Pennyrella Weddings

Penny was the best investment we made in our wedding because not only did she help me find the best vendors and negotiated prices for me so I got some fantastic deals but she also always went above and beyond what the contract said. That means a lot to a very nervous and stressed out bride. She was a friend first. She got me organized. Did timelines for my vendors and bridal party. She got us through the rehearsal and kept a great sense of humor through it all.

On the day of the wedding, she made sure the day went smoothly and took care of all the venue decorations so it all looked how I wanted it to look.

- My bridesmaids and I were up and ready to go at 9am. Penny made sure my hair and makeup people were there and on time.

- She called and checked in on us in the morning to make sure all was going well with us getting ready.

- When she arrived she came up to our room to check on us again. We were starving and had not had a chance to eat and she pulled out some breakfast bars and passed it out to everyone! Major lifesaver.

- At noon we went to get our photos taken and Penny made sure that we would not accidentally bump into the guys. Major cloak and dagger stuff. :)

- We had a bit of a hiccup because my grandparents were running late to the ceremony (they were lost) so Penny kept the guests happy and made sure we got caught up on the timeline later on in the day. That was a bit stressful but she really helped to make sure we stayed calm.

- Another major thing was that I really liked the other vendors she referred us to. It made a big difference to be surrounded by people who have a good sense of humor are calm people and jump in to help out when needed. I noticed that it really created a very pleasant and calming atmosphere in the middle of the hecticness(is that a word?) of a wedding day.

- In the middle of the reception, I noticed that I was having a hard time breathing because my wedding dress was a little too tight ( I should have bought one size larger but thought I would lose more weight). Anyway, Penny was nice enough to go up to the room with me and help me find an appropriate dress to change into since I had not planned for this. I was a little upset about having to change but it ended up well.

- At the end of the night she collected all of our gifts and took them back to our room and when we finally went up to our room we were surprised with a very nicely decorated room with lots of pretty petals, a bottle of champagne, candles etc.. she even took my bouquet and some of the extra favors and used them to decorate the room which gave it a personal touch I thought.

- And her fee was lower than many other planners I interviewed, but honestly I would have paid more for her in retrospect. She was worth it. There was so much going on on the wedding day that it made a difference having somebody there who was looking out for me and what I wanted.

Penny has been great so far. I will update after my wedding in April but have 100% faith in her to do an excellent job because she has been fabulous so far. We loved her at our first meeting and booked her right away. She was the first vendor we actually booked. And since then she has kept me organized and calm. She contacts me all the time to see if I need anything. She sends me checklists so I dont forget anything. I am constantly bugging her with my million emails for advice and she gets back to me right away and has really helped me out with her tips. She gave me some great vendor referrals. I love everyone I booked. I had no clue as to what colors to go with and what kind of decor I should do and she sent me hundreds of photos and ideas and advice and really helped me narrow it all down till I found just the right combo of colors, flowers and linens. I am glad I found her. I would have been a basket case trying to do this by myself without her.

We could not have gotten through any of the planning and wedding day without Penny. She was wonderful. We met her last year and booked her for full planning and she discussed my wedding with me and put all of my thoughts, ideas and information into her laptop which made me feel like I was being taken care of by someone who is very organized. She listened to my ideas and answered all of my questions and really brought to life everything that I asked for and had dreamed of. I was probably her most annoying brides and kept sending her tons and tons of emails with all kinds of questions big and small and she always replied quickly and put my mind at ease. She introduced me to a great group of vendors that I hired who helped make my day a smooth one and that was very important. She kept me on schedule with checklists and I really needed that during this whole year of planning. On the day of, she and her assistant really took care of us and our guests and made sure that we were happy and the events went smoothly and on time. I really couldn't ask for more and she has become more than just my coordinator. She really became a friend.

Penny did a wonderful job with our wedding. We couldn't have gotten through the wedding day without her. She made sure the flow was perfect and the guests were happy. She went above and beyond her job description and jumped in and helped out wherever she was needed. She also helped me a lot during the planning process with vendor referrals, timelines, advice etc....Her prices were affordable and on top of everything she is really sweet. I reccomend her highly.

We hired Penny from Pennyrella Weddings for the full planning coordination and I gotta say that she did a great job. She kept me sane during the planning process and helped me find all of our vendors and dresses etc...and they all ended up being great referrals. I wouldnt know where to start without her. She was very organized which is good since I was totally not organized!

She answered my emails right away which made me feel secure knowing she was on top of everything.

During the rehearsal she took charge and organized my bridal party, which is pretty hard to do and taught us all where to go and what to do with her trusty clipboard in hand. :) Those timelines she made really helped out on the day of.

I received comments from a few of our vendors about how they enjoyed working with her and that is always a plus.

Also, I have to add that Penny decorated our hotel room and it was out of this world!! I cant tell you how gorgeous it was!! There were rose petals everywhere, champagne, candles etc.... It was so nice to come to that at the end of a very very long day.

And last but not least, she gave us a very sweet wedding gift and card.

All in all, she was money well spent and I can't say that for the honeymoon we went on (Carnival Cruise.....yuck!!).........but that's another story :)

We originally hired Penny as a DOC but she did much more than that for us. She was more of a friend who cared about our wedding rather than a person we hired and that is what impressed us the most.

First of all, she was very organized and sent us monthly to do lists so we wouldnt forget anything and helped us with any questions or concerns we had. On the big day, she was a real super woman taking care of us, our guests, the vendors and making sure the flow of the wedding went smoothly.

She set up the ceremony and reception area just as we envisioned it and had asked her to do and it was really beautiful. I liked that she listened to what I wanted and did it.

I noticed her continuosly checking on my guests asking how they were doing and if there was anything they needed. She even jumped in and got some of our friends some cocktails.

Unfortunatly, one of our guests cut herself pretty badly and Penny had her first aid kit which was a Godsend.

My mom spilled some wine on her dress and Penny took care of it with her stain remover in her bag. That made my Mom happy, which made me happy :)

She just seemed like she was prepared for any situation and that made us feel very confident.

All in all, she was a great find for us. My guests loved her and one couple actually hired her for their 2008 wedding which was nice to hear.

My wife (Jonnie) and I both feel that Penny did a fabulous job for our wedding! She really knows how to take control of wedding planning and make it in to a beautiful occasion that my wife and I will always remember and cherish forever. Not too mention that that she saved us a ton of money (what I really liked) by vender referrals and tips and tricks. My wife loved the peace of mind that she had when it came to our special day and she knew that we both could relax and enjoy it without a care in the world.
I highly recommend her services to everyone.

We initially decided to go with Penny because she was very affordable compared to other vendors in the area. My husband met with her in person and felt she was very well prepared, personable, and willing to work with us to make sure our wedding day was everything we wanted it to be.

Overall, our experience with Penny was mixed. Ultimately, she did a really good job the day of the wedding, but the days leading up to the wedding were stressful... so the good and the bad evened out to somewhere in the middle.

Examples:

GOOD: At the ceremony, Penny did a great job of making sure all the guests had programs, that the processional was timed properly, etc.
BAD: Leading up to the wedding we often were often asked questions multiple times by Penny and felt that we had to repeat ourselves with certain things. Wedding details during the final venue walkthough, ceremony and reception components, and vendor contract terms were all things we had to repeatedly remind her of.

GOOD: In the months prior to the wedding, Penny was very good about sending general checklists to keep us on track.
BAD: Until the actual week of the wedding, Penny was very hard to get ahold of personally, including when it came time to schedule our final walkthrough with the venue. She mentioned that she had a full-service and very demanding client that she just took on, and at times it felt as if priority was being given to that client, even two weeks prior to our wedding. Then, three days before the wedding, she sent dozens of e-mails to my husband to double check on details that should have been ironed out previously.

GOOD: During the reception, Penny went around and made sure all the guests were comfortable and had everything they needed.
BAD: During the final venue walkthrough, Penny often seemed to be playing catch up. The restaurant's coordinator, me, my husband, and my husband's parents were all there and as we were going over everything, Penny would have to stop and ask a question that was either answered previously, or could have been found in the contract she had been sent prior to the meeting. She also pushed us for certain things that we didn't want. We were very clear about not wanting an open bar, but she suggested it two or three times during the meeting.

GOOD: At the reception, Penny helped identify people who shouldn't be driving home and made sure everyone got home safe. She also did a really great job making sure the venue was set up prior to the wedding, and that everything was cleaned up, packed up, and got where it needed to be after the wedding.
BAD: The timeline was our biggest issue with Penny. My husband sent out a timeline to all the vendors the week of the wedding, after realizing that hadn't been done yet. A day later, Penny sent out her own timeline to all the vendors, which was completely different than what all the vendors had agreed on. Penny admitted the mistake to my husband, but not to the vendors she sent her timeline to. When my husband sent another e-mail to clarify the confusion, she told him that the timeline was her responsibility and she couldn't be held responsible if anything went wrong as a result of my husband handling it. My husband only had to handle it (and other tasks) as a result of other vendors calling us to say that our coordinator was difficult to work with and that they were confused because she had given them different information than they had discussed with us previously.

GOOD: Penny was great about getting everybody transitioned smoothly from the ceremony to the cocktail hour, to the reception.
BAD: Penny made several comments that made us feel as if she wasn't particularly concerned with our event. In conversations, she would say things like that she wasn't worried about being able to handle our event because it was only seventy guests... or that she had a client who purchased her full services who was keeping her busy. Overall it just felt like when she made comments like that, she didn't feel as if our event warranted her full attention or concern.

GOOD: Penny sent us a very nice wedding gift after the wedding, which added a personal touch to her services.
BAD: When we were trying to find a videographer (a vendor we decided to add later), we asked Penny for recommendations and while she was very considerate in cashing in a favor and getting them to meet our price, she also assumed we were going to go with them without yet meeting them. So when we found a different vendor, Penny told us that her vendor had already turned down another job because of us and that it was an uncomfortable position she was put in, canceling on a vendor doing her a favor. While we understood her position, we also felt that she should have checked with us before telling a vendor we never met to turn down other clients because we would book them.


Overall, Penny did some things right and some things wrong. There were a lot of issues prior to the wedding, but at the same time we couldn't have pulled off our wedding on the day of without her. Except for some tense moments prior to the wedding, she was very friendly, very positive, and emphasized that she wanted us to have the day we dreamed of.

After hiring her but prior to our own wedding, my husband recommended Penny to a co-worker of his who was getting married six weeks before us. Overall, he was satisfied with her services... and the eight other clients reviewing her on this site have nothing but good things to say about her, so maybe we had our wedding during a busy time for Penny or when she wasn't quite on her game... because our experience was less positive than everyone else seemed to have, and I don't think we were particularly demanding or difficult clients.

Penny was the best!!
Price is great!!!
Service great!!!!
Follow-up was great.
Detail and organize.

We would be lost without Penny!!

SUPER PENNY TO THE RESCUE!!!

With twenty minutes to go before showtime, our Best Man informs my husband that he, somehow, someway, lost the wedding ring!! In a panic they both went to Penny for help. After a desperate search, she ended up finding it on the ground next to Best Man's car with a minute to spare. Thank God my husband was smart enough not to tell me any of this until well into our honeymoon!

No wedding is without some issues, but Penny is a consummate professinal. She was able to resolve problems gracefully and tactfully.At the same time she was able to make everyone feel comfortable and happy. She was extremely organized. Penny, if you ever read this, on top of everything you were so fun to be with. Everyone adored you. My only regret is that I didn't have you as my Bridesmaid!! My wedding turned out to be the best day of my life. No exaggeration. It wouldn't have been anywhere near possible without you. Of course our Best Man(my husband's brother) would be dead and buried somewhere by me if it weren't for you!!

Penny was instrumental in making our wedding day perfect. We hired her last year for our August 2007 wedding and she listened to what we wanted and then took charge of the details. She found us wonderful vendors and really went above and beyond in every aspect. She always responded promptly to my million emails and answered my questions and gave fantastic advice. On the day of the wedding, she had everything under control and made sure all of our guests were happy. We had two emergencies: first one was when my maid of honor ripped the side of her dress on the car door and Penny came to the rescue with her trusty bridal emergency kit and sewed it up for her. And the second emergency was when I realized I forgot my garter at the hotel and Penny pulled out a brand new garter from her kit! That was amazing to me. She actually kept extra garters! Anyway, Penny you really made our wedding.

I hired Pennyrella to coordinate my wedding and it was the best investment I could have made. Penny really listened to me and met my needs on my budget, she gave me a day dreams are made of- still brings tears to my eyes to think about! Thanks Pennyrella!

Penny Ryan did a great job for our may 07 wedding. She reduced a lot of our stress, was detailed orientated, had great practical sugestions, and was very reliable and affable.

If you are looking for a professional wedding planner in the Sacramento or Los Angeles area… look no further. Pennyrella Weddings is the place to call. Penny is truly top-notch and always an honor to work with.

Her attention to details… Flawless.
Her depth of resources… Never ending.
Her commitment to her clients… Priceless.

Rest assured, you will make a sound decision to book Penny as your Wedding planner for your special day! With confidence, we sincerely look forward to working on future wedding events with Penny!