“Multiple times during our wedding planning process, we looked at each other and wondered out loud how any of this would be possible without Cathy. Working with her made any alternative completely unthinkable. There are not enough positive adjectives to describe how fantastic she is, both personally and professionally. Cathy and her staff were incredibly helpful and informative throughout the entire process, and were always able to respond to our many, many questions quickly and correctly. We met Cathy through The Farm at Pond Lily, but would unreservedly recommend her for any event of any size. Her wealth of knowledge about wedding planning is unparalleled, and she worked seamlessly with every vendor we used. Her reputation preceded her with everyone we contacted, all of whom had nothing but good things to say about her. Although the planning process can be overwhelming, Cathy remained helpful, comforting, and down-to-earth about everything. Her organizational prowess is awe-inspiring. Simply put, she gets shit done.”
“Cathy is *the best* at what she does - making sure your wedding day goes off without a hitch. I absolutely couldn't have done this without her! Cathy is detail-oriented and makes sure every step of the way that you are getting what you want out of your wedding - she'll be your biggest advocate. Cathy is extremely organized and has a Google doc for everything you could think of, and also ten things you never would - she keeps track of EVERYTHING, which is exactly what you need when going through this crazy process. She's the best hire you'll make for your wedding, no question about it! My sister and I both used Cathy's Elegant Events for our weddings, and we have no regrets - email Cathy right now!”
“Working with Cathy not only made our wedding experience unbelievable, but more than anything else, she really was able to take our (mainly my wife’s ;)) vision every step of the way and carry it out with perfection. Seeing my wife’s face glowing all night knowing all the work and planning put into the perfect day was one of my favorite parts of it all. Cathy accommodated all the smallest requests, to single handedly being the backbone to all of the biggest surprises the day of, always going over and beyond the call of duty. She always let us be ourselves on the months leading up to the day, which made the whole process comfortable and easy. We have gotten so many compliments from everyone who attended about the wedding, and we honestly can’t imagine how my wife could have pulled off planning a wedding like she did without the help of her and her team! Thanks so much !!”
“If I could give 10 stars I would - Cathy is absolutely incredible! I would not have been able to plan my wedding without her. She was meticulously organized, always available, and willing to go above and beyond. Cathy is the absolute best and I could not recommend her more highly!”
“I can’t say enough good things about Cathy & her team! I could not have asked for better service or support & she truly helped to make it the perfect day. First, Cathy assisted with Design (tent decor, linen choices, etc). She’s incredibly patient & made a detailed PowerPoint to help me create a vision & bring it to life. The day of the wedding, we were thrilled with how everything turned out!
Cathy kept us organized and on track in the months leading up to the wedding - even when we were not putting wedding planning as a priority because life can be busy with work & travel & so many other things. So having Cathy to guide us & confirm all details with our vendors was so helpful so we never missed a beat or fell behind on a deadline.
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All of my friends & family were thrilled with Cathy’s service. There are nerves & stress on such a big day, but having Cathy to support & lead us was so comforting. We were truly able to just have fun & enjoy the day, and not worry about anything! One of my bridesmaids said, “Cathy is wedding planning goals!”
We could not be more grateful or happier with how everything turned out. My advice to any bride would be to hire Cathy!”
“We used Cathy from start to finish, from the moment we first had a tour of our would be venue to the day of the wedding. We had a really clear vision of what we wanted our wedding day to be like, and she perfectly executed it down to every last detail. We wanted a very relaxed, but detailed bohemian aesthetic. She understood our vision immediately, even though I'm sure every wedding and couple that she works with is entirely different. We went into the entire process thinking that if we had the design aspects down and knew the big vendor choices, we had the hard stuff done with. But there are so many logistical aspects to wedding planning that few couples ever understand the true scope of beforehand, and Cathy made our lives ten thousand times easier by taking on the majority of them herself and/or seamlessly guiding us through them.
When it comes to the actual day of the wedding, there is no one better. She coordinated everything with all the vendors, from caterers to musicians to shuttle drivers to florists, etc. We had our wedding in upstate NY, but the majority of our vendors were from NYC. It didn't matter. She pulled off the set-up and timing of the motions of the entire day without one single hiccup. Best of all, she is such a sweet and enjoyable person to not only speak to and be with for the many months leading up to your wedding, but she is just such a calming and pleasant energy to be around the day of the wedding when emotions are running high. We cannot thank Cathy enough for a perfect wedding, and the memories we'll have for a lifetime to come.”
“Pretty sure nothing I could say could truly encapsulate how Instrumental Cathy and her team were to planning our wedding! By the end of it all, she was way more than just a planner, she was our friend! The way she structured planning made it feel like a lot got done at exactly the right times, so we were never really overwhelmed. We had phone calls with her every two weeks to go over what we needed to do before our next call and she really kept us on track. Even to the point where she would make me calendar events to pay vendors on time. When she told me we were having our LAST call 6 weeks before the wedding, I actually got a bit sad because they had really become a part of our process.
Above and beyond is really the best phrase to describe Cathy. At one point during the actual wedding, a few of my bustles were coming undone and one string ripped off (too much dancing) and Cathy had the awesome idea to Zip tie them AND she made the ziptie invisible!
The next day, I was walking to our farewell brunch and kept thinking....what went wrong?? And I couldn't really think of ANYTHING. We were told by several friends to expect 5% to go wrong and to not focus on it and instead to focus on the 95% that went right. Legitimately, every single thing went right. Best night ever and we hope to stay in touch with Cathy for many years to come!”
Cathy is literally the best. It's amazing how she made the process of planning our wedding stress free especially given how overwhelming I expected it to be. I even found myself looking forward to our planning calls!
Cathy helped us execute our vision to a tee and the vendors she recommended were on point and worked so well together under Cathy's guidance. She is flexible and accommodating, and really wants the couples she works with to have the time of their lives.
The wedding went off without ANY complications (of course, like I said, Cathy is the best) and many of our guests commented on it being one of the most fun weddings they've ever been to.
Use Cathy to plan your wedding, seriously, you'll be so happy you did.
By the end of this process I really feel like we've become friends with Cathy - I was even told she cried as we walked down the aisle :)
"Your wedding planner [Cathy] was amazing, I don't know how she does it! It's like she was in 15 places at once." - My mom
“Cathy is the best. THE BEST. It's hard to imagine capturing in words how great Cathy is at what she does, what a joy it is to work with her, and how wonderful and stress free our wedding week and weekend were as a result of her over-the-top efforts. In fact, I'm sure I will not be able to do so. It hopefully suffices to say that you would be remiss to not consult with Cathy first about your event, and to then book her quickly before someone beats you to her.
After getting engaged we weren't sure if we needed or wanted a wedding planner; we -- I -- thought it might be too pricey for our budget. But after working with Cathy I found my foot in my mouth several times over. She's so organized, so knowledgeble, and so detail oriented; with the biweekly calls to stay in sync and on track, and the lists upon lists upon lists, among other things, I realized quickly what a bargain we were getting.
We worked with Cathy for over a year to plan our event, and now proudly call her a friend and family member; framily, if you will. She's amazing, book her now.”
Cathy is beyond incredible! Our wedding had a lot of moving pieces: we got married at our friends' farm in upstate New York even though we live in California, and we needed to rent absolutely everything from a tent to tables to sound equipment to bathroom trailers. There were a ton of details to coordinate and vendors to coordinate with, but Cathy guided us through the planning process step by step until all the pieces seemed to fall right into place. She was so on top of her communication, she gave us so much of her time, and she was so emotionally invested in the process that it often felt as if we were her only client. In the months leading up to the wedding, countless friends told me things like "You're the calmest bride I've ever seen!" My response every time was: "It's all thanks to an amazing woman named Cathy." Best of all, by the time the actual wedding day arrived, we were able to completely relax and enjoy ourselves, knowing that we were in such good hands. As cheesy as it sounds, my wedding day really was the best day of my life so far, and I give so much of the credit to Cathy and her fantastic day-of team. Do yourself a favor, save yourself boatloads of stress, and hire Cathy!
“But seriously. Cathy is an incredible wedding planner, phenomenal professional, creative genius, and steady hand in a storm. Cathy planned my best friend's wedding where I was a Maid of Honor. It felt like every time I called my friend and asked, how could I help?, she would forward a simple decision that had to be made with clear options laid out by Cathy. It made the wedding more about the excitement of sharing a day together rather than the harried rush of planning of wedding near New York City.
On the day of, Cathy made sure everyone knew exactly what needed to be happening. I felt like I was only made aware of really really really important things, and everything behind the scenes went very smoothly.
My friends were concerned about spending the money for Cathy, but by the end of the wedding, they said they were the best spent pennies in the entire wedding budget. I can't recommend her highly enough.”
“Cathy is excellent. Our wedding was complicated for a bunch of reasons. It was big, a little bit DIY, entirely outdoors during an unusually rainy fall (which required some last-minute changes) and it involved a three-mile night hike through the woods. Oh yeah, and my husband and I became parents during the planning process, so we were busy and exhausted and probably insanely hard to pin down, despite our best efforts. Cathy rolled with all of it, letting us know when key decisions had to be made and when things could wait. She was patient, upbeat and a great sounding board. It's her style to help her clients arrive at a vision rather than coming with one herself -- which means she's very game to talk things through and weigh in with considered opinions. She's extremely hard-working and detail-oriented and will map out your wedding day in 15-minute increments (literally!) to ensure that all of the moving pieces fall in place. It was our wedding, our family, our friends -- but I felt like she was just as invested in pulling it all off as we were.”
“Cathy is the absolute best!! Hiring Cathy was the best decision we made during our wedding planning process. We had not initially planned to hire a month-of coordinator, but we were so grateful that we did. We found ourselves saying, “Thank goodness for Cathy,” at least once a week. Cathy was incredibly organized and kept us on track throughout the planning process with precise, yet easy to use checklists. She brought things to our attention that we never would have even considered. Whenever we had a question, she answered us immediately. She was able to help us solve any problem that came our way. It is clear that she is incredibly dedicated to her clients, and her talent for wedding planning and coordinating is beyond comparison. We could never have pulled off our dream wedding without her!!”
“First of all, let me just say that Cathy is an all around awesome person. It was so fun getting to spend time with her and getting to know her during this process. Cathy made every little detail of our fairytale wedding come true. She was terrific during the planning process. When I wanted to try to handle projects myself, she stepped back and let me handle them, but was always there if I needed advice or help with anything. When I needed her to be more involved and hands on, I felt completely confident and comfortable letting her take things in the direction that she felt was best. She was always quick to answer emails and talk on the phone to hash out big picture items or last minute details. The week leading up to the wedding Cathy was AMAZING. We spent almost 2 hours on the phone making sure every last detail was taken care of and exactly the way I envisioned it. She ran our ceremony in the pouring rain and was always cheerful and positive, she was there for me for moral support all afternoon while I was getting ready, she helped setup the barn and ceremony beautifully and made sure every detail was in order. During the ceremony and reception, she made sure that my husband and I were taken care of the entire evening. Our day was absolutely perfect from start to finish and Cathy's expertise, guidance and help played such a huge part in the success of our wedding day. Thank you Cathy!! Tim and I are so grateful for all the hard work and love you put into making our day great.”
“There aren't enough words to describe how incredible Cathy has been for my husband and I throughout this entire past year in wedding planning. From the moment we spoke with her in the beginning of our planning process, she instantly eased all of our anxiety. She is organized, smart, flexible, friendly, knows the best vendors and the best prices, and most importantly- always available when you need her. I can honestly say that we would not have been able to do it with out her. When there were bumps in the road and stresses from vendors- she always remained calm, cool, and collected- which is exactly the type of person you want when you're planning a wedding. Cathy and her team were professional and amazing during our actual wedding as well. There wasn't a moment that they weren't right there handling everything. Cathy and her team made sure my husband and I enjoyed every moment of our special day- and handled all of the issues our venue was having. My husband and I had no idea all of the minor glitches that were going on with our venue- and that's exactly the type of person you want as your coordinator. The day goes by so fast- and it's nice to have a great team to keep you calm and let you enjoy yourself. Cathy has not only been a complete god send- she has also become one of my friends, and I was so sad to see our work together come to an end. I highly highly recommend Cathy's Elegant Events...you need her in your life!!”
“What can I say about Cathy, not only is she is an amazing wedding planner but she’s an even better person. Cathy helped us transform our vision into the best day of our lives.
We contacted Cathy about 6 months prior to our wedding, I was doubtful we would be able to find a place for the summer of 2019 but Cathy said it was possible. She set up our days of venue tours, not one but two. Drove us all over the Catskills and Hudson Valley NY. She listened to what we asked for and after a few fun tours we found the perfect venue.
I will be the first to admit we have high expectations and definitely threw some weird stuff at Cathy. My husband wanted a field day as part of the wedding weekend, arcade games and space ice cream at the wedding...Cathy was on board for it all, she never made us feel crazy for any odd requests or changes during the planning process. Cathy is organized, experienced and when we felt any stress, which was rare she assured us we were in a good place… Cathy provided us with many great options and all the vendors we met were professional and well oiled machines. She made the vendor process seamless. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes and Cathy with full transparency walked us through it all.
Now for our wedding day. Which for Cathy started Wednesday, organizing delivery’s with our florist and rental companies to name a few. All while working with us daily finalizing last minute items among a million other little things you wouldn’t even know to think of. Cathy and her team were on top of it all, and on the day of I felt so relaxed and happy despite the pending thunder storm headed our way.
As you can guess the storm came earlier than the radar anticipated but Cathy had I all taken care of, we discussed our rain plans months earlier. One thing that needs to be said about Cathy, she could have easily gone to rain plan from the beginning of the day but she did everything in her power to deliver our dream wedding. She didn’t take the easy way out and never did throughout the entire process. Cathy exceeded our expectations in the end delivered our dream wedding. The rain made it that much more intimate and felt like it was how it should have been all along. Cathy is a rock star and if you get the opportunity to work with her, you are the lucky ones!”
“Cathy, cathy, cathy… She should be referred to as Saint Cathy, because that’s what she is! Cathy was our month of planner and is the only reason my husband and I made it down the aisle. As many may have experienced (although I hope none ever have to) the wedding day does not always go as planned. For us, weather was an issue, buses were delayed, itineraries had to be modified; all of which Cathy did without batting an eye. Both my husband and I didn’t feel the slightest bit of stress going on all around us all because of Cathy. She helped my husband & myself every step of the way, wayyyyy before our “big day”. Cathy kept us sane and unruly groomsman in line. She may appear tiny, but she is fierce. Cathy is incredible at her job, painstakingly mindful to every minuscule detail, and an extremely knowledgeable resource. We would honestly trust Cathy with our lives! Again, we can’t stress enough that if we did not have Cathy, we wouldn’t be Mr. & Mrs. today. Her professionalism is unmatched and we could not thank her enough. She made our day the amazingly perfect day that it was! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!”
“When I got engaged, I was so surprised, I didn't even know where to start! I was so overwhelmed with planning the event that I didn't even enjoy my engagement! Enter Cathy. From the moment I reached out to her, I knew that I was in good hands. She took the time to listen to my needs and understand what I didn't want, which was a lot more important to acknowledge/understand vs what I did want. She started out as our venue consultant, taking all the leg work out of the exhausting process. She always had a vision, as well as incredible experience at many of these places, so her feedback was invaluable to us. By the time we picked a place, we knew that our wedding day wouldn't be complete without her.
After a short engagement, we pulled off an incredible wedding, which would not be possible without Cathy. She was there for me every step of the way, both as a planner and a friend. She listened to our ideas, helped us to stay on track, and truly made my vision of my big day a reality. On the day of, I didn't have to worry about a thing, which allowed me to be truly present and enjoy every moment. That was probably the best gift of all!
I highly recommend Cathy for any wedding need. She is knowledgeable, incredibly responsive, and very well connected. She did an amazing job of providing referrals and securing vendors, many she has worked with in the past. Additionally, she is a reliable, understanding, and a kind person. She went above and beyond because she really cares. I'm so happy with the decision to hire her and that she is forever a part of this wonderful experience.”
“Cathy was everything we hoped for and more! We had our ceremony and reception at a venue that required us to bring everything in. We knew we wanted a day of coordinator, because we wanted to be able to enjoy our day/ weekend and not worry about communicating with all of vendors. Cathy made sure everything went smoothly and stepped in in more ways than I expected, including meeting with us many times over our planning process to touch base and give us advice for ANY questions we had. The day of she made sure we had everything we could possibly need including hot tools to touch up our hair that was flattened due to the fog, bustled my dress, and repaired my dress not once, but twice, when a button the buttons on my dress wouldn’t stay closed and my dress got stepped on and the bustle ripped! We can’t thank her enough for being the support we needed to make our day so special. Definitely recommend!”
“Whenever my husband and and I talk about our wedding we always say "thank goodness for Cathy"! If it wasn't for her and her team the day would not have run so smooth. We originally didn't plan on hiring a planner but I'm so happy we did. It was the best money we spent and would recommend everyone to hire a one. Better yet. hire Cathy! From the start she was organized, experienced, knowledgeable, and a problem solver. She had never worked at the venue we booked but that was not a problem, she jumped right in. We worked together on schedules, check lists, and contact lists. Because of her experience she had so many life saving tips that I would have never thought of. I was able to be involved during the entire process which helped ease the stress of planning. I could literally go on forever about all the wonderful experiences I had with Cathy. When someone loves what they do the way Cathy does everything becomes effortless with the most amazing outcome. And my wedding truly had an amazing outcome.”
Hiring Cathy was absolutely without a doubt the best thing we could have done for our wedding. At first we weren't sure we wanted to spend any of our limited budget on a day of coordinator- but we would have paid double what Cathy charged us for her excellent service. She helped us with everything- from what we knew we really needed help with, to what we didn't even know we didn't know- and she did it all gracefully, with good energy, close to immediate response time, and helpful and creative ideas and suggestions. She put us totally at ease through the planning process, and on our wedding day, did an absolutely fabulous job keeping everything running smoothly. I can't say enough good words about Cathy. Also, it is worth noting that we are a gay couple and did many slightly alternative things during the ceremony and reception. Cathy approached our ideas and desires with absolute kindness, and truly helped make our wedding day the best day of our lives.
“Cathy and Angie helped us with our wedding this past August. I don't even have to words to explain how AMAZING they were. They were supremely organized, on top of everything and wen't above and beyond. Cathy is a superhero in my book and I wish I could have her by my side through all of life. She was right there in the trenches with us and really knows her weddings. Above all else, she is one of the most kind and genuine people I have ever met. Again, it's hard to explain in words what a breathe of fresh air she was in what would have been a very stressful experience but I know she is the best out there.”
“Cathy was absolutely essential to wedding day - we could not have done it without her! My fiancé and I got engaged while living abroad in London...and we took on the task of planning a wedding back in NY. With family from the East Coast, the Midwest Canada and guests invited from the UK to Dubai…we knew it was going to be an undertaking! I wanted to find a trustworthy, organized and detail oriented planner to help me through the process - and Cathy fit the bill and then some! From the very beginning she kept us on track: creating a consistent call schedule, to do lists, inspiration boards, etc...she encouraged us the make our day special and unique and armed us with the tools we needed to do so. We were married outside and had the reception in a tented pavilion – the pavilion was essentially a blank slate and we needed to create the desired rustic/romantic aesthetic ourselves. Cathy was able to introduce us to amazing vendors and helped us to do just that. On the day of the wedding, when nerves were running high, Cathy was such a calming influence. She always was completely in control and allowed me to simply sit back and take in / enjoy the day. She kept the groomsman in check, made sure the whole bridal party was organized, the family had everything they needed – and everything went off without a hitch. She even planned out how to get my 2 year old flower girl down the aisle! Cathy and her team went over and above what we could have ever expected. “
