Ponderosa Planning

Emily, Cherise, and Jenn made our wedding day absolutely effortless! I didn’t have to think about a thing and as the person who is usually taking care of others and making sure everything is right, it was so nice to have someone do that for me so I could just enjoy my day! Emily brought things up at planning meetings that I had never thought about before and made sure to get every detail dialed! I’m so grateful that they were all there to make our day absolutely magical!

As soon as my husband and I spoke with Emily for the first time we knew that hiring her to be our day of coordinator would be the easiest decision that we were going to make throughout the wedding planning process. We planned our wedding from across the country during the pandemic and she was there for us for anything and everything that we needed. We had multiple last minute and day of changes, including a bridesmaid swap 2 hours before the ceremony, and Emily made the necessary adjustments without any hesitation. Right as I was about to walk down the aisle I realized that I forgot a tissue and there she was, getting one out of her fanny pack for me. Her organization skills, attention to detail, and calmness made our day so incredibly special, more than I could have ever imagined. I have nothing but good things to say about Emily and the incredible work she does!!

I wish I could give Ponderosa Planning more than 5 stars! Folks, if you don't think you need a wedding planner - I'm just gonna be honest, you are wrong! If you are going to spend the money and the time on your wedding - Ponderosa Planning is the investment that keeps on giving. Working with Emily completely changed my perspective on what our wedding was really capable of. She took my thoughts and ideas and turned them into our DREAM wedding. There was never a question of who was doing what, how it was getting done, when it was getting done, etc. Emily had everything so dialed in. She was able to anticipate and plan for things that we would have never even thought of (one example being - how are we going to keep all of our drinks cold when we don't have access to a fridge?!) She is so professional, she is fun and compassionate while also being direct and insightful to the problem at hand. The way that Emily interacts with vendors amazes me, she has these incredible relationships with people through being the extraordinary person that she is. To be honest, initially, my husband and I weren't sure about our wedding and what we wanted. Emily got to know us on a deep level and curated the experience that we will never forget. Everyone at our wedding said it was the best wedding that they ever experienced and I owe that to our wedding planner - Ponderosa Planning. If you want someone hands on, she's your gal, if you want someone waiting in the wings to support your choices and decisions, she is YOUR GAL. The last thing that I will say, Emily made our wedding come alive. She is the person who keeps your dreams in the forefront of her vision and when you are feeling overwhelmed, or out of ideas, or unsure of how to proceed, SHE brings the energy, the attention, the value and the TLC to make sure that even when you don't know what you want - she still does. Absolutely fabulous experience working with Emily at Ponderosa Planning, 10/10 would recommend.

Words cannot describe Emily, she is absolutely incredible at what she does. She is talented, thoughtful, responsive, organized and assertive, but also SO much fun to be around. She brought such a warm, relaxed and friendly energy to our entire wedding planning process while also getting things done! My husband and I planned a 3 day wedding extravaganza from out of state, all amidst COVID. It was a big vision and Emily was enthusiastic and eager to help us pull it off. Without her on the ground in Bend, it would have been impossible. Emily held our hand along every step of the way, and when the weekend came, she crushed it! Emily and her team went above and beyond to make sure that we didn't have a care in the world and that our guests were happy and joyful. Dave and I don't write reviews often, but Emily deserves a standing ovation for her work. Emily and her team are truly amazing and we feel so grateful to have found her. Our wedding weekend was perfect!! Thank you so much Emily!

Emily is a top-notch wedding planner, and helped us navigate the ups and downs of arranging a celebration during COVID. She is very responsive, receptive to ideas, organized and can completely customize depending on whether you need planning, vendor coordination, design and styling - or all of the above! We give her our highest recommendation!

As everyone knows 2020 has been a wild year. We went from planning a 350 person wedding to a 30 person wedding. Emily was incredible for both! For the original wedding we hired Emily for the full planning service but when we downsized we went with the day of service. Even though the new wedding was small, we found ourselves wishing we had kept Emily on for her full service. She is extremely organized, attentive and friendly. We could not have enjoyed her more. We would not have had a smooth and successful wedding without her. On top of all the vendor contacts, organization and know how, she had all the insider tips that created the perfect experience. At the end of it all, everyone in the family was taking pictures with her. What a great experience- 5 out of 5 all day Brian & Emiley

I cannot say enough positive things about Emily. She was the perfect extension of my fiancé and I and we had complete trust in her. I was originally unsure about hiring a coordinator and can easily say hiring Emily was the best decision I made for our wedding (besides my husband!). Leading up to our wedding with COVID causing so much uncertainty we knew she had our back and would be ready to pivot and adapt quickly to a plan b if needed. Luckily we were fortunate enough to move forward with our original date and she was a champion. She really understood our vibe and executed everything as we envisioned. Even with less planning that she would usually had due to our challenging situation. She was calm, communicative and made us feel at ease throughout the whole weekend. She surprised us how she went above and beyond and rolled up her sleeves to offer her support. We highly recommend Emily!

Emily is an amazing planner! I thought I was organized and meticulous and that I wouldn't need a planner. Emily proved me wrong! She suggested thoughtful details I never would have thought of. And she was a great sounding board for ideas that I didn't quite have fleshed out. She is calm and helpful amidst the chaos. She will help you plan the perfect event!

Emily is a wealth of knowledge all things weddings, we started working with her before we had even picked our venue. She helped us talk through dreams and ideas, and narrow down what we wanted our perfect day to look like. We were so thankful for her guidance, passion, and how reliable she was. She's incredible!

Emily is personable, professional, organized, passionate and creative! She really keeps you on track and offers different levels of support that you may want for your wedding. For us, we had some ideas but were really looking for someone to help bring it together and manage the vendors. She provided great ideas for vendors that met our vision and worked diligently to manage contracts/orders/scheduling with all of them. This was such a relief for a couple that is easily overwhelmed by the long to-do list that comes with planning a wedding. Unfortunately, due to the global circumstances that arose with the COVID-19 pandemic we decided to cancel our wedding but Emily was there from the beginning and provided the much needed emotional support for such a tough decision. She worked with us to determine the best way forward with all of our vendors, and once again came to the rescue and reached out to every last one to negotiate the cancellations on our behalf. She is continuing to support us in our elopement plans! Hands down would use Emily again, and hope to have the opportunity to do so again in the future.

I thought proposing to my girlfriend was going to be simple. I knew I wanted to make the occasion something magical, but when I really sat down to try and plan it out, I realized that even though I had a clear vision of what I wanted to happen, I was struggling to figure out HOW to make it happen. Enter Emily. While I was busy being overwhelmed by everything that needed to happen, Emily gently put all the pieces into place for a truly memorable experience. She even found an engagement photographer and asked me for approval in such a way that I thought it had been my idea in the first place. Of course it was Emily’s idea all along, and her calm and steadfast commitment to coordinating everything culminated in the most beautiful, emotional moment of me and my fiancé‘s lives. We are forever indebted to Emily for the role she played in shaping a “simple” marriage proposal into a magical story we will be able to pass down through the generations of our family.