We had a few loose ideas and a hectic schedule. From that Lindsay took the ball and ran. She poured…read moreherself into every detail and made it a magical and enchanted evening. The guests left feeling deeply grateful for an extraordinary evening. Lindsay is affordable, hard working and imaginative.Highly recommended.

Let me preface this review by saying if you are thinking about getting a wedding planner in the…read moreNJ/NY area, definitely reach out to Lindsay! She is absolutely amazing and will help craft an event that is better than you could have imagined. She has been such a pleasure to work with, and would highly recommend her. Let me back up and give you some context. My husband and I knew we wanted to get married in NJ on my uncle's farm. The only problems with that were that we lived across the country in Portland and we didn't have a building to have the ceremony in. My husband and I also both worked full time jobs. We began to realize that we'd have some time constraints on our hands and hiring a wedding planner might not be a bad idea. After reading some reviews online, I reached out to a few planners and set up a couple of introductory calls to hear about their services and experiences. When I started talking to different wedding planner, every one of them started off by telling me about all of their packages and what was included in their service. Lindsay was different. Unlike the other planners who immediately went into their sales pitch, Lindsay wanted to hear our story and what we wanted in our wedding. It seemed like she genuinely wanted to help us create our special day, not just give us a cookie cutter list of services. This was such a refreshing and personal way of approaching wedding planning. I knew from that minute that I wanted her to plan my wedding. Lindsay of Simply Sunshine Events is an amazing events planner, coordinator, and event designer. She covers a wide array of events, from wedding and baby showers to corporate events and fundraisers. And every single review that I read about the company was simply glowing. Not only is she professional, candid, creative, and helpful, but she just seemed like someone who I would work well with. Ironically we both grew up super close to one another, so we instantly clicked on that part of our past. Even without that connection, I knew that we would get along well. We decided to get help on both the design portion as well as the planning portion of our wedding. I'm really not the most creative person in the world and I felt like we needed help putting together the overall vision. We were presented with a personalize design brief with a couple of different options. Once we decided on a vision, Lindsay was able to pick out vendor options that she thought would work well with the venue and overall theme. It was so much less overwhelming being able to choose out of a couple of highly recommended vendors than to have to choose from everyone in the area. Which leads me to another important thing that Lindsay brought to the table: experience. Not only has she worked with all of these people before, but she has seen all the ins and outs of doing a wedding at a "home" venue. Initially, we thought it would be more cost efficient and easier to have an at home wedding. However, it turns out that this makes the whole planning process much more difficult since we had to not only style a wedding but actually create a venue. Lindsay instantly knew all the things we needed to look into - a tent, flooring, a generator, bathrooms, the list goes on and on. She provided us super detail specific timelines of when we should do each task, as well as supplemental tools to assist us along the way. With Lindsay's help, my husband and I made a lot of the big decisions pretty early on in the planning process. I completely trusted Lindsay's opinion on vendors and that really worked out well for us. We had amazing food and cake tastings, had a florist meeting on site that was spot on, and have a Chaplain who gave me chills when going through ceremony options. The best part about the whole deal is that Lindsay can sometimes get her clients special discounts with vendors that she works with regularly, and passes those deals directly to her clients. Some planners will take those discounts as profits, but Lindsay has an awesome system where she charged us one flat fee for everything listed in her contract and helped us save money elsewhere. She was a huge help in constructing our budget and sticking to it. Overall, I'm so glad we worked with Simply Sunshine for both the planning and design part of our wedding. The wedding went off beautifully and I was so glad I could just relax and be fully present on the wedding day. Even though there was threat of rain all the way up to the actual day, we were able to execute a plan B (extra tents for the ceremony and cocktail hour) that most people had no idea was actually not what we originally intended. I was so thankful to have such an amazing team of vendors backing me up through the preparation and actual day, even when we threw curve balls at them. Simply Sunshine Events has made this whole planning process less stressful than I was initially expecting, and made our wedding day more amazing than I ever could have hoped for.

I would recommend this business to any of my friends interested in throwing a party. I planned my…read morehusband a surprise birthday party while I was traveling internationally and Mark was really helpful. He was very communicative--even with the 13 hour time difference, I was able to coordinate with him easily. I had my husband be taken out of the house three hours before the party to set up... the balloon arch was delivered right on time. The photographer showed up half an hour earlier than the party. The magician I wanted to hire was booked somewhere else and I only found out a few days before, but the balloon sculpture artist Mark recommended instead was an absolute hit with the kids as well as the adults, which was a pleasant surprise. He made my husband the most outrageous birthday hat. Right when he was supposed to be done, one of the kids tripped and popped his balloons and got upset, and he stayed longer to make him (and a few other stragglers) more balloons. Truly kind. The photographer David was also really so helpful, friendly, and on it! He came early and helped with some of the set up... he was attentive and also very nice to talk to. Very natural (sometimes it's awkward when a photographer's in your face taking pictures but it wasn't awkward at all). We got a USB full of pictures right after the party! Really, what a great experience. My husband had a really great time. Thank you Mark and company!

I was throwing a birthday party for my Mother and wanted something festive and classy. I…read morebrainstormed with Mark, referring to some of the pictures on his website, and he figured out exactly what I wanted. They delivered the fabulous balloon arrangements right on time (a couple of hours before the party) and the delivery person was very helpful and friendly! Almost everyone at the party told me how much they loved the balloons. A great experience from start to finish!

Ananya is a wonderful planner that takes utmost care of client needs. She is thorough with her…read moredesign and considers the client requirements and suggestions. She is very patient and has completed projects in a short notice as well for some of my friends. She can handle both traditional events and parties as well. Highly recommend her for all of your party needs.

From the owner: Weddings,birthday's, corporate events,extra….read more

I am not very religious but in these unprecedented times of uncertainty one can look deep amongst…read morethemselves to find comfort. I say this because as it seems lately all we hear about is the death and despair we face as a community. There are a few people who's compassion and willingness to help others restores my faith in humanity. Matthew 25:35 says, For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. Lystra Lennard and her staff at Venue 518 yesterday did just that as the bible says....... She welcomed and fed people in her community yesterday, no matter what walk of life you came from. Her selfless generosity set an example that as a community together we can help one another persevere. Our first responders, health care workers , grocery clerks, police , and fireman are all heroes in my eyes , but so are the leaders of our community who's feeling of empathy and commiseration feeds our people that are truly in need. So for that I say "Thank You Venue, Lystra , and the volunteers" you are an inspiration that together we shall overcome. #NJSTRONG

If I could give this place ZERO, I would…read more My sister is having her first child and is due in a few months. She wanted to have a baby shower at this Venue. Unfortunately, because of the current Covid Pandemic, we are not able to have the baby shower. It's MANDATORY. So, we called the venue, assuming that they would understand the circumstances and asked them to refund our deposit. We would have NEVER cancelled. We printed invitations and everything! We HAD to cancel. The result, well, they said they can't give us our deposit because we agreed on that date already but they are more than willing to move it to a later date. IT'S A BABY SHOWER. The UNBORN BABY is not waiting for this Covid Pandemic to go away. She's due when she's due! My sister is upset enough not being able to spend any time with family and friends during a time that's supposed to be wonderful. She's afraid of the risk and harm that can come to herself and the baby! And now she has to worry about not getting her deposit back! A $500 deposit is not a small amount!! And then, they kept saying it's "corporate"s decision. Is this a chain?? Don't you have insurance on your business?? I don't understand. The last time I checked this was a privately owned business. I personally booked an event for this weekend, and had to cancel and when I called the venue I was using they gave me my deposit back immediately. They said they understood the situation. I didn't even have to ask!! And my event wasn't for a baby shower. It was just a regular party. I also called in the beginning of this whole Covid thing, when events weren't being forced to be cancelled yet! I am so upset for my sister and this place in my opinion is HORRIBLE. She's not choosing to have this happen. Have some decency!

Nirali and Pradip were great to work with for our wedding. Nirali listened to our vision and made…read moresuggestions accordingly. We felt at ease after both of our meetings with her and everything the day of was just as we had planned.

I am so thankful to Nirali Decor for making our Sangeet (Garba Night), Wedding Ceremony, and…read moreReception beautiful visual delights. Nirali is a wonder woman with a great eye for design and the special power of taking your likes and taste, along with budget, to make your vision come to life. She sat down with us multiple times to perfect our decor to our liking for each event and was fast to respond to any questions we had or changes we requested. She was always so friendly and professional, and her team who set up our decor on the days of our events were warm and friendly as well. The decor truly set the atmosphere at our events and helped my husband and I and our outfits stand out. We couldn't be more happy to recommend Nirali and her team to any bride and groom looking for a world-class and kind and professional decorator for their wedding.