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About this vendor
Heather Dawn Events is a Best in Boston and Top New England wedding planner and designer that specializes in logistical challenges, cohesive wedding design that creates a timeless celebration with a modern feel. We excel in perfectly curated details, ensuring that each couple is truly able to enjoy not just their wedding day, but the entire wedding process.
Creativity is about adaptability, finding inspiration in anything, and being able to translate all sorts of ideas visually. We bring that to your wedding.
Details
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
- Rehearsals & Parties
- After Party
- Bachelor Party
- Bachelorette Party
Reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.
4.3
out of 5.013 reviews
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We were super happy with Heather's help and execution of our wedding. She helped us pull together amazing vendors and altogether our team pulled it off - perfectly, though with just 14 ppl - which is no small feat this year of covid!
We pursued working with HDE based on her work at our original venue (and their recommendation). I did not have particular decor concepts in mind and just wanted to work with someone enthusiastic and experienced on site to execute the whole she-bang. I also needed to be kept accountable for the timeline and appreciate that HDE wasn't afraid to keep me honest.
But Covid happened and we had to figure out how to get married differently, and most of all safely - as my dad is very "high-risk "
We were consistently impressed with how proactive, transparent, and flexible Heather was as covid happened. She discussed pricing very clearly and together we adjusted our professional engagement as was warranted for a smaller wedding. For a bold entrepreneur building her newish solo business, she remained positive and personable with us, despite having to deal with rescheduling most of her other weddings and the industry just crumbling around covid.
With 1.5 months to make our 14-person backyard wedding happen, Heather gave us fantastic options and vendors, and was always jumping in to sort things out with vendors on our behalf. The rental tent/permits, tablecloths, lighting, florals, and especially working with our caterer on things like "how much ice" and "how about family style" etc. etc. She was one step ahead on the logistics piece and just nailed it all the day of. I texted her all the time with my analysis paralysis and she always listened, reassured me, and got us to a decision.
I'll note that we never really got much from the "client portal" software and didn't track overall expected/actual budget details for either version of our wedding. Also had a few nits related to the buildup and presentation of our design board, which wasn't the full design vision we'd expected and included some elements we'd had asked to avoid in our original dialogue. We wound up owning more of the "creative" elements than anticipated originally, and did so bc we felt Heather's help was best directed at the execution of our "wants".
Heather is, in our experience, an operationally-focused industry resource that excels at handling the gnarly logistics and business/contractual details of involving multiple vendors. There is NO question that Heather is a very capable and principled partner for a wedding in these crazy times. She's been through it and provided increasing clarity and confidence as learned from what happened in real time. Thanks HDE <3!
Heather was so sweet to work with! She is organized and knew how to take charge, which trust me you NEED, especially day of. She made me feel so comfortable and confident. Even when I thought I was going to pass out before walking down the aisle, she reassured me she was right there and everything would be perfect. It was! Thank you Heather, I couldn't' imagine getting through it all without you! Go with her.
This vendor is not be trusted. Insisted on keeping our deposit and did not perform her wedding duties. We asked that she be more reasonable and provide a portion of the deposit back since she did not complete her duties as the vendor, and instead she finger pointed and refused to budge. She even insisted we sign a cancellation agreement or risk havign to pay her the pother half! All this a month before our wedding!!! How heartbreaking
Heather was great to work with. She let us make the decisions but was always helpful and extremely knowledgable about all facets of wedding planning. She was very generous with her time also.
As the MOB at first I balked at her fee but it was well worth every penny.
After speaking to several day of coordinators, we instantly connected with Heather and hired HDE at the beginning of our engagement for day of coordination for our 8/24/19 wedding. Communication was fantastic during our year and a half long engagement. Heather helped up manage ALL the vendors we had for our large wedding (214 people) and helped us lay out the timeline for both us and the vendors. She attended both vendor and one-on-one meetings with us and helped to set up the (crazy amount) of decor at the venue (and stopped by our house to pick up some decor as well)! She also stood up for us when one of the vendors backtracked on helping to set up/break down decor and as a result, we received a few "extras" from that vendor. The day of went flawlessly and Heather made sure that both our party and our vendors had everything we needed. We couldn't of asked for a better day and credit HDE for that!
So sad to be writing a less than favorable review for what we thought was among Boston's best. When we had started doing our research in January we spoke to ~15 planners and absolutely loved Heather! She sounded professional, reliable, and one who would dot the is and cross the ts.
HDE wrote up a contract and agreed to assist with securing rentals, fire permits, and photography permits and agreed to perform a few on site walk-throughs with the rental companies. To our dismay, they:
(i) delayed securing rentals for us by 3 months resulting in loosing the tables and chairs we had requested. The florist and 2nd rental company had to redesign the look and feel to accommodate available tables. when they did step up, the double charged us on delivery and strike and when we called to check in on fees, Heather simply said it was policy. So unfortunate, that they really did not have the clients best interest at heart. It felt as though Heather main mission was to maximize profits for the vendors instead of looking out for the bride and groom
(ii) dropped the ball on securing the fire permits for the venue. Heather had missed including 5 key elements of the fire permit request that would have resulted in a denial and us not being able to have the ceremony on site. The venue later had to step in to remedy the situation and take care of the fire permits themselves
(iii) did not secure photography permits as written up in the contract, up until a month prior to the wedding. This resulted in us having to find alternative places to take photos with family and the bridal party
After much coaching and hand holding with HDE, we consulted with the venue and other vendors, and ultimately ended up terminating the contract with HDE 4 weeks prior to our wedding :( We simply could not trust them to carry out the wedding...
We were incredible lucky to have an amazing venue and vendors including florists, photographers, video-graphers, and family who stepped in to help.
We feel so sad having to write this review, but felt it was necessary to warn future couple. Wedding planning is tough enough, but to have such a conversation with a planner a month before your wedding is dis-heartening. Be careful with HDE - buyer beware!
Heather did an amazing job with our wedding in Salem, MA in August of 2018. Hiring her was easily the smartest thing we did. It certainly took all of the stress off my bride and I as we knew everything was going to be taken care of. She was with us every step of the way and provided us with amazing recommends regarding food, signage, dj, etc. People of all ages left our wedding saying it was the best that they had ever been to. With her guidance, we were able to take a blank canvas and turn it into the most beautiful day of our lives!
Heather is the absolute best and I would highly advise hiring her for your wedding ASAP.
We hired HDE for our August 2018 wedding at the House of the Seven Gables in Salem. I honestly don't know how to even start explaining how perfect the entire experience was. The venue is essentially just a plot of land, so everything had to be brought on - the tent, caterer, tables, chairs, flowers - everything. It was was going to take a lot of work and sourcing, and as fun as I thought it would be, I knew in my heart I did not have the expertise or time. I also knew I wanted a certain design/look, but I had no idea how to execute it to the caliber I wanted. Heather made the wedding planning experience totally fun and stress-free. I never ONCE worried about the planning or design of our wedding once we hired Heather. I felt totally comfortable handing parts of the process off to her completely, trusting that she knew what we wanted and would make it happen (and boy - she did!!!). She knew all the best vendors and was able to source and narrow down options with ease, and always kept our budget in mind. She completely understood my vision and what we were looking for and delivered every. single. time. Come the day-of, everything was even better than we could have imagined. It was truly the best day of our lives, and it could not have happened without her. I cannot recommend her coordinating and design services enough. The best decision we made for our wedding was the decision to enjoy the process and put trust in another person to make it all happen. Heather's value and knowledge truly knows no bounds. Everyone kept telling us how beautiful our wedding was and I just kept saying, "And I didn't even do anything!!!" We were able to enjoy our wedding to the fullest extent - no regrets. Our wedding was the most perfect and flawless day and I have Heather to thank for making that happen for us. THANK YOU, HEATHER!
As mother of the bride it was so important to me that my daughter's planning go smoothly and be as stress free as possible. Having Heather for a planner was the best choice she could have made. Heather was organized, professional, and calm. My daughter was busy with school and work and Heather was very attentive and responsive to her wishes. Heather's access to great vendors and her presence on the day of the wedding were invaluable. She was a pleasure to work with and I would highly recommend Heather as a planner for your special day!
Heather is an outstanding wedding planner/coordinator! She helped execute our design plan flawlessly and her presence at the venue on our wedding day was invaluable. Heather joined our wedding team very early on and through out the whole process was incredible. She always responded promptly to communications and made herself available for multiple FaceTime meetings, conference calls and in-person meetings. Heather has great knowledge of the wedding industry, especially on the North Shore of MA. For my wedding I knew I wanted to take the lead on most planning aspects and Heather did a perfect job of being my right hand girl! I am so grateful I had her as a wedding planner, I would highly recommend her to all future brides!
Heather is the best wedding coordinator.. my wedding was absolutely perfect because of her . She tended to every detail and more . She has a calm , comforting demeanor. She is beyond professional and organized.. she answers all of my communications extremely timely. I could
Gush and gush about her ! I beyond recommend her !!
Heather was an outstanding wedding planner. She found us the best vendors and helped us get in contact with them. She helped us every step of the way. I would 100% recommend her to future couples to help plan their wedding.
I loved Heather's upbeat attitude during a long planning period. She had good ideas, helped us work through some issues, and definitely made the ceremony and reception the events we hoped for on that special day for our daughter .
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Salem, MA | New England and beyond
Heather Dawn Events
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