Union Event Co.

I had a wonderful experience working with Stephanie. I hired her for Day-Of- Coordination and from the first time we connected I felt taken care of and that she had my back from every angle. Handing off your plans to someone can be scary but she was able to pick up my vision and bring it to life. One of the best things about this process was having someone to make sure your day is absolutely perfect. I was really impressed with how flawlessly she executed the final coordination of vendors, complete settup of the space, and end of night checkout. She made sure that everything went smooth and I didn't have to worry about a thing. She also made sure that we had a timeline that let us enjoy as many moments of our day as possible. All around fantastic experience and would highly recommend to anyone getting married out in the Gorge.

I’m glad to hear that so many wedding parties had a great experience working with Stephanie as every bride/groom/family deserves that. Unfortunately for me, and my family, that was not the case. I should start with the fact that the actual wedding itself went pretty smooth. There were a few things that could have gone better, but none of them ruined the day, and overall, we had a fantastic day. However, when you hire a wedding coordinator, you expect them to relieve stress and help in the ways the contract states, instead, our wedding coordinator was the biggest stressor throughout the entire wedding planning process. We paid for the package where Stephanie was supposed to help us secure vendors and take a lead on coordinating everything for our big day, but I can say with strong confidence that I did most of the work. Not only did we feel we did not get the services we were paying for, we had many promises she made to us broken (such as timelines, completion of tasks, etc), were often ignored for weeks at a time, did not get answers to questions we requested, never received an apology for any frustration that was caused even after we expressed it, and had to repeat the details and visions of our day on multiple emails/phone calls. As the bride, I did most of the managing of details and had to follow up multiple times on items that otherwise would have been ignored. We even at some point had to get the venue manager involved because we could not get a hold of Stephanie, and afterwards, only slightly improved. If we were not limited by wedding planners we could choose from our venue, and weren't locked into a contract, we would have switched to another wedding planner within a month of hiring Stephanie. If we could go back, we would at the most just hired her for the day of (which for the most part went well) and kept the rest of the money for the time I spent on getting things done that I thought I would have had help on. I hope if you choose to go with Stephanie, you are a detail-oriented person, as you will have to be very on top of tracking and advocating for the things you want. Also, as a last note, we got married three weeks ago, and Stephanie is the only vendor we did not get any sort of follow-up communication from. No congratulations, nothing. I feel that in itself speaks volume of the services that Stephanie had to offer to us.

Working with Stephanie as our wedding day coordinator was the best decision we made throughout the entire wedding planning process. She is so fun to work with and brings so much joy and creativity to the process. Stephanie will be transparent and honest with you each step of the way, even if there are many unknowns, which I so appreciated when planning throughout the pandemic, when it felt like everything was unknown at one point. In the month leading up to the wedding, I felt like no matter what happened on the day of the wedding, everything would be okay because we had Stephanie on our team and she's a true expert at what she does. From creating the perfect color palette, to coordinating rentals, directing our wedding party, and answering our families' (many) questions - Stephanie brought the perfect balance of fun and professional that allowed us to truly soak in the love and joy of our wedding day. I cannot recommend working with Union Event Co. enough!

As thoroughly dissatisfied former Union Event Co. clients, we know we’re in the minority. However, if you’re a smart consumer who takes time to look at both good and bad reviews for a balanced perspective, we encourage you to read about our experience with UEC and owner Stephanie Laur. If nothing else, you’ll be better informed about what could expect if you hire her. Our venue (Tin Roof Barn) required us to hire UEC for “day of” services. Because we lived out of town, we also contracted for a-la-carte Vendor Management services (Lodging, Catering, Bar & Beverage, Music). If you want to marry at TRB, be very clear that YOU WILL NOT BE A PRIORITY FOR STEPHANIE, both during the planning and on the day of your wedding. She does absolutely nothing to earn your business and has absolutely nothing to lose by blowing you off because she can’t be fired. As a result of her negligence and laziness, we experienced a lot of undue stress while planning our wedding, and the joy and fun we should’ve enjoyed throughout the process was basically destroyed. As business owners ourselves, we were absolutely floored by the lack of professionalism and transparency Stephanie exhibited overall, as well as her “not-my-job” attitude in the days leading up to our wedding. From a legal perspective, UEC did not fully perform as promised under the contract, on ANY of the vendor management services, and did the bare minimum for the “day-of” service. The one piece of advice we have for couples that hire Union Event Co. is to keep detailed notes and emails (as we did) since that evidence will be necessary if you need to pursue damages for lack of performance. UEC’s own contracts outline what will happen should legal action be necessary to enforce the terms of the contract. Stephanie would be wise to review this section since it applies to both parties. While there isn’t room to provide details about the many ways Stephanie failed to deliver, be aware that her lack of professionalism extends beyond the planning to the actual event. During our reception, she displayed a shocking lack of decorum that was inexcusable. Two of our guests behaved badly by climbing up on a hayloft in the venue to dance. There was no sign indicating the loft was off limits nor anything to prevent entry, but even so, our guests should’ve shown better judgement. Stephanie yelled for them to get down but was not heard over the music. She then raised her voice even more and screamed that if they didn’t come down, she would “shut down this F---ING wedding.” Guests standing nearby were appalled, as were we when we found out. That reaction—0 MPH to profanity in 20 seconds—would be grounds for termination in many business situations. It’s even more jaw-dropping coming from a wedding planner. Her behavior and vulgar language showed a lack of respect for our guests and for us as their hosts, highlighted her inability to manage unexpected or challenging situations, and revealed a gaping hole where grace and class should exist. Although we loved Tin Roof Barn, we would strongly caution any couple wanting to marry there to seriously consider whether they want to put their trust in someone of Stephanie’s caliber—she’s that bad. As experienced business owners and professionals with 35+ years of experience, we can state unequivocally that she wouldn’t last a day in most business environments. She’s very lucky there isn’t a lot of competition close by. If there were, she’d be unemployed.