Events by Melissa McNeeley

unique and personal wedding which felt more like a party than a wedding - Melissa definitely delivered. She managed to make an event with over 170 people feel intimate and warm. She knows all the best vendors in NY (and they all love to work with her), she listened to our ideas however crazy they may sound (turning the venue's loading dock into a "trailer park chic" themed outdoor oasis for a late night taco truck) and comes up with creative solutions to any issue. She is incredibly professional and easy to work with. My husband and I really felt like we made a new friend by the end of it. She is the best!

orist, DJ, photographer, etc. (And everyone she recommended was super nice too). Melissa is so creative and has amazing ideas (like making our escort cards 3-d animals since our wedding was at the central park zoo) and makes everything beautiful. She was also super responsive and always answered emails within 24 hours (usually almost immediately!) and was an absolute delight to work with. On the actual day of the wedding, she exceeded all already-high expectations. She and her team (Lauren and Claire) went above and beyond and did not miss a beat. They even went to my hotel in the middle of the wedding to pick up a dress for me to change into because my wedding gown was super hot! Melissa rocks. And did I mention super nice? Do it!

here, to making sure everything at our wedding was vegan (this was really important to my husband and me), to keeping me calm when the big day came, she made our experience totally flawless! She has great, cool style and taste! Our wedding was exactly what we wanted it to be and had so many fun, unique touches that I wouldn’t have thought of without Melissa’s expertise. In the lead up to the wedding and on the day of, Melissa took on all the logistical issues that come with a wedding with absolute grace and poise, allowing my family and my guests to just enjoy it! Can’t recommend enough!

at was NOT the case with Melissa and her team on site. They were so on point through every aspect of the planning and executing process, and I felt more at ease than I thought was possible! To say that your wedding is in good hands with Events by Melissa McNeeley is a wild understatement. They know their stuff and your big day will go off without a shadow of a hitch!!

rs to utilize Melissa’s expertise when it came to booking specific vendors. First, we must speak to Melissa’s experience and professionalism. From the first phone conversation with her, it was extremely clear that wedding planning was second nature to Melissa. At the start of our planning, my husband and I had a very good idea of what we didn’t want our wedding to be like but needed to narrow down what we did want. Utilizing the consulting hours with Melissa really enabled us to do exactly that. She asked us the right questions, shared her abundance of knowledge and vendor recommendations, accompanied us to meetings, and always remained unbiased. This truly allowed us to come up with a clear vision and plan for our wedding. In the months leading up to our wedding, Melissa and Ariel were always just a phone call or email away to help ease our “worry of the week.” Around a month out, Melissa took over all our responsibilities. She handled all the last minute vendor scheduling and made sure that everyone was on the same page for the day of. Despite the rain on our wedding day and the reshuffling of cocktail hour, everything ran smoothly and it was all because of Melissa and her wonderful team. Their professionalism, attention to detail and ability to multitask exceeded our expectations and alleviated all stress from my husband and I. We were truly able to be in the moment which allowed us to enjoy every second of our wedding day. We highly recommend Melissa for whatever level of wedding planning that you need!

es. I would have liked more idea generation from her on theme/decor, but she answered specific questions and built nicely on my ideas. She handled very well a last minute issue with a hotel block and problems with a band I hired that behaved badly. The dining room set up was also exquisite -- one of the nicest I had ever seen at any wedding! That said, she approved a contract with my venue that did not guarantee her access at the time she needed for set up. (I had chosen the venue before she came on board but signed the operative contract after hiring her). When this became a problem 2 months before my wedding, we fixed it together but it was very stressful and time-consuming. The venue was certainly to blame in part, but I was disappointed that she had not planned ahead on this point. The week of, she was entirely absent from the handling of a wine problem. And most crucially, despite a high chance of rain on my wedding day and the availability of a nice inside location, she decided to set up cocktails outside without discussing it or even mentioning it to me or my mom. Unfortunately, it poured at the start of cocktails, ruining the expensive decor/food station set up and forcing all of my guests to rush into the dining room (while it was still being set up for dinner). In my opinion, this felt VERY disorganized and was incredibly embarrassing. They tried to pass the food but it felt sloppy to me. I know rain happens, but we had chosen the venue because it had an indoor location we liked if there was rain. And we spent so much time thinking about and money on food and decor at cocktails, it was incredibly disappointing to me that Melissa did not clear such a risky and important decision with us - I would have strongly preferred the set up to be indoors if there was any chance of rain. The rest of the day went well, but she left before the end and without checking in. Afterwards, my mom sent an initial positive message to Melissa to try to be kind by focusing on the positive. But in the end we were both clear that we were very disappointed with how cocktails went. Melissa's first response was professional but after several more emails and my request for a 25% refund (which I felt was a good place to start, given that in my opinion, one hour of a five hour event went very poorly based on a decision she made), she told us to "cease this harassment" and that our "focus on one minor aspect" and the refund we sought were "frivolous and vexatious." In my opinion, what happened with cocktails was far from minor -- it was unacceptable that she did not clear the decision to set up outside with me and her error in judgment colored the entire event for every single guest and has been mentioned to me by every single person who has attended. In my opinion as well, her final response was surprisngly unprofessional (as up to this point she had been very professional), and her counter of a 3% refund did not make it right.