Five Grain Events

Deciding to use a wedding coordinator for the day of our wedding was one of the best decisions we made during the planning process. I wasn't sure, at first, that we would need one since our venue had a coordinator assigned to our event, but after talking with Joan (a trusted friend) she was able to help us see all of the little details that you just don't think about when you first start planning. We had two meetings before the big day where we went through a 6-7 page list of all of the things she needed from us to make sure everything went off without a hitch. It seemed like a lot at the time, but being able to give her all of the info ahead of time left me free to enjoy the day instead of fretting over all of the little things that sneak up on you in the last couple of weeks. Joan was very prompt, organized, calm, and collected throughout the whole day and I literally didn't have to worry about a thing. At the end of the night she packed up everything and made sure it got sent home with me and my family so we were able to say goodbye to all of our guests instead of rushing around. I would hire her again in a heartbeat!

f you are looking for an extremely capable wedding planner with a fantastic personality, your search will most definitely end with Joan of Five Grain Events. We hired Joan as our day-of coordinator for our wedding last July, and we could not be happier with our choice. Joan is well organized, knowledgeable, proactive, funny and sweet as can be. I stood up in many weddings before my own, and I've seen firsthand just how difficult some planners can be to work with. Joan was just the opposite. She certainly crossed all of her T's and dotted her I's, but she was also funny, warm and a pleasure to be around. For a bride, a wedding day can be quite stressful, but because of Joan's hard work behind the scenes, the day was perfect! Joan's services are also quite reasonably priced. We only used her "day-of" services, but that included so much more than getting everything set the day of the wedding. She suggested vendors, met with us a couple times before the wedding, as well as answered many phone calls and emails. She also contacted the entire bridal party a couple weeks before the wedding, to let them know how everything would be playing out during the wedding weekend. She ran our rehearsal, and coordinated all of our vendors to make the actual wedding day seamless. Joan is AMAZING, and you would be lucky to have her with you on (and before) your special day!

Joan at Five Grains was the absolute best. Through all the planning she was calm, encouraging, funny, helpful, attentive, and organized. She also took on extra little projects for us whenever we needed something on an a la carte basis. On the weekend of the wedding she coordinated all the players and the details so beautifully that the event felt absolutely seamless and perfect. An example of her attention: We had two entrances to our reception hall. Expecting guests to arrive at the front entrance, we placed the escort cards along with a card box and menu stand where we thought they'd arrive. Surprisingly, the guests used the back entrance to our hall and when Joan saw them approaching, she and her assistant Sarah quickly moved the whole escort card tableau to the other side before there was any confusion! Both my husband and I had total confidence in her abilities and we give her our highest recommendation.

We had a fabulous experience with Joan, Sarah, and Five Grain Events. Sarah was our coordinator and she made mt feel so comfortable and relaxed teh day of our wedding. We had an evening ceremony (6:30pm) and the reception immediately following so I was very nervous about time. Sarah just ran everything and if something went a little off I had no idea! She worked very well with our other vendors, she was respectful and professional and I felt good about her representing us and our families. I would highly recommend Five Grain Events!

Joan is absolutely awesome! Initially, I (Husband) was pretty skeptical about hiring a wedding planner. I mean, we have the internet, right? Ohhh boy, was I wrong. Joan is probably the best thing that happened besides actually getting married. Her professionalism, is top flight. She made the whole process so much more enjoyable...and kept us sane. Joan's in-depth knowledge of planning/vendors/venues/etc. helped us not only remain on track time-wise, but also aided in focusing what WE actually wanted out of our wedding. She is easy to work with and super-flexible. Joan is pretty much a wedding-planning ninja. I mean, she is on top of EVERYTHING! Change in venue? No problem. What? No Guinness on draft? Fixed. Power outage? Fixed (we didn't even know about this one until after the wedding). Joan made our wedding memorable for all the right reasons. We unreservedly recommend her.

I honestly could not have made it through my wedding planning and wedding day without Joan and her amazing team! Joan was extremely professional and also down to earth. She was so organized from start to finish and made the planning process so easy. We worked with her for about 2 month before the wedding and she made sure that we were all set for the big day. She attended our rehearsal to make sure everyone was on track, which really helped! On the day of the wedding, Joan or one of her staff was with me the entire time. It was like having my own private damage control team! From start to finish, Joan and her team were taking care of every small detail, which made the wedding day very easy for us, our family, and our friends. My other vendors were extremely impressed with Joan and plan to refer her to future brides. If you are looking for a full out coordinator or just a day of coordinator, Five Grain Events is the way to go!

We were really pleased with Joan's services for our wedding. We hired her to coordinate all the day-of stuff. We met with Joan three times before the day of the event. I really felt she had a great handle on everything that needed to be done. She made great suggestions when necessary, but also listened to everything that I had to say. All of my friends and family were really impressed by her services too. She really made it so that my mom, my husband, and I did not need to worry about anything that day. We knew she had it all under control.

I would recommend Joan to ANYONE. She is so organized, consistent, responsive and professional. She was a joy to work with and was calm, cool and collected on the day of the wedding. She handled any problems that arose immediately and without me even knowing. She made sure everything went smoothly which is not a small feat for a wedding of just under 400 people! Joan is building a great reputation in the industry and is truly an asset to anyone looking for assistance for Day of Planning or full service. She exceeded our expectations over and over again!

Our florist (Fleur) recommended Five Grain Events, and I can't thank Kelly Marie enough! Leading up to the wedding, Sara took on all communication with our vendors, and even helped negotiate a couple issues with our site that came up - resolving them in our favor! She was great about keeping us on task and organized, and helped us think about little details that hadn't even crossed my mind. Her help the day of the wedding was most valuable to us, though. Being able to just enjoy the day without worrying about how everything was being handled was priceless. Knowing I had an "advocate" of sorts to help make quick decisions on the fly, keeping our best interests in mind and the stress away from us, helped all of us just relax and enjoy the day. Would highly recommend these lovely ladies in a heartbeat - they're fantastic!

If there was ONE thing I would suggest to any bride after my experience, it would be HIRE A COORDINATOR! It wasn't until about 3 months until our wedding when my florist suggest that we hire a Day-of-Event Coordinator and pointed me in the direction of Five Grain Events. Thank you, god, for this nugget of wisdom and irreplaceable help! My husband and I got married at a venue which was not connected to a hotel or banquet hall--we had to bring everything in--so this was even more absolutely necessary. But I had never been married before and could not have predicted that I would benefit greatly from the services of a polished, detail-oriented coordinator. So this is when Five Grain Events brought Sara Balsom into my life. She was incredible. She jumped right in. She handled EVERYTHING. She was available to me all the time. She took over when I couldn't, when I felt overwhelmed, she just picked up everything off of my shoulders and HANDLED it. I don't know what I would have done without her. She was very professional, detail-oriented, insightful, inquisitive, and did not miss a beat. If I could give her and Five Grain 10 stars, I would! The money for this service was very well-worth it. I am not kidding. The day of my wedding, I didn't have to worry about a thing. What did she do specifically, you ask??? Well... Coordinated communication with all vendors Developed wedding weekend and day-of timelines for groomsmen, bridesmaids, me, and all vendors (individually) Met with me in person to go over her and my questions Emailed with me back and forth constantly Attended walk-thru meetings at the venue Facilitated the rehearsal Handled questions I had for vendors Coordinated and developed the Ceremony, Cocktail Hour, and Reception timeline with every detail covered (i.e. speeches, certain songs, special requests, when desserts would come out, and on and on) Developed Plan B if it was raining and we couldn't do the ceremony outside Set up all the decorations for the Reception (including gift table, favor table, candles, lights, etc.) Took home the things we couldn't fit in my parents' car after the wedding and held it until after we got home from our honeymoon And much more...I could be here for days writing it all... I mean, Sara was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I consider myself extremely lucky to have found her and Five Grain Events. FANTASTIC SERVICE and EXTREMELY VALUABLE!!!

Five Grain Events was MORE than helpful throughout the whole planning process. They were so organized in the begining when we were sorting out which vendors to look at. They always made sure to keep what we wanted on our special day in mind. We were more than happy with the service we received on the day of. Everyone knew where to be and when and if there were any changes they were communicated clearly to all parties. Our day remained stress free the entire time which allowed us to have an amazing time. Five Grain is very passionate about what they do and I would recommend them to anyone looking for a stress free wedding day. You will be in good hands!!

Weddings can be some of the most joyous and stressful times in life. Truly, having someone that is highly organized, directive yet still has a warm personality, and someone who will find the often overlooked details, like Joan, from Five Grain Events can make all the difference. I couldn't recommend her or her company more.