We had an AMAZING experience with Wedding Connection. Casey, the owner, was wonderful in every way. She is organized, detailed, and prompt. She handled all the key logistics of our wedding preparation when we were stressed in the days leading up to our wedding. The wedding itself was extremely smooth. We had an incredible experience, largely thanks to the behind the scenes work Casey and her team were doing during the event. Rancho Soquel was a stunning and beautiful venue just a few minutes from Soquel and Capitola. We highly recommend Casey and her team for any Santa Cruz area wedding. read more

We loved working with Wedding Connection and Casey! Especially planning a wedding from out-of-state (we live in NYC), it helped so much to have the experience and professionalism of Wedding Connection. We had our wedding at River House in June 2023 and they are pros at working with this venue. They helped us so much with providing ideas and recommendations for the Santa Cruz County and made sure everything ran smoothly leading up to the event and the day of. read more

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Working with Denise and Elise for our wedding was such a pleasure. They helped make the planning process smooth and were very communicative throughout. By the time the wedding was here, we were ready for them to celebrate with us because we had gotten to know them and like them so much! From my perspective the day of the wedding went perfectly. I'm sure there were some issues that popped up, and I'm sure Elise handled them. I'm happy to live in ignorance of the snafus and happy knowing that Elise handled them and kept me in the dark! Finally, Rancho Soquel. Gorgeous. The venue was something out of a fairytale. With the help of Wedding Connection and our caterer (Mickey Phelps) the daunting task of renting and coordinating everything from tables to chairs to dinnerware was simple. I was pretty nervous about having to do all of this, but it wasn't that hard because of all the help I had! read more

The Wedding Connection - Rancho Soquel! - Party & Event Planning Near Me - Capitola, California

Casey and the Wedding Connection team were wonderful to work with. We felt supported by them from day one. They always responded to our emails promptly and were happy to hop on calls with us as we got deep into planning. Casey provided a preferred vendor list to us which was so helpful as we searched for the right team of vendors for us, and the Aisle Planer site that her clients have access to helped us organize our guest list, seating assignments and layouts, and day-of timeline. They also kept everything calm and running smoothly on the day of the wedding. I highly recommend Casey and her team! read more

Casey and her team were absolutely wonderful to work with throughout our wedding planning experience. There are so many little details that you would never think of when planning your wedding and they made sure that each and every detail was completed prior to our wedding day which made the entire process less stressful! The day of our wedding went extremely smooth and we could not have done without the Wedding Connection team. I highly recommend working with their team if you are getting married in the near future! read more

Casey and her team at Wedding Connection were great to work with. They helped us find some amazing vendors and were there the day of to support any last minute needs. If you are getting married in Santa Cruz, they are the team to work with! read more

We started looking for wedding venues in January and came across a few venues that caught our eye. We got in contact with the wedding connection and fell in love with the first venue we saw. Before we knew it we were planning a September wedding! Nine months doesn't seem like a long enough time to plan a wedding, but the ladies at The Wedding Connection made the entire process so easy. They were always available to answer my random questions. They helped coordinate with most of the vendors, and have great recommendations. They use a cool website to track your progress. The day of, we had some issues with the rentals and my coordinator Michelle was ON IT before I even knew about it. She handled everything so effortlessly. She was definitely my life-saver for the day. There were plenty of little things going on behind the scenes that I didn't know about, but Michelle handled everything so that I could just enjoy the day. Many people think coordinators aren't worth the extra money, but they so are. We were able to be present the entire day and enjoy every single moment because of the hard work Michelle put in. Why not invest with not just one coordinator, but a whole group of them, to ensure your day is absolutely perfect? Worth every penny, and I'm so grateful for all the hard work these girls put in for our day. So glad we got the chance to work with them! Can't recommend them enough! read more

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Paid for my son's wedding reception and Denise was the coordinator. Have twice, complained about service and quality of food. My other friends feel the same way. Have asked repeadly for the names of owners of the venue, but she will not respond. She contacted my son and bride regarding my concerns. Now they will not speak to me. This problem was between me the payee and her. This is so unprofessional. Rancho Soquel was beautiful...she showed up in shorts and a tank top. She is totally unprofessional and mean. The other owner of this venue died. Denise does not know what she is doing. Speaking now to Chamber of Commerce. BBB will be next! Beware...cuz she will send any complaints to the bride and groom. Just adding fuel to the fire. read more

Denise is kind, organized, experienced, and a joy to work with. She knows THE best people in the business, and she had EXCELLENT recommendations for our Monterey Bay Aquarium wedding. On December 17th, we had approximately 70 guests at our relatively small wedding that we began planning last January. In the almost-one-year's worth of planning, Denise was always just a phone call or email away! She stayed in close contact through the whole year and got us in contact with the best, most reasonably priced vendors around. We never would've found the incredible people that pulled it off (without ONE single problem, no less) without her guidance and direction!! One of the best parts of working with Denise was that she was extremely reasonable when it came to the little "extras" for our day. She was very honest and told us which items to add and which items to not bother with, which truly saved us a great deal of money! And on the day-of, she did SO much extra work to make sure everything went smoothly. Thanking her at the end seemed terribly inadequate to express our appreciation for everything she did for us. We will always remember her fondly! Thank you again Denise for making our wedding SPECTACULAR! read more

I very much agreed with Kate. When I hired a wedding coordinator I thought that they would do more of the coordinating. Denise was great for referrals (Nick our Guitarist was AMAZING!), but that was really it. I had a huge shuttle project that I very much needed help with. My maid of honor, Dad, Mom, now Husband, and I ended up coordinating the whole thing. I thought that what I was paying her to help with? People at our wedding told me they weren't sure who she was or what she was doing there. When they would ask her questions she wouldn't have answers. When there were little things that needed to get done she was not helpful. My maid of honor ended up arranging everything and making sure I had no idea what was going on. (Bless her). If you are looking for information to plan, Denise is great. If you are looking for help coordinating I would go elsewhere. read more

Denise Addesso was my personal wedding angel. I want to start off by saying that I was not interested in hiring a wedding coordinator before I met Denise. My mom and I, in our early stages of wedding planning, really thought we could handle it all. [hah!] Surprisingly it was my dad that kept pushing the subject. He really wanted me to find a coordinator! He absolutely insisted on it. Well, dad ended up being right. And I've thanked him a million times over for continuing to press the subject because I honestly don't know what I would've done without her [and Vicki, for that matter!]. Denise totally caters to your own needs. Depending on what you already have done, she'll help you with whatever else you need. Whether that's everything or just a couple things. Since I live in Dublin and got married in Santa Cruz, it was incredibly helpful to have someone that is 100% familiar with the vendors in the area. And honestly, I'm just not the type of person that enjoys calling up different people for quotes and styles and pictures and what-not. All I had to do was ramble off to Denise for a bit about my vision and the next thing I knew, I'd have 3 or 4 different options and quotes from vendors. It was SO, SO easy. She got everything right. She completely understood my vision! She's so easy to talk to, has so many great ideas and tips. Knows way more about weddings than anyone else I know.. obviously, it's what she does. And she's good. Really good. : ) I also had many people tell me how calm I was on our wedding day, and I owe that to Denise. Having her there the day of was priceless. For my mom and I and the rest of the family to just be able to relax and enjoy every moment.. instead of worry about paying vendors, making sure they're on time, making sure they brought the right thing, making sure it's the way we wanted it... making sure that the day just runs smoothly, one thing after the next... OOof. I can't even imagine how nervous that would've made me. I could go on and on about all the little amazing things that make Denise the perfect wedding coordinator. Honestly, I'm a little sad that it's all over now because working with her was so great. She's amazing. I would recommend her to anyone, anywhere. You will love her! read more

In 2009 my Husband and I rented a beautiful estate property in Soquel for our wedding (Rancho Soquel), through the wedding connection, & had Denise as our Day-of-Coordinator. She was terrific to work with and always immediate in her correspondence. She helped us figure out everything we needed for the day and made sure it all went according to the scheduled plan. Denise even went to an extra effort to provide a vast amount of useful information she had on the area of Hawaii we were honeymooning. (unmarked beaches and secret locals eateries!) Wedding Connection, or rather Denise, exclusively represents over a dozen amazing properties in the Santa Cruz area. If you're looking in that general area for your party, I highly suggest dropping her a line. Elements like old barns, out door pizza ovens, patios, gazebos, bridges and more with a Great Gatsby "Summer Party in Rhode Island" feel rather than the cheesy manufactured wedding "just for the pictures" blah. For some reason only one or two of the properties are currently on Here Comes the Guide (when we were married in 2009 none of them were)...but there is more, check her website! PS...Thanks Denise! read more

I recently got married in Carmel Valley and Denise helped me plan a pull off the wedding of my dreams. When my new husband and I were on our honeymoon and basking in the glow of what we continue to call 'the best day of our lives' we both agreed that there was simply NOTHING that didn't go the way we wanted it to. And we have Denise (and her fabulous partner Vicki) to thank largely for that. Denise will come on board and help you with everything from checking out the venue grounds (if she hasn't already worked there), assisting with vendor referrals (all of which turned out to be amazing), and reviewing your contracts to make sure everything looks right. She's a calming force in the midst of the mayhem and stress of planning a wedding and each conversation we had leading up to our big day was so helpful not only in ironing out all the details but in helping relieve the stress I was feeling. On the day of the wedding Vicki came in and executed everything with total perfection. Not a thing was overlooked and she made sure the day and all the events ran smoothly. Our wedding was a dream come true and Denise and her team are worth their weight in gold. Thanks Denise! read more

After reading all the negative reviews, it is clear that some people did not have proper expectations: Wedding Coordinator vs. Wedding Planner. Call Denise and talk to her. She will tell you what you can expect. We did and we LOVED her work. Wedding Date: August 2014. Attendance: 150 people. Location: Rancho Soquel. Wow, where to begin... We chose Denise and The Wedding Connection for 2 simple reasons: we trusted her judgment and guidance & she has an exclusive agreement with Rancho Soquel. TRUST is the word that best describes our wedding planning strategy. My wife and I wanted to find experts that could operate the event smoothly by: (i) ensuring my bride and I would be happy and immersed in the celebration, (ii) following our rules and requests, (iii) keeping the mojo of celebratory atmosphere at the proper levels, and (iv) handling any rowdy family members or other negative situations quietly. We knew that Denise was the right person for the job because I had already seen her in action in 2008 at my brother's big fat Italian wedding. The wedding was an incredible success despite a couple of over intoxicated guests trying to strong-arm Denise and the DJ for access to the microphone. I give Denise 5+ stars for her role in our wedding. We had no Idea how she was going to corral our wedding guests to the several beautiful rendezvous points at Rancho Soquel and maintain the celebration mojo. Despite my inability to visualize her strategy, I trusted her and it paid off BIG TIME!. She coordinated with the other vendors beautifully. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. My simple recommendation: meet Denise and ask her questions. She is here for you and knows how to help. DON'T BE SHY! read more

Denise planned and pulled off my spectacular wedding in Ben Lomond for over 170 people in May, 2014. Her specialty is finding just the right referrals to make the event perfect for you--from a local old-time string band to adding last-minute lighting and even finding a nanny, Denise seems to know everyone in town. I'm a pretty hands-on planner myself, so I didn't mind being actively involved with my vendors, but Denise did shake down a vendor or two that wasn't being as communicative as they could be. That said, if you're looking for someone to exclusively deal with all your vendors on your behalf, Denise might not be perfect for you. The end result was a beautiful wedding filled with perfect memories. Thanks, Denise! read more

I just got married last weekend at Rancho Soquel and I couldn't be more pleased with how everything worked out...it was perfect! My big thing I was obsessed with while planning our wedding was having everything organized and flow seamlessly on the day of...my expectations were definitely exceeded thanks to Denise of The Wedding Connection. When booking Rancho Soquel, which is a beautiful estate up Old San Jose Road, you must go through The Wedding Connection and included in the price are the services of a day-of-coordinator. Denise was so much more than just a day of coordinator. She helped me the entire year and made sure we were on track with everything, she checked in routinely, and always got back to emails right away. She always answered all of my questions and had so many great suggestions as well! You can tell she is a seasoned vet in the wedding industry so it made me feel like I could rely and trust her opinion and judgement on everything! The day of our wedding, Denise went above and beyond to make sure me and my husband (still feels weird to say that) and all of our guests had a wonderful time! I've had people who attended our wedding come up to me all week to mention how wonderful Denise was and what a great wedding it we had. A wedding is of coarse all about the love and the couple but a huge part about a great wedding is the organization and flow...in my opinion at least! We could go on and on but all I can really say is that we were more than pleased with the services Denise and The Wedding Connection provided and we couldn't wait to write them a great review! Thanks Denise! read more

I worked with Denise for my June 2, 2018 wedding at Rancho Soquel and she was wonderful! It blew everyone away how knowledgeable she was about the venue and she also gave us a lot of helpful advice such as how to make the table chart so that guests are less likely to switch seats, and which tables will get shade first so that we can place the older guests there. She was ALWAYS immediately responsive and extremely helpful throughout the whole planning process when my mom and I would send her emails. I am so grateful for her and definitely think my wedding day went so well solely because of her! She even sent me pictures she took of the wedding day about a day or two after which was really kind and amazing to see since I didnt get to see a lot of the things before guests arrived. Thank you so much Denise! read more

My daughter just got married at Rancho Soquel. I cannot say enough about how great Denise and her team are from the Wedding Connection. She walked us through the whole process from the very beginning to the very end. Her suggestions throughout were great. Day of, she was on top of everything. There was nothing for me or my daughter to have to worry about but only to enjoy the day. I would highly recommend using her for an event! I cannot Thank her enough for making this a joy filled day to remember. She is awesome! read more

Denise at Wedding Connection is awesome. She knows the best vendors to contact and thinks of so many important details related to wedding planning that I would never have thought of. She was extremely prompt in answering my many questions. I never thought I'd need a wedding coordinator for a wedding, but she was recommended to be by another family member, and I am so grateful she was. She made my wedding day run so smoothly and made me feel at ease during the planning process. read more

My husband and I just got married at a beautiful home in Ben Lomond on Aug. 1, 2009 and Denise Addesso (through the Wedding Connection) was our coordinator. Denise was so helpful and warm through the whole planning process. She was organized and helped us do things in a timely, non-stressful manner. On the wedding day I didn't have to worry about a thing and again Denise was so present and helpful at every moment. Many of my girlfriends have recently gotten married locally without Denise and they all have experienced different levels of stress, but honestly our day could not have been more perfect. It was nice to be able to sit back and have everything run smooth that day. The best part about working with Denise was that although she was always available and very "present" she was never annoying or in our faces like I've heard some coordinators can be. I would highly recommend the Wedding Connection to anyone who is planning a wedding and congratulations! read more

Denise was our wedding planner for our wedding at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in October 2016, and we could not have asked for a better planner or planning experience! She is efficient, practical, and explains things straightforwardly. She was always looking out for our interests by telling us when something was unnecessary or simply not cost-effective for our needs. She also has a great, fun personality, which makes working with her an enjoyable experience. One of her best, most important qualities is how prompt and responsive she is with communications. Given all of the moving parts that go into wedding planning, having a planner as attentive as Denise is critical. She also handled our day-of event flawlessly. It was the most special day of our lives, and we never once had to worry about how the wedding was going - thank you Denise! We can't give her high enough praise. read more

Denise with The Wedding Connection is wonderful! She helped my fiancé and I look at many beautiful venues in the Santa Cruz and Aptos areas. They work with many private estates which are gorgeous and give you a very one of a kind wedding. She has been doing weddings for years and thinks of all the important aspects to make sure your wedding and wedding venue are perfect for you. If you are looking at venues in the Santa Cruz area definitely contact Denise first :) read more

Denise is an amazing person to work with. She helped me all along the way with planning the wedding and kept me on track with all the little tasks I needed to accomplish to pull the wedding off. She was involved as little or as much as I needed her to be and she provided constant reassurance when I had doubts. Most of our communications were via email and she always responded promptly which was very much appreciated. On the day of the wedding we had a late start because some family members were stuck in traffic. Denise sheltered me from the stress of this, and made sure that we got back on track time wise once the wedding was able to start. She also made sure that we got to all the major highlights of the reception: toasts, cake cutting, bouquet/garter toss, dances, etc. Because we started late, we were a little rushed at getting these done but understood that Denise wanted to make sure that we made these memories. The vendors follow a timeline, so that is why we may have felt rushed about at times. Otherwise, a fantastic wedding day for us, and we wouldn't have been able to make it through the day without Denise or her guidance along the way! We highly recommend her! read more

Our wedding at the Monterey Bay Aquarium could not have been pulled off with huge success without the help of Denise. She kept us on track with the additional requirements placed on us by the Aquarium. Denise is professional, timely, and knows what she is doing. Her recommendations for flowers and music were spot on as well. read more

I hired Denise to help me plan my June 2013 Wedding at the Felton Guild. Being an out of town bride (working in New York and getting married in California) I really needed the help. Unfortunately I was disappointed by the lack of interest and help provided by my planner and ended up doing most everything by myself with the help of my stepmom and our caterer. While Denise did provide a lot of referrals for vendors, like DJ and florists etc. it was still up to me to coordinate everything with them. Also, there are a lot of things she does not do, like arrange chairs (that's not her job), help put together wedding decor while you are stressed out and too busy to do it because you have family in town to entertain (also not her job). I do give wedding connection a few stars because I think as a day-of-coordinator she did alright, and things went fairly smoothly besides a few glitches that could have been avoided if properly monitored (like the dance floor not being securely put together, thank god nobody tripped). However if I had to do it all over again I would not hire wedding connection to help me plan my wedding, the level of service I received for the amount of money I paid just did not add up. read more

Denise Addesso is wonderful. I am not your typical bride- kind of non traditional and not very particular. Denise totally got my style and worked with me using an approach that really fit my needs. Having been in the business for over 20 years, she knows her stuff- she brought my attention to detals that I would have never even considered. Our wedding day was perfect- a super fun party- which was the idea- Denise helped me things flow, and I was able to kick back and enjoy. She is no nonsense, direct, effective, and I highly recommend her for anyone in the market for a wedding coordinator. read more

We worked with Denise for our October 2011 wedding. She is amazing and knows her stuff! She kept everything together and made sure it all happened. I never thought I would need a wedding coordinator but I was so so so thankful in the end that I had her. She made my day perfect! Every bride deserves that! read more

October 2011 Wedding - I only had 2 months to plan my wedding and Denise made it happen. We just took things one step at a time. Denise was always one step ahead and just kept things on track. She's easy to work with and fit me into her schedule like it was not a problem at all. She saw our vision and expanded on it. Two thumbs up! read more

Denise gets it done! Our wedding went off so smoothly because of the work Denise was doing behind the scenes on the big day. She has years of experience and lots of connections in the local area. We initially didn't think we wanted or needed a wedding coordinator but I am so glad that we had Denise. If you are getting married in Santa Cruz County, we can't recommend Denise and the Wedding Connection enough. read more

I was married in Scotts Valley during the summer of 2011. Our venue required us to use Wedding Connection with Denise as a wedding coordinator. She was absolutely horrible to work with! I had in mind how I wanted my wedding to look, and she definitely wasn't afraid to suggest something else because she didn't like it. I appreciate your opinion but this was my wedding. Also, during the wedding she was nothing but an annoyance. Everything had to get done on a schedule and in the time frame she had set. I felt like I couldn't just enjoy the day because she was constantly rushing us. One thing I really regret and wish I would have put my foot down on was the fact that she rushed our picture taking session because she didn't want the guests waiting for us. My husband and I have limited pictures of the two of us on our wedding day because of this. I regret working with her, and cannot believe how un-accommodating she was at my own wedding. My entire bridal party was extremely annoyed with her by the end of the day. I would highly suggest looking elsewhere when looking for a wedding coordinator, she put a damper on our wedding day. Do not use Denise Addesso through Wedding Connection. read more