Extraordinary Weddings and Events

neral support and kindness during such a special time in our lives! If you want to feel like a guest at your own wedding, book with Lura and let her give you the fairy godmother treatment!

nderstand what our expectations should be. Would definitely recommend their services!

ed our expectations and was simply magical. Thank you to Lura & her team for helping us to find our vision and enjoy the day worry free.

ue search package and told us that she had a long list of venues with redwoods she could share with us. It was only as we got deeper into the process, we realized that that wasn't true (or else she didn't share it with us), and many of the venues that she was recommending to us did not meet our basic criteria which we had stated very clearly. Communication was also a challenge as frequently she didn't provide information we were asking for until we pushed multiple times. She said she was providing information as she received it, but we felt very much out of the loop, uncertain on who she had reached out to or not, as she refused to loop us into her conversations despite our request to do so. We much preferred working with her colleague Jeanine, and I would have worked with her separately if I could have, but that experience was not enough to incentivize us to continue working with Extraordinary Weddings. In the end, Jeanine did help us find and secure our venue, which we likely would not have gotten without her help. However, the process was not a smooth one and we did not feel comfortable moving forward. When we provided the rationale for not contracting her services for our wedding, Lura said she thought she met our needs (despite our statement to the contrary) and clearly was not open to feedback. She is a very competent saleswoman, as we were 100% convinced she was our dream planner after our first meeting. The second meeting felt a little pushy but we still jumped in. Sadly, we felt upsold in the end.

siastically!

and beyond. Not only are they expert planners, they are really in tune with the needs of their clients. I can't even count the amount of times it felt like Jeannine read my mind. They truly care about you and make sure the wedding runs smoothly.

f the things we were paying them for, plus double check all of their work. ~~ We had a difficult time working with Lura and Extraordinary Weddings. Our experience was that when we could get time face-to-face or over the phone, they were helpful and knowledgeable. However, that time was hard-won, and in between those interactions we would go weeks or months with no input from the team, even as we requested updates or advice. When there were issues or mistakes in the contracts, we were frequently the ones to identify them or make the decisions that would resolve them. The result was that we were left feeling like we had to do the majority of our own wedding coordination, with the added challenge of trying to extract clear and concise information through a barrier of rose-tinted optimism and delayed communication. (This is heavily abridged due to the knot's character limit, full text available on weddingwire review) Working with Extraordinary Weddings ("EW"), we had issues with: - EW failed to get a contract with our preferred florist, who got booked out. - EW deleted our master packing doc with a year of information in it, 8 weeks before the wedding. - We had to coordinate our own guest shuttles (quantity, timing, routes) despite requesting EW's help in planning multiple times. - We had to make our own layouts for all of the event setup because EW had not created or shared them with vendors a week before the event. - EW failed to adequately set up or clean up our rehearsal dinner space, leaving the event photographer to help with setup and the wedding party to do cleanup. Any one or even a few of these issues could have been understandable as part of the wedding planning process, but all of them together (along with other lesser problems) left us stressed and disappointed. When we could get Lura to focus on our needs she was quick to bring solutions, but many of the issues only existed in the first place due to failures in communication. By the time we realized the scope of the issue it was too late to find a replacement coordinator, and we were left feeling like we had to constantly perform tasks and double check work that we had paid for EW to do. When things went sideways they were always quick to point the fault elsewhere, and when we expressed our displeasure they were surprised that we considered overseeing communication and logistics to be the responsibility of the coordinator. The motto at Extraordinary Weddings is “be a guest at your own wedding”, but you will not. You will be the coordinator, the designer, the planner, and you will have to fight every week for their attention, even on a six-figure event. All of our guests thought the wedding was wonderful, but we had to put so much effort and stress and legwork into the process that we were hyper-aware of every flaw and deviation from a plan that we had largely produced on our own. We had beautiful moments, but our memories of the day will always be colored by stress that led up to it and the knowledge of every gap between the plan and the reality, and that’s something we can never get back.

htful- she was very friendly and informative, allowing me to collaborate with her to best prepare for our couples day. Jeannine impressed me with her quick communication and willingness to jump on the phone on the days leading up to the wedding to ensure we had a rock solid game plan for the couple. On the day of the wedding, Jeannine was a rockstar for our couple (and for me!). She worked so hard to ensure the day ran smoothly and everyone was enjoying themselves. And I can’t thank her enough for her kind treatment to us vendors as well- as we tend to get overlooked. I highly recommend hiring Extraordinary Events for your wedding day if you are looking for a team who will treat your event like it’s their own.

l really get better, we decided on go ahead and celebrate with just immediate family members and bridal party who were in the area to abide by COVID regulations and policies.  Despite the small number of people at the wedding, it really was a full wedding with 2 ceremonies, photos, and a reception.  I felt safe and assured leaving the vision for our day in Lura and Amy's hands.  I really appreciated how they checked in with me throughout the day especially when we had to shift some things around in the agenda, and just how flexible they were with the whole planning process in the midst of a pandemic. Lura and Amy were very sweet to work with, and they both really made sure that we had the day that we wanted.  And the smiles on their faces every time made such a difference.  I also really appreciated how they understood our wanting extra safety precautions due to COVID to keep everyone safe and still made our outdoor wedding beautiful.  They knew the importance of small touches that I didn't even think of myself, such as decorating the table where we had our first communion and the signing of our marriage certificate since it was all photographed and videoed.  Making us happy was the priority for EW on our wedding day =)

a flaw. In addition, she negotiated and worked with our original vendors to reschedule the main wedding for a year later. I recommend them to everyone planning a wedding or event.

staff! A large wedding at an outdoor private family home is very challenging to manage, and Lura executed flawlessly! She helped us feel relaxed and taken care of, and the wedding day was stress free - she was professional, warm and poised and can’t imagine any better hands to manage our day!

rganized and was quick to respond to any questions that we had. Lura checked in a few days beforehand to ask for the day of timeline and was incredibly supportive throughout the entire day. Everything went super smooth and many of our guests commented on how hard she worked! Do not hesitate to reach out to her if you're looking for someone to really take care of you!

ur guests about it being the most unique wedding they had been to. My Mom originally thought I was nuts for knowing I needed a planner, but at the end she agreed it was the best money we spent. She was a joy to work with and made our day absolutly perfect. So responsive, and several things would not have happend without her. She even found someone who found someone who got us access to the chapel we ended up getting married in! I've planned events for work, and even I got overwhelmed occasionally during the process. It would have been easy to just avoid making decisions and procrastinate, but Lura kept me on track.

ience even more enjoyable while she made sure everything was executed perfectly. I would highly suggest her to anyone planning a wedding in the Napa/Sonoma!

op of that she is a genuine, sweet, and caring individual who truly cares about her job and your wedding.