Ybarra Events

We had the pleasure of working with Heather Bair from Ybarra Events as our "month of" wedding planner for our October 2023 wedding. Heather's expertise and professionalism in event planning were evident from the start. She brought a level of organization and foresight that was both reassuring and impressive, making it clear that we could trust her to execute our vision flawlessly. Despite the inherent stress of wedding planning, Heather's methodical approach significantly eased our worries. Her communication was clear and effective, utilizing a mix of emails, planned zoom calls, texts and wedding planning tools to plan and orchestrate our big day. Heather's knack for asking essential questions, ones we hadn't thought to ask ourselves, was particularly invaluable. This attention to detail ensured that every aspect of our wedding was considered and carefully planned, and wow did all that work pay off! On the wedding day, Heather's management was extraordinary. She operated like a well-oiled machine, providing support and efficiently handling every event detail. She communicated effectively, involving us in decisions as needed while smoothly keeping the day on track. We wholeheartedly recommend Heather Bair at Ybarra Events to any couple seeking a skilled and personable wedding planner. Her invaluable contribution to our wedding was deeply appreciated, and we would gladly choose Heather and Ybarra Events for any future event planning needs.

Tara is amazing! She did an amazing job helping us plan our wedding and making sure our special day went smoothly. We really appreciated her input and support helping us make all of the difficult decisions. She was always incredibly responsive to all of our emails and questions. It's so reassuring when you are coordinating vendors and making final decisions to get quick responses that can ease your mind. We are so grateful for her! We didn't have to worry about anything on our wedding day thanks to her. We greatly appreciate all of her hard work. She's the best!

Heather Bair was amazing! She is very communicative and professional. She has great experience and resources. She was great from beginning to end. We knew she had everything under control. She's great!

Tara was exactly the perfect wedding coordinator for us! In addition to her attention to detail, her calm presence, and her ability to anticipate our needs before we even knew them, she was an awesome person to spend our wedding day with. When starting the wedding planning process, we were looking for a day-of wedding planner. We knew we wanted to choose our venue, caterer, and DJ on our own, but since we were planning our Sonoma wedding (Viansa Sonoma) from across the country, we knew we needed someone to help us with the small details. Little did we know after hiring Tara that we would be getting so much more than that! From our first meeting, you could tell that she was incredibly professional but also an easy person to talk to. She set down the expectations from a "month-of wedding planner," but let us know that we could email her with any questions or help with decisions like which of two florists we were deciding between. She was always prompt to her responses and had check in's just to make sure we were on track. She was one of the best decisions we made for planning our wedding, and the day wouldn't have gone nearly as smoothly without her!

Ybarra Events was recommended by our venue and we are absolutely blessed that we hired them to plan our wedding. We worked with Tara, who is the kindest soul and a true mastermind at her job. Even though we only hired Tara to be our month-of planner, she worked with us closely over the course of the year leading up to the big event. I was largely developing my plan, decorations, etc, but she was ALWAYS available anytime I needed help or advice. Tara assisted me in suggesting reliable vendors, brainstorming fun ideas, working out reasonable logistics and set us up with the Aisle Planner software. She was an absolute godsend and that was amplified multitudes the day of the wedding! We 110% recommend you work with them for your wedding, you will not be disappointed. Come wedding day, I know despite being cool as a cucumber in most scenarios- I'm also a bit type A when I have a vision to create. Trusting the process, I brought all the things I had prepared to the venue and Tara did the rest. Well, Tara knocked it out of the ballpark. My jaw hit the floor when I showed up that afternoon to see that she had executed our vision to perfection and helped coalesce our dream wedding into a reality far exceeding our expectations.

Where d o I get started when describing this experience of planning a wedding with Tara…I suppose from the start. Right from the get go and initial introductory call, we knew she was the right planner for us. We had a long runway to plan our wedding (over a year), and Tara was by our side at every corner. She helped us plan a fusion Indian-Western wedding and was diligent about details (which I appreciated so much!). She worked closely with our selected vendors to chase down enquiries, make changes to our vision etc. When it was closer to the wedding, we realised that it would rain on the day and Tara was an absolute star about it. From various contingency plans with associated seating and table arrangements, to discussing what we may want to buy to deal with the weather and so much more, she was on it!! On the day, I can’t even begin to describe how well she coordinated the vendors (it felt so seamless even though we needed to flip an indoor space multiple times during the day to accommodate the events). Tara, a massive thank you from Matt and Sinduja and our family for helping make our big day so special!!! You are an amazing person and incredibly skilled at what you do, and I’m so glad our paths crossed!!

Our wedding day with Tara by our side was a DREAM COME TRUE! She anticipated every obstacle and was immediately ready with advice, fixes, and a warm comforting energy. Many of my guests came up to me after the event to complement her work. She even helped me avoid a terrible catering decision with a swift pivot during the planning process! 10/10 in every regard. LOVED having her as our coordinator!!

Honestly Tara was the best! I can’t imagine ever planning a wedding and executing it all by myself. Having a good wedding planner really can make your whole wedding. My partner and I didn’t have to worry about a single thing. Any problem that arose she really took care of it! 1000000% would recommend her to anyone! Thanks for everything!!

Tara was amazing at helping us get everything organized for our wedding day! She was great at remembering every detail so that nothing fell through the cracks! Would definitely recommend her to anyone getting married in the Sonoma area.

Heather Bair, from Ybarra Events, was wonderful to work with on my husband’s 60th birthday celebration and I highly recommend her. We had approximately 75 guests and it was held at our home in the wine country. Heather helped me from beginning to end. I had never held a large event at our property and was stressed about having to bring in everything. Heather kept me calm and made the process fun. She helped with the layout, the vendors and the setup. The day of the event she made certain everything ran smoothly from start to finish. I received many compliments from our guests on how well the event was organized. I have never enjoyed myself more at a party that I have thrown. When Heather showed up the morning of the event, she told me to go and relax. I had time to unwind and get ready for the event. She set up the entire venue with her assistant and made sure all the other vendors knew their responsibilities. Once the event began, she kept me on schedule with speeches and transitions from cocktails to dinner etc. I got to spend time with our guests and truly enjoy the day. I would highly recommend Heather to anyone planning a large or small event. Heather is very organized and calm. She was an absolute pleasure to work with and I will be hiring her again for any future events. Thank you Heather!!

We cannot praise Heather and Ybarra Events enough. Heather made what would have been a stressful experience a lot of fun. She went above and beyond by providing references and recommendations throughout our time together without ever imposing her view (though we asked for it repeatedly!). Heather is organized, knowledgeable, patient, positive, genuine, friendly, and always a professional. She loves what she does, and her energy is infectious! We had a perfect event thanks to Heather and the team she helped assemble. We are very grateful to Heather for giving us a wonderful experience and timeless memories.

Tara made our wedding absolutely perfect and we couldn't have done it without her!! We came into the wedding planning process not knowing much and Tara helped us navigate everything, from finding a venue in Sonoma and a caterer to figuring out what decor we wanted for our reception to helping us make decisions in the face of potential bad weather. She answered our questions so quickly and was always available to meet with us or call whenever we needed it. She was so kind, so supportive, and she made it so that we could relax and just have fun on our wedding day. We owe it all to Tara!!

Tara was an absolute dream to work with for our February wedding! We hired her for the month of, and it took so much pressure of trying to plan the last minute details. She was always quick to answer any questions, and made our wedding day seamless and perfect :) I would definitely recommend Tara to anyone looking for a wedding planner; you wont regret it!

Tara was such an amazing wedding planner, I'm so so glad we had her by our side. We had to reschedule our wedding from 2020 to 2021, and with the reschedule we were forced to find a new venue and a new planner. Tara was incredibly flexible from the start- she even adapted her normal plans to match what our previous planner was doing! Throughout the whole process, and especially given the craziness with COVID, Tara was so supportive & really put our minds at ease. We loved working with her so much that we asked her to coordinate our rehearsal/welcome drinks as well! She went above and beyond to make the weekend as easy as possible, including taking the items we DIYed for the wedding the night before so we didn't have to find a way to bring them to the venue. Despite these crazy times, our whole event went off perfectly and we couldn't be happier. Thank you so much, Tara!

Tara was everything we needed! She was the best!!!! We hired her for a day of wedding coordinator, but I felt like she was my wedding coordinator for a month. She met with me twice via zoom and her input on weddings was so helpful. She made my wedding day smooth and stress-free. We had so many last-minute changes because of COVID and she was flexible and made everything work. We didn’t have to worry about anything from the day we hired her. Tara was always at every meeting early and ready to work with questions and answers on hand. She made me realize a lot of wedding details that I did not even know I had to think about. We recommend YBARRA EVENTS 100%!!! IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS ONE. Everyone had a good time at our wedding! I had a lot of my wedding party talk to me about how wonderful Tara and James are. They were prepared and took care of the things that I did not even know till after the wedding! GO WITH YBARRA EVENTS!

I don't even know where to start with Tara and the Ybarra Events team! We were planning a May 2020 wedding, and Tara patiently helped us reschedule twice for safety reasons. She was always there to recommend vendors and make sure we weren't missing key events or details. Keep in mind, we hadn't paid for a full planning experience, but she was still always ready to help along the journey. She made the day-of timeline (crucial!) and a beautiful model of the set-up that was used by all the vendors. I think we went with almost all of her recommended vendors and they were all incredibly friendly and fun to work with. I was most interested in day-of coordination because I wanted my mom and bridesmaids to be able to relax. Right on time, Tara was there and making things run smoothly! There were plenty of little weather related snafus and other things that couldn't have been planned for in advance. But I didn't even hear of them until a week after the wedding, and I don't think any guests noticed at all! The set up and coordination between staff were seamless, no awkward pauses during events. People literally said it was the best wedding they'd ever been to- including my uncle who's own daughter was literally getting married the next month. Definitely consider Tara for your day-of coordination, and I can't even imagine how wonderful she would be at the bigger planning packages!

Tara did a fantastic job planning our wedding this fall! She helped us through every stage of the process, from recommending amazing vendors to coordinating the day of flawlessly. Planning a wedding in a pandemic was definitely stressful, but having Tara to help check in with vendors on various covid requirements put us much more at ease. We really appreciate all of Tara's work and would absolutely recommend her to anyone else planning a wine country wedding!

Tara is amazing! I would recommend her services 100000x over. She put my now husband and I at ease from day one. From our initial phone call, I knew she was someone special. She has a calm demeanor, personable and talented at what she does. She was always responsive and more than accommodating. She made our day perfect in every way.

As any couple planning a wedding recently can attest to, planning a wedding during COVID was STRESSFUL. I am certain that we would have gone absolutely mad and perhaps even cancelled the whole thing and eloped had it not been for Tara and her wonderful team! She was the most kind and patient helper along the way. I knew I wanted to work with her from our very first phone call where she gave me so many incredibly helpful ideas to work with within my budget, and she delivered throughout. On the day of the wedding, there were a few snafus with some of our vendors (as with any planned event, no doubt!) and Tara and her team handled them all wonderfully. We barely even noticed that there was any confusion to begin with, which we credit to Tara and her team. Everything was handled with such professionalism, even during a year that was undoubtedly incredibly stressful for all wedding vendors. Do yourself a favor and hire these incredibly kind and competent people to help you plan your wedding. You will not regret it!

We chose Tara and her team based on note only the great reviews, but also after our initial phone call with them. Immediately, we felt comfortable with them, which was important to us for searching a partner to help us on our big day. Tara is highly communicative and provides tips/guidelines along the way. We had to move our wedding due to COVID-19, and Tara was extremely helpful in keeping us informed with the county guidelines. We had hired her and her team for day-of wedding coordination, but it felt like Tara was there every step of the way. She was super helpful in answering all our questions and providing guidance. We did not miss a single beat with her and our wedding was managed smoothly. Tara and her team are amazing to work with and highly recommend partnering with them.

Tara did an incredible job planning my wedding in Sonoma in May! Her sense of urgency is unmatched and whenever I had a question she was immediately responsive via email and text. I had been envisioning my perfect wedding day for quite some time and and she nailed every little detail from the ceremony rehearsal, to rentals, to transportation and so much more. Highly recommend Tara and her incredible detail and thought into everything that she does!

I cannot begin to praise Tara Ybarra enough for all she did for me and my family during my daughter's recent wedding in Geyserville, California. Tara is incredibly organized, responsible, responsive, tactful and kind all at the same time. Everything she promised she'd do, she delivered on! She was the first one to get to the church and the last person to leave the reception. Her quiet efficiency impressed not only me at the wedding reception but also several of our guests that commented to me on her competency. Every time in the 8 months of planning this wedding that I reached out to Tara, she answered quickly and knowledgeably. Planning this wedding from a distance turned out not to be a chore with Tara's help. She gave us a heads up on a problem vendor we had hired and quickly recommended another saving us some major frustration and not to mention, money. I cannot think of one thing negative about Tara. You absolutely cannot go wrong hiring her. My daughter and I both are missing her. She had become one of the family!! With deep appreciation, thank you Tara!

Tara was amazing! Everything felt so simple having her help us plan our wedding. We just did the day of coordinating with Tara but she was always there to answer any questions we had through the entire process! I high recommend her and am so happy we found her!

Oh my goodness, where to start? Our wedding was a wonderful 3 -day event that we couldn’t have possibly pulled off without the amazing Tara Ybarra! We chose Tara as our wedding planner because of her terrific competence, because of the care that she so clearly gives to all of her projects, and because it seemed that she would just “get” what we wanted and needed. It had come down to a choice between 2 excellent planners, but we made the right choice. Tara’s personal attention, love and creativity went way above and beyond what we imagined. First of all, Tara works really hard. She was there for us, no matter when we called, or what we asked, and was never too busy to talk with us. Second of all, Tara knows a lot about weddings, and she directed us to the most attentive, available vendors (e.g., caterers, florists, etc.) in the area, and a number of them give her discounts which we wouldn’t have had access to otherwise. Third of all, she helped us create whatever we thought of, such as a novel seating arrangement at the ceremony, or working with our family who helped plan our rehearsal dinner picnic, and then she brought her husband and daughters to join us to help, and purchased flowers and great lighting for Friday night’s fabulous evening of pre wedding festivities. Fourth of all, she was so calm and well organized about the whole planning process, even when we were getting frazzled. I tried to wrap most calls by asking her, “Tara, where are we getting behind?” And she would calmly tell us what needed to get done, and by when, and then compliment us that we were doing great. Fifth of all, she was so fabulous to work with. I don’t think we had even a whisper of a cross word with each other in the almost year of planning the events. And finally, on the day of the wedding, she had it so together. She was the first one at the venue and the last one to leave. Through a lot of hard work and some good fortune, the events we planned came off almost without a hitch, but there is always something unexpected that happens, and when they did, Tara took care of them without even telling us. We actually feel like Tara is family and miss her already, 3 weeks after our wedding, and hope to connect soon to recap and remember the great weekend.

Tara was absolutely amazing to work with! She was super responsive and had great ideas and advice on decor/set up/timing. She was also really knowledgeable about our venue, which was helpful. Additionally, she was so kind and such a positive person to work with. She made our wedding day feel so easy and we were able to relax and enjoy everything! Would highly recommend working with her!

Tara was amazing! From beginning to end, her communication was outstanding and she knew I wanted to keep in contact. She is very patient and wonderful and helped me design and create beautiful decor for my ceremony and reception for my wedding. I would recommend Tara. She is very professional and knows hr stuff. She made the wedding process stress free and a great experience. Thank You Tara for all that you did. You were beyond Amazing and exceeded all expectations!

Tara was amazing. We wanted a less traditional wedding and that meant a lot of moving parts - and a lot of coordination. Tara handled the chaos, organized it, and made the wedding we wanted possible. Tara made great recommendations all aspects of the weekend, from the flow of the events to vendors and helpers. Tara also handled our flowers and much of our decor for us. It was beautiful and saved us a lot of money. I am probably forgetting some of the things Tara did for us, because there were so many. Simply, Tara is amazing.

If you're considering a wedding planner, book Tara and don't look back. You can trust her opinions and you can be rest-assured in her execution. We hired Tara as our partial planner for our wedding in Sonoma in August 2018. Planning a wedding in CA from the East Coast can be daunting, but Tara was always able to make us feel at ease. Here is why she is amazing: Professionalism: She carries herself with a warm passion for her work that inspires trust and confidence in her ability. Timeliness: She responds promptly to all communications. Effort: She consistently went above and beyond to fulfill our needs and requests no matter how complicated or trivial. Organization: She did not make a single mistake. All pre-planning was done on-time and correctly, and the wedding day went off without a hiccup. Connections: She has great relationships with some of the best vendors! It was a huge relief and in hindsight a big selling point for us. People are still telling us that we had the best venue, food and dessert of any wedding they have ever attended.

Tara is the best!! She made sure the lead up to our big dat was as stress free as possible and that our day went so smoothly. We couldn't have pulled it off as well as we did without her. Having her to help us was the best decision we made. Hiring Tara to be your wedding planner is the number one piece of advice we'd give to a newly engaged couple.

Tara was unbelievably helpful with our wedding. I was pregnant up until two months before, and I literally could not have done it without her. She managed everything and was very communicative and easy to plan with. Tara was extremely professional, comforting, and exceptional at her job. She took over the decor of my wedding, and everything was absolutely STUNNING. Thank you Tara for helping give the wedding of my dreams.

My now husband and I started wedding planning about 1 year before our wedding date in April 2018. We found Tara via online search and previous reviews. The reviews caught my attention because they painted a picture of someone who was organized, down-to-earth, responsible, easy-going, and attentive to detail. And after looking at her website and service packages, quite affordable for the area. Our wedding was in Kenwood, CA. Sure enough, after our phone interview with Tara, we knew we wanted to go with her. We interviewed a total of 4 planners and the others did not give us the sense that they had time to explain to us about everything that they are about as a wedding planner. Tara spent the time to answer every single one of our questions, and she pointed out lots of important points to consider that we as first-time wedding planners did not think about. Our first meeting with Tara was at the venue, and she was kind, sweet, down-to-earth (just as we picture from the phone call), and we knew that we'd make a great team. We picked a package that was an in-between of a full planner and a day-of coordinator. We wanted to still do our own research to find our vendors and design the look of our wedding, but we wanted to be able to ask questions and have guidance whenever needed. Tara fit the role perfectly. She has experience in almost every field of the wedding industry--She used to help make wedding cakes, she used to do wedding flowers, etc, so she is really knowledgeable with just about anything wedding-related. She thinks broadly and ahead of the game--she has umbrellas ready to bring in case of change in weather, she has a sewing kit in case of any wardrobe malfunction. Tara was responsive even in the midst of busy wedding season for her, and although sometimes she may need to take some days to focus on the other weddings in the immediate future, she never made us feel that we were left in the dark and she always kept us up-to-date on when she anticipated that she'd be more busy. Tara helped us place the floral/foliage orders for the banquet table centerpiece, and she helped us put them together! We were able to save some $ this way. We had a budget that we wanted to stick to, and Tara was very helpful in staying within this range. Tara's husband assists her for the day of the wedding, and they made a great team and put together the decor very nicely. All of our vendors commented on what a pleasure it was to work with Tara. We highly recommend her!

If you are a bride on the fence about whether or not you need a wedding coordinator or who you should get, just stop what you are doing and call Tara! She is absolutely incredible! I had been unsure of if I needed a coordinator or not, but looking back, I could not have done it without her! I did not know it was possible to love a complete stranger this much after working with them for one event! She literally did everything (and more) possible to make me and my now husband feel like VIP guests at our own wedding reception instead of worrying about hosting logistics and problems that inevitably come up. And this is how it should be! Our wedding day was perfect and looking back over the blur of happiness, everything for our 250 people reception happened seamlessly. All thanks to Tara! It was such an amazing feeling to be able to trust the event - one of the most important events my husband and I will ever put on - in Tara's capable hands. She went above and beyond on everything. She is extremely quick to communicate with, extremely organized, makes sure she completely understands what you want and then executes it perfectly. Brides - do yourself a favor and get Tara and her husband James to oversee your wedding day. I hope your day will be as perfect as ours was thanks to Tara!

Tara is spectacular. She has a way about her that totally calms any and all of your pre-wedding nerves about decor, timing, all of the little details. She is very responsive by e-mail and is always willing to help and go the extra mile. Her husband is also super sweet and helpful and made sure that on my wedding day I was being treated like a princess and had everything I needed to have the best day ever.