I recently lost my husband very suddenly, and the amount of decisions and logistics that fall on you in those first days is overwhelming in a way no one can prepare for. Finding Melissa was truly a blessing. Even though I'm in Arizona and she couldn't be there in person on the day of the celebration of life, she coordinated everything for me -- the venue, the food, the music, the video, the printer, and countless details I never would have thought of on my own. What meant the most was her compassion. She supported me through one of the hardest moments of my life and gently kept me on track so I could give my husband the beautiful celebration he deserved. Thanks to her, I was able to throw him one last big party filled with love, intention, and meaning. I am forever grateful. read more

Sadly I lost my mother recently after losing my dad three years ago. Melissa of Eternally loved did my dad's celebration three years ago and just did this one for my mom. She had some wonderful venue suggestions, but we ended up picking our own. Melissa hit it out of the park again! She really doesn't miss anything and has really good suggestions that I wouldn't have thought of. Sometimes I feel she can read minds knowing exactly what is perfect. Completely takes the stress and worry out of the way. We just showed up 15 minutes before and enjoyed the celebration. Highly recommend Eternally Loved! read more

Very professional, knowledgeable, creative. Loved Melissa's ideas and her expertise in making my father's celebration of life memorable, and on of a kind. She was able to see my vision and was always available. Her costs were great value and worked within my budget. This is a stressful time and she made it very easy and again stunning. She went above and beyond. I would highly recommend her. read more

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Melissa did a fantastic job coordinating my grandfather's celebration of life! She was very communicative throughout the process and did a beautiful job with the presentation! She paid attention to the small details, too, and went above and beyond. We are from up north and trying to plan this service from over 400 miles away was proving to be a really difficult task. So we put our faith in Melissa and she exceeded our expectations! read more

Eternally Loved - Such a lovely touch! Melissa setup this table with copies of my grandfather's published books. - Party & Event Planning Near Me - Escondido, California

Melissa was great to work with and did a fantastic job at organizing and executing my late husband's celebration of life. She was very thorough in getting to know my and my husband's wishes, likes, and expectations. Once all the particulars of the event were chosen (venue, food, flowers, ect.), she took everything from there; coordinating with all the different aspects, setting things up at the venue, and taking everything down after the celebration. It was such a huge load off my mind to be able to just focus on being present for the celebration and mingling with the attendees. Since she'd done such a great job with a friend's celebration (see Mike Y.'s review), I had complete faith in her and her capabilities and didn't feel the need to check in at all with her in the days before the event. Since I hadn't expected the event to be terribly elaborate, I'd wondered if hiring a coordinator would be extraneous; however, I feel it was money well spent. With her expertise in this relatively niche type of thing, she was able to guide me in making decisions and offered advice on what might or might not work. She also put me in touch with a wonderful non-denominational master of ceremony who also did a fantastic job at helping my vision for my husband's celebration become a reality. read more

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Melissa was amazing. We had a celebration of life for my 6yo who passed too early and just didn't have the energy to plan anything. Melissa listened to us to what we wanted and executed flawlessly. Her setup was beautiful and she was super creative in her planning for a 6yo memorial. Thank you Melissa! read more

Hard to truly say how meaningful Melissa was during a most difficult time. The combination of her care and compassion for my family, along with her professional ability to create a truly memorable experience was beyond exceptional. She told me on our first telephone call that her goal was to 'Handle 80%' leaving only key decisions, and activities to the family. I would say that was closer to 95%. She handled everything, including surprises, more guests than anticipated, and last-minute changes without a flinch. We set a budget, and she kept the budget, providing updates, and options along the way. The fee for her services was worth every dime. It's difficult to write this review, as she fills a difficult space. But in a situation of extreme pressure, she removed the stress and anxiety so my family and I could focus on grief and closure. read more

Eternally Loved - Party & Event Planning Near Me - Escondido, California

Melissa is amazing-Doing an outdoor celebration of life for my wife, she came along side and outlined what I needed to do and what she was going to accomplish. She took so much of the stress out of planning the service. Food, Flowers, decor, audiovisual, worked the service, set up, take down and just co-ordination of the whole event, to be sure everything moved along according to how we wanted the service to go. Melissa was easy to work with and very fare in the fees charged. She was sensitive to cost and itemize all the expected costs and billing. I would recommend her to any and all that need this help. read more

My family is so grateful to have found Melissa for the planning of my father's Celebration of Life, something we had tried to arrange from other geographies, making the planning especially challenging. Though we pulled her into the planning a bit late after changing venues, she seamlessly took over, coordinating all the venue, catering and other details. I especially appreciated Melissa's calm demeanor in spite of all the obstacles that came her and our way. Importantly, she connected with us to put together an absolutely beautiful slide show and video remembrance, accompanied by our father's favorite music, and suggested other ways that we could make the day special. We were overwhelmed with emotion when walking into the venue to see how she had pulled everything together, with beautiful photo enlargements, memento tables, floral arrangements and more. It allowed us to be fully present in our grief, joy and sharing with others - everyone remarked at what a beautiful and special Celebration we had put together for our father. We can't recommend Melissa highly enough. read more

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I am the Sales & Events Manager at The Point Event Venue and had the pleasure to work with Melissa! From the beginning, she was very professional and prepared. She knows how to plan this kind of gathering- she secures the venue for the service & reception, sources your f&b, creates a memory video reel, and prepares an amazing memory table. She thoughtfully designs a beautiful celebration for your loved one. If you are looking for someone you can trust to take care of everything prior and be there the day of to execute a seamless event, hiring Eternally Loved is the way to go! read more

Eternally Loved - Memory Table - Party & Event Planning Near Me - Escondido, California

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Melissa did a fantastic job putting together a very nice celebration of life on very short notice. She gave valuable advice, ideas to help keeps costs in line with out budget and always responded very quickly with any questions or changes we had. When we showed up to the event, I was overwhelmed with emotion and was so impressed how well everything turned out. She did an amazing job and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend her. read more

Working with Melissa was fantastic. She was able to find us a great venue that met all our requirements. She kept us updated on progress and was transparent about everything. It gave us great confidence to know we were in good hands. On the day of the Celebration, she handled everything. She created a gorgeous memory table. When we arrived, everything was ready-to-go. We got many, many compliments after the event and would highly recommend working with Melissa. read more

The debilitating grief of losing our son was overwhelming. Thanks to Eternally Loved we were able to experience an unforgettable Celebration of Life without the logistical nightmare of coordinating everything. Melissa planned and organized every detail of our son's event and not only met our expectations, but exceeded them! Her forethought and management of what was needed to achieve the theme of our son's event was nothing less than extraordinary! read more

Great job to Melissa and her crew with the celebration of life this past weekend. Eternally Loved was super detailed with the caterers, seating, timeline and the event was very smooth. I was a guest of the event so I only saw the end result however, it was clear that a lot of planning went into the event....great job! read more

************MELISSA ROCKS********* I was SO fortunate to find Melissa and Eternally Loved recently. She was friendly, sensitive and knowledgeable in planning our celebration of life. I contacted her initially for help with one small thing (videography). I quickly learned that Melissa excels in anticipating any potential pitfalls inherent in planning an event, and in dealing with them for you. It's no exaggeration to say that "we could not have done it without her" -- it's true! I was sad, overwhelmed and distracted. On a very short timeline, Melissa was able to organize many albums of photographs, created several terrific playlists, resolved the sudden unavailability of our venue, located/arranged another spot and dealt with a multitude of questions and decisions. She also singlehandedly organized audio and video for a location with no electricity. I am incredibly grateful to have met this consummate professional and had the opportunity to work with her; I recommend her without reservation. read more

Melissa arranged a perfect Celebration of Life for my wife. She provided me with plenty of options in our price range, made suggestions when asked, arranged everything and took the stress off of me and our kids. The day of the event she made sure everything went off without a hitch and I was able to focus on the event. The memory table was wonderful. She even found a harpist that allowed our son to play a song his mother requested on their harp. I would highly recommend Melissa and Eternally Loved. read more

If your reading this review you're probably dealing with the loss of your loved one, and feeling overwhelmed by the thought of even having to plan a service right now. That's how I was feeling, and honestly I didn't know where to start. I knew for certain that my Mom wouldn't want a typical doom and gloomy funeral home service. It didn't fit her bright, positive and full of life personality. Coming across Melissa's website was heaven sent. I'm going to try to cover as much information as possible that you may be wondering (at least I was) starting with cost. I am defiantly not rich, and was intimidated by hiring a celebration of life planner because I thought for certain it would rack up quickly. Melissa meet my husband and I at our home for the consultation. I told her what my visions were, and my budget. She let us know that she pays all fee's upfront for EVERYTHING, then we pay her back. That was a huge relief ... and gave us time to sort out finances. When it was all said and done, we were $3,500 UNDER our max budget, and I still got everything I wanted (market lighting, tables/chairs/linens, mic/speakers, projector screen, parking attendant, porter potty, officiant, guitar player, flowers, food/drink, blow up prints and ect!!!!) As far as working with Melissa, she is a dream! She's quick, she gets it, no nonsense, and truly works her ass off so that you are able to deal with your loss without added stress. She answered all my text and emails almost instantly, she didn't mind that I changed my mind 100 times on song playlist, she was always prompt (actually, she was early to every encounter we had) and she just all around knows how to run her business. The outcome of my Mom's celebration of life ceremony was absolutely beautiful. I'm sure she is so proud, and I just can't believe it actually played out how I envisioned. We certainly couldn't have pulled it off without Melissa. Thank you! read more

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Melissa was extremely professional. I was planning a Celebration of Life ceremony and I needed someone to handle all of the details for the day. She made sure everything went smoothly and it did. I recommend her highly. During highly emotional and stressful times, it is a relief to not have to worry about any of the details. B. Sutton read more

When my mother passed suddenly, I was overwhelmed with everything that had to be done. I wanted to host a celebration of life but did not think I could pull it off. Luckily, I found Melissa and her company. Melissa did all of the work and made a difficult process much easier. I cannot say enough good things about Melissa. She goes the extra mile to create and event that honors your loved. Everyone was extremely impressed with how well Melissa captured the essence of my mom's life. I was particularly touched by the slide show and all of the personalized details. Melissa will take care of all of the details and allow you the space and time to grieve and celebrate your loved one. I recommend Melissa and Eternally Loved for anyone who needs assistance with event planning and particularly with a celebration of life. read more

We had a very positive experience with Eternally Loved. From the beginning they were very quick in responses -- and very accommodating to our ideas in planning our event. What is more, they were patient with any changes or updates we wanted to make. The process was very smooth from helping design the invitation to finding music -- even in the appropriate format. Losing a loved one is difficult and Melissa walked us through the entire process with dignity and respect. We found her a joy to work with and would recommend her. read more

Melissa came in and saved the day like a guardian angel. We were so overwhelmed with having to plan a large virtual memorial during the pandemic and Melissa was able to meet all of our needs and more. She went above and beyond to make the event meaningful. I am grateful she took on the challenge of a virtual memorial and helped us honor my dad in the way he deserved. I would recommend her 100 times over. read more

Melissa is a top-notch event planner. I can't imagine how we would have organized my father's end of life celebration without the incredible experience and attention to detail that she brings to her work. Melissa is surely one of the best in her field. read more

Melissa worked with the survivor, within her budget, helping her to make choices that made the event personal and special. She took care of the food, zoom, video, photos, colors, flowers, organized the speakers, and many other details too numerous to mention. She made it a smooth and organized event that was healing for the family and all who attended. I highly recommend Melissa to anyone who wants to celebrate the life of a loved one, but is too distraught and doesn't have the experience or expertise to put on such a memorable event. read more

Melissa made a really hard time very easy by taking the burden of all the details away so we could focus on what was important. The passing of my 27 year old son Trever Clark. He was a brother, a nephew, a grandson and a pure light soul. All of this was represented in a beautiful way with all the details taken on by Melissa. We had a beautiful celebration of life at the Rancho Santa Fe Inn during covid. Melissa was able to make sure everyone was comfortable gathering to celebrate Trever. Thank you so much Melissa! read more

My step mother Marla wrote: Our family recently held a "Celebration of Life" party for my husband who passed away late August. We were referred to Melissa Rainey with Eternally Loved and she was perfect! She arrived at our home and proceeded to "interview" me about my husband's hobbies and interests so that she could come up with a theme to best represent him at the party. For example, my husband was retired Navy, an avid writer and reader, and a marathon runner. So she had memory tables set up with these themes which were complimented by many photos blown up and framed throughout. She is very detail oriented! She also made arrangements for food, beverages, room design with table set up and coordinated with everyone, including speakers. We had around 75 guests attend and all commented on how interesting and moving everything was. She made all of the arrangements plus did all of the legwork in such a short time! All I had to do was show up -- which was perfect. I cannot recommend her highly enough. read more

I can't express enough about how grateful I am for Melissa & her services at the most heartbreaking time of my life. This review is a bit late but much much deserved! In October, From the beginning Melissa helped me alleviate so much work as I could have never planed my young sisters celebration of life like she did. She worked with me closely & she was very professional. We had weekly short calls confirming our agenda & going over my budget. She made this difficult time much more comforting for my family & I. Everything she did with the presentation felt like my sister was there. She was a great listener, and very caring. I can't thank her enough. I highly recommend her to anyone that is looking for help organizing a celebration of life or really any type of event. Thank you Melissa for everything, I will never forget this day & how beautiful everything turned out. Also I used her catering services which wS amazing. All of our guest were very pleased & felt so much love for my sister. read more

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I was so grateful and impressed with Melissa's service. She took care of everything so that I could be with my grief after the loss of my husband. She was professional, thorough, and experienced. She listened to my ideas and provided assistance and expert help every step of the way. I couldn't have had the lovely memorial service I wanted without her help. She was a lifesaver. read more

I had not planned on hiring a planner for my mom's memorial, but WOW, I am so grateful I did! Melissa was fabulous and easy to work with. Very organized, paid great attention to detail, and made a stressful event into something I actually enjoyed. She created a heartwarming video with music and tons of family pictures. Created the memorial program that we passed out to our guests. Made memorial tables with all my mom's favorite things and photos. Everyone has remarked that they were very impressed with the memorial. I would have been a lunatic if I was managing this myself! Melissa made it possible to just show up and enjoy the day. Worth every penny!!! read more

Melissa goes above and beyond in putting together her events. I have had the pleasure of being at a few events she has hosted. One of them was a party my girlfriend had for me. The attention and details were customized to me and who I am. I was so impressed, that I had her do my daughters baby shower. My daughter had a specific theme in mind, and Melissa spared no detail. She was made to be in this business. I wish I had just an ounce of her creativity. I will definitely use her services again. Hopefully, not anytime soon though. read more

Melissa did a great job coordinating with vendors to ensure that our family memorial service went according to plan. She arrived early on the day of the event to set everything up, confirm that work orders were filled correctly, and acted as the point of contact for all purposes. We appreciated having someone carry the weight of the logistical components of this event so that we could focus on our family's needs. read more

This review for Melissa is long overdue. It was difficult. Not because of the job well done. More so a devastating reminder of the loss of our 23 year old son to leukemia. Last November, our son won his battle against cancer and went into the loving arms of God. Since he was receiving treatment outside our home area of San Diego, we decided to wait a bit to have his Celebration of Life in order for all his friends and (our) family to be able to attend. Since we did not know where to begin, we began to search for someone who could help us put this together on the internet. After reading a few reviews on each listing we found, we decided to put our faith in Melissa to help us put together a grand celebration that our son deserved knowing we were expecting well over 500 people to attend. Contacting Melissa was easy. She is a very good listener. She listened and asked questions at the appropriate times - allowing us the time to express our grief in midst of discussing our plans. After signing her contract (and giving her the required deposit), which is rather straightforward and without hidden charges, Melissa was off and running with helping us arrange this beautiful event. She took charge from the very beginning. Not in a pushy way. Just gave us an outline of what needed to be done and a timeline for each item. She allowed us to participate in the things we wanted to be an active part of and took charge of things which we didn't want to deal with. Ours was a rather large event (relatively speaking), and with over 500 guests and 1000+ live viewers (yes, we had it broadcasted live), we initially had our doubts of Melissa's capabilities. After all, she's just one person we thought. How can she put this all together, we thought. To our pleasant surprise, this is exactly what she did. Melissa is EXTREMELY organized. She knows when to push, and when to back off. Her communications skills are extraordinary - keeping us apprised of all the items in our checklist. This included the following: Invitations, social media, floral arrangements, coordinating with caterers, musicians, the church and its staff, parking (valet attendants), dove release, setting up of tables and floral arrangements, breaking down, post-celebration cleanup of the church grounds, memorabilia tables, program printouts, layout of seating for guests and family, audio/video checks, rehearsals of performers and speakers, lighting and many telephone calls and emails back and forth to so many who were involved in putting this celebration together. She really put in the time - probably more than what we had agreed to in her contract. She even offered to pick up family and friends from the airport just so we would not stress about the many details that went into this celebration. She kept on telling us, "let me take care of everyting so that you can be with your friends and family in celebrating your son". Being a businessman, this was hard to do in the beginning; but I chose to "let go" and trust Melissa. Let me just say this. She was amazing. As sad as the occasion was, the celebration turned out amazing and HUGE success - one which our son deserved. Melissa took charge of everything. She was there the day of super early. Making sure all was set up correctly and in the end of the ceremony broken down in a timely manner per the venue requirements. To date, we have had hundreds of guests tell us they have never seen a Celebration of Life like the one we had for our son; that, that is what they would want for themselves when their time comes. Melissa was a huge part of this and we are ETERNALLY GRATEFUL to Melissa and her business Eternally Loved. Melissa, sorry for this long overdue but well deserved review. We hope we never have to use you again in the near future, but for what you offer, you are an angel to those who are grieving and don't know where to begin. With love. Jim, Bonnie, Jessica, Sandy, and our entire family. Blessings. read more

Earlier this summer, our family was faced with a terrible and seemingly impossible task. We suddenly and unexpectedly lost our precious 11 year old boy (my grandson) and needed a guiding hand putting together a meaningful tribute to his short but eventful life. My daughter found "Eternally Loved" on Yelp! (great reviews), and we met with Melissa Rainey to see if she could coordinate a "Celebration of Life" for us. Melissa radiated the highest level of professionalism, understanding, sincerity and empathy. She listened and responded appropriately, took in our ideas and shared many, many exceptional ideas of her own. Over the course of the next few weeks Melissa organized and coordinated a truly magical Celebration of Life. When it came time for the Celebration, we had hundreds of friends, caregivers and family attend, and everyone was deeply impressed and moved. Melissa organized the entire event, from early planning, to design of the invitations and program, to the decor in the hall, including sets of hundreds of pictures, toys, posters, awards and other wonderful memories. She worked with us every step of the way and allowed my daughter to get involved as much (or as little) as she wanted, always showing sympathy and great respect. Melissa helped us find and secure suitable venue, brought in a magnificent officiant, put together amazing music (incidental music and featured musicians) and a gorgeous professional slide show. She worked with the great volunteers at the venue, she had gift bags prepared for all the guests, coordinated a toy give-away for the kids, brought in four superheros to serve as event ushers and inspiration, set out a massive and delicious food service and even topped it off with a beautiful bubble machine. Oh yes, and after it was over she organized the break-down and clean up, and I think she was the last to leave. What can I say about Melissa Rainey and "Eternally Loved"? I can highly and lovingly recommend them. Without reservation. Unequivocally. Melissa is very comfortable to work with, listens well, and also, by the way, is very reasonable in her costs. read more

Melissa did an amazing job with our Celebration of Life I had for my parents!! The memory tables she did at our luncheon brought them both to life and were complimented by all our guests. She was very easy to work with and very knowledgeable and helpful!! I lived out of town and Melissa provided flowers and photos for a memorial service at Miramar and memory tables, a memory box and beautiful take home book marks at a luncheon following the memorial service. I highly recommend Melissa no matter how little or great your needs are!!!! read more

had the pleasure to attend a party that Melissa had put together. Melissa is awesome! He attention to detail is without precedence. The way Melissa does Themes is too awesome. I was also present at the "Dog Party" I was in awe of all the props and doggie details. Melissa always has great food presentations and quality selections. I would definitely use Melissa for my next event of any type. Of event, I have been to a few other events over the years. He attention to details is impeccable and she utilizes what a person likes as a hobby, pet , or color scheme to make each Party be special to that people or family. Type a message... read more

Melissa was so helpful in planning our mom's celebration of life after her passing. Melissa stepped in just under 2 weeks before our set date and was always three or four steps ahead of our own thought process (and caught/suggested things we hadn't even considered yet). We can be quite particular in our preferences and vision and she did a great job of respecting that and supporting us. She is very fair, direct, talented, professional, quick to start, and always in communication with updates. You can tell she genuinely cares about helping with the process and goes out of her way to be of assistance. We would definitely recommend her to anyone planning an important event especially when you and your family are feeling overwhelmed and grieving. We also have to say that her slideshow was incredible and she made a bunch of edits and a couple of different versions to get it just right for us. We can't say enough about how great she was to work with. Thank you, Melissa!! read more

I recently contacted Eternally Loved to help me plan a living celebration for my mother. Due to the medical condition of my Mom, we needed to plan this event within one week's time. All I can say is WOW WOW WOW. I found Melissa's company on line and reached out to her after contacting a few other people. Eternally Loved was so efficient, compassionate, responsive and made what most would consider a difficult event such an amazing experience. My Mom felt absolutely loved and cherished and to have close to 100 people get together and to plan such an incredible evening on such short notice, I would ONLY recommend Melissa and Eternally Loved. I can assure you that I will be contacting Melissa again for future events. This was a 5 star experience and everyone that attended could not believe the level of sophistication and detail while managing to keep costs UNDER BUDGET. Thank you Melissa!! You made this one of the best days and memories of my life and for my Mother!! read more