Allison Barnes Events

band and I got engaged at the very start of the COVID-19 pandemic – it was a very stressful year to plan a wedding and Allison helped us figure everything out – including changing the date from April 2021 to July 2021 without losing any of our vendors or any money. Allison’s deep knowledge of the industry resulted in the most beautiful wedding that blew us and our guests away. We truly loved all our vendors – Allison has the best contacts! We all had the most amazing time and even when things didn’t go as planned (we had horizontal rain an hour before our outdoor ceremony), Allison quickly figured out how to make everything work for us, so we still had the most beautiful and memorable day. We opted for Allison’s full-service planning package (rather than partial planning) because we both work full-time and needed all the help and advice we could get. Allison took care of everything – she created design boards to help us come up with a cohesive vision for our wedding, shared vendor shortlists with us that fit in our budget, handled and negotiated all contracts with our vendors, and more! We definitely saved thousands of dollars by working with Allison – her contact list is extensive, and she knew the right questions to ask and where we could shave off costs and still get the wedding we wanted. I can’t say enough good things about Allison and her team. We feel so lucky that we had her by our side for our whole wedding experience!

the best weekends of their lives. We couldn't have dreamed a better day.

per quickly and they made us a customized proposal based on what fit our needs, while other planning companies fell through. Jillian was so on top of everything throughout our entire wedding planning process, more so than we had even expected from the proposal. She figured out exactly what we needed and how we worked. She took so much stress off our shoulders, and even when I would be nervous about something, she was always available to assure me, iron out all the details, and make any changes necessary. Our wedding day was beautiful because Jillian and the team were there and made sure everything went smoothly! Jillian went above and beyond in every way. I have unlimited compliments and endless thanks for Jillian! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Allison Barnes Events!

e, organized, accessible, supportive, and patient. Brittany saved me from a busted bustle on the wedding night. Just all around excellence in wedding planning. We had an incredible wedding and we have ABE to thank for that. Highly recommend!

to Aug 2021. Initially we were not even sure we had much of a vision for our wedding, just looking for someone who could help us coordinate it all. When we started talking to Allison, she was excellent in helping us flesh out our thoughts and offered excellent ideas on making it all work out. She is very good about developing appropriate timelines and gently but firmly keeps folks (both us and other vendors) on task without being pushy. She is incredibly easy to reach and responds very quickly to email questions about anything. Her contacts are superb and every vendor she recommended was spot-on. When talking to the other vendors we used, it was also clear they had respect and confidence in Allison and her team. As an added bonus, Allison is a lovely, kind individual who is just fun to be around which makes working with her even better. She was simply a gem the day of the wedding and was instrumental in creating a seamless perfect wedding day. I had the utmost confidence in her and knew she could absolutely handle anything unexpected…and having that ease of mind is incredible at that point. The compliments we have received from our family and friends about our wedding have been across the board excellent. If even considering the possibility of using a wedding planner, I would strongly encourage you reach out to Allison and her team and utilize her services to the utmost that your budget will allow. She is definitely worth it.

de sure that all of my vendors were communicated with, that I always knew what was going on, and that I kept on my planning timeline. On the actual day of our wedding, she was so fun to work with and everything went so smoothly - she really ensured that I had the best day and my husband and I are so thankful!

s feel like a priority throughout the planning process. She also worked seamlessly with our venue and other vendors to carry us over the finish line. On the day of, Allison and her assistants were on top of everything and a great team of cheerers-on for us and our guests. Can't recommend highly enough!

with vendors. Day-of she made sure that everyone performed per their contracts and made the entire experience stress-free for my fiance and I. I honestly don't know how we would have planned our wedding without her and I highly recommend her to anyone looking for a planner who will go above and beyond to make your wedding run smoothly.

about Allison was her easy going nature, but when it comes down to business and planning, she is always on top of everything. She helped us sift through our many venue choices, came on vendor visits with us, asked all the questions we didn’t even know we had, and ultimately helped us pick an AMAZING team of vendors and an absolutely beautiful location! Allison has such a wealth of knowledge about the wedding industry in general, and has worked with many of the best vendors in the DMV area – she even found us an amazing bagpiper per my father’s request. It was always that Allison only wanted us to have the wedding of our dreams. She has an excellent eye for design, and helped to create our vision exactly how we wanted it! Throughout the whole year and a half we worked together, Allison was always available and responsive, even when we saw her instagramming photos from 2 weddings she was planning in one weekend. On the day of the wedding, everything went off without a hitch (or at least it seemed to)! We enjoyed working with her every step of the way and could not recommend her more highly!

down to the last detail. We ended up having the perfect wedding weekend: chic, low key, intimate and not too traditional, exactly as we hoped. Allison was always available to chat, offer explanations, and ease any of our concerns. I would give her more than five stars if I could!

well with all of the vendors and was very familiar with our wedding venue. She set-up a walk through with a few of our vendors so we could get even the smallest detail correct. I would highly recommend her to anyone.

Allison and her staff made the wedding day magical. They were ever present when needed and were a godsend at the end of the wedding. We are grateful we found Allison to help us during the entire wedding process.

us, as was her expertise in coaching us through some of our 'dream ideas' so that they could be brought to life. She could not have been any more helpful, diligent or prepared and we were thoroughly impressed by her entire team. She will make your wedding everything you want it to be!

thly. If there were any issues day-of, we don't know about them! And that's exactly how it should be. We did the month-of package, but I honestly wish we had done the full thing or at least hired Allison right at the beginning--weddings are stressful and it would have been great to have her guidance even earlier! Of all vendors to have, I think a planner--day-of, month of or otherwise--is absolutely crucial, and Allison and her team were really great (thank you for the pie and sweet note left in our room at the end of the night!!). It was great to have them on our side and we miss them already!

er. I would recommend Allison to anyone planning a wedding.

ding money on or didn't care about. I could ask her anything wedding related and was so happy to have her advice. She's honest, thoughtful, and really fun to hang out with. We went with the full planning package, and I have zero regrets. She really made our wedding so special. It felt personal, unique, and beautiful. I had general ideas about what I thought would look nice, so she was great at honing in on that and creating an incredible vision. It took my breath away to see the space on our wedding day. We were told by countless guests that it was the: nicest, most fun, and most beautiful wedding they'd attended. A groomsman went so far as to tell us the space looked "magical." High, and surprising, praise from that dude, trust. Allison was really great at figuring out what we liked - things I had no idea to think about, such as what style of photographer we wanted. I only thought about wanting someone who would notice if we were too far apart, or someone was blinking in a great shot. But she sent me several different photographer's sites to demonstrate how different the styles could be, and to identify what looks we liked best. Little things like that made having a planner, and in particular having her as a planner, were so helpful. She was really great at communicating as well - I could send her long emails with disorganized general thoughts, and she'd respond quickly and with great feedback. She also put together a dream team of vendors, and handled all of the details there. As much as we tried to get everything taken care of in advance, of course with a wedding little things pop up. Our hotel we planned to stay in wound up not opening up on time, and we were told a week before the wedding. Instead of this being devastating and frustrating, Allison took care of it, and made sure we were more than taken care of and accommodated for the headache. My mom had already said countless times over the course of our engagement how much she loved Allison, and how grateful she was that she was able to enjoy the planning process (dress shopping, tasting) and not deal with any of the actual details. But it was at that moment that my mom, husband, and I were SO happy to have Allison. The fact that we didn't have to deal with any of it, and it ended up being *more* than OK in the end, was a dream. That's the thing I tell people when they ask if they should get a planner. Not only does she have a beautiful vision, know vendors, is able to handle the details, but moments like that when you have someone able to tell you "I got it, I'll call you when everything's fixed with an update," is priceless.

tuff like contracts and left the fun creative details to me. Her website was seamless, easy to use and kept my fiancé and I organized. She knew where to cut costs that wouldn't detract from our day, and where it was more important to spend a little more. Her day-of staff made sure everything ran smoothly, from fixing last minute foto booth Snafoos to running song requests to the DJ. I couldnt recommend Allison Barnes Events more!

overed and on my wedding day, it ran so smoothly!!! Allison is a true professional, she’s approachable, and easy to work with!! Thank you so much Allison for all of your hard work you put into making our day perfect and everything we dreamed!!

stly couldn't have done it without her. Thank you so much!

and she was truly a calming presence. Allison was always professional, responsive, and kind. She thought of every little detail and had excellent relationships with other vendors in the field. Our ceremony and reception were wonderful --couldn't have done it without her! We recommend Allison without hesitation!

und. We saved so much money by using her -- she not only has great ideas on ways to save, but connected us with vendors she knows and trusts and were able to provide us a discount for being one of their clients. We had the most amazing day, her day-of execution was great, she made sure everything kept running smoothly despite a few bumps in the road. She also has a great creative eye and knack for detail, something I am very much lacking, so she helped pull the full vision together and we couldn't be happier!