So wonderful and so personal.... Gabriella was on the list…read moreof preferred officiants for our wedding location as she should be!!!!! She took so much time and effort crafting our short, but simple ceremony that people asked us afterwards who she was and had we been friends for along time. Gabriella is truly a gem of a person and helped shape our ceremony in the best way possible. We all cried, we all laughed and awwwed A LOT. It was a wonderful experience, highly recommend her! We are MBAM Peeps!!!!

Gabi was truly one of the best decisions we made for our wedding. My husband and I worked with her…read moreto create a completely custom ceremony, and the end result was more meaningful and personal than we could have ever imagined. She has an incredible ability to take your story, your values, and your relationship and turn it into something that feels authentic and deeply moving... not generic or templated in any way. What really set her apart was how she coached our officiant (who is also a close friend). She made sure he felt confident, prepared, and able to deliver the ceremony in a way that felt natural and heartfelt. It made such a difference in the moment. Our ceremony ended up being one of the most special parts of the entire day, and we owe that to Gabi. If you're looking for something truly personal and beautifully crafted, she's it.

Sofanya came through for us to make our wedding dreams come true despite super chaotic…read morecircumstances. When our wedding venue fell through a week before our wedding because they refused to let us put up a canopy to get out of the rain, she was kind enough to let us rent our cottage two days early and gave us several location options for our ceremony, whatever would suit us best. She helped me get ready & offered as much love, kindness & support as she could offer. Then, when the weather turned south & started storming extremely heavily during our outdoor ceremony, she generously opened up her own home to us in the top floor of the beautiful dome house to complete our special day. She truly saved the day for us, and treated us like family. The location couldn't be more beautiful. Everywhere you look, beautiful art peeks through the landscape as if placed thete by fairies, and the beauty of nature here creates a sense of tranquility among the redwoods crawling with ivy. Beautiful photo opportunities everywhere you look. A true hippy paradise! The Cala Lily Cottage was cozy, private and intimate, and we felt right at home. PLEASE avoid wasting your money at overpriced, inhospitable cabins/campgrounds out at big sur and come here instead, where you'll be treated like a treasured guest. My new husband and I look forward to returning on an anniversary!

What an aptly named little slice of paradise. Only a few minutes from breathtaking views of the…read morecoast, you take one turn and suddenly you are immersed in a lush redwood forest. This place is magical. I have so many good things to say about the Jewel in the Forest and Sofanya. I feel connected to them now as they are a part of my story, and I'm so grateful for that! On October 1st, I married my best friend in a small 10 person ceremony at the Jewel in the Forest. It was the most perfect day of my life, and there could not have been a better place for it. We rented out all 4 of the cabins on property to accommodate all of our guests. That allowed us to stay together and bond through the whole experience, while still providing ample privacy and sleeping space for our guests The Dome House is the most beautiful place I have ever stayed in my life. From the skylights that allow you a peek of the tops of the redwood trees, to the eclectic and beautiful furniture and decorations, to the wood burning heater, topped off by Sofanya's amazing artwork, it is truly an immersive experience. Sofanya provides games, movies, books, musical instruments, and a full kitchen. Everything you need for the perfect escape. We cut our cake and drank champagne as a group of about 12 in the living space comfortably. Most of our guests stayed at the Jasmine house, which has 3 private rooms and a large living space where we all enjoyed dinner the night before the ceremony. Sofanya even strung up the cutest string lights on the patio for us so we could enjoy the outside space as well. My parents stayed in the adorable Calla Lily cabin, which is perfect for a couple or small family. It is cozy and charming. Our photographer stayed up in the adorable Lotus Blossum, which had the most spectacular windows and a one of a kind outside bathroom. So cool! We held our ceremony near the stream amongst the redwoods. It was breathtaking. Overall, the space was beyond perfect for what we needed. Each of the cabins are unique and have so much character. I recommend that EVERYONE visit and escape from reality to this magical place at some point in your life. You won't regret it. Now, I have to say a few things about Sofanya. She is wonderful! She really went above and beyond making sure our wedding was perfect. She hung the aforementioned lights for me, provided several bouquets around the property, received packages with things for my wedding for me ahead of time, and ensured everyone's comfort the whole stay. Thank you so much for all you did to make my wedding truly perfect Sofanya.

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!

Really takes time and gives so much heart to make weddings so beautiful, personal, lovely! Great…read moreresponse time whenever we called and had question or needed anything!

My wife and I are so incredibly grateful that Ken officiated our wedding in Big Sur this past…read moreOctober. From the moment we first reached out to Ken, we could tell that he was very thoughtful in getting to know us before our big day. Ken spoke with us often (via phone and email) to help us prepare for our wedding. Because of all the preparation, the ceremony went smoothly and felt very unique. We highly recommend Ken.

Hayne was amazing!! Our wedding day was perfect and I couldn't have asked for anything better!read more

Minister Hayne did a fantastic job as a photographer and an officiater of our 10 year vow renewal…read more Responsive, easy-to-work with, and a great price. The photos she took are done professionally and are beautiful. She has a need to learn your story so she can give you the best experience.

We had a fantastic wedding at the beach thanks to Kathie. We originally wanted to have something…read moresmall for around 39 people and gad no idea how to organize it. We left a message and I got a call back from Kathie the next day. She was very informative and took a lot if weight out of our shoulders. She took care of the ceremony at the beach and pointed us in the right direction by recommending places for the reception. We organized everything two months prior and by doing it pretty last minute everything came out awesome. Nobody can predict the weather two months in advance and we were blessed that it was a beautiful day at the beach. We think that what we paid was very reasonable and we received a great service from carmel weddings. We are glad that we choose them and that they were part of a this very special event in out life. We will never forget it. I will let the pictures do the talking now. Thank you very much for being so accommodating to my wife's color choices, for improvising a beautiful exit song we forgot to choose and for everything else! Pablo & Mimi

I just got married 4/2/18 and used Carmel Weddings for my elopement ceremony. I left a message and…read moreKathee returned my call the next day. She ok'd my date and said they could make all the arrangements. I read the reviews on here after I sent the deposit and was a little worried. But I wondered to myself if it was just the brides nerves causing them to feel anxious. I was in touch with her a few times before my ceremony. About 2 weeks before she called because she was tying up the final arrangements. I hired my own photographer because I found someone I really wanted. We had an amazing wedding. We loved our minister and I loved my flowers! I received 2 official copies of my marriage license from the county one week after it was mailed in. Kathee arranged for a notary to issue the license. Everything was great and exactly what I wanted.

We retained Dan Kennedy's services and was happy working with him. Would recommend him to anyone…read morelooking for wedding minister.

We (my wife & I) would just love to say how grateful we are to have Dan officiated our wedding. He…read morewas so thorough from our scripts that we picked out since we wanted to customize them a bit. Dan delivered every words with elegance and grace. As he orchestrated our whole ceremony from announcing to our guest that it would an unplugged ceremony to ending it with wonderful and powerful words as he announced us as husband and wife. Thank you for everything you did Dan on our wedding day and also dropping off our marriage license. I highly recommend Dan.

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 are beyond grateful for Minister Hayne, who served as both our wedding officiant and…read morephotographer. She truly exceeded our expectations in every possible way. As our officiant, Minister Hayne created a ceremony that was heartfelt, personal, and beautifully tailored to our story. Her warm, calming presence made the entire experience feel meaningful, genuine, and filled with joy. Many of our guests commented on how touching and well‑delivered the ceremony was. As our photographer, she was just as incredible. She made us feel completely at ease in front of the camera and captured every important moment with creativity and care. The photos turned out absolutely stunning--full of emotion, detail, and authenticity. We now have a gorgeous collection of memories that we'll cherish forever. Handling both roles seamlessly is no small task, but Minister Hayne did it with grace, professionalism, and passion. We couldn't have asked for a better person to guide our ceremony and preserve our most special moments. We highly, highly recommend Minister Hayne to any couple looking for an exceptional officiant, photographer, or--if you're lucky enough--both.

Hayne was absolutely amazing! She truly does it all, and for a great price! The ceremony was…read morelovely, she provided the music, and took extra time to get some great pictures. She was patient with our pose and prop requests for pictures and brought some fun signs for us to use too. Everything went perfectly and was better than what we imagined. She even gave us great restaurant recommendations for our wedding dinner! Highly recommend. Thanks for everything Hayne!

Heather is simply amazing! My now husband and I decided to elope along the beautiful cliffs of Big…read moreSur. When I met with Heather for our consult, it felt like I was meeting with a close friend...I could feel all my stress and anxiety just disappear. Heather was very attentive to our every need and not only took the most amazing pictures of our elopement that I have ever seen, but she made sure we had everything we might need. From the flowers, planning the day and location, officiant, we did not have to worry about one thing. I could not recommend Heather more, she captured our special day so beautifully and we are eternally grateful to have found her.

Heather is definitely the kind of person you hope for in a photographer, especially on your wedding…read moreday! I was super excited to meet her and was taken away by her featured photos. She captured our adventure elopement shoot. She knew some cool locations in Big Sur and could not have imagined having such amazing wedding photos captured by anyone else. Energy, kindness, eye to details are my favorite things about her. You are lucky if you are able to book her. It's a no brainer guys, she's it!