Anything But Gray Events

Hiring Holly was the second-best decision we made when it came to our wedding – second only to our decision to marry each other! Not only is she a wedding planner, but she’s also a wedding designer, and WOW did she design a gorgeous wedding for us. We are a couple of nerdy people whose interests lie in tabletop and video games, fantasy, and sci-fi… but our tastes are also upscale and trendy. We weren’t sure how to combine those to make our wedding feel like us, which we expressed to Holly several times over the course of our initial design phase. Holly assured us she would design something that felt perfect for us, so that when guests entered the space, it would feel like it couldn’t possibly be anyone else’s wedding. We literally got that feedback from our guests, word-for-word! You get a truly unique wedding when you work with Holly, uniquely you! As a same-sex couple, it was important to us that our vendors were queer-affirming. It’s also important to us to spend our money with small businesses, and the fact that Anything But Gray Events is a small, woman-owned business meant we were aligning our spending with our values. She also works exclusively with queer-affirming vendors, so having a list of vendors to choose from that are prescreened to not only be within the budget range we expressed, but also would align with our values, was a huge weight off our shoulders. Planning a wedding in LA makes the vendor options seem endless (in a completely overwhelming way), so having Holly to guide us through the process made things so much easier and saved us a massive amount of time and stress. The whole time we were planning this wedding with Holly, we kept reiterating how grateful we were to have her. We got to make the fun and creative decisions, still have a ton of input, but not have to spend time and effort on the discussions about things like the distance between the DJ setup and the nearest outlet at the venue. Plus a million other little things that we never had to know or worry about. She also helped us navigate through mishaps we would have had no idea how to fix; she was always quick to find a solution to anything that came up. One of us worked as a production manager on commercial shoots for many years, and the other one planned large scale events at a university. We could see the similarities between those experiences and planning a wedding, so it’s understandable that for some people, there may be a temptation to plan your wedding on your own because the skills are transferable. We’re here to tell you that they’re really not! Every decision seems so important and personal, you’ll feel much more supported when you have an actual wedding professional to guide you. No amount of internet wedding checklists and tools can replace the experience, talent and support of a professional like Holly. So many of our guests said ours was the best wedding they’d ever been to, including their own! No detail was out of place, and the experience was seamless and perfectly encapsulated us as a couple. If you want a wedding planner who’s a kick-ass problem solver, an inspired creative, and a wonderful person who lives her values, you need to hire Holly!

Wedding planning involves a lot of details, a lot of work. One can easily get lost in the weeds of things, forget what the big picture is all about, and totally miss out on the moments big and small leading to and on the day itself. Luckily, we had Holly with us every step of the way! As a one-woman force of nature who has surrounded herself with an amazing growing network of vendors who equally just “gets it,” Holly made the wedding planning process generally enjoyable and stress free. We are very busy folks and so while we wanted to pay attention to the wedding planning, we did not want it to take over our lives for an entire year. With Holly leading the charge, we were able to put together a concept, iterate, and turn it into reality with all the logistics it requires without spending hours upon hours worrying. The best way to describe the process: we only had to think about the wedding planning when Holly asked us to. Honestly, that there, is worth having Holly in your team. We had a seemingly quirky prompt of “bricks and bamboos; Legos and pandas” that we knew will baffle many run-of-the-mill wedding planners. Not Holly though. Having worked with other couples from the LGBTQ community before, Holly understands what “queering” weddings mean. We draw from while also question standards; we revere while also provoke traditions. Holly’s portfolio reflect these and we are glad to add a splash of Mondrian, panda bears, Lego bricks, and Filipino pride to the mix. She heard us and made sense of our ideas. She creatively explored options while also recognized our uncertainties. She pushed when needed but always made sure we were comfortable. She was professional while also being fun to be around. She translated & tempered our expectations, and coordinated & cared for our team of vendors. She assuaged our concerns, gave us time, and delivered as promised (and then some). She. Just. Gets. It. A week before our wedding day there was barely anything left to do or worry about. Our friends kept on asking us if there’s anything else they can help with leading to the wedding and we just responded with a shrug. Many were flabbergasted that we were so calm, not running around checking in on details or working on last minute stuff. A big reason why this is the case is because Holly had things covered since Day 1. Having built trust with each other through the months of working together, we knew everything will go well. If ever things go astray (which, btw, they did not), we knew that Holly and the rest of the team will smoothly roll with it and deliver. If like us you would rather focus on spending quality time with friends and family right before the wedding and not worry at all about the big day, then Holly’s got your back. On our wedding day, we remained calm allowing us to really savor each detail, each beat, and every single moment. Holly made sure everything ran smoothly. She made sure that we the couple, our guests, and our team of vendors were taken care of. The evening was filled with overwhelming love, sheer joy, and absolute fun. Every single detail that Holly worked on enabled all of us to focus on celebrating together as a community. Holly’s colorful orchestration created not only an event, but a space that spoke to and of us. It was a space that felt safe and welcoming. It was a space that enabled us to celebrate love in all its shades. Thank you, Holly!

You will make hundreds, if not thousands, of decisions about your wedding. The absolute best decision we made was hiring Holly of ABGE as our planner, and doing it early in the process. Every other choice stemmed from Holly’s base of expertise, creativity, organizational skills, and network. She listened to our ideas and vision, and made them better than we ever could have hoped, in a way that felt fully, uniquely, and unmistakably us. Holly does not do cookie-cutter weddings! Over the course of more than a year, Holly got to know us, our personalities, and our tastes. She broke down the intimidating process into digestible tasks, spread out over key time periods, so we were never overwhelmed. We are an LGBTQ+ Jewish couple, and she incorporated our traditions and kept the whole experience inclusive, meaningful, and fun. With Holly comes a legion of inclusive professional relationships. She makes tailored recommendations on floral designers, photographers, stationers, beauty experts, clothing designers, and more. By encouraging us to be true to ourselves with every creative choice and hired vendor, Holly crafted the elevated, colorful, romantic fairytale wedding of our dreams. Simply put, she made magic happen. It would be enough to recommend ABGE by saying the end result was, according to our guests, the “best wedding ever” and “the Met Gala of weddings.” Our officiant, who has decades of experience, said it was the best he’d ever seen. And it was those things. But Holly was also a shoulder to cry on when life threw curveballs at us, and she was a steady hand to guide us through the emotional process of wedding planning. Her empathy was as essential as her creativity in making our wedding as special as it was. You can’t do better than Holly, seriously.

Holly is everything you want to help make your wedding day truly magical! We started planning with Holly prior to the pandemic, which pushed our wedding date several times. This made our wedding date 2 years later than planned. Nevertheless, Holly continued to work with us and made planning our engagement photo shoot and wedding simple and easy; she broke down everything that we needed to do in an organized manner. We love Disney and wanted to have a Tower of Terror theme. We were blown away at her ideas and the attention to detail that were intertwined throughout the ceremony and reception. It was so much fun getting to brainstorm ideas with her during our planning sessions. Her final vision helped to transform the venue into a spooky, run-down hotel that included our guests checking in at a registration desk. Our guests are still talking about how impressed they were with the all the details and theming. The multitude of vendors that were recommended by Holly are top-notch. The invitations, flowers, and a working elevator that was used for our grand entrance as well as a photo booth, were works of art. Know that if you have the opportunity to work with Holly you will not be disappointed!