Event by Dawn

person to coordinate our day. From the start, communication was easy and Dawn was very responsive, transparent, and helped us create a wedding that aligned with our goals, values, and budget. She provided us with tons of resources to help us execute our day - sample timelines, layouts, vendor lists, tips and tricks, and more (in addition to lots of email communication and very thoughtful meetings leading up to our big day). Our wedding day was truly a dream - better than we could’ve ever imagined - and I strongly believe it is largely in part because Dawn (and the rest of our vendor team that mostly came from Dawn’s recommendations) was so on it. We were 100% present for our wedding and at peace knowing Dawn was in charge of our day. From the bottom of my heart and top of my brain, I couldn’t recommend Dawn more!! Thank you, Dawn, for helping us create the most perfect day to celebrate our love. :)

hurdles. She had extremely helpful ideas and also listened to us and our vision and helped execute it well! With Dawn by our side we were able to enjoy our wedding day and feel confident that things would run smoothly. Her list of vendors was also very helpful - we had a rockstar team, in large part, thanks to Dawn! She took a lot of our stress leading up to our wedding day away and we are so grateful for the peace of mind she allowed us! Thank you Dawn!!

ity, and attention to detail. She crafted a timeline that ran flawlessly and worked behind the scenes to ensure every vendor was aligned and every detail covered. What stood out most was Dawn’s ability to think ahead — she anticipated edge cases we hadn’t even considered and made sure everything was handled before it could become a problem. Her calm, thoughtful presence allowed us to fully enjoy the day without stress. We highly recommend Dawn to anyone looking for a wedding coordinator who is organized, collaborative, and deeply committed to making your celebration seamless and special.

an expert in the area, and all of her vendor recommendations were great. She walked us through a super detailed timeline before our event, making sure include every person’s roles and responsibilities. Day of, Dawn kept everything moving on schedule and even saved the day with a sewing kit when one of the bridesmaid’s dresses ripped open. Thank you Dawn!

ooth as possible. She had a rock solid timeline for both me and the vendors and was able to make sure things kept moving during the day. My husband and I were happy to just enjoy the day and not worry about things getting done. I highly recommend hiring Dawn, especially if you are getting married at Waterfall Lodge & Retreat.

e really invests a bit of herself to each of her special celebrations. In addition, she makes our jobs as vendors that much easier and we hold much gratitude for that. With so many wedding vendors that combine to create each special day, it is inevitable that a planner might have a rare vendor show up problematically late or not have an important item as requested. We have seen her handle these types of situations time and again professionally and with grace to keep the event running without anyone the wiser. Kudos! Simply put, every time we see Dawn’s name appear on our client’s worksheets, we know it’s going to be a good day!

ease with her advice and day-of event schedule.

gistics. On the day of the wedding itself, she handled everything without needing to pull us away from enjoying the day, and wrangled all of our other vendors with ease. She's also just fun and easy to work with! Highly recommend

ne. A standout for us our timeline meeting with her. She recorded every detail of our day, hour by hour, and kept it up to date as plans were finalized. It made us feel confident that we had everything covered well before our wedding day. 10/10!

ly from start to finish, ensuring all our plans came to life perfectly. She was incredibly flexible and quick to adjust to any last-minute changes we needed, making the day feel effortless and stress-free. Her preparation in advance with thorough phone calls and coordination with the vendors made for an easy planning for us. Her attention to detail and calm, professional demeanor truly made our wedding day special. If you're looking for someone who will go above and beyond and knows Waterfall Lodge incredibly well, Dawn is the coordinator you want!

and took the time to guide us through the wedding planning process. Would highly recommend Dawn for day-of coordinating services!

She has a ton of knowledge regarding our specific venue (Waterfall Lodge) that was immensely helpful throughout the planning process. Dawn was able to guide us through the process of wedding planning, reminding us of things we would have forgotten and making suggestions that helped with a very smooth process. On the wedding day, Dawn ensured it ran so smoothly that we got to fully enjoy the day with no worries, something that is difficult for me as a Type A planning personality. I would not only recommend her but say she is ESSENTIAL especially for a wedding at Waterfall Lodge.

lawless and without her help, the wedding wouldn't have been so magical. She is quick to respond, thorough, attentive to detail, and very kind, despite my constant emails for questions haha. 10/10 would recommend her and her list of vendors! Thanks x a million, Dawn!

wedding process and probably the most expensive day of our lives. She walked us through all the details during our meetings, offered guidance when we had no reference points to what other couples have done, and took care of everything the day of. I can confidently say our wedding day at Brothers Ranch was stress-free because of how Dawn just took care of business without a peep! She offered so many great ideas to our timeline to make everything go smoothly and have the run of show mood flow seamlessly into the next. Our wedding party was also very impressed with Dawn's clear directions and leadership during our wedding rehearsal. I would highly recommend Dawn for all your wedding coordination/planning needs in Santa Cruz County! Worth every single penny.

or, thinking of all of the tiny details, and prompting us to stayed on track leading up to our event. Our rehearsal dinner event and our wedding day ran smoothly, and we were able to fully enjoy and be present with our guests because she was there to truly steer the ship. She supported us in bringing our creative vision to life, perfectly executing all of the leg work we put in during the months leading up to our event. She is the perfect "month/day of coordinator", and is someone you can trust will get the job done right. We highly recommend Dawn - and if you are getting married at Waterfall Lodge she is literally the queen of that venue and knows it like the back of her hand. We are so grateful to her and all that she does!

d, and was very hardworking and professional on the day of. I felt like I could fully relax on the day once she arrived and I was stress free for the whole event. 10/10 would recommend Dawn to anyone getting married in the Santa Cruz area!

d helpful from the moment we signed out contract right up until she left our wedding night. Dawn has an amazing rolodex of recommended vendors she has worked with and the details of the day were executed well. I would recommend Dawn to anyone that is looking for a great wedding planner, especially if you are getting married at the Waterfall Lodge.

cocktail hour through dancing. Dawn helped us create a timeline that was realistic and aligned with our dreams for our wedding day, and we are so appreciative of her calm and expert guidance during the planning process through the day-of.

age she was responsive and provided valuable insight to my numerous questions throughout the planning process, as well as recommended a list of vendors that she was familiar with. We chose to hold our wedding on private property, which held it’s own set of challenges, and Dawn helped us make sure that nothing was forgotten. In the month leading up to our wedding, Dawn made sure that we were aware of the wedding timeline and then communicated all the necessary details to each of our vendors. On the day of, Dawn was at a different wedding, so we had the pleasure of working with her associate, Stella. Stella was beyond amazing and made sure that our day went off without a hitch (and reminded us to eat!). The two of them truly made our wedding magical. We would highly recommend Event by Dawn for any couples in the wedding planning process!

was an expert with our specific venue (Waterfall Lodge), and she was able to help us navigate the ins and outs of vendors like rentals, transportation, and food. She provided us with lists of her recommended vendors as well as many different tips to use throughout the planning process. She was kind, clear, and so easy to work with. It was a pleasure getting to work with her the day of, and she helped execute the timeline well. We are so thankful for her time and expertise and would recommend her!

r venue hadn’t even told us. I had a huge wedding party (think over 20 people) and she got everyone organized like a pro. We also had 2 officiants and were struggling with how to have them stand and she gave us advice that we used.

wing her in Instagram since I had gotten engaged. Dawns resources are incredible, especially at Waterfall Lodge. As someone who works in events I know the importance of relationships and since Waterfall is practically her second home at this point I knew she was the right choice. She was there for us with so many incredible documents and answered all of my questions and worries in a timely manner in the months leading up to the Wedding! She saved our wedding by calling us a few months before and letting us know about her concerns about one of our vendors. This gave us enough time to make a new plan with one of her recommended contacts. I can’t thank her enough for being transparent with us. Our month before call seriously took away all of my worries. I’m not great at handing things off and letting someone else run with it but I had full confidence in Dawn so much that I was so relaxed on our wedding day and was able to enjoy the day! Dawn is fun and professional and really made everything perfect on the actual event day. The world could have been burning down and we would have had no idea. One of my favorite memories was turning around to see Dawn putting glitter on my Husband at our glitter station! She’s not afraid to enjoy your day with you and I promise you won’t regret having her on your team! Thank you for everything Dawn!!

planning from the start, making us feel like ours was the only wedding she had that season. She also provided a great list of other recommended vendors in the area which was very helpful, and provided useful suggestions when needed in the wedding planning process. 1-2 months before our wedding, Dawn dialed in our timeline and vision for the day. She proactively reached out to our vendors to ensure everyone was on the same page, which was a huge relief. She oversaw all of the logistics between our ceremony site and reception venue, including set-up, shuttles, ceremony flow, DJ schedule, photographer and videographer cues, and more. If there was an issue that arose, she handled it calmly and quickly and advocated for what we wanted. Our guests kept commenting how smooth the day went, which we attribute to Dawn! My husband and I are so thankful to have had her on our team that day. Because of her, our day went better than we could have imagined.

out our venue that made planning our wedding easy. If we had any questions, she was just an email away and always had answers quickly. On our wedding day, she handled all the little details so we could enjoy our time with our family and friends. I would definitely recommend Dawn to anyone planning an event at The Waterfall Lodge!

ganized and directed our vendors flawlessly, playing an integral role in keeping on day time and running smoothly. I would recommend Events by Dawn to everyone looking for an amazing day of coordinator!

inated and planned there, she knows all the details and ins and outs when it comes to having a wedding or any event at Waterfall Lodge. We hired Dawn via her month-of coordination package. We had a few video calls and phone calls prior to the wedding but never actually met Dawn until the morning of the wedding. From there, it was a sprint through the big day and Dawn had it all covered. She made the wedding day go almost perfectly and smoothly. Our guests were impressed at home well-organized and well-run the day was and how smoothly everything went from start to finish. That is a testament to Dawn and her ability to run the show from behind the scenes. She is an enormous resource when you have a wedding at Waterfall Lodge and we are glad we worked with her! As a bonus, she even captured our wedding dances on her phone and because of that, we have full videos of those exciting moments! Thank you Dawn for being an amazing day of wedding coordinator. We highly recommend Dawn to anyone having a wedding at Waterfall Lodge!

tail oriented - she made the entire process so easy. Knowing she was taking care of everything allowed us to focus on our special day without any worries at all. LOVE Dawn!

h Dawn is your best bet. She knows the ins and outs of that venue (almost better than the venue themselves)! From the beginning, she provides you with complex and detailed vendor recommendations, which is super helpful if you are not from the area. Dawn was always available to help me with any questions I had or follow up needed when vendors are not getting back to you. I met with Dawn when I was 8 months pregnant and a year out from our wedding date. She made sure from the start that I got most of my necessary vendors and details squared away before the baby came so that I could sit back and be stress free for the following months. Dawn has SO MUCH knowledge on running weddings and makes you feel at ease that she has it taken care of. The day of my wedding, when the punches kept coming, she made sure everything was taken care of. Days leading up to the wedding, we were on weather watch for an "atmospheric river" that was heading toward our wedding. She made sure we made last minute necessary arrangements to make sure we were prepared for the potential rain and even helped arrange the last minute reception tent and ways to keep that unforeseen new cost low. As the day of the wedding came, it DOWNPOURED, and I will never ever forget this conversation Dawn and I had.... She came to me and said, "If it rains, we can move the ceremony into the barn and explain how the day could be arranged to avoid the rain. After talking to my husband, we both agreed and explained to Dawn that we chose this venue so we could get married under the Redwoods, not a barn. We went on to say that we could get married in a barn 5 hours south from there where we lived and that we would be getting married under the redwoods as planned and if it was only us and the officient up there, then so be it. Dawn had the most simple, perfect response of, "Let's do it!" and at that point, my rain wedding stress went out the window because I knew from there that Dawn was on my side and would do anything in her power for us to have a perfect wedding. Throughtout the night, she sprays me and my wedding dress down with a hose in the cold to make sure I was clean and presentable, lol, helped check on our sleeping baby when she knew family had to be present, and much much more ! Thank you Dawn, so much for everything you did for us. And thank you for continuing to be a lifelong friend and a huge part of our special day !

anning meetings helped us get organized for our event and think through all of the logistics and details. Dawn was very understanding of our budget and helped us find vendors that were less expensive and cut out extra things that we didn't really need. There were so many challenges the day of our wedding, (the road to our wedding was literally blocked by a power line hours before the event) but Dawn handled any potential problem that came up. As the bride I didn't even know about many of the potential hiccups until days later because on the day of, Dawn knew exactly how to handle everything. With Dawn taking care of the details I was able to be completely relaxed on my wedding day and fully present with all my friends and family. Thank you Dawn for Everything! Our wedding was a dream come true!

ll the timing details, shuttles, vendors it just finalized our decision and we are so happy we did! Even with the hectic-ness from the rain, everything still seemed to get managed so smoothly. She was there for everything we needed, questions we had and asked all the right questions with last minute things I didn’t even think of. Thank you Dawn for helping make our day so special!

, and overall calming demeanor. It was an instant yes from us! We had our wedding at The Waterfall Lodge in Ben Lomond, CA, and agreed on the Waterfall Lodge package, which was slightly more expensive but well worth it! This package included more assistance from her throughout our process of planning. Dawn helped reach out to a few vendors when they would have yet to respond to us. She got us in touch with some of the best vendors in the business! She was also there to answer questions about logistics, costs, and things like table sizes and setup. She did it all on the wedding day, from preparing and moving decorations to coordinating all the vendors to work smoothly together throughout the day! We did not have to think about anything and enjoyed the wedding with our family and friends knowing she had everything under control. Even after the wedding, our family and friends told us EVERYTHING was well planned and executed and that all our vendors worked so well together. If you are looking for a wedding coordinator in the area, especially at the Waterfall Lodge, look no further. Thank you again, Dawn!

ls in the last couple of weeks. Instead of coordinating all the vendor arrival times and parking and countless other stressful details, we got to just focus on spending time with our arriving family members and enjoying our excitement! On our wedding day, if anything went wrong, we never heard about it! Dawn managed everything so we could attend (rather than host) our special day. We enjoyed every minute! We were totally relaxed because we knew everything was in capable hands. Thank you so much Dawn!

cularly in the last few months leading to the wedding. We had brought a ton of tiny details and everything got set up perfectly. Efficient, detail oriented, and unflappable. Dawn, thank you for letting us actually enjoy our wedding day - we knew you had everything covered!

ng date), Dawn instilled every confidence in us that she would do everything in her power to make our wedding day as perfect as possible. And she truly delivered! Throughout the 18 months we spent planning our wedding, Dawn made herself available for any and all questions, concerns, phone calls, texts, emails, and everything in between. She provided wonderful vendor recommendations, and supported us through so many different aspects of planning our day. The week of our wedding, the weather took a turn on us, and Dawn could not have been more on top of things! She worked day and night to help us come up with a Plan A, B, C, and D, in the event that the pending rainstorm affected the completely outdoor wedding day. Dawn ultimately secured a tent for us just days before the wedding, and made sure that our entire team was prepared on the day of. The day of the wedding, the rain poured down, and despite everything that COULD have gone wrong, Dawn made sure that everything went as smoothly as possible. We truly could not have done it without her! The weather had the power to ruin many aspects of the day, but Dawn was there to keep that from happening, and we couldn’t be more grateful. There are no words to fully describe the gratitude we have for Dawn! There is no one more knowledgeable about the Waterfall Lodge in particular (it’s practically her second home!), no one better equipped to handle stressful day-of situations, and no one more calming or encouraging to have in your corner. We absolutely adore Dawn, and know that we have a lifelong friend in her!

by Waterfall Lodge, and will make sure your big day goes off without a hitch. Throughout the planning process, Dawn made sure we were on top of everything and helped us to get replies from vendors who were hard to reach. She even fixed some broken flowers right before the ceremony, Dawn can do it all! We can’t thank her enough for making our dream come true on our wedding day!

ad I hired Dawn. From our first call it was obvious that she was really well-connected and had many years of solid experience. At our timeline call she made sure nothing slipped through the cracks, was so thorough, and still made sure to do everything how I wanted, while adding her best practices and knowledge. She was professional, gracious and made sure everything went according to plan. As soon as she arrived on my wedding day I felt like I could relax and everything was in good hands. No task was too small for her, and she knew when to bring a question to me and when to make a decision without me. I trusted her from the start (which I can't say about many wedding vendors LOL) and knew she had my back. She made sure I was calm and focused on what really mattered- marrying my husband!

and on the day of the wedding. A wedding planners' work is never ending and often takes place behind the scenes many months prior to a wedding day, however, we are here to share her amazing timelines that she creates and shares custom for every single vendor is above and beyond. This is so beneficial for couples since every vendor knows exactly their role for the entire day. Dawn makes sure everything is in order and runs smoothly, so you have no need to stress or worry about a single thing. If you are looking for a supportive coordinator who can do it all and do it well, Event By Dawn is the way to go. She will be sure to take great care of you, all of your setup needs, and your entire vendor staff and that's the best thing you can ever have from your coordinator.

edding being in the busiest wedding season/year ever, she was very communicative with us and our vendors and was a godsend on the day of our wedding making sure everything went smoothly and according to what we had agreed upon. She worked to accommodate our schedule for meetings, site visits and phone calls; and always made sure to answer any questions we had as they came up. We got married at Waterfall Lodge and she knows it like the back of her hand, which was so incredibly valuable! She helped relieve a lot of stress on the day of the wedding and leading up to it so we could focus on ourselves and our loved ones. All of vendors had a smooth time working her as well. It wasn’t a question for us to hire Dawn as our coordinator—we can’t recommend her enough!

r our questions and really knew our venue inside and out which made it so much easier. I am so impressed with how quickly she was at responding to any communication we initiated with her not to mention extremely thorough. While she is high in demand for obvious reasons, she still always found a way to make time for us. We really can’t thank her enough for everything she did to ensure our wedding day was everything we dreamed of and more!

Waterfall Lodge. I highly recommended hiring her if you're getting married at Waterfall or elsewhere!

ing from across the country. She was very organized and stayed on top of all the things we needed to know and make decisions about. The day-of things went great and she was a huge help with coordinating all of our vendors.

on! Dawn has so much experience and knowledge. She is able to listen to your vision and desires and give appropriate recommendations or considerations to keep in mind to make it all happen. We appreciated the list of recommended vendors she shared with us and not a single one of those vendors disappointed either! She was quick to respond to emails when we had questions or concerns. When we were having a hard time connecting with certain vendors, Dawn immediately reached out and helped us get a timely response. Dawn pays attention to each and every detail. She eased all of our concerns and alleviated stress throughout the planning process because we knew we were in good hands. We fully believe she is the only reason we were able to get any sleep and were able to enjoy our entire wedding day without having to worry about anything going as planned. We are forever grateful for her!

ckage specifically for weddings at Waterfall Lodge which allows couples to work with Dawn as soon as you hire her, rather than just having her for day of coordination. This option costs slightly more, but it was invaluable to be able to reach out with questions and get support along the way. If you are getting married at Waterfall Lodge and you do not hire Dawn, you’re making a big mistake! I trust that she is excellent at other venues as well, but I definitely want to highlight how well she knows Waterfall Lodge and their whole team, which really helped everything flow very smoothly. Dawn helped us really nail down our timeline in advance and listened to what our priorities were for our wedding day. We had been to several weddings before ours that seemed to run behind and miss out on time dancing, so we really wanted to stay on schedule and Dawn did an excellent job of not only planning this in advance and communicating our desires to our vendors, but also executing it that day. Every aspect of the day started on time and it was truly impressive. She also set up all of our décor for our reception on the big day. Honestly, this was our most key hire to help our wedding day run smoothly and I am so glad we had Dawn there running the show. Thank you Dawn! Riley & Andrew

. From beginning to end Dawn was able to answer all our questions, kept us on track, worked so smoothly with all our other vendors, and made the week before our wedding feel quite calm! Something I didn't even know was possible. Dawn took a long time helping us make our weekend timeline and told what was feasible with our many ideas. She enabled us to a whole field on Friday and the rehearsal on Saturday so we could do everything we wanted. She shared our timeline and coordinated with all our vendors so we had minimal directions we had to give on Saturday which was her greatest gift. We actually go to enjoy our own wedding! I will say that with a good coordinator it is key you give them all the information beforehand so they know what to look for day of and no matter how great the coordinator is, if other vendors are not practiced with how to do weddings there can be hiccups (my guess with the review below). Also good to note that Dawn's contracted time starts at noon which everyone sees when they sign her contract and she stays there for 8-10 hours which is a huge help. I really can't recommend Dawn highly enough and am only sad I won't get to talk to her as often now! If you are getting married - do it with Dawn on your wedding team :)

we had around the site, and assisted some of the vendors in setting up their parts of the wedding. I was a bit disappointed in a handful of things that I wished she had a bigger part in: she wasn't available to conduct a day-before rehearsal with the wedding party, she didn't arrive on-site the day of the wedding until around noon (with a start time of 3pm) and wasn't there to deal with some issues that arose in the morning, I was so excited & nervous before walking down the aisle, I forgot to grab my bouquet & forgot to link arms with my father as we walked down. I would have hoped she would have been near me to remind me to grab my flowers & walk down properly with my father, but she, unfortunately, wasn't with me before walking down the aisle as I would have hoped (and really didn't check in with me nearly at all the day of the wedding) The flower girls never got the rose petals I ordered, and just had an empty basket to walk down the aisle with (Dawn didn't ever check with the florist to ensure my entire order had arrived). Additionally, the DJ played the incorrect song as I walked down the aisle & Dawn didn't jump in to fix the situation like I would have expected as well. I would have liked to see Dawn be a bit more involved & around the day-of, in general, and things would have likely gone a bit smoother for me.