About this vendor
Event Guru is a wedding planner working out of Rocklin, CA. Kristen Bivona, the owner of the business, is an industry ever-present with a passion for bringing original ideas to life. Together with her talented team, they strive to capture your vision and flawlessly execute it down to the finest of details.
With an impressive portfolio brimming with hundreds of successfully designed events, Kristen is as accomplished as they come. Her career spans more than one-and-a-half decades and continues to pursue new and exciting boundaries. The team at Event Guru is well-known for its commitment to creativity and personalization in every aspect of its services.
A full-service experience awaits you when working with Event Guru. From finding the perfect floral designers to booking that dream venue, Kristen and co are ready to guide you through each and every step. These experts may be based in Northern California but are happy to work with you in planning the perfect destination wedding.
Details
Business Attributes
- Woman-owned Business
Destination Weddings
- Destination Wedding Packages
- Destination Wedding Planning
Planning
- A la Carte Wedding Planning
- Budgeting
- Day-Of Coordination
- Destination Wedding Planning
- Full Service Wedding Planning
- RSVP Tracking
Wedding Activities
- Getting Engaged
- Engagement Party
- Honeymoon
- Rehearsals & Parties
- After Party
- Bachelor Party
Awards and Affiliations
2020 'Best of Weddings'
Best of Weddings
The Knot independently assesses vendors for this award—it’s never self-reported. We base it on firsthand experiences from real couples and guests, and they must have a 4.5-star average across 7+ reviews in the qualifying year.
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Reviews
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4.2
out of 5.028 reviews
Review photos
Showing slide number 1 out of 7
Do not recommend. Save your money. Having Kristen as our 'wedding planner' ended up causing us more stress. We paid 'extra' for rehearsal coordination and for her to help in settin...
g up for our rehearsal dinner. We wrote to her after our wedding to ask for a partial refund and she, of course, denied our request and pointed out all the things we did wrong. Here is a brief summary:
1) She got a new phone number during our planning
2) She had e-mail issues and had to switch to a different e-mail and things were lost
3) As noted above, we paid extra for her to coordinate the rehearsal. She texted us an hour before we had planned to meet at the venue saying "Where is everyone?"
4) Rehearsal was unorganized; she did not introduce herself, etc
5) Her appearance was unprofessional at the rehearsal. She said, "I didn't have time to get ready." (had on sweat pants and a white tank top).
6) Did nothing to help with set-up at rehearsal dinner; sat on our couch and had her phone in hand
7) Did not ask if I preferred pin-on corsages vs wrist (I did not think to ask - which is why we hired someone to help with details)
8) Made 'wrist' corsages out of ribbon - looked tacky and kept sliding around
9) Did not know who the 'extra' corsage was for; I told her it was in an e-mail and she replied "It's too far back in my phone to find it"
10) Little to no coordination with venue or other vendors
11) Purchased outdoor rugs for the ceremony; she covered an outdoor drain with the rug and people were tripping over it
What we did get for our money: her time spent decorating. After the poorly run rehearsal, we were stressed about the wedding day wondering how it would go. All in all, we regret hiring her.
Kristen was absolutely amazing. She was available actually 24/7 for even the smallest of questions. She helped me with rentals, decorating, and getting florals that I was strugglin...
g with as well. Highly recommend, I honestly couldn't recommend her enough. The day of went so smoothly because of her
I’m not one to have online arguments, and I wish I could just reply to Kristen’s response. But I wanted to make clarifications to the “garbage rhetoric” from an angry entitled youn...
g woman. Yes, you have been in the business 16 years. And this gig just wasn’t your most successful. You’re right that I was not there for the entire year process and I do not know the full two sided story that ended with an upset bride and an upset planner/coordinator. But what I do know is that we did in fact interact. I drove the bride to the rehearsal and we arrived at 4:03. I know this because being late makes me so anxious. So I was standing right there when you said you needed to leave in ten minutes to get your dog from the groomer. I was the one standing next to the bride during rehearsal when you looked at me and the bridesmaid next to me and said “you got this? I need to leave”. I was sitting next to the bride and groom during dinner when you said “sorry I did not pour the champagne , I was busy dealing with the mechanical bull people” (which was the ruined surprise). I was the one sitting next to the bride when you squatted down next to her and tapped her on the shoulder during her fathers speech. I almost said something to you then, but didn’t want to cause a scene. I watched you leave the venue and watched guests get startled and hurry out of the way. I spoke to things I witnessed and was a part of. And I didn’t have to resort to name calling or degradation. I stated what happened and didn’t add in personality traits or characteristics to it. I’ve been in plenty of weddings and had my own. And what I do know is I would not want my vendors to have a schedule conflict that could have been avoided, like a dog grooming appointment. What I do know is I would not want to be told about possibly missing sunset during my fathers speech (yes important info to talk about, but not the right timing). So as a concerned, successful, and non entitled woman, I hope people read Kristen’s response to my constructive feedback and maybe think twice about if that is someone they want during an already stressful season of life.
Wedding planners and coordinators are supposed to help make the the process way less stressful and as seamless as possible, especially on the day of the wedding. As a matron of hon...
or in a wedding in May of this year, I can say that that’s not what happened with Kristen. As soon as the bride and I showed up for the rehearsal, she asked if she could just run through the rehearsal real quickly with the bride because she had to go pick up her dog from the groomer, which was a 45 minute drive away. She should have coordinated the grooming appointment or the pick up time to work properly with when rehearsal was. Rehearsal was at 4 PM and she needed to pick her dog up by five. Rehearsals take at least half an hour and the rehearsal needs to include everybody in the wedding so that everyone knows where to stand,what to do ,and how the whole process is going to go- especially since every venue and every wedding is different.If just the bride needed to run through the rehearsal, then there wouldn’t be a rehearsal in general because the bride is already doing all the planning and coordinating for the day anyway. Kristen also then told the bride that she wouldn’t be able to show up the day of the wedding until her dog sitter came. Although this might be a valid point, that’s not really the brides concern, and mostly came off as if she wasn’t going to be there on time and wasn’t prepared to actually be there when she needed to be there on the day of the wedding. Having a dog sitter and having the sitter show up at the right time so you can be at the venue when needed is a behind the scenes detail that doesn’t need to be shared. About five minutes into rehearsal starting and while the officiant was talking to the bride and groom, Kristen looked at me and said “you got this right? I have to leave” and then left without saying goodbye to the bride and groom or asking if there was anything else needed. On the day of, she completely ruined a surprise for the groom by announcing it, and talking about it literally right in front of the groom before he was supposed to know about it. The mother of the bride and a sister in law had to pick up her slack on more than a few occasions during the reception, which defeats the purpose of having her. Family of wedding party should not have to be pouring water and champagne. And while that might not be Kristen’s exact job either, she should have delegated that task to someone who is supposed to do it. But the thing that really got me the most was that Kristen decided that a great time to talk to the bride about a change in the timeline was during the middle of the father of the bride speech. I know things have to change and the concern was about losing sun for sunset pictures. But really? Tapping the bride on the shoulder as her father is making eye contact with her and basically talking to her during his speech? Worst timing ever and completely took away from the moment for the father and bride. She was rude to one of the other vendors and told them that she was “so over this wedding” and then left in such a hurry that she was not mindful of guests while driving off in the parking lot. This was just the few things I witnessed and can account for. It was not professional at all and honestly made the wedding a lot more stressful than it needed to be.
Kristen did an excellent job for the day of coordination. She kept the timeline moving and ran the bar beautifully. She also answers all texts and emails quickly which was so helpf...
ul. There were a few details and last minute questions and things that could have been addressed sooner than the week before. If you would like minimal guidance and know what you want and need, Kristin will be perfect for you and making your vision happen. All our guests had an amazing time!
(Part one)
I think it’s important to note, my now husband and I were very determined to have our wedding day be the best day of our lives. Fortunately, we gained lots of examples ...
from our loving family and friends on how to let our wedding be perfectly imperfect. Kristen was amazing and so were her recommendations. She helped make our day perfect!
Our wedding took place at my families cabin in Amador County. The details involved in planning an at home, rural, almost destination type wedding meant more details than usual. We’d been told, “hire a wedding planner!” After talking to multiple planners we met Kristen.
Our wedding took place on May 27th, 2023 and the first time we met Kristen was November 1st, 2022. Prior to meeting for lunch, we had a built a rough idea of the kind of wedding we wanted and had already started some planning of our own (i.e. booked a luxury portapotty, started looking into local caterers, looked into party rentals, started considering shuttles down to the property given the windy roads, and began the Pinterest boards). I remember meeting Kristen and instantly thinking, “hallelujah, she’s decisive” (which we are not). I remember bringing some ideas up and her responses were genuine, quick, logical, thoughtful, thorough, assertive, and completely no b.s. (all in a good way). Based on our degree of willing involvement, we decided on a wedding package that included booking her as the florist, using her bartender, having day before/ day of help, using her recommendation for DJ, and she promised to be available any time I had questions from the time we signed a contract to the day of the wedding (which proved to be more than true). According to the knot, this type of planner would be called a partial planner; however, Kristen was more than willing and capable of being a full-service planner.
I had heard the words “shouldn’t your wedding planner be doing that” quite a few times throughout our planning process. Again, we knew what we wanted and we hired Kristen to help us navigate the planning and to help execute the day of business. Not to do everything. We wanted our day to be us…not a curated, impersonal, cookie cutter package. Throughout those 7 months we had tons of exchanged text messages, vision sharing, so many questions, so many changes to the plan. She was always available when we needed guidance.
We met again in early March after Kristen had reached out to us to sit and talk again. We finalized some plans, got a better idea of the flow of the day, and she made sure we were tieing up all our loose ends.
She came out to the property about a month and a half before the wedding. She helped calm our minds and navigate us towards the best options for dinner seating, ceremony site, where the bar would be, etc.
(Part two)
The day before, she showed up to help with decor and manage the overall flow. The day of she showed up with her gorgeous flower arrangements and the place started to re...
ally look like a wedding venue. She worked diligently to finalize the space as we had hair and makeup done. Up until a couple hours before the wedding, my family and friends were all still working on tidying up and hiding the projects that didn’t make the cut (guess what, all the family and friends that warned me of this were right… the unfinished projects didn’t matter). It was go time!
Before the ceremony, she asked me if and what I wanted to drink then brought me a Manhattan. The ceremony was set to begin at 3pm. I had assumed more likely 3:30pm given the remote location and shuttles but I was given the okay just a little after 3pm. Kristen snapped a picture of my dad and I as we walked down the aisle. After the quick ceremony, we had cocktail hour planned from 3:30-5pm. By the time our “15 min of post ceremony photos” ended it was already 4:45pm. Kristen touched base with me and we agreed we would postpone the first dance (a routine we had planned) until after dinner. A great call. We had dinner, our fathers gave speeches, and then it was time to head out for dessert…. Or for us, more pictures and mingling. Kristen just allowed us to have the time we wanted, when we wanted, and we appreciated the lack of rigidity (obviously, not for everyone so if you need structure make sure you let that be known). At some point in the night we did our first dance. Then broke out into dance with our guests. At another point my dad and I shared our father daughter dance which was perfect… no pressure… just happened when we gave the DJ the que (again, not for everyone but perfect for us). The night continued to unfold effortlessly and by the time our guests had left, the night was ours to have. We wandered through the string lights we’d created in the forest of their property, burst out in song, and took more pictures, all the while, Kristen was continuing to break down her things. So professional and considerate.
There were no stressors on our day, everything was how we planned it to be. I am so grateful to Kristen and her recommendations for helping take on the task of planning and executing our wedding.
My final but if advice for brides and grooms to be… have realistic expectations.
Kristen was more than willing to execute our wedding however way we wanted it. If you need something, that should be clear.
Enjoy your weddings friends! It should only happen once if you do it right!
Kristen was so helpful finding a beautiful wedding venue for us! The day of , she arranged special accommodations for the morning I got ready, much appreciated! She was also helpfu...
l in arranging the rentals from celebrations and wedding insurance process. Kristen has lots of connections in the wedding industry as well like a dj, bartender, photographer, ect so that is a big help also.
I have already talked to Kristen outside of this review so I won’t go too deep into detail. If you want details about my situation prior to hiring her, please feel free to contact ...
me at mjconnelly23@yahoo.com or message me
Personally, my wedding was a disaster. One piece of advice if you do hire Kristen: read your contract. Like READ AND MEMORIZE YOUR CONTRACT. Know exactly what you’re getting, and not getting. And if anything is discussed outside of that, that she agrees to do or help with, get it in writing don't just "take her word". She will have her own claims that she did nothing wrong and I completely expect that response on this review, and that’s totally fine because there’s two sides to every story. But my story, at the end of the day, was that my wedding was a disaster. It was completely unorganized from the start, chaotic and unfriendly. There were things that me and Kristen discussed months leading up, that she kept telling me "she could handle" but clearly couldn’t handle come wedding day. I would have GLADLY paid for extra help but was never told that was necessary nor were her boundaries laid about what she felt "comfortable doing or not doing" as a "wedding planner". When discussing my issues post wedding, she followed it up with a lot of excuses (expected) and comments that she claims her staff made about my wedding "just being a job". My guests and I loved the bar staff and DJ (I paid to have him stay late, we clearly loved him) so I don't really have a lot of respect for the petty comments about "well my staff felt"... because it wasn't her staff that we had issues with, it was purely her. She did apologize for certain things, so I DO respect that. All in all, I can't recommend her. We did about 99% of the work on this wedding because little faith was instilled early on with her abilities for "wedding planning". I also was under the impression she was a wedding planner, but now post wedding I can see that that isn't the case. She will claim that people treated her terribly, but every single one of my vendors, and all my family and friends that were involved, told me that she was unpleasant and rude to them. She also said about 2 maybe 3 words to my husband the day of the wedding... no words of encouragement or enjoyment or anything. Kind of a bummer relationship to have with someone who is supposed to be your "right hand man" for the day". I think she needs to continue to stick to growing her real estate business instead of continuing “wedding planning”, if we’ll call it that.
First off, I would like to say that Kristen was amazing! I know that if I had tried to do this on my own, I would not have had the confidence or knowledge to have our wedding be as...
nice as it was.
I picked out many of the vendors, but going over options with Kristen and brainstorming helped a lot. I didn’t need as much help as probably the average person does while planning a wedding, but the things that Kristen helped with the day of and weeks before were crucial in having our wedding go as well as it did. Honestly, I think it would have been a mess without her.
And furthermore, Kristen is a trooper. A few weeks or so before our wedding she actually broke her shoulder, and she still managed to get everything done: floral (as she was also our florist), basically all the decorating, picking up our cake, dealing with the wine glasses and serving people, day-of planning, and much more. She had hired an extra person to help as well, who was very wonderful to work with too.
Kristen is full of ideas and she knows how to get things done. She does take on a lot of things at once, but everything got done that needed to, despite the challenges. Thank you Kristen for all your help on making our wedding day beautiful and run smoothly. We appreciate all your hard work!
A marriage is something that (hopefully!) doesn't happen very often in your life, so having an experienced person running things is a blessing. Before the event, we got help with t...
he schedule, logistics, venue seating, and other things we wouldn't have even thought to consider. And then on the day of, we inevitably got behind schedule but you never would've known because things went so smoothly! We loved working with her and would 1000% recommend her services to future happy couples.
Kristen went above and beyond to make sure I was ready for my special day. Due to COVID, there were MANY last minute changes and she graciously rolled with the punches! I can defin...
itely say she worked her tail off day of and even brought on extra staff to make sure we were covered. She solved issues behind the scenes and worked extra hours to ease my mind.
This year has been hectic and wild and I am grateful that we had her support on our special day.
Thank you! xox
We hosted a small wedding for our daughter at our property In September 2020. With COVID-19 and fires raging throughout the state, we needed help planning a socially responsible e...
vent to the safest degree. Kristen was there for us all the way through to guide us with her knowledge and to both plan and orchestrate all activities the day of the wedding. We couldn't have been happier with Kristen. She hit every detail, was well- polished and very professional. Our event was wonderful and everyone had a great time. Kristen was such a blessing and we are grateful for all she did for us.
We highly recommend Kristen and know you will not be disappointed.
Kristen did a great job! She knew the vision I wanted and executed it amazingly. She also has so many resources available that she is happy to share. I got married in September of ...
this year, during covid, and that did not hinder anything. I would definitely recommend her for your wedding planning!
Kristen was incredibly responsive and accommodating. She traveled pretty far to make it to our venue, and wrangled all of my crazy friends. Thank you Kristen!
Really loved how Kristen listened to our vision and goals for the wedding and made them happen while staying respectful of our budget! Miracle worker! Wedding Guru is a very approp...
riate name for her business, we felt like we were in good hands during the entire process.
Kristen was the most amazing wedding planner and coordinator ever!! My husband and I got engaged and married within 9 weeks. Once our date was set, Kristen was on top of everything...
from flowers, table decor, dj, exterior decor, timetables and everything else under the sun. She made what could have easily been a very stressful two months into an extremely beautiful and memorable day. She has a timeless taste with good eye to detail. She’s prompt, supportive and can basically read most bride’s minds. ;) I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for assistance or direction in their big day.
Kristen hardly did any wedding planning for my wedding. I did it all and she wouldn’t even cover rehearsal or day of wedding coordination at the ceremony. My vendors complained abo...
ut her as she just sat around and wouldn’t even talk or coordinate anything. Don’t waste your time or your money! She avoided me, the bride, the whole time! She was flat out rude to everyone. She only ordered chair covers and sashes and but ordered the wrong color! I wouldn’t recommend her to anyone! Find someone else!!
Kristen is hands down THE BEST person ever for wedding planning! Every little detail was taken care of, even things I didn’t even think of, or, when I did think of it, she already ...
had it taken care of! She was always easily accessible both by email and text, even on the weekends, which was awesome and super comforting. She made everything so stress free and fun, it was AMAZING. My wedding was better than I could’ve ever dreamed of and we heard nothing but good reviews about the whole experience from our guests. They couldn’t believe how well everything flowed and how pretty both the venue and decorations/flowers were. I’d HIGHLY recommend Kristen to anyone 10,000%! She’s a one of a kind person who really makes sure you’re taken care of for your special day ❤️😊
We love Kristen!! She gave me the wedding of my dreams, every detail was on point and I still to this day get told how beautiful my wedding was! She was wonderful to work with, and...
I’m over here just wanting to relive that day because it was that special!💕
Kristen is amazing! She can take your vision, run with it, and make it perfect! Knowing all the fine details are being taken care of made the wedding day a breeze. Highly recommend...
.
Kristen was the best with helping organize and plan our wedding. She made our vision happen flawlessly and made our planning experience and wedding day stress free. I would recomme...
nd her to anyone!
Kristen is by far the best in the business! She helped us plan and organize from start to finish from TWO states away. She is so professional and knows the industry. She suggested ...
the best vendors for catering, wedding dress shopping and photography. If you want to feel stress free on your big day, she is the wedding coordinator you want on the job!
Kristen is the best! My wife and my wedding would not have been the same without her planning and attention to detail, we owe our entire day to her and still to this day have peop...
le tell us how amazing our wedding was, all the credit for that goes to Kristen. Never once did we have to worry about a thing and Kristen made sure everyone was on time, on point and on their A-game. I would recommend Kristin a thousand times over to anyone planning a wedding or any important event in their life, she is absolutely the best out there and it’s not even close.
Kristen was absolutely great! We lived far out of the area and she made everything so convenient for us by keeping us up to date and taking care of all the little things. She had s...
o many options for decor and really listened to what we wanted and made our day perfect!
I used Kristen for my wedding and she was phenomenal! From the start she was super responsive and understood my vision and executed it flawlessly.
She gave me several options from...
her inventory from tables, linens, decor and customized it all based on my style. She was super flexible and on top of it.
The day of the wedding was so relaxed, She had everything setup by the time I arrived so all I had to do was get ready and enjoy my day.
I would recommend Kristen to anyone getting married, she knows what she is doing!
Kristen of events guru is an amazing wedding planner! From the moment my husband and I met her she was so sweet and listened to our vision for the most important day of our lives....
She made the entire process from the venue selection down to the most important details we wanted to incorporate so easy and stress free! Planning a wedding is stressful and confusing and she just does all the hard work for you so you get to enjoy being engaged. I would highly recommend Kristen ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Our wedding day went without a hitch, everything was exactly how we envisioned it and we couldn’t be happier, we are talking about vow renewals for our 10 year anniversary and I hope Kristen is still wedding planning because we will be calling her again.
Kristen made my day smooth and perfect. From when we first signed our contract to leaving my reception, she made sure everything was perfect.
I wasn’t too particular about what de...
corations or table pieces I wanted so I left most of it up to her- she went above and beyond. Every detail was perfect- the table settings, the guestbook sign in, to the cake table.
She also crafted the most beautiful bouquet and bridesmaid bouquets that were perfect for my style. I wanted blush pink, buttercream yellow, baby’s breath and succulents. I don’t know how she came up with such a elegant arrangement with the vague description I gave her but it was exactly what I wanted.
She made sure everyone followed directions and was in the right place. You really need someone like her at weddings because I swear, my guests were either deaf or just oblivious. The DJ gave directions to everyone and they just stood there like dummies but Kristen made sure everyone ended up in their place! She has excellent helpers that answered all my questions and listened to my concerns about “I don’t think my guests are having fun. Why aren’t they dancing?? What are we supposed to be doing right now?”
Kristen has a signature style but she can pretty much make any idea of yours work. She is very personable and really cares about what YOU want and what would make YOU happy. I would highly recommend her as your event Guru!
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