I'm not your typical bride, my now husband is not your typical groom, and the event we planned was…read morenot your typical wedding. To start off, we are both very busy. My husband is an architect working full time for a local design firm and starting his own business. I'm a full-time COVID epidemiologist, an almost full-time grad student, and a research assistant. We are also both (former) fire performers and we've been heavily involved in bringing art and participatory activity to the Burning Man festival for our entire relationship and then some. We've also amassed an incredible, tight-knit, hilarious, loving community of friends over the years in addition to our families who we are also very close with (and who are also a colorful cast of characters on their own!).
The wedding we wanted was one in which we could bring our authentic selves and allow our friends and family to meet, mingle, and form lasting bonds over a weekend of laughter, love, and mischief. We found a perfect venue but their availability meant that we only had 6 months to plan the whole thing. At first, we tried to do it on our own, but we quickly became overwhelmed. In a stroke of pragmatic genius just 2 months before the event, my mom decided to hire a wedding coordinator. At first, I told her we didn't need one, but looking back that was absolutely naive of me, because we definitely should have hired someone as soon as we set the date.
When my mom hired Amanda and her team, every vendor we spoke to enthusiastically told us that Amanda was THE BEST. They were certainly right! Amanda scheduled a virtual meeting with us right away to discuss our vision and what we'd need help with, and right from the get-go she was professional, organized, kind, and on-board with our shenanigans. Over the next two months, her and her amazing team gently pushed us to organize our ideas and make plans for the things we had not figured out yet all while respecting how frazzled and busy we were.
The weekend of the event finally rolled around, and I met the rest of Amanda's team on-site. Not only were they all some of the nicest people I've ever met, but they worked like a well-tuned machine. When I woke up groggy and mildly hungover on Saturday morning, Amanda's team was already in action. As I got my makeup done and was transformed from a sweaty mess into a beautiful bride, the team checked in on me and the guests and buzzed around the venue getting things done. Not once did I have to interrupt my prep to deal with logistics.
The ceremony itself was overwhelmingly beautiful and my heart aches knowing that I can't live in that exact hour for the rest of my life. Everything went off without a hitch thanks to the team and they were just getting started. As soon as they dismissed the guests to the reception hall, they brought my husband and me refreshments, kept us on-time for photos, and even had plates of dinner already set out for us when we joined the party. With the second drink-refresh, I started to feel like royalty being attended to by a team of loyal secret-service agents, it was pretty surreal and I might have let it get to my head a little bit.
Over the rest of the night they held the entire event down while still having fun and participating in our silly nonsense. The first dance was a first fire dance and we had to change into different outfits beforehand. One of Amanda's team members drove my tipsy ass up to the cabins and helped me change, kept me from getting distracted, and drove me back to the reception. I for sure wouldn't have been able to do all of that on my own.
When it was time to say bye to the crew, I felt a genuine pang of sadness. Everyone was beyond lovely and I just wanted to hang out with them longer, even if they weren't bringing me drinks! Their service was, personal, warm, organized, professional, nonjudgmental, and incredibly effective. Throughout the weekend, I was able to focus on the important stuff while they handled all of the details AND made my people and me feel so special and cared for.
My husband, our guests, and I were able to have the most hilarious, fun, carefree, and spiritually important time of our lives because of the team. They were the integral piece in bringing our vision to life and I cannot thank them (or my mom!) enough for making it happen.
So the ultimate question is: Does Amanda Holder Events live up to the hype? The answer is the most resounding "yes" and I'd give them 100 out of 5 stars if possible. I highly recommend them to anyone looking for a great wedding coordinator, especially if your event is quirky and nontraditional like mine. While I've never worked with a wedding coordinator prior to this, I can confidently say that we stumbled across the best people for the job, and our magical weekend would not have been possible without them.
