Want to have a smooth and fantastic wedding? Work with LJ. It's that easy. She'll make sure you…read morecross your T's and dot your I's. She'll coordinate with the venue to make sure everyone is in sync. She'll make sure you day goes off without a hitch. She'll create gorgeous floral arrangements for your table centerpieces. She'll decorate the venue in ways that will leave you and your guests impressed. She'll even help you pick the right vendors. Here's the thing... your special wedding day will have tons of hiccups. It's normal and every event has them. The magic, though, is that LJ will make sure you never know. She'll solve everything behind the scenes before it ever makes it to you and THAT is what you want on your wedding day. Phoebe and I can't recommend LJ enough. She's worth every penny. Thank you LJ!

One of the best decisions we made around my 5/16/15 wedding was finding LJ of Lux & Jasper as our…read morewedding planner/day-of coordinator. Throughout the year plus of planning, she kept us calm, focused and answered every single frantic email and question we had. We're a bit of an uptight group so there were lots : ) LJ was a HUGE help as we sorted out our vision and what we wanted -- and then followed through flawlessly on bringing that vision to life. She has an incredible eye for design and was instrumental in creating a beautiful setting that matched our vision at both the ceremony and the reception. One of my favorite things about LJ is that she always shared her opinion when asked, and when she disagreed or thought another option may be better than the direction we were headed, she'd respectfully share her point of view and get us back on track -- but I always felt like she respected what we wanted and supported it. All the vendors she recommended were AMAZING. She was straightforward with cost and how vendors stacked up against the competition. Even though she had relationships with many people in the industry, I always felt like she had our best interest in mind and represented us incredibly accurately and well. We paid extra for her to serve as point person for several shuttle buses. This was well worth it in that LJ created and delivered the complicated schedule as well as communicated with the drivers on the big day. What a load off! LJ provided a range of suggestions to make sure we understood our options (for example, for the Groom's Cake she suggested everything from an elaborate cake from a local artisanal bakery to Safeway and everything in between!), but when we just wanted her to handle something and not be weighed down by choices, she executed things flawlessly (such as delivering our welcome bags all over the Monterey Peninsula the day before the wedding!). On the day of, we had nothing to worry about -- everything that was within her control turned out flawlessly. She also navigated tricky situations with our on-site venue contact, who was a bit challenging to work with, and did a great job at managing her to make sure we had the day we envisioned. I was constantly impressed by her positive and calming attitude, grounding presence, creative vision and her ability to manage complex and emotionally charged situations. She was patient and understanding when we had last-minute changes and always snapped into action when we needed her to. I would definitely recommend LJ as a wedding planner/day-of coordinator! We couldn't have done it without her!

Pastor Tom was our officiant to wedding this year. We were worried that because he is a pastor,…read more he would have restrictions to how he would marry us since we were not religious. He said it would be no problem and for us to schedule some time to meet. We met with him for nearly 2 hours and it was well worth it. The meeting proved to be insightful in terms of guidance and planning of the the ceremony as well offering suggestions for things such as Unity Candle or Sand Ceremony. He directed us to some verses of the bible which I didn't care for at first but after searching the internet for the right "reading", it turns out they verses are still just words and proved to be a short but powerful message. He also gave us some homework to do - writing our vows and finalize the rough draft of the ceremony with a to-do list. It nearly blew me away how quickly we crossed off the planning of the ceremony with him. He definitely took away the stress from planning this part of the ceremony! He was professional, easy to talk to, available via email, and most importantly, available for our ceremony! He came dressed appropriately, arrived ahead of time, and mingled with our guest. We coudn't be any happier how he was well-spoken with just the right amount of funny, not to mention engaging the whole time. You won't regret meeting him!

Pastor Tom was just our officiant for our last minute wedding, and we were very pleased! He was…read moreawesome! We had a brief meeting shortly before the wedding at his beautiful home. It was very comfortable, and he made sure he met all of our expectations without any problem. Despite, hiring him only a few weeks before the wedding, we had so many compliments from guests, saying it seemed he's known us forever by his performance. It was perfect. We also had a recent death in the family shortly before the wedding, which he honored during the ceremony in such a sweet positive way. Both my husband and I as well as all the guests were very happy with him. What more can you ask for. I would definitely recommend him!!

Rob is the owner of Northern Lights DJ. Rob took care of our DJ and music needs for our wedding…read more Hands down one of the best decisions we've made for our wedding. We interviewed a few DJs for our wedding. We're super happy we ended up with Rob. There weren't all that many pictures or reviews online of Rob, but he did great during our interview and checked all our boxes. Our checkboxes? Someone to take care of DJ and music for our ceremony and reception. Someone to help move and direct the guests around. Someone to get the guests dancing on the dance floor. What we didn't know at the time was Rob's planning process would help bring structure to our planning process as well. We contracted with Rob about 10mo out. We did a few google meet with him leading up to the event. Rob was super easy going and adaptable to our crazy schedules. He asked us a series of question and walked us through his worksheet to help set some expectations. It really helped us figure out the nitty gritty details for the big day, which in turn helped us with planning. Rob got the job done and then some. He was on time, easy to work with, adaptable and just understood what we needed. Rob's had a hidden super power that came through during our dance floor. We gave him a list of nice-to-have and must-have musics. We also gave him a bit of freedom on music selection based on the crowd vibe. He knew which music to pull out to bring up the energy and which to play to tone it down. We highly recommend Rob from Northern Lights DJ. We are so thankful that we picked Rob early in our planning process. It was by far our top 3 best decisions made in our planning phase.

Summary: If you're looking for a great DJ that is dependable, creative, easy to work with, and…read moregoes the extra mile, Rob (Northern Lights) is the DJ for you. He was one of 6 vendors for our 60 person wedding and certainly the most memorable with the most impact for the best of reasons. Planning with Rob: Rob was super responsive and always made sure he was available. He took the time to understand the timeline of the day and even had his own template to make sure specific music and announcements are made at the right time. As a couple that was new to the wedding scene, this was extremely helpful for us. It was the first time we were forced to really think of the details about our special day and when it all started to come together. We changed our schedule the week of the wedding and he was super flexible and responsive to our changes. He also made sure he pronounced our bridal party and parents' names correctly which we greatly appreciated. Experience During the Wedding: Our wedding was different in that we did not have a day of coordinator and we were leaning on Rob to help us keep the flow going and not let us fall to far behind. On the day of, he definitely helped keep us organized and would go look for us to make sure we were ready to proceed to the next part of the wedding. He had all the equipment to set up for two spaces at our outdoor venue: 1) ceremony and 2) dinner/reception area. He made all of the announcements to let our guests know what was going on and when they needed to move to other areas of the venue. We ended up having to deviate from the original plan quite a bit because of slow catering and the photographers insisting on a different time to shoot our pictures than we had originally planned. Rob just kept it rolling without an issue. Music: The sound quality was great; It felt like a concert. The transitions were so smooth and perfect. There were several segments we worked with Rob in advance to blend and trim. Each time we'd let him know what our vision was and he'd send over 2 or 3 options for us to choose from and was still open to additional feedback (although he understood our vision every time so it was usually as easy as selecting our favorite version of it). He also let us customize the set for different parts of the wedding, e.g. guests arrival, ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, and dance.

We had a wonderful experience with Donna as our officiant for our wedding. We needed to find an…read moreofficiant somewhat last minute, and Donna was very accommodating and understanding. She laid out the process very clearly, and her rates are reasonable, too. She provided an opportunity for us to customize our ceremony and pick passages and readings that were meaningful to us. She helped us have a ceremony that was in line with our personalities and beliefs. We felt strongly about having a secular ceremony, and Donna honored and assembled a thoughtful ceremony reading based on our input. Before the wedding, Donna made time to have a rehearsal with out, which was really helpful. On the wedding day, she showed up on-time and worked with our witnesses to get our license signed. She delivered the ceremony beautifully, and we received several compliments on it. Overall, it was a great experience, and we highly recommend Donna.

We hired Donna / Honey In The Heart for our private elopement/wedding. Donna Rose Gardner was our…read moreofficiant, and Rebecca Stark was our photographer. Donna was amazing and took care of all the arrangements with Rebecca, so we didn't have to worry about coordinating, it was all handled for us. She checked out various sites until she found the perfect one that was exactly what we had wanted. She made sure we knew the process of getting a license ahead of time, organized the timing of arrival, ceremony, etc. She even dealt with rescheduling us twice due to rain, always with a smile and reassurance for us. Donna also provided many pre-written ceremonies and vows for us to choose from and let us modify them to make them our own. She even made gorgeous little vow booklets with our vows, for us to keep as mementos. Rebecca took stunning photographs, before, during, and after the ceremony. She made sure to get many different poses, candid and staged, and included the ocean view and cliffs that we had requested. We ended up with around 150 high quality photos, and she provided them in a gallery we could share with people, and also downloadable in hi-res for printing and sharing online. Donna and Rebecca helped us achieve exactly the wedding we had hoped for, and left us with keepsakes and photos to look back on forever; I highly recommend them!

Dear Jack, I just wanted to say thank you from the bottom of…read moreour hearts. You were amazing at the wedding!! Everyone, including the couple, kept saying how beautiful and meaningful the ceremony was. Your words, both in Spanish and English, touched us deeply. So spiritual, so full of love and wisdom. You truly made the moment unforgettable. We are so grateful! The Mother of the Groom (Raquel)

Jack was an amazing find! We found Jack using Thumbtack/ Wedding Wire and are so happy that we…read morehired Jack to assist with our wedding ceremony at The Barns at Cooper Molera in Monterey, California. Jack truly personalized our ceremony and was very thorough and detail-oriented. He originally met with us over Zoom and had even taken the time to personalize our wedding ceremony ahead of time and went over it. We knew instantly we wanted to hire him! Jack was then available by text and email for any changes to the ceremony or updates about the wedding. Our guests loved that he did not do the "repeat after me" vows and simply stated them for us to say, almost as if we had memorized the vows! Jack is an open-minded and non-judgemental minister who wants your wedding ceremony to reflect your love and does offer bilingual and LGBTQ+ wedding ceremonies as well. Jack is so friendly and completely put us at ease on the day of the wedding. He was hilarious and rolled with the punches, especially when I tried grabbing the mic from him accidentally when saying my vows and then when my husband put my ring on the wrong finger! Jack was very accommodating especially with covid-19, we ended up having a vaccinated-only wedding ceremony and reception. Jack let us know he is fully vaccinated, had received his booster, and continuously gets covid tested every two weeks for the safety of his clients. He was willing to wear a mask as well for the ceremony should we have asked. I would highly recommend Jack for his friendliness and professionalism.

We hired Steve to shoot our engagement photos in 2006, and our wedding. He was so patient,…read moreefficient and easy to work with. We had nothing but a wonderful experience. I've received the highest compliments from everyone who views our photos. We received a book containing every single image taken, as well as a CD with every image, and the most amazing, high quality, wedding album. I'm a very anxious person, and he didn't make me wait for my completed photos, he's amazing!

Steve was so easy to work with! His work was beautiful, and he was so easy to get in contact with…read more I was so appreciative of how amazing his work was and he got us our pictures within a few weeks! Steve is very easy to work with and responds to any questions right away. I would highly recommend using Steve as your photographer for your big day!

My husband and I were inspired by high Yelp reviews to work with Reverend Rich for our Nestldown…read morewedding in September. That said, we are sad to be writing only a 3 star review based on our experience. HIGLIGHTS: 1) He was very quick to communicate and always friendly and personable on the phone 2) He was flexible with us changing our date due to the pandemic 3) He was very determined to say my husband's non American name correctly and he did! Thank you so much for that, Reverend Rich! DISAPPOINTMENTS: 1) Wedding day speaking was a lot more monotone and less energetic than what we had hoped for 2) The vows he read at our ceremony were NOT the same as the ones we confirmed in the "final vows" email. 2a) My husband and I both checked this before I sat down to write this review. At best, this was a lack of organization that left us surprised at the altar. Specifically, we removed "for the first time" when Reverend Rich would introduce us as "Mr. and Mrs." We had explained to Reverend Rich that because of covid, we had already been legally married for a year and I had been going by my new last name since then. So, it was not "for the first time" that I was "Mrs.". Some of our less close guests were left confused, and my husband and I had to hide our frustration at the end of the ceremony. Reverend Rich was also aware that we did not need to be legally wed (since again, we had already been legally married for a year at that point), as we discussed not having a marriage license for him to sign. 2b) He also had added "let's do that again" after my husband and I kissed. It wasn't clear if we were supposed to kiss again (which we did), or if the audience didn't clap loud enough to his opinion. The possibility of the latter left us somewhat embarrassed. TLDR; nice guy, but the word doc called "final vows" that we got was not in fact the same doc that he read at our ceremony

Don't hesitate, and book Reverend Rich for your wedding date! We had a consultation with him after…read moretalking to another officiant, and loved him. He is funny, kind, personable, and would've crafted a great ceremony for us. His fees are very reasonable, but we unfortunately hesitated due to his additional travel fees since our wedding is a bit far for him (in the East Bay). Due to the travel fees, we decided not to book him and thought we'd find a more local officiant. We talked to several others in the next few weeks and struggled to find one we liked as much as Rev. Rich. We decided he was worth the travel fees and gave him a call back, but he was already booked for our date (over a year out)! Even though he was booked, he worked hard to give us recommendations for other officiants and even offered help with writing a script if we decided to have a friend officiate.

We spent a night in the Estate Guest House here in the early fall. I see that it's very extensively…read more(and favorably) reviewed on Air BnB's site, so this post might be superfluous, but it really is a lovely property. The swimming pool, located in a beautiful building, was great fun. We cooked dinner using the grill on the patio and enjoyed the complimentary bottle of the hosts' own pinot noir. Beau the cat (not allowed in the house) provided companionship outside. The place was clean, warm (with electric heater) and comfortable.

This location is the absolute most perfect, magical place anyone could ever hope to have a wedding!…read moreBetween the gorgeous house, beautiful grounds, impeccable views and lovely vineyard. Judy was so helpful and accomodating! There is literally nothing else to say other than this made for a PERFECT wedding.