We had the pleasure of working with Coastside Couture for our wedding in Nov of 2022 and we are…read morestill reminiscing about the incredible day they helped us create. From the very beginning, their team was dedicated to understanding our vision and bringing it to life in ways that exceeded our expectations. They dug deep to get to know us and our families and words can't do them justice. One of the standout aspects of their amazing work was their recommendation and orchestration(no pun intended) for a band that matched and exceeded our hopes for a lit and epic dance floor. The energy and talent of the band they suggested turned our reception into an unforgettable celebration. Our guests are still talking about how much fun they had dancing the night away. The attention to detail and commitment to excellence from Heidi, Sonja, and Harley were evident in every aspect of our wedding. They managed to seamlessly blend elegance and fun, creating moments that reflected my husband and myself and will be memories we will literally never forget. Also I reflect now on how much stress they removed from our lives and I am eternally grateful. We have no idea all the ways they just allowed us to have fun in the process. We truly believe that our wedding was one of the best day of our lives, and much of that is thanks to the hard work and dedication of this dream team. If you are looking for a wedding planning company that will go above and beyond to make your day as special as possible, we highly recommend Coastside Couture. Their expertise, passion, and personal touch made our wedding day epic and unforgettable. Love them!!

Heidi, Sonja and Harley were great to work with for our wedding. We started working with Heidi 9…read moremonths before our wedding in Carmel Valley and she immediately started reserving/confirming vendors that we absolutely loved. She is experienced, and really knows the area and the best vendors to work with. She managed to reserve one highly in-demand vendor before we had even finalized our contract with her, anticipating that it would be the best option for us (which it was). That is how forward-thinking and proactive Heidi is - a true godsend for two people with busy schedules and very little time to plan a wedding. Without Heidi, our wedding would be an absolute shadow of the wonderful event that it turned out to be with her at the helm. We recommend Heidi for any event in and around Carmel, particularly for those individuals with tight schedules, busy lives or far reaching visions of what you want out of your event. She really focuses on personalizing your wedding day to reflect the couple's tastes and vision. Heidi and her incredible team will move heaven and earth to make sure that you have the event that you want. We hope that we will have many opportunities to work with Heidi and her team in the future. To Heidi and her team - thank you for everything.

Melody did the florals for my wedding at Mission Ranch, and I couldn't have asked for a better…read moreflorist. She put together several time-consuming installations, like the greenery on the beams and the chandeliers, as well as the chuppah. She was so easy to work with, and I am so grateful for her patience in responding to all of my email requests (there were quite a few!). From installations to flower selections, she definitely knows what looks best. She has done so many weddings at Mission Ranch, and she definitely knows how to make the already beautiful venue even more stunning. It was so reassuring to work with a florist who already knows the venue extremely well. Melody is incredibly talented, and I knew I was in good hands with her from the get-go. She is very organized and personable, and helped me work within my budget. One of the biggest highlights of the wedding day for me was the flowers. I love looking back on photos, and am still mesmerized by how beautiful the day was, all because of Melody's work and talent. I am so grateful that Melody was the florist for my wedding. Thank you, Melody, for all that you did to make the day so special!

What started off as a good experience then went bad real quick but it was too late to cancel Melody…read moreas a vendor as she had a large deposit. She said she would give a portion of it back but I doubt it was enough to make sense. Plus, since I showed her pictures and asked if she could do the job and she said yes, I felt that she would do the job correct. I was beyond detailed and had a binder of pictures of the flowers I wanted. I sent pictures to her email after our final meeting to ensure she knew exactly what I wanted. (due to covid we went through 4 wedding plans). In multiple emails her attitude was horrible to me. As a client I felt disrespected and like someone was trying to discipline me for telling her what I wanted. I am a paying customer. I specifically said I didn't want any yellow in my flowers (yellow in my white roses - some white roses have a yellow tint). I wanted mauve roses not purple. I got purple and pink roses. PURPLE AND PINK!! Two colors I absolutely hate. When I saw my flowers at rehearsal, I thought it was a joke and thought it was just a mix up and thought that maybe my mother in law asked her to do something different. My flowers got delivered on the wedding day, mind you Melody didn't even come over to say hello to me - she dropped the flowers and ran. I looked at my wedding planner and cried and said these can't be my flowers. The greenery looked dead. The flowers looked awful and the colors were 100% wrong. I hated my bouquet but had to use it. I had my photographer's assistant try to re do it to make it look better. My bridesmaids were picking out greenery from their bouquets because the flowers looked so bad. She did do 3 large arrangements for dinner which I liked (minus some of the flower colors) but thats all I can say I liked. I hated the flowers so much - we didn't use any flowers in ANY photos. Except me walking down the aisle and my bridesmaids. I didn't want pink and purple flowers in my wedding photos. I asked for a refund but Melody said no. Of course. Didn't think she would say yes. I know COVID had a part in florals and what not, melody did let me know smilax was frozen over - which I had asked another florist and they said they can get it. If Melody would've communicated that hey I went to market and they dont have the colors you want I would've been sad but understood and switched the plan within a couple of hours. I am open to that and understand COVID and Mothers day weekend. I get it but there was NO communication. Honestly a horrible experience in which so much money was spent. I believe the tab was around $4,500.00. Flowers was the one thing I cared about to help set the tone of a soft and romantic wedding and she completely failed to do that as well - had a horrible attitude with me the entire time. Melody can do nice arrangements, dont get me wrong. They were arranged nice but lacked what I asked for. I am a pretty easy going person and I'm matter of fact, and show pictures to confirm what I want so I wont be disappointed. I know there's room for error and I get that, we're human but this was way too much disappointment. Do not hire any florist for a big event without seeing a floral mock up! Huge lesson learned.

If you are planning to get married in Carmel, Big Sur or really anywhere in Monterey County you are…read moredoing yourself a massive disservice not hiring Mariah! She is simply the best and we could not have had our wedding planning and day-of run so smoothly without her expert guidance. My wife has been friends with Mariah since middle school, and she knew she wanted Mariah to be involved in our wedding planning when we chose to get married in Carmel. Originally we hired Mariah as our month-of coordinator, but it quickly became apparent that we needed her expert help navigating everything about a year out. She soon became our official planner, and it was the best decision we made! She is incredibly organized, highly communicative and has a profound attention to detail. She really does think of everything! Given that she grew up in Big Sur she has tremendous knowledge of the local vendors, venues and just all around logistics of the central coast. Mariah is also a very calming person and worked just as much as a therapist for us as she did our planner. Even though she's juggling so much, you would never know. On our actual wedding day everything ran so seamlessly and she never seemed stressed or frazzled. I only wish I approached the planning process in the same manner. Hire Mariah for all your wedding coordination needs and you will be in the best hands!!

Our favorite part about working with Mariah is her genuine and unwavering commitment to supporting…read morethe local community around Big Sur. This is undoubtedly the biggest advantage of working with her, as she has spent years cultivating authentic personal and business relationships with so many small business owners and vendors in the area. I share this detail not only to highlight how this will streamline your planning process but to assure you that your celebration will organically be infused with the down-to-earth, warm quality that draws so many of us to Big Sur--a feeling that can easily get lost in the pursuit of a Pinterest-perfect event. When I struggled to find local hair and makeup artists who had the experience and tools to accommodate me as a Black bride, Mariah didn't hesitate to connect me with contacts from her network so I could find a perfect match (Rhonda Johnson Bridal Makeup and Hair). When I was struggling to find a gluten-free cutting cake for our reception, she sent me the information for several local, family-owned gluten-free businesses (Nece's GF). When we were curious about working with a calligrapher, she connected us with her family friend Anna Bouchard. When we were exploring local options for a farewell brunch following the wedding, she personally introduced us to the owners of Alta Bakery and Cafe in Monterey. And the list goes on! She made sure that Mike, the owner of Big Sur Bakery, could meet with us during one of our scheduled in-person consults to discuss any questions or concerns we had ahead of our event. We got to learn more about the history of the restaurant or share what it meant to our relationship. She ordered us a copy of the restaurant's published cookbook to use as our guestbook; it is such a unique artifact that is both beautiful and functional (every time we open the book to use new recipes, we are greeted with all of the sweet notes from our loved ones). I know it's typical for people to warn couples that something WILL go wrong on their wedding day to manage their expectations, but we truly cannot think of a single thing that didn't go to plan during our celebration, thanks to the stellar coordinating done by Mariah. Our day was stress-free, joy-filled, and EASY. Beyond that, it was incredibly aesthetically gorgeous because all of the vendors were able to show up and bring their absolute best service due to all the coordination with Mariah behind the scenes. It was really important to us that we could trust that our vendors would create a vision of Big Sur that captured all of the elements things we love most about the environment without us having to be prescriptive or overly particular about how everything came together. The result completely exceeded our expectations and felt so authentic to us as a couple. Other notes: I live with both type 1 diabetes and celiac disease and Mariah went above and beyond to make sure that our food/drink menu could offer me options I'd be excited about. She built a wedding day timeline that explicitly called out structured meal times, which helped ensure that I ate three square meals and had stable blood sugars all day (she was always aware of where my purse with my diabetes supplies was throughout our event). Her coordination is inclusive, proactive, and kind-hearted. Like most 2020 wedding couples, we navigated multiple postponements, tying the knot a full two years past the initial date we scheduled with Mariah. She was incredibly communicative and transparent with us throughout this time and she operated with so much integrity, always honoring our original contract and giving us flexible options to customize her service hours, as we wanted to add additional consulting hours to our day-of-coordination package in the last few months leading up to the wedding. She was always responsive and articulated clear action items and points for follow-up each time we checked in. We never had to worry about loose ends or missing details since Mariah was so proactive and communicative about each step of the coordination process. She really did go above and beyond to make our day absolutely perfect.

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.

I wish I could give 1000 stars to this venue and team. I am blown away by my experience working…read morewith the team at Carmel Fields. Obviously, weddings are expensive and in our initial search for a venue I was so worried about finding somewhere beautiful that was worth the money. Carmel Fields is MORE than worth every penny. Alycia gave us our first tour of the property. She was extremely thorough and professional and answered all of our questions. During our tour, she informed me that they source the vendors to ensure a stress free day/experience. It sounded too good to be true, but it wasn't. After deciding to move forward, every interaction I had with the Wegdewood team was a world class experience. I do not say that lightly. They are all patient, kind, and so helpful. They go the extra mile to ensure your expectations are met and exceeded. Alycia was our coordinator for the event. She worked so hard to ensure that everything was perfect, and it truly was. I did not worry or stress about anything leading up to or during the event. Everything was organized and Alycia handled anything that came up. She was understanding and supportive and really helped with every aspect of the event. She is so professional and experienced and helped bring our vision to life. I am so grateful for her!! Moving on to the food... WOW. Out of this world. Every plate served was hot, fresh, and delicious. Our guests raved about the food. If you are reading this review and wondering if you should move forward with this venue, I highly recommend you do if you are looking to have a seamless, fun, and perfect event.

This venue is very beautiful. Thank you to Alicia for our virtual tour and Sophie for an even…read morebetter in person experience. Sophie would've been so wonderful to work with but we have decided to go with another venue. Despite that these ladies are truly amazing and the venue is pretty and the packages are great. I would highly recommend here for a Carmel wedding.

Amy was an absolute dream to work with on our wedding day! Her setup was exactly as I envisioned…read moreand even more. She even sent us a cute video that we have watched countless times. Thank you! Photography: Delauras

Amy and her team perfected the vision I had for my wedding proposal for my fiancée. I was all the…read moreway in Sacramento and she was able to create the setup I wanted within a certain timeframe. I had a month to go and she was very flexible with the setup. Amy and her team showed up on time and had the setup ready to go just in time for the proposal and also allowed me and my fiancée to enjoy the scene for a bit afterwards as well to soak in the moment. Highly recommend and competitive pricing as well! The proposal went perfect thanks Amy!

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!

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 am so glad I hired Adam for my surprise proposal to my girlfriend. Living in SoCal and having…read morenever been to Monterey/Big Sur, I planned my whole proposal based on google searches, reddit threads, and word of mouth. Being a Big Sur/Monterey local, Adam provided extremely helpful insight and feedback for my proposal. He definitely helped relieve a lot of the stress during the planning phase of my proposal. On the day of the actual shoot, the day-of jitters was overwhelming at times, but Adam's energy and demeanor was very centering. He was patient and gave my new fiancee and I space to calm ourselves, and also knew when to take charge and guide us with our poses. He also had amazing and creative ideas for how to pose and brought us to local, reclusive spots to take intimate photos. Best of all, Adam always had a smile on his face and he made us really think like we were supermodels walking the runway haha. If you're going to do any photoshoot, especially a proposal or engagement shoot, in the Big Sur/Monterey area, I would highly recommend getting Adam!!

I was referred to Adam through another photographer who unfortunately could no longer capture my…read moreengagement due to a last minute date change caused by rainy weather. From the get go, Adam was incredibly personable, communicative, and had great recommendations on proposal spots and tips on how to propose. We came up with a plan to propose at a secluded cliff and a surprise picnic at the beach afterwards. Adam was more than happy to coordinate with Dreamy Events by Ev and even suggested to push the proposal a bit earlier to accommodate for driving time in order to give us one full hour for photos! Adam delivered our sneak peaks and full album photos in a timely manner. Let me tell you, the photos came out AMAZING and we are so glad to have found him!!! Adam was incredible to work with and we would 100% recommend him to anybody looking for a photographer in the Carmel/Monterrey area.

DeeDee and her team were incredible in planning our beach bonfire rehearsal event for our wedding…read moreweekend. From securing the right location and permits, to hiring the vendors for food and drinks, DeeDee didn't let anything fall through the cracks. Beyond logistics, DeeDee is an incredibly talented designer and set up our event beautifully, from just a few inspiration photos I showed her on Pinterest. Our friends said it was like a scene out of a magazine with bonfire pits, s'mores, and string lights. The day of, she and her team went above and beyond to make sure guests were having fun and the event flowed smoothly. I would highly recommend her and would hire her again in a heartbeat. She made our event truly special and we can't thank her and her team enough!!

5 star weddings! DeeDee and her team were always very helpful and responsive. Her great…read moreexperience with weddings gave us the comfort we needed since the beginning. They always came up with some creative and nice ideas for both the ceremony and the reception. They even made our arch for the ceremony from scratch, given that we were marrying on the beach and there were not a lot of options out there for what we wanted - very nicely done and saved us some money :) Thank you once again!!! We could not have been happier with our special day. Everyone is still talking about it!