SORAYA - Distinctive Multi-Cultural Events

We LOVED working with Soraya and would absolutely recommend her to anyone looking to plan their special event! We worked with her for our wedding weekend, which included a Sangeet at Larz Anderson Park (highly recommend!) and a stunning ceremony/reception at The State Room in downtown Boston. Soraya made the whole weekend possible and we are so grateful. A few highlights: - She knows the best people! We had no idea where to start for a fusion wedding, and Soraya found us a kind and thoughtful Hindu priestess to marry us, amazing DJ to mix Indian & American songs for the sangeet (Boston Sound and Light Company DJ Yogi!), beautiful and patient horse for the baraat, and lovely henna artist for stunning mehendi and henna at the sangeet (Manisha from Henna Cafe). This was all in addition to the perfect design team (JD Designs & Floral Lab), amazing photographer (Caroline Klaar), and enthusiastic hype-man videographer (Navarro Films) that she engaged for us. She even found us a bagpipe player so we could incorporate the bride's Scottish heritage into the baraat! We are SO grateful for such an incredible team. - She listens. We had some specific thoughts about what we did/didn't want for the weekend, and our ideas about the wedding certainly multiplied over time. She took it all in stride and responded thoughtfully (and promptly!) to every request to make sure we had a perfect weekend for us. - Her food is AWESOME. Soraya's team catered Indian food for the sangeet Friday night - including a live chaat station! - and I have never heard so many people raving about the food at any event. It was absolutely delicious. - She's particular, which is a major win for a wedding planner and was very comforting for our type A personalities. She paid attention to every detail and ensured all aspects of the weekend were appropriately planned. This made for a very relaxing weekend (and week before!) for us. We would absolutely hire Soraya again and highly recommend her work!

Soraya truly made all the difference in making our wedding day(s) possible. We used Soraya for both her wedding coordination and catering services having been to another wedding that she had catered (the food at that wedding was wonderful as well). She helped plan an amazing multi-cultural Indian-western wedding for 250+ people that ran so smoothly, looked amazing, and (most importantly) was SO much fun for our guests and us. Coordination: From the first meeting, she made us feel so comfortable and confident in tackling all of the challenges that come with planning a wedding. She did not push us in any specific formula or direction which really made us feel like we had control to make decisions that we really wanted for our wedding. Rather, she made sure that we knew all of the decisions we would have to make, but listened to what we wanted and gave guidance to make that vision come to life. And all of the nitty-gritty details (contracts, insurance, etc) she took care of so we didn't even have to think about those parts of the process. She is extremely good at remaining calm and finding solutions when unexpected challenges come up. For instance, 2 weeks before the wedding, we realized that the way we initially planned on staging the ceremony was facing South (which is inauspicious if you are familiar with certain Indian wedding traditions) and that we needed to completely shift the direction. This would mean sourcing a new mandap, stage, etc at the last minute. We were honestly panicked in the moment, but Soraya was so laser focused on the solution and immediately had an action plan for us - and it could not have been a more amazing set up at the end of the day. The day-of went so smoothly and we got so many great compliments from our guests who had a wonderful time. She made sure that we stayed on schedule through pictures, 2 ceremonies, baraat, long parent speeches, dances, etc. and STILL had plenty of time for dancing and fun at the end of the night. Catering: Soraya was so wonderful for catering and we would highly recommend using her if not for coordination services. Similar to her approach with planning, she made us feel listened to and really in control of deciding what we wanted rather than a specific direction she wanted for us. She let us pick so many options for our tasting and dropped off an amazing spread for us to try - and it was all so good. We wanted a mixture of indian dishes and middle-eastern/north african/mediterranean style dishes. It wasn't just 1 or 2 dishes to pick from - we really were able to ask for just about anything we wanted. And she was so patient and considerate of all of our feedback, and came back with alternative options for us to try. She even did a second dessert tasting for us specifically to help us pick the *perfect* lemon dessert, sourcing probably half a dozen different options from the area for us. It is really hard to put into a few words, everything that Soraya did for us or how much of a difference maker she was. All we can say is she really made our wedding so special (and honestly, possible) and we are so grateful for her and could not more highly recommend her to anyone.

Soraya was absolutely AMAZING! We had to change our big wedding plans to an intimate small backyard wedding due to COVID. With high risk parents on both sides, we were so concerned about having our wedding and bringing in outside vendors. Our new wedding plan was to have 10 people socially distanced in our backyard. Soraya made me feel so comfortable with her knowledge of food preparation, especially given her dedicated commitment to stay on top of guidelines around food prep during this time. Dinner was absolutely incredible!! Soraya knows what she’s doing and I would hire her for any event in the future and recommend her to everyone we know! She came out to our house, served us an amazing dinner, and I truly felt as though I was still having an incredible, elegant dinner from the comfort of my backyard! She’s fantastic!!! My now husband and I can’t thank her enough! She was not only professional but she was caring and accommodating in the best way possible!

Soraya made our wedding day perfect! She takes care of everything and is very detail oriented and thorough. We would have been lost without her. I definitely recommend her to any family or friends looking to plan an event.

Soraya was our day of coordinator and caterer and she helped us pull off an amazing wedding! She connected with us multiple times prior to the wedding to help us plan the details of the day and her site visit helped us tremendously in creating a beautiful event space. Her catering was also amazing and guests were raving about the food! I would highly recommend Soraya and her team for planning and catering services to help create a fantastic event!

From the moment we first spoke to Soraya she made our wedding visions come to life in ways we wouldn’t have thought possible. We initially contacted her to inquire about her company for catering as we were interested in both American and Middle Eastern cuisine for our wedding. The food is delicious and everyone will be talking about how good everything is for months to come, trust me! After speaking to her more we realized she is an absolute BOSS who can do anything possible when it comes to event planning! We hired her to be our wedding coordinator which was our best decision possible, besides actually getting married of course. Knowing she would be around reduced our stress level in half immediately. Soraya also had wonderful contacts to share with us that she’s gathered from her years of experience with other amazing vendors— all of whom were also highly credible and very talented people. She is so dependable and easy to get in touch with. She was always available for a quick text check-in or phone call meeting within the next 24 hours. She will be able to fix literally ANY problem that may come your way and handle it before you even know about it! She effortlessly brought together two ethnic traditions together in a beautiful and fun manner. All of our guests loved her and still talk about how she so flawlessly handled the entire night. She kept us sane through planning, gave us the wedding of our dreams and helped us host an event that was enjoyed by so many! Hire her— you will not regret it!!!!

I would give Soraya and her team a 5+ star if this was an option. She provides the best in class service for the same price as other event planner/coordinators and her catering services is top notch. I would strongly recommend Soraya’s services for your event (our event was a wedding), especially if you have cultural elements at your event. She listens intently, she will study/learn your culture, and she will deliver exactly what you ask for (unlike other caterers and planners that I talked to before stumbling upon Soraya). Fortunately for us, she knew more about the Persian culture than I did (and I was born in Iran). She is from a multi-cultural background herself and has built a wide network of relationship with chefs and vendors from various backgrounds. I would also strongly recommend couples to pay for her ‘day of’ or ‘month of’ coordination services. It is worth every penny. My wife and I weren’t sure if we wanted to pay extra for that. Thank God we decided to opt in for her ‘day of coordination’ services and if I had to do it all over, I would probably pay for her ‘month of coordination’ services. If you can’t afford her ‘month of’ services, make sure that you at least get her ‘day of’ services. I promise you that it will be 1000% worth it. Ask Soraya and she’ll explain to you why you need it. Also, she has a way of making things work. Soraya, thank you for making our wedding the best day/night of our life. You have an awesome team too!

It was such a pleasure to work with Soraya. She made my day and our event run so smoothly and allowed me to enjoy being a guest at my own party! She kept me organized, took initiative with the vendors, was good at issue spotting, had creative solutions, and had an excellent sense for timing and pacing of the event. Soraya was fun to work with and responded quickly to questions and concerns. I’m already looking forward to working with her again!

Thank you so much Soraya! You, your vendors, and staff were all amazing. They were kind, professional, attentive and on point answering back emails, calls, changes, and concerns.. Soraya made my wedding beautiful and more than what I could ever have expected. Thank you from our entire family!

Soraya and her staff were amazing, the food was incredible, guests kept asking me who I used for the wedding planner, good price too.

We had no idea how to do wedding planning at all! But she basically made the whole process on auto pilot! We had an amazing wedding and my family keeps telling me how awesome the wedding was! She still helps me with alot of planning outside the wedding long after its over! Top score, 10/10, would hire again!

Soraya's services for my wedding in one word - exceptional! She went above and beyond in every area - from food (which is above and beyond and my guests raved about it) to day of coordination (she took on all of the roles I couldn't on the day of, and made everything look easy). She carried out every item on my list of things to do, and then some, giving me options and suggestions and she definitely thought of everything I didn't and executed every aspect impeccably. Her services are a MUST HAVE for any wedding planning!!!