Hiring Alison Events was hands-down the BEST decision we made during the entire wedding planning process. We worked closely with Alison, Danielle, and Lauren over the course of a year and a half, and from start to finish, they were creative, calm, detail-obsessed, and just genuinely lovely human beings. They brought our vision to life in ways we couldn't have imagined. Every detail felt intentional and deeply personal, and somehow, the entire weekend felt both elevated and effortless. Our wedding was FLAWLESS. Coming from two people who weren't even sure we wanted a wedding, we were blown away by how much FUN we had. We can't stop gushing about it. Our guests are still telling us it was one of the best weddings they've ever been to. A special shoutout to Alisha, our day-of coordinator and real-life fairy godmother. She made everything on the bride side run seamlessly and was truly everywhere at once. From logistics to emotional support, she had me covered. I don't know what I would've done without her. Alison Events isn't just a wedding planner. They're a creative partner, a team of steady hands, and at times, our therapist through a very real and occasionally overwhelming process. If you're lucky enough to work with them, trust them completely. They are actual magic. read more

There truly aren't enough good things I could say about the team at AE. My (now) husband and I were kind of the disaster clients when we first came to them: we wanted to plan a wedding in 4 months, couldn't decide where we wanted to do it, how big we wanted it or what exactly we wanted, thought we wanted to do wine country only to decide we wanted Hawaii, picked a venue that was somewhat tough to work with (Jesse and Andrea charmed the venue folks though and they ended up great)...the list goes on. On top of it, we thought we were laid-back/go with the flow people, but I'm pretty sure I should concede to being a control freak at this point in my life. I still don't know how they pulled off what they did, but they made our wedding absolutely amazing, and somehow made even the planning process pretty stress free (not easy to do when you decide to do a destination wedding 3-4 months out). The team truly delivers from every angle - style, creativity, efficiency, effectiveness - they helped us figure out what we wanted and were realistic with us about what what was doable. During our event, they managed everything down to a T, and did everything in their power to make it an incredible experience. After they saw I wasn't totally thrilled with the bouquet the florist brought (it was kind of giant), Jesse magically reworked the bouquet in the minutes before the ceremony to make it perfect. And they just bring joy and warmth to the whole thing. I now wish I had spent a whole year planning our wedding just so I could have spent more time with Jesse and Andrea (I basically begged them to be my friends in real life after it was all over). If you have a chance to work with AE, do it. There is a reason they have an international reputation - they are absolutely the best of the best. read more

Why doesn't Yelp have 6 stars! Andrea and Jesse are literally the best. Like...literally THE BEST! They helped us plan our wedding last October and throughout all the challenges, the many, many challenges, they always maintained a professional and calming demeanor. Have a challenging family? No problem. Have weird wedding day requests? No problem. Just need someone to vent to? NO PROBLEM! And, they know EVERYONE! They introduced us to so many incredible vendors that made our wedding amazing and unique, ie Jessica Laskey (amazing food) and The Shrines (amazing band). I couldn't imagine planning a wedding without their help. They are truly experts in this space. Everyone knows wedding planning is stressful, and my now lovely wife, a self-described super Type A, credits her sanity and the great start to our marriage to Alison Events. Do yourself and future spouse a favor and give Jesse and Andrea a call, it will minimize your stress level, and allow you to have fun creating a personal and perfect wedding/event. I promise you won't be sorry. If you are sorry, I will foot the bill. No I won't, but you won't be sorry. Promise! read more

Let me start off by saying that, I was absolutely thrilled with the way my wedding turned out (see the pics in my profile) -- due in large part to the hard work Stacy McCain put into planning and organizing. We chose the "little more than the day of" package because we had a limited budget and a vision that we wanted to carry out. (Hey, I married an architect.) Stacy went above and beyond the month before the wedding to painstakingly ensure that everything would be planned and executed according to our vision. Alison Events definitely understood the "look and feel" we were trying to achieve. We didn't want someone to simply coordinate. Stacy's suggestions and advice were critical. It was nice having her there to answer questions, coordinate with vendors, look over contracts, and help us with all of the little details that made our day so special -- she even added some little touches we hadn't thought about, like putting nice candles, soap, and lotion in the bathroom. The most helpful thing Stacy did on the day of the wedding was to be calm. Her calmness helped reinforce that she had taken care of everything. Which she had! It was great that Stacy was so on top of things: she anticipated what we would need, in some cases, before we even knew we needed it. When we got to the venue, she had a kit for me that included needle and thread, deodorant, and a bunch of other little items. Thank God for the deodorant because with all my beautification throughout the day, I had forgotten to apply my pit stick. And the last thing a bride wants is to smell like BO! Stacy didn't hyperventilate when we ran out of red wine at 8:30 and still had three hours of reception left. She just came over and softly said, "We're almost out of red wine, shall I get more?" We said yes and she waved her magic wand and made it happen. At the end of the night, she even helped get some drunken guests get home safely (thanks to all the extra wine!), running outside and waving down a cab for one super wasted lady. Seriously, I was dubious about the whole wedding planner thing and whether we should pay for one, but it was well worth the money. My advice would be to find a good one you trust, even if you don't use Alison Events. You don't want to be worrying about little details (or smelling like body odor) on your wedding day. read more

Alison Events (A.K.A. Alison, Kelsey and Alyssa) helped us plan our wedding about a year ago and i have nothing but great things to say about them -- so if you don't want to read a bunch of positive stuff, you should probably move it along now. i never really thought about my own wedding before we got engaged, so it was very overwhelming to come up with a plan. (secretly, i had kind of hoped we'd just do the City Hall thing but that was out of the question, according to our parents.) my aversion to planning and my love of procrastination would probably have stifled the entire process had we not enlisted Alison Events for their help. it was honestly the sheer will, vision and stick-to-it-iveness of the women at Alison Events that made our wedding happen. and what a wedding. the best thing about it was that it felt like Ours, and yet surpassed what we'd ever imagined it could be. not to be overly shmaltzy, but they took our ideas and turned them into poetry. or something else that's much more intricate than just an idea. also, they appreciated that we were from a creative industry and protected us from the cookie cutter, boring stuff that some weddings can become. they upheld our high standards. plus, they're just nice, funny, down to earth, normal, cool women who bring their senses of humor and enthusiasm to every meeting, right along with their professionalism. anyway, they're great. honest. i would totally, totally use them for my next wedding. KIDDING, honey. kidding. read more

I've had the pleasure of working with the ladies at Alison Events on a several different projects over the last few years. They are a couple of the most hard-working, attentive, patient, talented and creative people I've met in the event planning world, and my job has me interfacing with a lot of them. Its a stressful and frazzled atmosphere dealing with lots of conflicting personalities, demands and setbacks, and they are masters at cultivating a 'got things under control' vibe mixed with a fun-loving, rational, and cheerful attitude. They take such personal pride in each of their events and are truly vested in all they do without any sense of being jaded or annoyed- its SO refreshing to see that. I've worked mostly with Kelsey who is incredible- she's consulted on some of my corporate and nonprofit projects in the past and is always my go-to when I need event related advice and help with logistics. I kind of wish I could have her in the delivery room for my first born child- she's super collected and professional. I'm already married but If I wasn't I'd hire Alison Events in a heartbeat and have consistently recommended them. They have a spectacular eye for design and a voracious spirit to do find new and inspired looks tailored to their clients- their is definitely a reason they always end up in Martha Stewart Weddings, Style Me Pretty and other major wedding publications. But I have to say, if you're a bride-to-be into satin table spreads and lots of bling, they're probably not your cup of tea. They only allow a couple weddings a month, so they do get booked up pretty quick since most of the times when they are not at a wedding, they are away on site visits, client meetings, vendor coordination and all the rest of the behind-the-scenes work, and are girls on the go. So I suggest contacting them really early! They've got really strong vendor relationships that result in the best collaborations- after all, event planning is like being in a band- you have to trust your partners and they always pull off amazingly unique creations each time. More than anything, I appreciate their straightforward and honest communication style- if something wont work, Kelsey is the first to give it to me straight and constructively and always has problem-solving alternatives- she's a true advocate. In the event world $&^t happens all the time and they always seem to pull it off without a hitch. Did I mention they're a blast to hang out with as well? It's a win win. read more

Alison Events were absolutely amazing this holiday season in helping me coordinate and execute my company's holiday party. Alicia Matsumoto headed my event and she brought a vision I couldn't have even thought of to life starting with a beautiful storyboard all the way to the finishing touches. Anything I asked for, AE delivered and more with perfect implementation of the evening. I am always worried about the guests having a great time and making sure I host the events I head, but Alicia took all the stress away from that and it truly let me enjoy the party just as much as everyone else. I can't wait to contact her again for our next company event! Alicia's keen eye for detail and extraordinary taste level brought our party to the next level. Thank you Alicia and AE - you guys are event planners for a reason and it shows! read more

Jesse and Ruth and Co. were amazing! Would give them 10 stars if we could. We had a big wedding, far away from where we live, spanning five events over four days. From a barn, to a pier, to a forest- AE pulled it off with style and grace under pressure no matter how challenging the initial planning ask or last minute logistical curveball thrown their way. Hoping we get to work with them again soon for another family wedding! read more

I can't begin to explain the amazing help this team was....I was one panicked bride and every time I saw Laura and Susies face day of the wedding they put me at ease :) I seriously (I am biased) think may wedding was perfect but I couldn't have done it without them....not even close. They went over and ABOVE what they needed to do. This was seriously worth EVERY penny and anyone that is debating getting an event planner....DON'T it was the best decision I made. I seriously want to thank Susie, Sunna, and Laura for all you did. I just wish I had more to work with you guys with I had a vision, they enhanced it, and then implemented it. There creative ideas were just ridiculous. I seriously thank you guys SO MUCH read more

Every year at salesforce we run a thank you event for our employees that have been with us for 10 years. We call it dinner of the decade. I hired Alison and her team - Holly & Alicia to come up with the concept, find a space for us and mastermind the entire evening from arrivals through to thank you. Our CEO and the entire leadership were attending so everything needed to be incredible and top notch. Alison and her team took the details to a whole new level. It's the little touches that make a big difference and the 100 plus attendees were blown away by the atmosphere, the food, decor and the level of service. Every suggestion they made added to the "specialness" of the event. I worked with the team on this event day in & out for weeks, they were as passionate about ensuring we blow everyones socks off as I was. We had a lot of last minute changes, and Alison's team took everything in their stride and accommodated my requests with ease and simplicity. When I hire an events team, I really look for a team that is going to take the stress and burden away from me, turn my vision into reality, and do it with grace and simplicity. Alison, Holly & Alicia did just that. I'm always looking for ways to work with them again. read more

I had the pleasure of working with Alicia from the AE team. She researched and sought out my company as the photo booth provider for her client's 40th birthday party. The event was originally scheduled to be at The Stable on Folsom St., but the venue had flooded after that nasty storm in early January. With only a week to locate a new venue for the event (in SF, that is a HUGE task, by the way), I was unsure that a rescheduling of the event was not in order. But she did located a perfect venue match and executed the celebration with flying colors. The client was beaming! I have to give it to Alicia - she focused and made it happen when all the cards were stacked against a party that weekend. Well done, Alicia and the fine folks at AE! read more

I recently got married in Lake Tahoe and used Alison Events as my wedding planner. I honestly can't say enough about how wonderful Alison Events is, or how highly I recommend their services. I mainly worked with Kelsey Scheofsky but Alison was also involved throughout the process. We felt really lucky to be able to work with Alison Events as we did not have much time to plan our wedding. Due to work, we had been living in China during much of our engagement and then were in South America, only to find out that we would be moving to the East Coast so my husband could go to business school right after our wedding. Needless to say, we had a lot going on during this time and felt like our wedding could have turned into a stress nightmare. I read about Alison Events in a bridal magazine and sent them an email from Buenos Aires to find out if they would be willing to help out such a couple in such a crazy situation. As it turns out, they were not only willing to take us on, but also were very fair about pricing. In fact, I think that their pricing is very competitive in the market for the services that they provide and are worth every penny. Overall, I am convinced that working with Alison Events' saved us money because of their extensive vendor relationships and creative ideas about how to keep costs down while still having an amazing event. In short, it was perfect. I really felt like Alison Events was able to take our wedding vision and make it into a reality. I definitely knew what ambience I wanted to have at my wedding, but had no idea how to actually create it. Alison Events' creative ideas, attention to detail and great vendor contacts really brought to life the vibe we wanted (simple, elegant, natural, beautiful, and fun) while staying within our budget. We couldn't be happier with the entire event!! Another great thing about Alison Events was Kelsey's willingness and patience to walk me through all of my questions regarding every little detail (no matter how mundane) to make sure that things came out as planned. I think part of Alison Events' great value is that they have so much experience to share with those of us who don't know much about weddings. I felt so confident and relaxed about the whole process because I knew Alison Events had everything under control. The best part for me was that all our guests LOVED our wedding and kept saying that not only was it one of the most fun and beautiful weddings that they had ever been to (yes, we had to kick people off the dance floor at the end of the night) but also that it so "us". This was so important to us because we had guests from around the country and around the world, and we really wanted an event where everyone was having fun and felt included. I am still getting compliments about it. After all of the effort that goes into planning a wedding, my husband and I felt so happy to hear that our guests enjoyed themselves. My husband and I absolutely adored our wedding and it really was all of Alison Events' wonderful and creative touches that made it so special. We were so excited and stress free all weekend due to Alison Events' careful coordination, and in the end, everything went off perfectly and even better than we had hoped for. My only regret is that we can't do it all again this weekend! read more

One word - fabulous! This review is LONG overdue... Kelsey was our coordinator for our wedding, and she is absolutely fantastic! Wildly creative, she helped take my vision and make it a reality, while at the same time staying very mindful of our budget. She was there every step of the way - without her we would have drowned in all the planning! But Kelsey's best quality, and the reason you MUST choose Alison Events for your wedding/event, is that she actually cares about you - it's not just a job, she genuinely wants to make your day as amazing as possible. read more

Sunna Yassin from Alison Events planned our recent dream wedding in Sonoma and it was just that - a dream! She is an absolute doll and total professional. She will give it to you straight and that directness is a quality I appreciate more than any other. She is fantastic with immaculate taste. I can't recommend her more and my husband and mother would say the same. She really became a great friend to all of us throughout the process and we were sad when it was over bc we wouldn't get to talk to her as often. Can't wait to ask her to help plan friends' weddings, and maybe even a baby shower in the future. :) read more

Honk Honk for AE! LOVE these very talented women. Yelp, can I get a 6th star for AE please? My wifie and I recently worked with AE to plan our wedding. It was out of town and they made it all happen... The AE team is: * CREATIVE - great eyes, vision, artistic capabilities and all done very tastefully. Great at listening, following the bride and groom's lead, taste prefs, etc. and incorporating our requests into the event. They were AMAZING. * HARD WORKING - when it is your turn to meet, greet, travel and come the weekend of, the AE team is there and kicks arse. They worked long hours (can you say a 16 hour day on the day of)? They execute very well and work their butts off! * FUN - they have a fun time while working and you will have fun hanging out and collaborating with them. * COOL - These chicas are IT. 'Nuff said! In addition, they served us great hors d'oeuvres (apricots 'n nuts yo!) during our office visits. We worked with Alison, Kelsey, Alyssa and all were fab. They also hired some helpers where the event took place and they too were filled with complete and utter awesomeness. DO IT. AE, I DO! read more

I just realized that I never actually posted my Yelp review of Alison Events after our wonderful June 2011 wedding! We ended up working primarily with Kelsey (with Alyssa's support) over the course of more than 18 months - and during that time, my husband and I were actually traveling out of the country for a full year, which meant we did a lot of our planning with them remotely. Our wedding weekend was a 4-day affair at a venue in the Russian River Valley -- rehearsal dinner on Thurs; welcome BBQ on Friday; Saturday wedding ceremony & reception; Sunday farewell brunch. Between the long-distance wedding planning and the number of events (and logistics) we needed to plan at at our venue, there's NO way we could've pulled off the amazing weekend we did without the ladies at Alison Events. As others have noted here, they are super fun to work with and ended up feeling more like friends than planners by the end of our year and a half together. That said, they're also very much what my husband and I call GSD -- "get shit done". :) They were very good at keeping us on task with decisions that needed to be made, bills that needed to be paid, etc. They tend to work frequently with the same vendors (Brown Paper Design, Hello Lucky, etc) and will nudge you in that direction, but those vendors were all excellent, and honestly, it saved us so many hours of having to do our own research by just being able to go with their trusted vendors. And the few times we wanted to use someone they hadn't worked with before (as we did for our invitations and our band), they were totally supportive. Since our budget ended up higher than we originally planned, we pushed them to look for ways to cut costs and they were quite sensitive to that. Kelsey did some hardball negotiating with our venue over some of the items on the contract, and she managed to keep our rental costs lower by finding clever ways to re-use our rental items over the course of the weekend. Those things didn't make a huge dent in our overall budget, but I appreciated how they were always looking for ways to try to keep our costs lower. Their planning fee is admittedly pretty high, but it's important to remember that once you hire them, they will work their butts off for you. (I can't tell you how many hundreds [thousands?] of emails I exchanged with Kelsey... she is seemingly always online.) They're design aesthetic is excellent, and for me, that was also a great help. (I'm not the type of woman who has spent her whole life looking at bridal magazines, so I didn't come into wedding planning with a specific "look" in mind - it helped to get their great suggestions for design.) Kelsey is awesome about brainstorming new ideas on the spot... and once you get to a point where you're ready to start making decisions about table settings, etc, they'll have you come into the office and literally have different table settings laid out for you to choose from. So easy! The other great thing I'll say about them - and I'm not sure I would've recognized the importance of this early on - but they are super relaxed. Every bride encounters stressful moments in wedding planning, but Kelsey and Alyssa have this amazing ability to calm you down with their zen vibe. It seems nothing ruffles their feathers. That's a huge help when you're in the thick of things - you want someone who will keep you calm, not up your stress and anxiety level. The last thing I'll say is that we ended up having a very logistically complicated wedding. Lighting, furniture, heat lamps - all of that stuff had to be brought in, and Kelsey and her team had the whole system down pat. Not once during our entire wedding weekend did I have to worry about things getting moved to where they were supposed to go or being set up at the right time. I trusted that Kelsey and her team were on it, which freed me up to spend time with our guests and really be present in the weekend. I think that is single greatest gift a good wedding planner can give you, and Alison Events were superstars there. They were on it, and everything flowed perfectly. In the end, that's what it's all about, right? read more

Alison and her team are the most talented people you will ever come across in this industry. They are fun, hardworking, incredibly organized, and above all, creative. We had such fun planning our wedding with this team and it turned out to be the most perfect, magical, gorgeous, wonderful day ever. And entirely stress free! We didn't worry about anything our wedding day because we knew Alison would be on top of everything and it would all be flawlessly executed. Alison introduced us to all of our vendors, and everyone she suggested was as talented, fun, and easy to work with as the rest of her team. We cannot ever thank them enough for putting together such an incredible day for us! read more

Within minutes of meeting Jesse we knew he was the one for us! He made us feel immediately taken care of, which lifted our anxieties and the weight of planning. Jesse is extremely talented and incredibly fun, and he helped us create a magical experience that people are still talking about six months later! He is a phenomenal wedding planner who not only has a beautiful vision and eye for design, but also has the innate leadership and ability to handle anything that may come up, thus allowing a seamless experience for all in attendance. We could not imagine our wedding without Jesse's help, support, experience and presence. Most importantly, he made the planning process fun and we made an instant friend. Jesse is an amazing person who made us feel at ease, which is something we will always remember and appreciate. He was born for this job and is second to none. We have nothing except the highest praise and respect for him. The best advice I can give to any new bride is, "Contact Jesse Tombs!" read more

Our day was truly special, so very lovely with everything we wanted it to be plus more. We got married on the deck of our beautiful home in Calistoga with Mount St. Helena and Veeder as backdrop in front of family and close friends. It was a perfect day and we couldn't have done it without the help of Alison Events. Much thanks to Jesse Tombs, Andrea Munson and their team for helping make our day a memorable one. They made our pre-wedding planning process seem easy. They listened to our desires and dreams, communicated well throughout and never was there a time that we felt nervous or insecure about execution. We knew that we were in experienced and competent hands. On the day of, they took care of everything - minding the details and organizing all the moving parts that we could not have orchestrated ourselves without high stress. The day did go by too quickly as they all say it would but we had no worries in the world on that day except to enjoy ourselves and our guests. Our words are too small to express our immense gratitude but just want to say again a very big thank you Jesse, Andrea and friends at Alison Events from the bottom of our hearts! read more

Alison Events (Sunna Yassin) planned my 50th birthday party recently. I am completely not a planning type and did not have any idea what is required to pull off a fantastic event. Luckily, Sunna and her partners at Alison Events were able to discern what I was looking for and made everything happen. All the details about food, cake, drinks, location were handled smoothly and beautifully. But the thing I remember most is the magical space they created, the feel that it had. My guests and I were enchanted and had a wonderful time. I can't imagine having wanted anything to have gone differently. And the several months leading up to the party were a breeze, too, because Sunna was on top of everything. read more

This review is long overdue, but also perfect timing as we just got our wedding photos a few weeks ago and spent a lot of timing showing them off to people over T-giving! We got married in Rutherford, CA in mid- September and had the best weekend of our entire lives (yes, weekend -- we had the AE team working for 4 days straight). They helped us pull off welcome gift distribution at no less than 7 different hotels all over the Napa Valley, a Friday welcome cocktail party for the entire group, obviously ALL day Saturday wedding shenanigans including an after party at a separate venue with entirely different furniture/ambience/music AND a Sunday brunch that EVERYONE showed up for. Everything was completely flawless and our guests felt spoiled the entire weekend. The BEST part is that I'm generally an extremely type-A personality and everyone kept remarking throughout the entire wedding weekend that I was so calm it was disturbing -- they'd never seen me that way. It's because I knew that Sunna (and Susie and Hilary and the rest of the team) had everything more covered than I ever could and that not only were they handling all the preparations but they were also telling me/the groom/my family where and when we needed to be places. I'm one of the first of my friends to get married and the only girl in my family so my parents (and groom) and I didn't really know where to start, other than we wanted a Napa wedding. Sunna helped us create a vision from very minimal ideas and make it into the wedding of our dreams. We LOVED every single vendor that we worked with -- the florist, the caterers, our photographer (the photos are absolutely AMAZING) and we found them all through Sunna's guidance. We rarely even met with more than one of each vendor because we trusted Sunna's opinion and taste so much -- and we were definitely right to do that! I could ramble on forever but the bottom-line is that Sunna, Susie, Alison and the rest of the AE team made a pretty stressful process (we certainly hit some major issues with hotels, etc. along the way) extremely easy on us. The best advice I can give you is to trust their opinion -- Sunna knows what she's doing and also manages to stay calm throughout the process (at least on the outside, haha), which can't be beat! We will absolutely use Sunna and AE again when the opportunity arises. BEST WEEKEND EVER!!! And we never could have done it without Sunna! read more

I can't praise this duo enough. Jesse and Andrea are the ultimate wedding planning team. Jesse is the artist behind the scenes. He will not only take what you have envisioned and bring it to life, but make it 10 times better and original. Every wedding he creates is so different and special to each couple. He has such a good eye and impeccable taste. Andrea is the mastermind organizer. She is with you from beginning to end and will make sure everything is taken care of. No need for good memory, she will remember every key item and make sure you have everything you need at all times. She is super supportive not only physically but emotionally. As the bride, I felt like i could tell her anything. Together they are invincible. Our friends and family could not stop raving about our wedding. It really looked straight out of a magazine. I had my reservations about destination weddings, but it worked out so well because we worked with the best team out there. read more

Alison Events helped plan our August wedding in beautiful Sonoma, CA. Words will never be enough to thank Sunna and Susie for all the help and guidance they provided during the planning process and the big day. From the very beginning, everyone at Alison Events made you feel like you were their best friends. They were super friendly, upbeat and always made my husband and I feel special. Since we were planning a destination wedding from the East Coast, we were concerned with not knowing great vendors. Sunna knocked it out of the park bringing us the best vendors to work with i.e..best photographer and videographer, florist, DJ, rentals. She was even so amazing that she went out her of way to search a guitarist I found online with no name or company provided, just a picture I found from a wedding blog! The day of our wedding was so unbelievable and completely stress free. Alison, Susie, and others from Alison Events made it impossible to worry about anything. I can honestly say nothing went wrong. Thank you so much to Alison Events for making my dream wedding come true. I would recommend them to anyone planning a destination wedding anywhere in the world!! read more