Orchard Avenue Events Reviews
Reviews
5.0 out of 5 rating
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5.0 out of 5 rating
66 Reviews
100% recommend it
Awards
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Sharon H. Sent on 10/15/2023
My daughter’s wedding in Calistoga
Brooke takes care of all the details including driving to pick up guests for the wedding ceremony when the shuttle company fails to do so. She allowed my daughter and her new husband to relax and thoroughly embrace family and friends for their special day and not stress about any of the details. Brooke, I can’t thank you enough for making Chloe and Alek’s wedding so lovely. It was amazing! -
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Kaylin A. Sent on 08/28/2023The best in the business!
Look no further and hire Brooke! We hired Brooke for our August, 2023 wedding at BR Cohn Winery. Because of her, our wedding planning process went seamlessly. She was always available to answer questions and talk through the many moving parts a wedding brings. She responded to emails promptly and I felt like a priority which is huge in such a large industry. She listened and helped me bring my vision to life. She was also extremely honest and never hesitated to tell us what we should and shouldn't pay for which was extremely helpful in budgeting. She worked closely with all of our vendors and took so much work off our plate...I seriously could not have planned this wedding without her! If you are looking for someone who truly cares and will put their heart and soul into your wedding like she did ours, look no further and hire Brooke! I promise you, you won't regret it. As I mentioned, I just got married 3 weeks ago and have already referred her to 2 of my closest friends who will also be getting married in the Sonoma area next year.
Brooke, thank you so much for all of your help and everything you did for us. I could not have imagined a more beautiful wedding and it's all thanks to you! I miss working with you already!Orchard Avenue Events's reply:
Awww - you guys are so sweet! I will miss working with you as well but excited to see you next year at your friend's wedding. Thank you for the referrals and I can't wait to catch up in 2024!! Sending you and Brian lots of love in your first year of marriage! xx -
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Hannah W. Sent on 07/24/2023Dream Wedding Planner
When my husband and I decided that we would like to have a “winery wedding,” we did not realize that almost all of the vineyards require a wedding planner. At first, I thought this was a superfluous requirement as I consider myself an excellent organizer. However, in hindsight, I am SO grateful for this requirement. Coordinating in the days, hours, and minutes leading up to the wedding could have been a hectic whirlwind. However, I was cool as a cucumber because I was blessed to have Sarah Aylward of Orchard Avenue Events by my side.
Sarah worked diligently to make our wedding vision come become reality. She had awesome recommendations for local vendors at different budget points. This was extremely helpful, as my husband and I live out-of-state. At the beginning of our wedding planning journey, we expressed that we were particularly concerned about outlining and sticking to a budget. Sarah went out of her way to create an editable spreadsheet for us with a budget that could be adjusted as we went along. We had multiple check-ins with Sarah, who always brought the positivity. She has a wonderful talent for knowing when to reach out with some calming words and when to send a reminder for that thing that my husband and I SAID we were going to do, but completely forgot about. Closer to the wedding, I felt such a relief to be in the backseat. I never worried for a second about coordinating the vendors, the timeline for the actual wedding, managing the guests—she had it all under control. Even when we threw things at her last minute, Sarah remained committed to giving us our dream wedding. For example, in the weeks leading up to the wedding, my husband and I spontaneously dreamed of a photo booth and videogame station at our reception (nerdy, but that’s us!). I would not have judged a wedding planner for saying these requests were too late—there wasn’t enough time to organize. However, Sarah did not bat an eye- she just gave us great advice and helped us make it happen.
I am typically an anxious person but Sarah promised me that she would guard me from stress during the wedding. She kept that promise and I am so thankful for her attention to detail, calm presence, and warm disposition. I HIGHLY recommend her and Orchard Avenue Events for your big day.
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![Ashley]()
Ashley N. Sent on 07/02/2023Amazing Wedding Planner
Sara did an amazing job guiding us in creating the wedding of our dreams. She was very detail-orientated, a great and calm communicator, knew exactly how to handle family dynamics, and collaborated amazingly with all of our vendors. I really appreciated how she was open to leveraging whichever communication style worked best. We decided to opt for email and then text the week of, and she was always quick to respond.
On our wedding day, Sara noticed the arch from the prior night's wedding was still at the venue and was able to call the vendor to quickly have the arch removed, prior to me even knowing it may be a problem. Our wedding guests were so excited about the event, that many of them arrived over an hour early. Sara did a great job of keeping the guests away from seeing my bridal groom while we were still taking pre-wedding photos. Throughout the wedding, Sara was great about checking in on both of us and consistently had solutions to problems prior to the groom and me knowing and starting to worry.
I would not hesitate to hire Sara and her team if you'd like a flawless, unforgettable wedding. -
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Nicole E. Sent on 09/21/2023Brooke is a Star!
I cannot imagine a more competent, experienced, professional, and kind wedding planner than Brooke Gustafson of Orchard Avenue Events. She truly pulled out all the stops to create the most magical, heavenly day of my life! My husband and I were in awe and so impressed by her, especially since we are pretty detail oriented ourselves. Brooke is even more so, and genuinely cared that our wedding day was perfectly executed from start to finish. She is prompt when responding to emails and texts and is always on time. In addition, her extensive industry experience is obvious and came in handy time and time again as we navigated the complicated wedding planning process. It is important to note that she is also very kind, understanding, and hard working, so I never once felt uncomfortable asking her questions or for tasks to be done. Brooke knew how much I cared about the look and feel of our wedding being just right, and she completely blew me out of the water - so much so that I cried for the first time before walking down the aisle when she gave me a sneak peak of the reception hall. And on my wedding night, Brooke provided all of my bridesmaids flip flops and even went back to our hotel to grab the flats I left behind so that we could dance the night away! She is so special and a true artist. Without a doubt - there is no one else you should hire for your wedding planner - Brooke is the one! (Nicole and Nicholas Errico - Sonoma Golf Club - 6/3/23) -
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Adrienne K. Sent on 07/06/2023I don't know what I would have done without Sara!
Sara was our day-of coordinator and began working with us 3 months before our wedding. She was so organized, incredibly responsive, and made me feel like everything was under control. I had multiple guests remark that our wedding was one of the best run events they had ever been to - they knew exactly where to be and when and everything was on time. This was all thanks to Sara! One thing I will be forever thankful for though was Sara coming to the rescue when I spilled red wine on my dress just before the first dance. She had red wine stain remover on hand that made the stain vanish and was so calm while helping, which kept me from having a meltdown. I would highly recommend Orchard Avenue and Sara specifically for a great wedding planning experience! -
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Shannon G. Sent on 07/12/2023Made our wedding planning seamless!
We have nothing but great things to say about Sarah and Orchard Avenue Events. Sarah is a true professional! She is responsive, detail oriented, thoughtful and an overall amazing human! We were planning our wedding at V. Sattui from the east coast and couldn't have done this without her. She helped us select amazing vendors, provided many great options to ensure we stayed within budget and was a god send on the day of. She brought all of our visions to life and no single detail was missed. We can't thank her enough!! She's a true talent!! 10 out of 10!! Sarah and OAE made our wedding spectacular!! Our family and friends are still raving about our wedding 2 months later!
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Brandon M. Sent on 05/14/2023Brooke is the best!
We recently held our wedding in Sonoma with Brooke as our wedding planner. She started off the process by getting to know us and providing recommendations on the venue and vendors. She responded to all of our questions and requests at light speed and always found time to meet with us via Zoom whenever further discussions were needed. We even flew into town to see the venue and do tastings, and Brooke joined us for everything to make sure we were properly taken care of. On the day of the wedding, she made sure everything went off without a hitch. All in all, absolutely everything Brooke did for us was FLAWLESS and we would very highly recommend her and the Orchard Avenue team to anyone searching for the right wedding planner. -
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Sandy Sent on 06/14/2023Sarah A impeccably turned our vision into reality
Here’s the bottom line- Sarah A is simply the best!
Finding Sarah through Stanly Ranch, Napa (she is on their approved planner list) was absolutely the most important starting point to guide us from just having very personalize big ideas materializing into an actionable plan that were executed beautifully with all the right vendors and connections. The outcome was simply ‘two’ amazing and perfectly perfect events for our wedding and reception. Note that we held a intimate wedding ceremony with just 25 people at the SF City Hall (followed by a celebratory lunch at Wayfare Tavern in SF), then we hosted a separate Sunday lunch reception with 90 attendees a month after the ceremony at Stanly Ranch.
The looks and feel, scale of our two events were unique and highly personal- through Sarah’s remarkable work, both turned out beautifully (and perfect in our eyes)!
Sarah is professional, well connected, exquisitely detailed driven and super responsive. Besides being a ‘pro’ at what she does, Sarah is just simply an authentic and wonderful person to work with. We entrusted such an important matter in her hands and she absolutely nailed it and enabled a beautiful start of our lives together! -
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Andrea K. Sent on 04/17/2023Orchard Events and Sarah are incredible!
Working with Sarah to plan our day was amazing. She helped us create a beautiful vision that exceeded expectations and was there to support us every step of the way. She was such a calming, valuable and knowledgeable resource and we could not have done it with out her! She really went above and beyond to make sure we had the best day. -
Hannah R. Sent on 03/29/2023
THE BEST wedding coordinator
Words cannot express the perfection that is Brooke. She brought our dream wedding to life and executed it flawlessly. As a control freak myself, Brooke made it so easy for me to let her run the show. She went above and beyond in so many details - from ensuring my husband and I got a plate of appetizers to being willing to run an errand on a moments notice. Brooke is clear, communicative, professional, organized, enthusiastic, creative, supportive, and has amazing taste and style. So many of our guests commented on how it was the best wedding they have ever attended. My husband and myself were able to enjoy every minute of our wedding day, and all of this is really because of Brooke. We can’t thank her enough. We’re already hoping to come back for anniversary party just so we can work with her again!Orchard Avenue Events's reply:
Oh my goodness, you are so very sweet to say all of this! I am truly honored that you chose me to help you with the most important day of your lives. I am thrilled that you had such a great time and that your wedding was everything you dreamed of! You deserve it! Keep reveling in the moment as long as you can!! xx -
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Lindsay P. Sent on 04/03/2023Incredible Planner - hire now!!!
Wow, I can't speak highly enough of Sarah Aylward! This was by far the best money spent for our wedding. If only every vendor communicated like Sarah! She is extremely knowledgeable, helpful, courteous and very prompt in communication. She answered every question I had thoroughly and whenever I came to a dead end or frustrated, she had an idea on how to fix it or which direction I should go in. She went above and beyond in every way. I interviewed several planners and I'm SO glad I went with Sarah. Maybe it's the industry or maybe it's Napa Valley but I feel like there were some planners I interviewed that were so entitled, not so with Sarah, she is there to help you and make your life easier!!! I'm so grateful to her for making the best day of our lives go unbelievably smooth and most importantly we were able to fully relax and have so much fun! Thank you again Sarah!!! -
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David H. Sent on 09/26/2022Sarah is awesome and our wedding was a massive success!
Our heads are still spinning from how great the wedding went! And it's all thanks to Sarah and her years of experience, knowledge, advice, and agency.
Super responsive and helpful in wrangling our vendors together, as well as executing on all the moving parts. She also was very familiar with our venue, filling us with confidence and feeling prepared.
We would definitely recommend if you are thinking of having a wedding in beautiful Sonoma! -
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A&T Sent on 08/18/2022
Simply the best!
We worked with Sarah Aylward from OAE to plan our July wedding, which went off without a hitch! Many of our guests are (notoriously) hard to please, so the fact that several told me this was the best wedding they had ever been to is high praise.
I would especially highlight Sarah's strengths in:
(1) Finding great vendors who fit our budget and style (invaluable to us planning a destination wedding)
(2) Organization & attention to detail, always keeping us on track and reminding us of key to-do's
(3) Overall enthusiasm for weddings (especially ours!). It was such a pleasure to work with someone who is just as excited as we were for our big day and wanted to ensure it's was a special and meaningful occasion.
I would highly recommend hiring Sarah for your wedding! -
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Julia S. Sent on 08/12/2022Don't Look Anywhere Else!
Writing this review is so hard, because it is so difficult to put into words just how incredible Brooke is. When we first interviewed wedding planners, we spoke to a long list of highly recommended planners from our venue. After our first conversation with Brooke, I texted my fiance, "Baby… I have a gut feeling about Brooke over {other wedding planner}.
She seems more organized and more immediately available, more engaged. She responded quickly the first time, sent out her proposal either the same night or the next morning and checked back in with me today without being prompted… aka I heard from her today and wasn’t expecting to.
By contrast, {other company} hasn’t sent me the proposal they said they would send today, it took 3 weeks to be able to even schedule an initial interview with them… and I just get a different feeling with them. I didn’t hear from them today and was expecting to."
This is a verbatim text, I looked it up. To explain how my love for and trust in Brooke grew would take a novel. She is incredibly easy to get along with and you fall into an easy friendship with her. Her expertise is CRITICAL. Every small or large blip in the process, Brooke had an answer and a solution and made it happen. She transformed every dream or idea into a magical reality. She is dependable, quick to respond, and an outright genius. I leaned on Brooke for so many small and big favors, over and over and over again. Even her husband came to our rescue with things like logistics, which was so important to us, as we had a destination wedding and were not around to examine/think through things ourselves. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, was taken care of, down to the tiniest detail, in the highest quality, best, most magical ways possible. Anything you could think of, Brooke has either done it before, or will figure out how to do it best. I would trust Brooke with anything and hold her in the highest regard and warmest place in my heart. I am so sad our wedding and thus our experience with Brooke is over. She is an absolute gem, and if you pass her up, you're making a huge mistake. I wouldn't change one single thing about my wedding--- it was flawless. And all thanks to Brooke. -
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Jayme B. Sent on 08/11/2022Made our day an absolute dream!!!
I don't have enough amazing things to say about Sarah Aylward and Orchard Avenue Events. From the moment of our first interaction I knew the level of professionalism that we were working with. My husband (now, yay!) and I are both in the hospitality business so we certainly see events with a different lens. Everything about Sarah and OAE was top of the line, they had already finished it before we even thought about it. Communication was quick and thorough. Even on our wedding day they made it seem effortless down to the detail. My favorite moment was when I went to the dance floor to dance with my Dad and I forgot my hanky. I motioned to my husband but he didn't pick up on it but Sarah immediately did and ran it over to me. I was so amazed. I don't plan on getting married again but if I ever needed to hire an event company again it would hands down be Orchard Avenue Events. You will be so happy you did. Thank you Sarah and Brooke, you helped make our day absolutely perfect! -
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Lucy F. Sent on 08/24/2022Absolutely the best decision we ever made!
Brooke is amazing. She caps the number of weddings she does per year so she can spend enough time with her couples. She is the most responsive ever. She helped review all the contracts, keep up on track with our budget, and recommended great vendors. We bought her full weekend package and oh my was it the best choice we have ever made. Couldn't have done it without her. And not only is she professional, she is also fun! -
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Megan M. Sent on 08/07/2022Best wedding decision we made
Brooke was everything we could have hoped for in a wedding planner. We felt taken care of every step of the way. She kept the process lighthearted and fun. I will recommend her to any and all Sonoma brides!
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