressful. Most importantly for me, since I had so much going on in my life, was that Karen created a personalized month-by-month checklist of what I need to do prior to my wedding date and followed up with me regularly for more than a year to make sure I created a guest list, bought my dress, sent out the save-the-dates, etc. When we were looking around for a venue and vendors, she took time out of her day to come along with us and asked them important questions that I didn't even think of. She also formulated a timeline for the wedding weekend scheduling each happening by the minute and sent it to all the vendors and the wedding party to keep them in the loop. Having everyone on the same page just made everything run much smoother. One of the best things I remember about Karen was that one day she mailed me a letter that was stuffed with exclusive sales at local wedding and accessory shops. She collected these from a recent wedding planner's gathering and thought of me. I was pleasantly surprised and so touched! Not only is Karen the most organized person I know who can be trusted to cover all the bases, she's also very conscientious in everything she does, and she's so pleasant to work with on top of all that. I had quite an exciting adventure with Karen Brown and can't believe we finally pulled it off so nicely! Needless to say, I've recommended her to everyone and will definitely get her on board for my next big party!

I found Karen online and was incredibly impressed with her reviews...and so now too, I am a…read morebeliever. We hired Karen to help us with a company cocktail party for about 100 guests. This was party on a terrace on the 16th floor, in midtown, and had lots of moving parts to be coordinated. She found us a great caterer;worked closely with our DJ; took care of every detail we could think of (and she thought of many things we never even considered) ..and when the going got tough two days before the event, and rain showed up in the forecast, she managed to get us a tent for the event, which worked out perfectly. All in all Karen was great to work with and our party was a huge success!! Thanks Karen, for taking the responsibilities away from me and allowing me to totally enjoy our party.

We love, love, loved Sarah and the whole Pollyanna Events team. We were exactly the couple you'd…read morethink wouldn't need a planner -- our wedding was intimate and relaxed, we had incredible family support, and we were lucky enough to share a really clear vision for the day that we were willing to work for. Never mind that we're both detail-oriented with tons of event exposure. But all of that is exactly why we ended up needing someone with us in the home stretch -- so we and everyone we love could just enjoy the experience and focus on having an incredible time together. From the moment we met Sarah, it was clear how great she was. Her energy is both calming and competent, she got us and our style right away, she had useful input for us before we even officially contracted her, and she had methods in place (timelines, collaborative spreadsheets, day-of checklists, and a lot more) that she quickly customized to us, which instantly made everything feel more manageable. And though she had a long list of fantastic vendors for every taste, budget, and imaginable location, she also went out of her way to work with the folks we'd already chosen, especially our non-traditional venues, which were wonderful but not necessarily set up for weddings. It was a huge advantage to have Sarah in our corner in the weeks leading up to our wedding, from nudging vendors on final details to helping us handle what could've been real problems at the last-minute. When our hair stylist had to cancel, for instance, she connected with someone at the salon where she gets her own hair cut and ended up finding us a replacement so good that I still see her to get my hair done. But where Sarah and her team made an unforgettable difference was in the days leading up to the wedding and on the day itself. It's so easy after you've put so much effort into this one weekend to get obsessed with making sure it all goes to plan. The reality, though, is that little things are always going to go wrong. And maybe even more important than that, if you spend your time worrying about -- or trying to fix -- them, you're going to miss out on the big, awesome thing that is your wedding day. Thanks to Sarah, we didn't even hear about the little hiccups -- a key guest stuck in traffic, a backup in the kitchen, etc. -- till our wedding was long over. And Sarah was such a centering presence from the second the day started that we didn't once check or think about the time, yet ended up having enough wiggle room in our schedule to stop in for a drink (wedding dress and all) at our favorite local spot. From then on, I just remember having fun. Here's the truth: For a wedding to feel effortless -- which is what we all hope for -- takes a *ton* of work. Most of us are willing to put the work in, I think, but it's only worth it if you actually get to enjoy the experience of getting married. That's what Sarah and her team make possible. It isn't something that can happen just bringing a planner in day-of -- that person would barely have a chance to build a relationship with you, let alone all your vendors. And it definitely doesn't happen with all planners; having had occasion to hire planners for other big events outside of New York City, I can't overstate how valuable Sarah's empathy, her unique and personal touch, and her strong sense of initiative and accountability are. Honestly, I worried that I'd be one of those unbearable brides with insane standards -- because I'm constantly involved with professional events in my regular life -- but Sarah met and exceeded every expectation. And beyond all that, she just added an air of ease and joy to the planning process that made such an impression on us. Sarah and her team made us feel like they were as invested in our wedding as we were, and that means the world when you're getting married.

We hired Pollyanna Events for month of coordination. We mainly worked with Karolina and she did a…read morefantastic job. She checked in with us about 2 months out just to help ensure that we were getting everything in line and had the right items on our checklist. From there on we started checking in more regularly and she was super helpful with any questions we had. In the month leading up to the wedding, she took over vendor communication which took a bit off our plate. During our walkthrough of the venue, she showed up prepared and ready to go with so many helpful questions that we never would have thought to ask when planning a wedding for the first time. In the weeks leading up, she put together a really helpful timeline for us to ensure we got to do all the things we wanted to do on our wedding day (getting ready, photos with our families, pictures of the two of us at sunset, dancing etc.). It really helped us plan out the day and ensure we could allot as much time to dancing as possible! Finally, the day of, we couldn't have asked for a better team. Karolina stayed with the bride all day to keep the timeline on track (and make sure she didn't forget to eat!) while her teammate, Kristina, was helping put everything together at the venue. Karolina gently kept us on track all day by reminding us when it was time for photos, dance, cake-cutting, but also gave us the flexibility to move things around a bit if we needed a few more minutes talking to our parents. It was truly fantastic and I cannot imagine how much of a mess we would have made of the wedding if Karolina wasn't there to help keep the whole show on track. Our guests commented on how smoothly everything went and how well the timing was all laid out from arrival to ceremony to food to dancing. No one was left hungry or felt like they were waiting for something. For us, this was the most important aspect: our friends and family were able to enjoy themselves without having to worry about the process of the wedding. Thank you so much Karolina, Kristina, and the whole Pollyanna Events team!!!

We had a few loose ideas and a hectic schedule. From that Lindsay took the ball and ran. She poured…read moreherself into every detail and made it a magical and enchanted evening. The guests left feeling deeply grateful for an extraordinary evening. Lindsay is affordable, hard working and imaginative.Highly recommended.

Let me preface this review by saying if you are thinking about getting a wedding planner in the…read moreNJ/NY area, definitely reach out to Lindsay! She is absolutely amazing and will help craft an event that is better than you could have imagined. She has been such a pleasure to work with, and would highly recommend her. Let me back up and give you some context. My husband and I knew we wanted to get married in NJ on my uncle's farm. The only problems with that were that we lived across the country in Portland and we didn't have a building to have the ceremony in. My husband and I also both worked full time jobs. We began to realize that we'd have some time constraints on our hands and hiring a wedding planner might not be a bad idea. After reading some reviews online, I reached out to a few planners and set up a couple of introductory calls to hear about their services and experiences. When I started talking to different wedding planner, every one of them started off by telling me about all of their packages and what was included in their service. Lindsay was different. Unlike the other planners who immediately went into their sales pitch, Lindsay wanted to hear our story and what we wanted in our wedding. It seemed like she genuinely wanted to help us create our special day, not just give us a cookie cutter list of services. This was such a refreshing and personal way of approaching wedding planning. I knew from that minute that I wanted her to plan my wedding. Lindsay of Simply Sunshine Events is an amazing events planner, coordinator, and event designer. She covers a wide array of events, from wedding and baby showers to corporate events and fundraisers. And every single review that I read about the company was simply glowing. Not only is she professional, candid, creative, and helpful, but she just seemed like someone who I would work well with. Ironically we both grew up super close to one another, so we instantly clicked on that part of our past. Even without that connection, I knew that we would get along well. We decided to get help on both the design portion as well as the planning portion of our wedding. I'm really not the most creative person in the world and I felt like we needed help putting together the overall vision. We were presented with a personalize design brief with a couple of different options. Once we decided on a vision, Lindsay was able to pick out vendor options that she thought would work well with the venue and overall theme. It was so much less overwhelming being able to choose out of a couple of highly recommended vendors than to have to choose from everyone in the area. Which leads me to another important thing that Lindsay brought to the table: experience. Not only has she worked with all of these people before, but she has seen all the ins and outs of doing a wedding at a "home" venue. Initially, we thought it would be more cost efficient and easier to have an at home wedding. However, it turns out that this makes the whole planning process much more difficult since we had to not only style a wedding but actually create a venue. Lindsay instantly knew all the things we needed to look into - a tent, flooring, a generator, bathrooms, the list goes on and on. She provided us super detail specific timelines of when we should do each task, as well as supplemental tools to assist us along the way. With Lindsay's help, my husband and I made a lot of the big decisions pretty early on in the planning process. I completely trusted Lindsay's opinion on vendors and that really worked out well for us. We had amazing food and cake tastings, had a florist meeting on site that was spot on, and have a Chaplain who gave me chills when going through ceremony options. The best part about the whole deal is that Lindsay can sometimes get her clients special discounts with vendors that she works with regularly, and passes those deals directly to her clients. Some planners will take those discounts as profits, but Lindsay has an awesome system where she charged us one flat fee for everything listed in her contract and helped us save money elsewhere. She was a huge help in constructing our budget and sticking to it. Overall, I'm so glad we worked with Simply Sunshine for both the planning and design part of our wedding. The wedding went off beautifully and I was so glad I could just relax and be fully present on the wedding day. Even though there was threat of rain all the way up to the actual day, we were able to execute a plan B (extra tents for the ceremony and cocktail hour) that most people had no idea was actually not what we originally intended. I was so thankful to have such an amazing team of vendors backing me up through the preparation and actual day, even when we threw curve balls at them. Simply Sunshine Events has made this whole planning process less stressful than I was initially expecting, and made our wedding day more amazing than I ever could have hoped for.

I cannot possibly put into words the incredible person and party planner extraordinaire that Clara…read moreis. Clara helped plan my son's first birthday from start to finish, and every step of the way she quelled any and all of my worries and anxieties. She helped me brainstorm for my decor, and came up with the most creative and adorable ideas. Her suggestions were always gentle and completely on point. She had the most incredible vendors to work with (balloons, cake, entertainment, bartending, food, decor) and executed my vision PERFECTLY. Best of all - she handled everything the day of with swift and ease so that I could truly enjoy myself. Clara is an absolute delight to work with; supportive, engaging, hard working, thoughtful, easy to talk to and always listens to exactly what you want/need. She will not sleep until she gets the job done perfectly (and trust me, she will). She was always thinking about my event and coming up with even better ways to do things that I would never have thought of myself. Not only did she plan the most fabulous party for me, but she has become a dear friend. She is truly a pleasure to work with. I will be using Clara for every single event I have to plan in the future. Don't hesitate to reach out to her - you will not regret it!!

Two days after my wedding and I am still in bliss and thinking of how perfect everything came out…read more Clara and her team went above and beyond to make sure my vision come to life and went on without a hitch. From the very first meeting with Clara I knew I had found the right planner. She was detailed and asked insightful questions and wanted to get to know me and my fiance so she could give us exactly what we needed. It didn't feel like a transaction but like having coffee with a friend. I felt comfortable with her from the very beginning until saying goodbye to her the day of the wedding. If you are looking for a dedicated, detailed oriented planner, stop looking, you have found her.

I will definitely leave 5 stars for this company. Shaina and her assistant did any amazing job…read morekeeping the children engaged and offering to either make balloons twisting designs or paint their faves. They were on time, professional amd provided an excellent experience for the kids. Thanks again for your services and we will book your company for future events.

I had a great experience with love, peace and paint for my daughter's 5th birthday party on…read more4/22/17. Shayna answered all of my questions when I called to make the reservation and she was courtesy and good with following up too. Rachel was the artist, she was on time, worked well with the children and did an awesome job with the face paint and balloon twist. I would use this company again!

Terrian and Dream Plan-It Events made our wedding unforgettable! I am very particular and did quite…read morea bit of research and interviewed numerous planners before making a decision. When we met with Terrian the connection was immediate. Even my husband liked her and he's a tougher critic than me! Throughout the planning process she morphed from a planner to a friend talking me off the ledge when needed and giving me a dose of reality when my visions got bigger than our pockets! However, my vision was executed beautifully and Terrian was also very creative with her ideas - we made a great team! From the rehearsal dinner to the ceremony and reception, people cannot stop talking about this wedding, the details and how magical it was. I highly recommend Terrian and her team!

Terriann was the absolute best!! When my husband and I first started planning our vow renewal we…read moresaid we only wanted 60-75 people. Our vision completely changed, but Terriann was so flexible and accommodating. One thing that never changed was my desire to have a flower less party and she executed that vision perfectly!!! Terriann was always professional, warm, accessible, knowledgeable and so generous with her knowledge! I loved loved loved working with her!

Raquel is such a gem and lifesaver! We didn't know where to start with our wedding, and my dear…read morefriend of many years who is in the industry was like, "YOU GOTTA MEET RAQUEL." I thought I knew that planning a wedding was a huge undertaking...I had NO idea exactly how huge until we started. Raquel has been a reputable person in the profession for a long time, and she has a plethora of vendors and venues that are completely thrilled to work with her. She listens deeply to your vision and hopes for your wedding, and she starts pulling ideas from all her wisdom. Raquel has done countless versions of weddings - ours was much less "traditional" and she was totally on board and our steadfast advocate. Raquel is extremely organized and utilizes all her experience to make spot on suggestions that serve as an incredibly helpful guide when it comes to the MANY considerations of the event. Raquel truly respects and appreciates how important this moment is in her clients lives, and is caring, invested, and honoring of that. In the midst of all the chaos of decisions, Raquel helped ground us, get excited and have a good laugh. Weddings bring up a lot for people, and Raquel is well versed in effectively and compassionately managing the complex dynamics of families. And she and her team were checking in with us throughout the entirety of the day. If I had to say it in a sentence: Raquel goes absolutely ABOVE AND BEYOND to facilitate a smooth and joyful process and full heartedly supports her clients in realizing a wedding that is authentically and beautifully them. Thank you so much, Raquel. You are a special person and business owner. I kept editing this review to add more, because it feels really hard to encapsulate our appreciation. This was the best day of our lives, and we couldn't have done it without you and your extraordinary team.

Where to start! We got engaged in the beginning of 2020 and first thing we wanted to check off was…read morea wedding planner, especially after going thru the pandemic. We wanted some who was: Organized, task orientated, managed events in various settings, someone who took charge. We also wanted someone who understood how important it was to incorporate our cultures together, who will get how to blend tradition with modern and keep our integrity. What we got was this and so much more: Raquel met every single thing and more!! After a month of searching and several failed interviews I was recommended Raquel. I had no background info on her or her company but I was willing to give it try. Within hours of emailing her we set a time for a call and we hit it off! Raquel was straight forward, she explained that she has been in the wedding business for many many years but 2021 she was going to start out on her own. She provided me with info of her employer knowing well that I could have gone to them instead, but she was extremely transparent and we really appreciate that. She then led with her background in management and event planning. We spoke about being BIPOC and how important that is to her and the clients she serves. We hit it off within 5 minutes on the phone, I gave her my vision of mixing Mexican/Ecuadorian cultures with a modern twist and she was on it. She was coming with ideas that I also had and I knew then that she was the one to make our wedding a reality. We started planning in Nov 2020 and married in Oct 2021. Raquel was always communicating with us, searched vendors for us, handled the contracts and communication, had deadlines set up, kept us in budget. We were on a shared google drive that had every detail of our wedding. She was readily available leading to the month before, she was a text, call away. She kept it real, she knew when to say "hey maybe we can try something else out" I loved it, she had a back up plan for everything! She also kept in mind our families and how important it was to show our families how a 1st generation couple can still keep our roots but also embrace our cultural backgrounds. Raquel was a true blessing. On the big day she and her team were amazing, always made sure I was happy and taken cared of. Things probably went wrong but I had no idea, that's how smooth the day went for us. We spent many months planning this wedding Raquel has become much more than our planner but a true friend, she had our backs and we wish her all the best in her company. We are truly honored to have had Just Say Yes conduct our wedding!!!!

recently had the pleasure of working with Liz's Venue by Decor by Liz for our reception, and I…read morecannot recommend her highly enough! From the very beginning, Liz took the time to understand our vision and made it her mission to bring it to life. Her attention to detail and creativity truly set her apart. Liz went above and beyond to ensure that everything was perfect. She listened carefully to our ideas and incorporated them seamlessly, all while adding her unique touch that elevated the entire experience. The decor was stunning, and her talent is simply unmatched. Every element, from the floral arrangements to the table settings, was beautifully curated and reflected our style perfectly. What impressed us most was Liz's dedication. She worked tirelessly to make sure everything was just right, often checking in and making adjustments as needed. Her passion for her craft shines through in every detail, and it made our special day even more memorable. If you're looking for someone to make your event truly special, look no further than Liz's Venue by Decor by Liz. We are so grateful for her hard work and incredible talent! Thank you, Liz, for making our reception a dream come true! -Mr & Mrs. Eddie Ortiz