About this vendor
Together Events (a Greater Good Events company) offers a unique, socially conscious wedding planning experience for chill couples by prioritizing partnership over patriarchy and confetti over everything else. We donate 10% of our profits to community organizations, and we love working with our clients to create beautifully styled, people-centered, fun celebrations that maximize getting down and minimize stressing out. With package offerings ranging from Full Service Planning and Design to Month-Of Coordination, we serve and celebrate all bodies and all types of love - all while prioritizing vendor partnerships with women-owned, POC-owned, and queer-owned businesses.
Our team is here for you every step of the way to make sure you’re fully present at your wedding and making treasured memories with your loved ones. Leave the list-making to us.
Details
Business Attributes
- LGBTQ+-owned Business
- Woman-owned Business
Destination Weddings
- Destination Wedding Planning
Planning
- A la Carte Wedding Planning
- Budgeting
- Day-Of Coordination
- Destination Wedding Planning
- Full Service Wedding Planning
- Wedding Design
Wedding Activities
- Getting Engaged
- Rehearsals & Parties
- After Party
- Rehearsal Dinner
- Welcome Party
- Wedding
Reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.
5
out of 5.031 reviews
Cannot recommend Greater Good Events highly enough! They were absolutely incredible as our wedding coordinators. From the very beginning, they handled every logistical detail with ...
professionalism and care – turning an otherwise hectic process into something organized and manageable.
In the final few weeks leading up to our wedding – when things can so easily spiral – they went above and beyond to keep us on track. They were deeply understanding of our needs, created a safe and supportive space for us to share our concerns, and tracked every open item with meticulous attention to detail. On the wedding day itself, they executed everything seamlessly so we could truly relax and enjoy – even when a torrential thunderstorm rolled through during family photos, they handled it with calm and grace and kept everything on schedule.
Even after the event, they continued to advocate for us and resolve an issue with one of our vendors – far beyond the scope of what we expected. We felt incredibly supported throughout the entire process and genuinely cared for.
If you’re looking for a wedding coordinator who will go above and beyond, keep everything organized, and make you feel supported every step of the way – Greater Good Events is the team to trust.
There aren’t enough kind words in the English language to say about the incredible team at Greater Good Events! I am a photographer and have been lucky enough to work with them on ...
weddings, charity events, and corporate activations and I never feel more confident and comfortable than when I know their team is planning an event. Maryam, Justine and MacKenzie are some of the most creative, empathetic, and brilliant people walking this earth - you’ll be so incredibly lucky if they are available on your event date. I’ve seen them pull off everything from micro weddings on rooftops to sprawling destination wedding on multiple estates to swanky yet thoughtful conferences. There’s nothing they cannot do! Just hire them already - you won’t regret it.
Cannot recommend Greater Good/Together Event enough. We had a last minute change of plans to our wedding day and they accommodated our change of location, date, full-service venue ...
to tented event at home, etc. We worked with Justine prior to the change of plans and she was so helpful at giving us guidance leading up to our original date. When plans changed, Sam was assigned as our month-of-coordinator and the day just could not have come together as it did without hers and Sharan's help! They are conscious, kind and so professional!
Maryam, Justine, and Margaret did an absolutely phenomenal job planning and coordinating our wedding. We cannot recommend them enough. They anticipated every minuscule detail, mana...
ged all of our vendors, and synchronized the entire day flawlessly (including bringing us both glasses of water throughout the night). They were calm, confident, and organized, which allowed us to truly enjoy the momentous day.
I was skeptical of working with professional planners when we started planning our wedding (I consider myself pretty good at planning events, and I'm also somewhat frugal), but I can safely say that working with GGE was the best wedding decision we made.
Maryam enthusiastically embraced all of our (sometimes strange) wedding ideas, while simultaneously keeping us grounded and sane. She kept us on track in the months leading up to the wedding, and provided us with invaluable guidance and perspective along each phase of the process. These are wonderful humans.
Working with GGE was beyond amazing. We had Sam (and Katie!) as our coordinator, and I feel embarrassed by how much I felt like they were just amazingly competent friends. Their ex...
treme professionalism mixed with their general kindness and sense of humor made the day completely stress free.
We're at a bit of loss for words to describe the thanks we have for them on literally the most perfect day.
All I can say is, if you're thinking of hiring someone, do it! Having GGE allowed us to be wholly present in our event, and now I couldn't picture it any other way.
(It helps Sam likes cats as much as we do 😹)
If you're looking for a down-to-earth team of wedding planners who will keep you sane, chill, and organized as you deal with the ups and downs of planning a giant event, the GGE te...
am is 100% the best choice. We *loved* working with Maryam and her team throughout every step of the process, and she made sure we had nothing to worry about on our big day even when sudden hurdles arose the day before. Every single one of them are rockstars, and they made our wedding a truly magical 24 hours. Can't recommend them enough.
Great experience working with Greater Good Events! Very helpful and made our vision come true.
GGE was one of the best decisions I could’ve made! Every team member I worked with was supportive, flexible, understanding and willing to work with me on whatever I was requesting....
I hired the team for month of coordination after planning my entire wedding, and it was so helpful and relieving to have a team I could trust to execute on my plan! I started speaking with them regularly about 2 months out, and they created an extremely extensive timeline that was shared with all of my vendors to ensure everything went smoothly. And it did! I even had a day of (literally 30 minutes before) last minute switch of my ceremony and cocktail hour to allow my ceremony more time to be outside given all day rain and it worked out!! This was in large part due to the flexibility of GGE and close coordination with the venue to make this happen!
Hire Ellen! We're overdue on writing this review but she was one of the best decisions we made in planning our wedding. We initially thought we could plan it all on our own. But ...
after we decided to hire Ellen, we frequently said to each other that she was the best money we spent. She is extremely organized and detail-oriented. She arrived at vendor meetings fully prepared and knew how to answer/ask questions better than we did. Whenever we were meeting with vendors separately, they almost always mentioned that Ellen had already reached out to them to make sure everyone was on the same page. She also has a great energy -- we immediately felt comfortable with her and she was incredibly calming for us and our respective families on our wedding date. As far as we know, there were no hiccups on our wedding day and we credit that to Ellen's hard work. She's the best!
We had a great experience from concept to execution of our virtual wedding. As recent transplants to the area we did not know any vendors but were quickly supplied with quality opt...
ions based on our needs. It was easy to communicate and align our expectations with our wedding planner. In the end our family and friends enjoyed every moment and complimented that while our wedding was virtual it was as if they were in the room with us.
We could not recommend Greater Good Events more. Both Ellen and Rachael were easy and wonderful to work with. From the moment with met Ellen we knew she would be perfect to assis...
t us with our month of coordinator. We could not have imagined our day without them.
Greater Good Events provided Month of Coordination services for our wedding, and I’m so glad we worked with them. We initially were looking for just a day-of coordinator, as the mi...
nimum to meet our needs for the lowest cost, but a friend recommended having Ellen and her team help us with month-of planning. It was one of the best decisions we made during wedding planning! We relied on Ellen for so many things, and we would have been so much more stressed if we had not had her to answer last minute questions, confirm things with our other vendors, and deal with last minute details. We constantly relied on her expertise and experience when we weren’t sure of the right decision or how long things would take. She was always ready to share information and offer guidance, but was also dedicated to listening to us and making our vision a reality. At our wedding, Ellen and Rachael perfectly handled the small, inevitable things that came up without us having to worry about anything, for example, stepping up to run our rehearsal even though our officiant (who got laryngitis) had been going to do it. We felt so happy and relaxed for the entire wedding day, and it was in large part to the extent that we could confidently rely on Greater Good Events to take care of things.
We met Ellen about two months into our engagement, and eighteen months before our wedding date. After all that time passed and our wedding was said and done, we felt like Ellen ha...
d become apart of the family! Ellen was always kind, responsive, extremely helpful and honest in reply to the dozens of emails that we sent her over the planning period. She connected us with other awesome vendors, and together they made our wedding visions come to life. On the day of the wedding, Ellen was organized and detail oriented. She and her assistant Rachael made sure that my husband and I were tended to and looking fabulous throughout the night. They grabbed the photographers when a good shot arose, and were excellent confetti throwers when we wanted to take some fun pictures before the reception. It is because Ellen and Rachael had everything under control throughout the night that we were able to relax and have so much fun at our wedding. We are so grateful for the Greater Good team for helping us create such beautiful memories. Hire them for your wedding!
It's safe to say that without Ellen, my wedding would've been a disaster. And that might even be an understatement. My wedding was essentially 2 events in 1 as we had a traditional...
Korean & Christian Aspect, as well as a themed after-party with what ended up being over 300 guests b/w both venues. Everything was handled with professionalism and a sharp sense of predictability.
But to take a step back, contacting Ellen and her team and just having the first sit-down with her sold me & my husband. What started as a chit chat between two strangers became extra cups of coffee and a conversation that left us feeling like we'd known each other for a while. Ellen's warm disposition and commitment to working with and for her clients is a valuable attribute that proved itself key throughout the planning process. I was, for a lack of better words, the laid back bride and my husband was a tad more invested in this. From theme, to decor, vendors and everything in between, Ellen had an arsenal of excellent teams for us to work with. And that's what it felt like: teamwork.
Budget is obviously a big concern for wedding planning, but Ellen and her team kept us on track and kept us in check (it can be very easy to get caught up in the matching of linens and clothing). Everyone she recommended was also on point with budget-matching but still providing what ended up being the most breathtaking experience I could've asked for. The florist was a personal recommendation from Ellen and everything turned out GORGEOUS.
On a bit more personal note, I want to emphasize Ellen's immense and endless sea of patience. From a bride's perspective, I just wanted it to happen already and ended up trying to please a lot of the people around me. But Ellen made sure to advocate for me and my now husband while finding happy middle for everyone involved. And there ends up being a LOT of opinions. I cannot praise her enough for exceeding our expectations and the resulting friendship that followed suit.
Finding a wedding planner is an intimate and sometimes stressful process. But if you find this review, please at the very least call and have a conversation. I promise you won't regret it!
Ellen at Greater Good Events was exactly who I needed for my special day. I was recently married at The Barrow Mansion in Jersey City. Ellen helped me through the entire process. S...
he is not only kind and talented, she is extremely professional. Her team was a delight to work with. I recommend her to anyone planning ANY event!
As soon as we met Ellen, we knew she was the wedding planner for us. She immediately understood that we wanted an understated Brooklyn wedding and she had experience with Jewish we...
ddings. Her warm personality was immediately apparent. Early on the in the process, our venue told us that they booked an event that would cut off the available time for our wedding, and after we freaked out on the venue, Ellen swooped in and saved the day, getting the venue to reschedule that event and giving us the time we needed at the venue. Ellen was responsive throughout the planning process, spending countless hours on the phone with us. The greatest testament to Ellen's magical powers is that if there were any problems with coordination of vendors or the service on our wedding day, we had no idea, because everything went so smoothly and we didn't need to worry about a thing. The venue was set up beautifully and we were struck by how transformed the venue looked with the full setup. Ellen made sure we remained on schedule and stayed until the very end to ensure cleanup as well. We appreciate her several treks from Jersey City to Brooklyn to meet us / look at the venue. We highly recommend Ellen for any event.
Ellen is super easy and great to work with. We hired Greater Good Events as our wedding planner and they were great with managing tasks and handling coordinating. Ellen personally ...
was so fun and has an easy, soothing energy. We had a wedding of about 180 people at the Englewood Field Club! I'm SO happy we hired Greater Good Events, the day was amazing and Ellen & her team were with us the entire way. I highly recommend!
So happy we made the decision to hire this planner. She was so easy to work with and took a lot of the stress onto her shoulders before, during and and even at the end of the weddi...
ng. Even though everything was all ready decided, their presence and coordination with all the venders made all go smoothly. The day turned out perfect !
Hiring Ellen was one of the best decisions we made while planning our wedding! We hired her for month-of coordination. She helped us navigate the intricacies involved in creating a...
n event of this magnitude. We came to her with all of our questions/worries/concerns and she was able to answer everything and dispel all of our stress! It was truly invaluable to us.
Additionally she was in contact with all of our vendors the month of our wedding (the most stressful time in planning a wedding) which allowed us to focus on finishing up the odds and ends that appear in the final stretch. The day of, Ellen’s assistant, Rachael, was there throughout the event guiding us through. We didn’t have to worry about anything, we could just be in the moment and enjoy our family & friends. I highly recommend hiring Greater Goods for your wedding!
Ellen was a lifesaver. Upon meeting her, she immediately put us at ease. She was super flexible and open to taking phone calls at odd hours across timezones (we live in CA, but pla...
nned our wedding in NJ). Having someone on the ground during the last few weeks made our planning process go much more smoothly, and it was great to have someone who could follow-through on last minute vendor research, booking, and coordination.
Overall, Ellen followed our style and let us drive the process. She was thorough and made sure we did not forget any key steps. She is well-versed in a wide range of Jewish wedding customs and traditions which made venue/vendor communications easier. She went above and beyond and even assembled our centerpieces morning-of!
We began looking for a wedding coordinator at the very last minute and came across Greater Good Events. Ellen and her team were exceptional and went above and beyond all of our ex...
pectations. She dealt with a challenging venue coordinator and was able to secure last minute vendors (all with great prices as well!). I don't know how we could've done it without her and would highly recommend her for all events. Thank you Ellen for making our wedding dreams a reality!
Ellen and her team absolutely blew us away on our wedding day! They went above and beyond to make sure not only us but ALL of our bridal party and guests were taken care of! We had...
180 guests with a church ceremony at 3PM and reception at 7PM. Here are a few examples of how she and her team made not only the day but the lead up to the wedding absolutely stress free:
Recommendations - Although we hired her for day of coordination, she was helpful throughout the whole process. We had hired her about a year before our wedding. After vetting 10 photographers and 5 florists on my own via internet searches, I asked Ellen and ended up using her recommendations for photographers and florists. She knew exactly what we were looking for that I couldn’t find on my own search after sifting through seemingly endless vendor reviews.
Vendor Meetings - The month before the wedding she gathered and compiled the information for all of our vendors. She even attended the meeting with our venue to decide on cocktail hour, dinner, linens etc. One of the cocktail hour dishes she suggested ended up being my mother in law’s favorite!
Rehearsal - One of her team members who was also at the wedding attended our dress rehearsal at the church to make sure everything was settled and the final details were taken care of.
Wedding Day - Ellen came right before we finished getting ready and of course my MOH unknowingly cut her finger and had drops of blood on her dress. Ellen took care of the dress and her finger. She also made sure everyone (bridal party, parents, vendors, guests etc. )was where they needed to be.
Some notable things were escorting my husband’s elderly great aunt to the bathroom and cleaning up our getting ready room for us to hang out in between the ceremony and reception. Her team even packed up the getting ready room at the end of the night so all we had to do was pack the cart full of gifts, cake, and decorations into the car the next day. We were so relieved that was taken care of since we were out until 3 in the morning for the after party and had to go to brunch and catch our honeymoon flight!
We didn’t have to think about a single detail and could fully enjoy each other's company. It's your wedding day and the last thing you want to think about are trivial details when everyone you love is gathered to celebrate you and your partner! Hiring Ellen and her team is an absolute necessity and was absolutely worth it!
Ellen and her team were amazing! She made sure our wedding day ran smoothly and was very helpful in the weeks leading up to our wedding. She made us feel at ease and went above a...
nd beyond what we were expecting in her services.
What can I say about Ellen (and her assistant Rachel) other than they saved the day. I hired her as my wedding-day coordinator but she not only helped me with items leading up to ...
the day, but also the day after.
Of course there would be a freak rainstorm all day the day of my wedding which caused all timelines and plans to go completely out the window. I know for a fact that without Ellen and Rachel there, the day would have been a complete mess. They made sure everything went as smooth as it could, running around in the rain and getting soaked. And despite all the changes and chaos, they made things work, and I can't tell you how much that made me feel better as the bride.
I highly recommend Greater Goods Events as Ellen is not just a great coordinator, but a really wonderful person. THANK YOU!!!
I contacted Ellen when I was feeling the most alone during my wedding planning process, when I felt so strongly that the event coordinator who was assigned to me by my wedding ven...
ue did not have my best interests at heart, and I’m so so glad I did! Ellen was that rock during the chaos of my wedding planning process, and helped me get together those last minute details that I just did not know to think of. Her day-of-coordinating service allowed me to have some peace the weeks leading up to the wedding day, and on the day of, despite the fact that we had a snow storm and the wedding had to be delayed, she was there to make sure everything ran smoothly. I am so glad that Ellen was there to take care of the vendors, to make sure that everything was as it was supposed to be, to take care of the little things during the day that in the whirlwind of the wedding, would have been impossible for me to remember or take care of myself. Having Ellen as our day-of-coordinator was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding day, and I can’t imagine what I would have done without her guidance!
Ellen & Co. instilled a warm sense of focus, supreme attentiveness to detail and leadership awareness, from the onset. She made us feel like the only clients in the world since our...
initial chat, until the lead up of the event. She created value and impact through a variety of negotiations with the venue and vendors, really left us saying wow, can't imagine this process without her.
Then event day approached, Ellen and Team were up to task in orchestrating behind the scenes and taking charge, where needed. They ensured our vision was realized and execution of the most meaningful events, were without obstacles. Best part, they were easy to work with for everyone...incredibly warm, helpful, ego-less disposition, focused on creating perfection. The team is kind, patient and versatile to their audience, with the primary objective to "GSD" (get sh*t done). They dominated our overall expectations and would recommend to anyone a million times over :)
Ellen was our coordinator for our wedding. She was amazing from the day I first spoke with Ellen I knew she knew what she was talking about and everything would be above expectat...
ion. She helped give me ideas on how I could add special touches to the day. She also worked very closely with me and all the vendors. Once I hired Ellen I didn't have to worry about any of the vendors showing up on time or any other issues that could have happened. Her and her team took care of all issues that I didnt even know went wrong during the day. If I had any question or suggestions Ellen had already taken care of it. I plan to hire her again for any major event down the road and would recommend her to anyone. If you don't go with Ellen you are making a mistake. She is professional, organized, and GSD (gets shit done)!
Ellen at Greater Good Events was a lifesaver! My husband and I had our wedding on July 9th at Waterloo Village in New Jersey and we used Ellen’s day-of coordinating service. A coup...
le of weeks before the wedding I handed over all of my day of decor requests, vendor contacts, outstanding questions and biggest fears for the wedding day, and from that day on Ellen was in control and I got to RELAX. I’m not kidding, at a 4th of July party the week of the wedding everyone kept asking me why I wasn’t freaking out and how I was managing to have a good time when I was getting married in 5 days haha. It was easy though, knowing it was all planned and that Ellen would be ensuring that it all went smoothly the way I had envisioned. Ellen ran our rehearsal the night before and helped us drop off all the decor/make sure it was in the best place for the next day. The morning of the wedding, Ellen came to the hotel room we were getting ready in to make sure I didn’t need anything and to pick up last-minute items that needed to go over to the venue before us. She assured me everything was going according to plan and that was enough to make sure I relaxed that morning! When we got to the venue, she made sure we had food and drinks (and champagne) and even put an iced latte in the fridge for me in case I needed a boost - which I totally did! While we were busy eating and drinking, Ellen was making sure that all my decor items were put up and the flowers were arranged exactly how I imagined them. To be honest I barely noticed anything that day (I swear getting married is every bit the whirlwind psycho day that everyone tells you it is!) but people were gushing about all the details afterwards and when I saw the photos from my photographer everything was PERFECT. If you’re going back and forth on whether you need a day-of coordinator or if you’re just going to DIY the whole thing, I’m telling you right now that you do not want to be worrying about whether the cocktail hour signs have been placed right or if the florist has arrived on time while you are GETTING DRESSED IN A WEDDING GOWN. Having Ellen in your corner and being able to trust that everything will be taken care of is SO worth it. After the wedding, my in-laws just kept saying over and over that having Ellen there was key, that we couldn’t have done it without her. It’s so true – our wedding was a million times better because Ellen was there! http://markowphotography.com/2016/08/18/waterloo-village-wedding-danielle-and-brad/
We are so lucky to have found Ellen to help us with a graduation event for a new nonprofit!
Ellen was courteous, understanding, tireless and incredibly helpful in all aspects of...
our event's planning, execution and follow-up.
I am certain Ellen's skills in coordination, planning, sourcing and budgeting transfer to weddings, too!
We highly recommend Ellen for any type of event - she is organized, filled with ethic and is a joy to worth with! Our organization will be certain to work with her again when the next event arrives.
As a close family friend at the wedding, I can say that Ellen made the event fun, beautiful, and appear seamless! It was a great event, with so much less stress for all of the fami...
ly involved. She handled all of the last minute changes with ease, having anticipated these far in advance. She was readily available throughout the entire week and was always a phone call or text away! Plus it felt good knowing that the wedding wasn't going to be wasteful, with any leftover food going to a good cause and using environmentally friendly practices throughout.
As the mother of a difficult and finicky bride, I worked with Ellen Hockley as a consultant, and what a huge help she was. She was able to help guide us in everything from invitati...
ons to logistics, from food to room setup, negotiating hotel blocks for the guests, even the band and room arrangements. Ellen is warm, kind and extremely well organized as well as experienced and well informed. I would not hesitate to recommend her for any event large or small.
Contact
NY, NJ, PA + we Love Destination Weddings!
Greater Good Events