Wedding Planner of the Century!!
We hired Sara McIntosh with Candlewood Events for our July 2023 wedding and it was hands down the best decision we have ever made. We hired her for full planning for our 215 person wedding at the Woodstock Inn in VT. She helped plan every detail for that wedding during the entire year leading up to it, and did an exceptional job doing so. Less than a week before our wedding, Vermont was unfortunately hit with devastating floods, our venue had a water main break, and they could not host our wedding that weekend (cancelled on us on a Tuesday, with the wedding planned for Saturday). Most people could not re-plan an entire wedding in 4 days, but we were able to still get married that weekend with the wedding of our dreams ENTIRELY because of Sara. When our venue cancelled, Sara immediately jumped into action- she came over our house, set up shop in our office, and led the charge in re-planning our entire wedding weekend. We decided to move it to a tented wedding at my parents house in MA, and Sara jumped into action. She worked around the clock for 4 days straight, and managed to pull off the wedding of the summer. She quite literally pulled off planning a 215 person wedding in a new location in 4 days- new Rehearsal Dinner venue, new caterer, new ceremony space, entirely new printing, schedule, transportation, hotel room blocks, etc. Our wedding day happened and was completely seamless and stunning all because of Sara, and we will never be able to thank her properly for that! Our guests were in absolute shock with how perfect the weekend went- everyone was in disbelief that we were able to pull it off, and said that there was NO way this was our "Plan B." We could go on about the heroic efforts of Sara in the lead up and during our wedding weekend, but to sum it up- if you want an absolute rock star planner who will go absolutely above and beyond (and then some!) to make your weekend perfect, Sara is your person. We would not have had a wedding that weekend if it wasn't for her, and it was perfect in every way.
Of course, our experience in the week ahead of our wedding was a unique (and dramatic) one, that I hope most couples will not encounter, despite it all working out for us! To speak to the year leading up to our wedding before the venue cancellation, Sara made our entire year of planning absolutely stress-free, organized, and enjoyable. Sara did full planning for us, assisting with choosing every vendor (her recommendations & relationships in the vendor space are AMAZING), negotiating prices/contracts, and booked every single hotel room block, vendor, etc. As mentioned, she has incredible relationships with some of the best vendors in the industry, which allowed us to book a renowned photographer, band, videographer, and hair/makeup artist, who normally get completely booked up. Sara is a master planner- she has an amazing ability to see the big picture to ensure everything operationally runs seamlessly, while also thinking of all of the small details that make such a big difference on the day.
On the actual wedding weekend, Sara was the engine behind the scenes making everything happen. She took care of the big things of course, like running the rehearsal at the Church, communicating & coordinating the weekend timeline for the vendors down to the minute, and keeping everyone on time and on schedule. But she also went above and beyond to do the smallest things as well that made such a big difference- bustling my dress when others were struggling to, making sure the caterer had a server waiting at the door for the bride & groom to serve us each of our own specialty drinks, and ensuring every vendor got tipped at the end of the night. It's these small details that make ALL the difference on the day, and Sara thought of everything.
It is very difficult to keep this review concise given how much Sara & Candlewood Events means to us- but to sum it up, if you are looking for a wedding planner, look no further! Thank you Sara for pulling off the wedding of our dreams- we are forever grateful!!