J29 Events Reviews
Reviews
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4.8 out of 5 rating
4.8 out of 5 rating
69 Reviews
96% recommend it
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![Hardeep]()
Hardeep U. Sent on 06/30/2024Sabrina/J29 was one of the best decisions made during our wedding journey
Words can’t describe how grateful and fortunate we were to come across Sabrina and have her as our wedding planner/coordinators. My now wife and I had a vision to create a weekend getaway in Hood River for our guests, including ones that had never been to the Pacific Northwest and have multiple events that included a day of Indian wedding festivities (Mhendi and Sangeet), followed up a day of western wedding while still paying homage to Indian culture. Sabrina took on the challenge, coordinated, designed and planned events across the weekend and delivered above and beyond our expectations. Sabrina’s strength is carefully listening on her client’s vision, learning our communication style, problem solving in high stressful environments and bring proactive. Sabrina is easy to get along, very approachable and each time we meet with her made us more excited for the big day. Sabrina was great at getting early inputs from us on the vibe and feel for the weekend and events we envisioned, and brought her own design inputs which uplifted the theme of our wedding to create an incredible experience for us and our guest. Her recommendation for us to host the Indian events at the Society Hotel and have all our guest stay there really simplified logistics and created a fun weekend for us and our guest. She even helped us secure room blocks for accommodating our guest even though the hotel was initially very resistant in doing so. My wife and I, being very literal, needed more visual cues to better understand how different designs would come together. Sabrina understood that and was quick at putting together design boards/decks to simplify brainstorming but then to see the final vision come together was above and beyond what we expected. After our initial meeting, Sabrina had a compressive plan in place, including a budget planner that we followed, allowing us to stay on course. As a groom, I was very much involved in the design process and what I appreciate about Sabrina was balancing inputs from my wife and I who at times had different design aesthetic. Instead of favoring one design input vs another, Sabrina was patient with us, dove into understanding what was important to us and curated design blends that in the end were exceptional and satisfied both my wife and I. Her ability to turn a boring and empty gym at the Society Hotel into an incredible space with Indian wedding aesthetic was incredible to experience and more importantly was significantly better than we would have imagined. Something I really appreciated about Sabrina was having periodic check-ins that were quick and to the point to continue to make progress on items that required our input. She gently nudged us when needed to close on decisions and kept us on budget and found great alternatives when something we wanted would exceed our budget. Instead of given us too many options, she would curate vendor based on our preferences she has learnt and design choices to 2-3 items that helped us avoid being overwhelmed with choices.
Sabrina’s problem-solving skills, coupled with her knowledge about the wedding industry, her designing skills, and network of vendors is an asset. For example, when we weren’t satisfied with the existing lighting at our venue, she was able to put together a plan with one of her vendors even though initially it appeared that adding more lights would be difficult. Similarly, as we struggled to find an Indian caterer, Sabrina worked with the catering team for the non-Indian event to work with us to put together an Indian menu that was impressive. The pool of recommended vendors that J29 has in its portfolio is an important asset. Because of Sabrina’s personal connections to various vendors, it felt that the entire vendor team was in-sync and knew each other’s rhythm. Another strength of Sabrina is how well she is organized to where my wife and I were never aware of all the work happening behind the scenes during the events and everything were smooth and according to the plans Sabrina laid out well in advance of the events. Sabrina and her team managed and coordinated with all the vendors and it and ensured the event went on as planned with all the backup plans in place just in case they were needed without hassle. It was quite impressive to see them all curate each event.
I would highly recommend Sabrina and the J29 team and will looking for more excuse to require their service in the future. Throughout this process my wife and I became great friends with Sabrina and were really grateful to have made the choice to work with her and the J29. -
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Emma Sent on 05/30/2024Vision, Heart, Spunk, Pure Excellence
Where to begin. If I could write vows to Sabrina and J29 Events, I would. My husband and I were on the cusp of hiring a different planner, and had even had an ideation/brainstorming session, but I happened to do one last phone call interview because why not. From that first phone call with Sabrina I immediately knew I had found the person and team that I would want with me throughout this process. We were aiming to put together a part-Western, part-Indian multi-day affair. We wanted it to be equal parts glamorous and cozy/laid back. We literally said “the vibe is Old Hollywood meets PNW organic and cozy.” Sabrina reveled in these contrasts and contradictions, and together we assembled an Indian-Western fusion wedding that dazzled every guest.
What was I looking for in the beginning? A team that was organized, reliable, and could help bring my vision to life. Someone who would run interference on my wedding day and help make sure things happened without a hitch. Did I get those things? Absolutely. Sabrina had every detail covered, helped me delegate every task, and had the most comprehensive planning document that she distributed to every vendor. Any person could have made sure things went to plan if she wasn’t able to be there, and I was able to hand that doc to our wedding party and all the little items magically happened (or if they didn’t, I didn’t notice). Vendors didn’t come to me with questions (and the one that did got a friendly but firm “please speak to me instead” from Sabrina). Thanks to her and the incredibly beautiful event that she helped us put together, we were 10000% present on our wedding day. So those are the things that the How-To-Pick-a-Planner articles say you should look for, and we got them in spades.
But man oh man, it’s the things that you don’t realize you need (or you think it might be shooting for the moon to ask for) that had me floored about working with Sabrina and J29.
One was the network. Sabrina and J29 are clearly well known within the event space for doing what they do with zest, gusto, and style. Every vendor we interviewed and worked with had amazing things to say about her, either from experience or from having heard incredible things and being eager to establish a relationship not just with us as customers but with her as a fellow vendor! (At one point I told her she should just go ahead and run for mayor of the greater PDX area). When we could not get response to emails or outreach calls, Sabrina had the connection (or knew a friend who knew someone) that helped us cut through the wedding industry red tape and get things booked. She knows the industry and the players like the back of her hand, and saved us HOURS of research by giving us as many options as we wanted and then helping us narrow down. (After the second time of me saying, ‘No please go ahead and give us your top 5-6 recommendations’ and then doing a bunch of interviews and research and arriving at the top two that she had originally recommended, I stopped asking for so many and started getting the perfect 2-3 vendor choices to make choosing a little easier). The team that we were able to assemble was sheer perfection. The catering was creative and delicious, delivering exactly the vibe and custom mouthwatering menu that we were hoping for. The flowers, after many many check-ins and discussions, were a delight. We were able to get a room block at a hotel that generally doesn’t do them during our wedding date. And the list goes on. All this to say, Sabrina and the J29 team are well-known, well-respected, and can get you connected to the team you need and want while not only saving you time, stress, and headache but actually making the process fun.
That’s the thing that really blew my now-husband and I away though - Sabrina herself. She is honestly Superwoman. Kind. Funny. Endlessly energetic. Did I mention funny? She had a way of speaking and doing that convinced me from the first phone call that “this is the person who will get sh** done” on my behalf. It’s like all the little details that my neurotic, type-A personality might have fretted about — Sabrina had already thought of them, and a solution or two up her sleeve, and was totally unphased. Any time we had doubts that we were being too fussy or particular, she would lovingly remind us that WE were “the pie,” and we deserved every drop of love we wanted to infuse. Every time I spoke to her I felt re-energized and excited for what we were building, even if I’d felt stressed before. She was the perfect salve to my procrastination when I wanted to avoid decisions. I couldn’t not pick up the phone when she called because every conversation was so fun. It wasn’t just Sabrina’s attitude though - she was also committed to making sure that both my personality and my partner’s were well represented and balanced throughout all the tiny details, from napkin color to DJ choice. She would help us talk through different opinions, getting to the heart of what mattered to both of us and offering creative, beautiful compromises that felt greater than the sum of their parts, and which made us both feel like our wedding was truly ours and nobody else’s.
A final thing I’ll mention is cost, but only because I read several reviews in the process of deciding to hire a planner that mentioned it and were very helpful to my decision. I read lots of great reviews about planners in which the reviewer said it was worth every penny - that hiring their planner was the best investment that they made in their wedding. I would triple down on this - hiring Sabrina and the J29 team was not only the best investment in our wedding, and one which I would make again in a heartbeat, but I honestly felt like what we got was so far above and beyond what we expected that we would have paid more. We had no idea the incredible creativity, knowledge, and execution that we were signing up for, and it was worth every penny we paid and then some. If you have the budget and are waffling at all on the topic of hiring a planner, or whether a few thousand dollars is really worth the difference, I am telling you that the ROI on J29 is huge — you will not regret this choice.
I could truly go on and on about Sabrina and the J29 team for hours (and all of my bridesmaids are probably sick of hearing me gush over her), so I’ll simply end with this: I could never imagine having thrown the amazing celebration that we did without Sabrina, and she really is the ride-or-die planner friend that people ache for. Our wedding was an actual dream come true and I firmly believe it would never have been as spectacular without her heart and know-how. She is our dear friend, she is our family. She has our hearts forever. -
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![Kim]()
Kim Sent on 10/06/2022Our dream wedding brought to life
To those doing their research on wedding coordinators and to those on the fence…J29 has our HIGHEST recommendation.
We got married on September 17th and I honestly don’t know what we would have done without Shauna and the J29 team. We hired them for full-service planning – which they describe as the ‘hand holding’ package on their website – and that’s exactly what it feels like. Planning a wedding can be incredibly stressful, but J29 took the stress out of the equation and actually made the entire process fun! We looked forward to every meeting and always left feeling accomplished and even more excited to see the vision Shauna was putting to life. We didn’t have to worry about making sure we had our bases covered because we quickly realized just how on their game J29 events is. And that’s saying something, because we are both type-A and very meticulous.
Throughout the planning process, Shauna was able to capture the vision of our ‘perfect wedding day’ through constant ad-hoc communication as well as in-depth scheduled meetings. She was responsive and addressed all of our calls, emails, and texts and after a few weeks, it felt like working with a close friend. She never once gave off a ‘close enough’ mentality; her high drive and attention to detail is palpable.
It doesn’t just take someone with the characteristics of a good planner to make a good planner. J29 is well connected in the industry – and they clearly only network with the best of the best. Every single referral that they gave us was tailored to our taste and highly talented at their own craft. We watched as J29 events curated a dream-team of vendors who made our wedding day look like something out of a dream.
As we got closer and closer to the wedding, the value of hiring J29 became more and more evident. And when the big day finally came, J29 events set themselves apart as the highest value-add to our wedding. Shauna & Sabrina were absolute machines. Their ability to coordinate 30 or so individuals from various vendor teams, overseeing & handling 200+ wedding guests and ensuring that we were sticking to our day-of timeline was so impressive.
As stressful as that job may sound, neither one of them wore it on their sleeves; every time they came into the bridal suites, they had smiles on their faces and made sure that there was a stress-free vibe in the room. What has been even more impressive is that they handled issues without us even knowing about them! We had only heard of the few tiny hiccups after our wedding. We left our wedding and in a paid-for car service. We came back the next day, and the planning team had taken our keys and packed up our car of all personal belongings that we left behind.
In hindsight, it is easy to look at the various things that we chose to do and not to do and decide if those things were worth it or not. Undoubtedly, hiring J29 Events was the single BEST decision we made in the wedding planning process. We give them our highest recommendation and have nothing but positive things to say about the team and the amount of work they put in for us. Anyone who hires them will surely be in good hands.
Thank you SO much to Shauna, Sabrina, and the entire J29 Events team! You made our wedding the best day of our lives and we are so grateful. We’ve gained friends for life and will forever recommend J29 to any and all couples! -
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Leayh A. Sent on 10/02/2022Amazing Experience!
J29 was a wonderful company to work with while we planned our intimate wedding ceremony! We were so lucky to work with Gabby who helped two, often indecisive, people create a memorable intimate ceremony and reception. Gabby was a great resource, and was able to find us an outstanding catering option that met a variety of dietary needs and tastes, as well as work well with all our other vendors. She was invaluable day of at our ceremony, and had everything running so smoothly. We had a unique set of wishes for our day, and I was completely confident that everything was in good hands with J29 and Gabby! Thank you for everything!
Photo credit to Zoe with The Foxes Photography. -
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![Natasha]()
Natasha M. Sent on 08/02/2022My wedding would have FAILED without this team!
Let me start this review off by saying if I didn't have Lois and the J29 team the day of my wedding it would have been an absolute chaotic mess lol. Honestly do not know what I would have done without them...
This is gonna be a long review so buckle up, but I'll start by explaining that I am an extremely Type A personality. I am also an art director and a photographer so planning aesthetic and photo worthy sets is my expertise... that being said.. planning an actual 100 person event in a completely different state in a tiny little town that I was not familiar with was a whole new challenge. I wanted to be super hands on with every detail (and there were A LOT of details) so instead of a full time planner I decided to plan mostly on my own and just get a day of coordinator so that I wouldn't have to deal with any stress the day of. I will say when I reached out to J29 I was skeptical just because I didn't understand what I was paying for because I thought "how hard could just the day of be, and I was doing most of the work anyway, right?" - WRONG (now looking back on this experience I WAS NAIVE AND IDK WHAT I WAS THINKING LOL)
I hopped on a call with Shauna and explained my wedding and she was able to match me with one of her girls who she thought would fit my personality and vibe - and that ANGEL SENT FROM ABOVE was Lois. Now Lois was only hired to be my "day of coordinator" but leading up to the event, my perfectly planned out wedding that I had been meticulously agonizing over for 2 years kinda hit the fan with a multiple important vendors dropping out and she would text me all hours of the day with recommendations and new ideas and ways of doing things which was WAY beyond what I ever expected from her and her team.
Our wedding was planned to be 100% outdoors and the venue had no backup plan - but of course the week of the wedding the weather shifted and a huge rain/wind storm came through not only leaving us scrambling for an impossible backup plan, but also with that type of weather we weren't allowed to use the majority of the venue space like we originally planned. My wedding was basically in the middle of nowhere and finding a tent that fit 100 people 4 days before the event was actually impossible, so Lois came up with a plan to do 5 smaller tents from different vendors and piece them all together to make like a mini festival vibe. We had to cram my entire venue layout into a small gravel square in the corner of the venue which was no small feat. One tent was the dinner tables, one tent was the dance floor, one tent was a lounge area, one tent was the bar, one tent had our vintage car in it, one area was a food truck, and one area was a giant white bounce house that I rented because why not! The literal fact that she was able to plan this all and pull this off successfully DAYS before the event is just baffling. I was having absolute sobbing meltdowns basically every day leading up to the wedding due to the complete 180 shift and not ONCE did Lois complain or have a negative attitude. Throughout this entire debacle she was SO POSITIVE and so helpful and honestly helped me stop crying most days from her amazing energy and positivity.
The day of the wedding was basically 10x worse weather than we could have ever expected. It was super foggy, torrential downpour, and 40mph sideways winds... I had a whole coffee truck setup for our wedding party to enjoy and because of the insane weather the generator wouldn't start. Lois went out of her way to get our entire wedding party coffee the morning of while we were getting ready because she knew how much I was looking forward to having that coffee truck! I literally almost cried, like WHAT?!
The morning of the wedding all of the tents they set up the night before had blown over so she was getting all of that situated - meanwhile trying to put together every single detail (I did A TON of DYI stuff lol) setting up in the wind and rain without bothering me a single time. Like I LITERALLY had no idea there was chaos happening at the venue she just handled everything like a freaking BOSS. I saw my dad later in the afternoon and he told me he had never seen a person work so hard in his entire life. My entire family was SOOOO impressed with how hard Lois was working, MULTIPLE people come up to me throughout the night asking where this lady came from she was just SO ON IT. From VERY early morning to VERY LATE at night she was always just getting it done I don't think she stopped moving a single moment. Whenever I needed something she just happened to be there! She was like my wedding fairy god mother and without her I know my wedding would not have been as amazing as it was.
I have a million more little stories and amazing things I could say about Lois and the J29 team but if you've made it this far into this review JUST BOOK THEM. It was worth EVERY SINGLE penny and then some. Without Lois I would have been an absolute crying stressed our mess in a chaotic wedding, instead I was blissfully unaware of anything and it was an absolute dream event. -
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Esther T. Sent on 01/06/2022
The best of the best!
We had the privilege of getting to work with the AMAZING Shauna with J29 events for our wedding. She is a delight to work with and we couldn't have asked for a better person to help create our vision. Her ability to be professional and detail-oriented makes her tremendously successful at what she does. This skillset was crucial as she helped us navigate the restrictions and constant changes with venue requirements with such ease. With every zoom conference call, email, phone call and in person venue walkthroughs the rehearsal, she made sure that we were moving right along in the planning process and would give great recommendations to help tie in all of the details.
My husband and I are so grateful for Shauna and the J29 events team! They made our wedding day vision come to life and helped us create a unique experience that tied in our culture and backgrounds. The day of the wedding went by smoothly and we are both well aware that it was because of Shauna skillfully juggling all of the pieces with the wedding timeline and vendors. We were able to fully enjoy the day without having to worry about a thing- it never once felt rushed or hectic! We can't wait to work with her for our next family event. THANK YOU! -
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Lindsey H. Sent on 08/23/2021
Jackpot Planner & Coordinator
Shauna and her team at J29 were incredibly supportive and their expertise of the wedding industry shined throughout the entire process. During planning I was a bit indecisive and overwhelmed, Shauna was attentive and asked the right questions to help lead me to a decision. Shauna excels at considering the couple holistically and made suggestions given our story, priorities and vision.
Without J29 I wouldn't have been referred the exceptional vendors we had for our wedding! Again, Shauna's attentiveness, knowledge and connections to various vendors was so invaluable. I cannot thank Shauna enough for all of her help during this process.
For the weeks leading up to the wedding, Lois was an all star and so thoughtful of details that would make the day of our microwedding effortless. Lois set up the most elegant and ethereal tablescape of my dreams! Everything about our microwedding was exactly what I envisioned and I am SO happy to have had J29's help! I would book with them again and again! My husband and I have had multiple conversations discussing how thankful we are for booking with J29. Thank you, thank you, thank you Shauna, Lois & J29 team! -
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April Sent on 07/20/2021The Best of the Best
I was J29's first COVID wedding in October 2020. They did an amazing job and that is an understatement. I honestly believe that their involvement is why my wedding day went so flawless. I got the Month of Planner package, and it was the best money I spent, even my husband agrees. Both Shauna and Sabrina were in constant contact with me making sure I was aware of all the daily changes and requirements having to do with COVID, as well as keeping me on task as a bride to ensure my vision was being executed. J29 went above and beyond with making sure to pick up the ball where my venue had dropped it. They were proactive with informing my venue of the regulations as they changed. J29 really wanted to make sure I got the wedding I wanted even amid a global pandemic.
There is just so much that this team did that I have to list it: I live out of state and they were able to tour my venue for me therefore saving me a long road trip, went to the store when I forgot pins for my runner, made sure the venue was following CDC guidelines, kept in contact with the mayor's office to try and get ahead of any changes that would affect my wedding day, helped me change my shoes in the middle of the wedding, decorated the venue while I got ready and I didn't have to find friends and family to help, suggested great vendors, dealt with all of my vendor drama, read all my contracts and highlighted the important items I may have missed, stayed with me until I walked down the aisle and kept a positive environment.
The biggest saving grace was their ability to assist my venue, my venue was just so lost and had no clue. J29 stepped up and really got them together and they worked hard with having 2 to 3 a day communication with my venue 3 months out. J29 was just so amazing and is the best planner I could have asked for. Thank you, Shauna and Sabrina.
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Kaylee D. Sent on 11/18/2019Incredible Experience - Highly Recommend!
Where do I begin with J29? From their detailed orientated minds, to their sweet personalities you cannot go wrong with hiring the J29 team for any event you may be throwing! I had the pleasure of working alongside the team while helping plan my sister’s wedding. The wedding was nothing short of incredible! The correspondence with the team leading up to the wedding, the walk through meetings we had, rehearsal practice and the wedding day were incredible, and we owe a lot of that to the J29 team. Thank you J29 for taking the pressure off our family to help make the wedding as perfect as it was! It was truly a pleasure to work alongside you guys, I hope that more opportunities present themselves so we are able to do it again. Cheers! -
Shannon A. Sent on 09/30/2019
Amazing Destination wedding Experience
Shauna was incredible to work with. We decided to have a destination wedding, booking everything sight-unseen. Shauna put me at ease throughout the whole process and helped weigh-in and direct me while still allowing my aesthetic to come through. She made the entire wedding a cohesive experience which our guests are STILL raving about and in fact we have two couples who attended, request our vendor names because they enjoyed the wedding so much. It was the best experience and as someone in the event industry who handles events and different vendor personalities frequently, I do not give my endorsement lightly but Shauna and J29 Events have gone above and beyond & absolutely earned it. -
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![Lacey]()
Lacey Sent on 05/29/2014Shauna/J29 Events made the first day of my forever with my husband so enchanting! She took what my husband and I wanted and brought it to another level. I didn't have to worry about anything! Shauna was great at communicating, organizing and made sure our wedding day had no bumps in the road! Our guests were beyond impressed with the detailing and how romantic the atmosphere was! I felt like I was right in the middle of my own fairy tale. The package we had fit us perfectly! I didn't want to have to be too involved and I trusted that Shauna would handle everything and she lived up to those expectations!
