Tamara J Events

Tamara J is absolutely amazing. She worked her tail off and made our day absolutely perfect. She even convinced us to do a first look, which was definitely the right thing for us. We cried like babies when we first saw each other and it was the best. Tamara really listened to our thoughts and vision and put her creative spin on it and it was like she'd known us for a lifetime. I can't recommend Tamara J enough. You'll love her. We sure do.

Tamara is fabulous! Her 15 years in the industry truly show with her knowledge and expertise! I couldn’t have imagined my big day without her. She made decisions so I didn’t have to and got to know me and the overall decor was stunning! She has since become a friend and feels like family. Thank you for all your hard work on my special day!

Tamara stepped in when my daughter and I found ourselves 5 months out and needing someone to pull it all together. Tamara waved her magic wand and delivered a wonderful, special wedding. She will make sure that all is arranged for, take your wishes and make it work.

In short - YES YES YES YES!! The Best! Awesome! Amazing! That is how I describe not only Tamara, but the wedding weekend she planned for us. We got engaged Nov 2016 and had our wedding set for May 2017. I researched several wedding planners in January, emailed them, and Tamara is the only one that picked up the phone and called me (others emailed back). That phone conversation alone showed me how personable she is - attention to detail - etc. I hired her the very next day! I live in Florida, but we wanted to have a wedding at the San Francisco City Hall, reception at 1300 on Fillmore, then a day in Napa with 3 wineries the next day. She planned every detail - and opened my eyes to other options as well that were awesome (sending our guest on a tour of San Fran right after the wedding - before the reception - on one of the HIstoric Trolleys with appetizer and drinks). Tamara became like a member of our family through this process. She allowed me to ask a million questions and always had an answer for me. I know Tamara is something I will keep in touch with forever and I appreciate all that she did to make my dreams become reality! Hire Tamara. She gets it. She understands the bride. She gets the family. She is seriously the best!

Tamara did an excellent job with our wedding. It was more than what I could have ever asked for. She was very professional, dependable and helpful. We were very grateful to have had the opportunity to work with her. Her knowledge and experience definitely made our wedding a dream. She worked with our input and budget. She went above and beyond to make our wedding special and spent time on every detail. She helped us pick out our flowers and even handmade our flower arrangements. She gave us excellent recommendations for vendors as well. She alleviated us of any stress we may have had and made us feel like family. I would recommend her to anyone and would be confident with knowing she would plan the perfect wedding!

Tamara planned and designed my wedding and did a phenomenal job. She was knowledgeable, practical, and understanding. She managed everything from our budget to our family. I honestly don't know how we could have done it without her. There's so much to weddings that you never consider, from small details ("we have to spend how much more on serving utensils if we go family style?") to major considerations ("what do mean there's not enough light in here for people to see what they eat?"). She worked closely with my wife who had some unconventional ideas (Halloween theme with skulls and a red wedding dress) she wanted to include and Tamara was able to work them all in and still make it a wedding that everyone enjoyed. Over a year later, and our guests are still telling us how great our wedding was and how much fun they had. I cannot recommend her highly enough.

Tamara made my wedding day dreams come true! If you want someone who will give you options, is a straight shooter and will create the day of your dreams then Tamara is the wedding planner for you! Tamara knows everyone which gives you a long list of options and price ranges. She has been in the industry so when you have ideas she can help build on or level set with you. Tamara will ALWAYS give you her honest opinion. Our theme was "shades of blue" and boy did she deliver. From the flowers, to linens, to wine glasses, we were surrounded by shades of blue. The vendors were all a joy to work with and you could honestly see how much the respected working for Tamara, which is a big deal because you and the couple, dont want to deal with that stuff on your day. My MIL also hired Tamara for the Rehearsal dinner which was fabulous! The entire weekend was gorgeous and easy (for me probably not her). There may have been chaos but we or any of our guests would have never known. The ceremony start ON TIME and the rest of the timeline went according to the plan! Tamara is an absolute professional and detail orientated and if that is what you are looking for (we are from San Diego so we needed someone with feet on the ground) there is no other planner for you. She is totally wonderful and gave us a day we could have only dreamed about! Don't have regrets on our day....hire Tamra J!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Below is an excerpt from my Better Business Bureau complaint I submitted . . .The final cost of the items included under the original budget was more than a third over the original budget (more than $10,000) with no communication regarding increase in expenses. Her repeated lack of communication, disregard for her own deadlines and lack of response to my frequent efforts to get her to communicate when my explicit and less expensive choices were changed to her choices resulted in extreme stress when the reason she had been hired was to help avoid excessive stress. Her email and phone communication was poor - some questions were eventually answered after 3-5 emails from me requesting a response; multiple other times there was never a response. She said she would finish the design board by the 2nd week of April. After multiple emails sent throughout April-June with no significant response from her, she sent a design board on July 1st. This design board did not indicate attention was given to my clearly specified ideas for my wedding. I had a very clear idea of what I wanted for my flowers, this included a picture that I had posted on pinterest labeled as my first choice for the bridal bouquet. I had repeated communications with her regarding my desire for white dainty trailing bouquet for me and again specific white flowers for most of the bridal party (including pictures and names of the flowers). In July when I saw she had some pictures of large tightly bound red flowers on her design board, I again sent pictures and emphatically expressed my desire to have only a white trailing bouquet and white bridesmaid and usher flowers. I did not get a response. When the flowers arrived at the church minutes before the wedding they were large flowers in red bouquets similar to the picture I had so clearly objected to. Lastly is a partial list of things she said she was going to do but didn’t: The wedding website Erroneous timeline delivered less than a week before the wedding Arrived 45 minutes into the 1 hour wedding rehearsal Design board sent July 1st instead of 2nd week of April Didn’t respond or revise design board to acknowledge my concerns Did not find a hotel within the budget I requested Selected a florist that was not on the list she provided for me to choose from Told us to fly in a week early for tastings but didn’t schedule any tastings Dinner and cake was subpar No assistance with planning the rehearsal dinner No dim sum for reception meal when this was what she had agreed to No dessert bar or candy bar, which she had suggested and we had requested No Chinese decorations for Chinese themed reception except for chopsticks I insisted on buying Didn’t use decorations I had bought and mailed to her at her request No Chinese gold coins on the table Did not decorate the reception venue other than some tablecloths and simple flowers No one to press my dress, I had to do it myself the night before using the hotel’s steamer No hairdresser for the bridesmaids

I was hoping things would have been resolved so I could write a more positive review, but since I have not heard from Tamara in two months, I guess this will have to do. We booked Tamara to help plan our wedding at City Hall and 25 Lusk for February 2015. I had already booked the venues, but since we were moving to the East Coast just prior to the wedding, my fiance and I decided that having a planner assist with the little details and 'day of' organization. To begin with, there were a few small detail problems from Tamara. She was late to City Hall (my fiance and I were doing photos before the ceremony to ensure we had enough time) so when we first got there we did not know where to go. Luckily our amazing photographer was there to help guide us. Tamara did the flowers, she dropped them off outside to my mom. The first thing we noticed with the bouquet, it was a bit wilted. Luckily this did not show up in any of our photographs. Following our ceremony she disappeared. None of us knew where we were going/the plan. Again we had to rely on our photographer to help guide us to the 4th floor for additional pictures. When we walked into our reception (private dining room) I noticed that my name, was misspelled on all of the place setting menus. Then I noticed that none of the name cards were placed at the settings. This is when Tamara told me that she could not open the attachment I sent her two weeks previously. Why would you wait until the day of to open an attachment? So myself and a few friends started working on the place settings. That is when we noticed another problem. We were short a place setting. Luckily 25 Lusk is professional and efficient so the problem was rectified quickly. At the end of the night my husband and I stayed behind to pay the bill. This is when we noticed it was much more than what we talked about and budgeted. At this point Tamara told me that she had to make a "day of decision and judgement call". Her day of decision cost over $600! She booked the alcove outside of our room for our hors d'oeuvre service. The second issue had to do with the hors d'oeuvres. We had pre-arranged through Tamara to be charged for their four-course meal. She informed us that because we were bringing our own cake, that in lieu of the dessert course, that we could supplement that for some hors d'oeuvres. She had said that she had done this previously. We followed her suggestion, as we were only going to do a three-course meal, and no hors d'oeuvres. Well, what she said she was arranging and what ended up being was another cost of over $600. We started emailing her the Monday after our wedding. It is now four months later and we have received multiple different excuses/reasons as to why we were charged for the hors d'oeuvres. We have asked for a refund for $500, even though it does not come close to all the additional expenses caused by her. It is frustrating because I know had I done all the arranging myself, the final bill would not have been an additional $1500.00, and we would have saved what we spent on her fee. Overall it was a beautiful wedding, but at this point I would not recommend her service base on our experiences and the additional costs that she incurred.

We researched and interviewed several planners, but booked Tamara as soon as we met her. We loved her spunky yet warm personality and it was clear that she was a go-getter from the get-go. We hired her for day of/month of coordination. Our expectation was that she would not enter the picture until a few weeks before our wedding day as most planners do for this level of service. Tamara really cares about her brides and her events, so she invested much more time than we ever expected her to in helping our day go off without a hitch. She took our vision for our wedding and expanded on it and helped us save money along the way. By the end of it, we really felt that she had paid for herself. She was there for us throughout the process and worked hard the weekend of our wedding. From giving our guests directions, to organizing the vendors… No task was too big or too small. She tackled them all and was the last one to leave on our wedding day. She was worth her weight in gold. We’d definitely hire her again to help us with future events! Love her!

Tamara and her team were nothing but professional, creative and fun! Tamara is not only an expert wedding planner, she is now a forever friend! She understood our unique family, budget and travel requirements and did it all with a smile. She is well-connected and a very trustworthy force in the wedding business! I received Tamara's name via a colleague's recommendation and have already passed her name along to a friend (who already had a beautiful and successful Napa valley wedding). Her attention to detail and fun personality made planning a breeze and allowed me to enjoy my entire wedding from start to finish...and I wouldn't change a thing. Tamara is not only an accomplished professional and wise advisor but she will forever be a part of our family!!!

When my fiancee asked me to get married....I knew I wanted to do it in Napa, CA. We had been there a few years ago on holiday. I reached out to Tamara by email and didn't expect to hear from her right away, given the time difference between Shanghai and California. To my surprise she responded, we scheduled a time that would be convenient for us to talk by phone and it was so nice. She was knowledgeable, gave me an honest and detailed review of what my dream wedding would cost and that the biggest challenge would be finding a venue first....I hired her in July for my wedding in October. In a short period of time, Tamara not only found the perfect venue (Auberge Du Soleil), but a team of fantastic vendors, shopped for and secured my wedding gown as well as clothing for all the kids in the ceremony, arranged all the airport pickups, a full day of wine tours....we even had one winery to ourselves for 2.5 hours. Most of my guests came here from Shanghai and Singapore and did not speak English, but even that was not a barrier to Tamara and her team. When I tried on my wedding gown ten days before the wedding (that is when I physically met Tamara) the dress fit perfectly. She designed everything perfectly, from the invitations to the linen choices, to our officiant (who even lived in China for a time). It is hard to find the words to express how much Tamara means to me and my family. She's a wonderful planner and her attention to detail is truly amazing. She gave me my dream wedding and I am eternally thankful.

Tamara helped me find my voice and taste while we were planning my wedding. On our first phone call, she picked the perfect color palette for our wedding. Within a week, she introduced me to Pinterest for inspiration and made an “Ideas for Robyn” board. I had not visualized or planned the big day growing up so she was starting with a blank canvas. Tamara provided feedback and suggestions on anything we asked for including above and beyond requests such as a tip schedule, a conference call with the MOB about wedding shower anxiety, groom's gift ideas, and more. A family member took a last minute trip out to Sonoma and Tamara arranged visits with all of our vendors, the venue, etc. and knocked her socks off! My husband and I are business professionals, planners, and list makers - she operated in our task master environment as effortlessly as she did with the creative vendors. Tamara matched us with vendors that fit our wallet AND our personalities. This made the event that much more spectacular. Tamara planned our wedding and rehearsal dinner - she was our Sonoma expert since we planned a destination wedding to a destination we had never been to - and she gave us the gift of a lifetime. She thought of details we did not - she brought wraps to the reception for the ladies who were cold, and orchids to the rehearsal dinner for centerpieces and more. Tamara was professional, responsive, friendly, understanding and firm - which is exactly what I needed. She even negotiated down the rate of the site fee for our venue after we had chosen it! She makes the day/event/etc. about you and your groom. She anticipates guest personalities and flexes to many styles. I cannot say enough wonderful things about her and her talent. If you calculate the value you receive for the time and effort Tamara spends making your day unforgettable - she is a bargain. I would recommend Tamara to any bride who wants a wedding planner who can take charge, help her navigate through the all of the planning noise and has personality to spare!