Word On The Street

About 3 months before my wedding, I realized I needed some MAJOR help. I had been planning my wedding on my own and was completely overwhelmed. Stressed out, I contacted Megan who was able to meet with me the NEXT day. She showed up to our meeting with her IPad in hand. I was beyond speechless when I realized that within 24 hours, she had already prepared an inspiration board for me that included color scheme, linen suggestions, decorations for the reception, flower ideas, and even what color tux the groomsmen should wear! I was shocked. We had never met in person and she had put together the wedding I never knew I wanted. I work in fashion and I will never forget her comment….. “Think of your reception like an outfit, you want everything to go together but you don’t want to be too matchy matchy”. Yes! I knew right then we would be a perfect match.

On several occasions, Megan went personal shopping for me to get items needed to create our special day. Her vendor recommendations were fantastic, I loved every vendor she suggested. She kept me on track with a to-do list and took on several tasks herself. She was flexible and worked around my crazy work schedule. Because of Megan, I had the wedding of my dreams. During the whole process I felt like I was her only bride (which I know was not the case). She responded to all my emails and phone calls immediately. Megan was always calm and always had a solution to any problem.

I was completely relaxed the day of the wedding. I was able to enjoy spending the day with my bridesmaids and family. It was the best feeling ever.

Our reception was held in a large ballroom but I didn’t want the space to look like a ballroom. Megan took care of every last detail. My jaw literally dropped when I saw what she had put together. Unbelievable! Our guests were impressed as well. They raved about the space and many said that our wedding was the best they had ever been to. Our wedding was PERFECT thanks to Megan!

I would recommend Events in the City to any bride-to-be. I promise they are worth it!

We had last minute changes in the guest count that she was very flexible in helping us with keeping it all going smoothly with bumping up linen orders and working with the florist…our decor was breath taking and we are receiving nothing but great compliments…my hubby called her our David Tutera…can’t blame him! thanks so much for an unforgettable journey!! “

I really just wanted to thank you again for EVERYTHING! We just loved working with the you throughout the whole wedding planning process. You are truly such a delightful and gracious young lady, that we feel so blessed to have worked with and come to know. I so hope someone can so the same for you with your upcoming wedding! I felt like everything went beautifully and Katy and I truly could relax and enjoy the actual wedding day, all thanks to you! Also, please tell Emily again how much she helped—-talk about a lifesaver! (Can you believe little 2year old Brooks actually pulled it off!). Anyway, I could go on and on, but really just can’t thank you enough. The wedding was perfect in Katy and Rob’s eyes, so what more can we ask for! – Barbara Kirk, Mother of the Bride

From what we saw and much to my relief there was no damage anywhere! So I guess I was overreacting the whole time. I’ll definitely write a review and hope to post some pictures on wedding wire if that’s possible so everyone can see how pretty you made everything seriously, I am still in awe about all those little details that I had been working on and seeing how you put it together better than I could have thought. You saw my vision and made it better! Thanks again so much and hope to see you soon!

Laura made this special event for us stressless and seamless. Her motto to us was that we were to feel like “guests” at our own daughters’ wedding and that truly happened. She takes your wedding on as if it were her own, so it felt very personal to us.
PRICELESS,PRICELESS, PRICELESS………..

The Guinter’s

PS: Friends told me what a nightmare they had and couldn’t enjoy the day….NOT US! Events in the City you are the BOMB!

Laura pretty much recommended every single one of our vendors, and each one came through without a hitch. That’s a testament to her vast knowledge of great vendors that can work within your budget without sacrificing value or service standards. She made us feel like we had absolutely nothing to worry about on our wedding day except getting married…. as it should be.

Perfect execution, we’d get married every year if it meant getting to work with Events in the City… Problem is, we’re too perfect for each other to ever get divorced!

We got great feedback and everyone – the execution of everything was outstanding (flow, décor, vendors, etc etc) and, most importantly, all the guests seemed to have a really fun time. Thanks for making our wedding truly special and pulling it all together! Such a blast. Rest assured we’ll be spreading the word about you and Events in the City.

So not to appear biased, it’s worth mentioning that my family relocated to Texas when Laura was young, and our paths have not crossed much since then; until last year, when again they converged.

It was no surprise that Laura was a successful planner, but it was serendipitous that my daughter, Katie, was being married in Virginia, not Texas! Once reconnected, Laura and Katie did not skip a beat; it was clear from the get-go, Laura, and her company Events in the City, would help Katie plan her wedding

It’s hard to be in Texas when your daughter’s planning a wedding in Virginia; there is a lot you miss; trips to the florist, designing the ambiance, sharing the excitement and joy that goes along with planning. But then, we had Laura.

A fire cracker, rock star, and angel, all rolled into one, Laura partnered with Katie in a way that made me feel included. What resulted was the “Wedding of All Weddings…My Daughter’s Wedding.” It was magical, beautiful and seamless. With 250 guests, 16 (maybe more) vendors, a sit-down dinner and dance at a beautiful venue, Lansdowne Resort, Laura was the force behind the scenes that made it just perfect.

She offers expert advice, while allowing you to choose; she is direct, and yet discreet; she is quietly efficient, leaving no stone unturned; her ultimate goal is for the bride and groom to shine on their wedding day, and for the Mother of the Bride to share the joy, and delight in the day.

Laura Ritchie is the consummate professional; her state-of-the-art phone is an appendage. When you need her, or just want her, she’s there; it’s as though you are her only client (NOT)!

Laura is a beautiful woman, a wonderful wife, a loving mom and an incredible friend. Laura Porto Ritchie, and Events in the City, is who you want to help plan your wedding! –Mother of the Bride

To say that Laura Ritchie, Events in the City, is an incredibly creative, kind, spunky, AMAZINGLY ORGANIZED wedding planner is an understatement. If that doesn’t say enough… throughout the journey of planning our wedding, she became a part of the family.

Laura’s amazing network throughout the DC and NOVA area made it incredibly easy to find vendors that I could work with and could trust to make my wedding beautiful. At every detail, Laura offered sound advice that led to a unique style to make our wedding timeless, elegant, but freaking awesome all at the same time.

Laura was on top of everything… if I had a question about anything, she was a phone call away with a wealth of information.

On the day of the wedding, Laura took care of everything. I was able to drink mimosas, spend time with my bridesmaids and family, and I had complete trust in her that everything would come together… and it did.

From the bottom of my heart, I would not change a thing about my wedding day and a huge thanks goes out to Laura Ritchie and Events in the City DC. THEY ARE INCREDIBLE! -Bride

I can’t even tell you how many people told us and our parents that our wedding was the best wedding they had ever been to, and you both played such a big part of that.

Many people also commented that the wedding looked like it came out of a magazine. I think everyone, including us, was so blown away but how amazing it looked, and how every little detail was thought out. The game table was such a huge hit, not only with the kids we had (this helped occupy them so well and I think they had a blast!!!), but also all of us “big kids.”

As Drew can attest, I have been a crazy person throughout this whole planning process, and yesterday I was so calm, relaxed and happy, nothing could have fazed me knowing that you two were taking care of everything. Thank you so much for helping with the dramas we knew about, as well as any others we might not have noticed. It was truly the most wonderful wedding we could have possibly had; the only downside was that it of course went too quickly.

We just cannot thank you enough for all you did. I only wish we knew people getting married here soon so we could refer them to you! Thank you again, you two are just amazing, we don’t know what we would have done without you yesterday and throughout the planning.

When I walked into the ball room for our introductions my jaw dropped! The room was exactly what I had envisioned. In fact, it may have even exceeded my expectations. The good far out weighed anything bad that happened that day. If there were any snafus, I was oblivious to them. Everyone stated that it was the most BEAUTIFUL wedding and the most fun wedding they had ever been to. I’ve watched thousands of wedding shows over the years and now I’ve had a wedding show of my own. This was absolutely 100% the wedding of my dreams and I have you to thank for that. I would recommend Events in the City any day of the week and I plan to do exactly that.

I’m honestly sad that it’s all over with now. Megan I truly can’t thank you enough so I hope that you can see how thankful I truly am. I will send you a link to the professional pictures as they come in. My photographer has sent me a few samples to hold me over as she continues to work on them. But, so far they are absolutely beautiful.

As far as the wedding day itself, it couldn’t have gone more smoothly. Megan was always there to tell us where we were needed. She made sure that everything was on schedule and that we got time to get all of the pictures we wanted. The day went by in such a blur, I have no idea how we would have managed without Megan’s direction!

To start, you were always available – at all hours – to answer questions; you listened to what I was hoping for but made it 100 times better!!!! Thank you for all the personal touches you were able to add in because of the small amount of guests. All the people who are truly important to us felt special that day. The vendors you chose to work with were all wonderful! I think you have a true gift for creativity – walking into the rooms for the ceremony and reception was an ABSOLUTE WOW!!!!!!!! You brought all the ideas together and they blended perfectly. You also did this on a very condensed timeframe so you always kept things running smoothly. My family is still talking about how beautiful the day was.

You seemed to handle everything with ease and also added some fun along the way! It was so nice of you to even go out of your way to drive my aunt back to the Hotel Monaco when she wasn’t feeling well. All that and only a few months away from having a baby! Everyone at the wedding commented on what an amazing job you did and how much energy you had. Thank you so much…

You are a true professional and it was such a tremendous joy to work with you. I wish you much success with your business and also a wonderful happy life with your new little son and family!

From the first email exchange to the last minute of the wedding reception, they did a fantastic job. They both attended our walkthrough at the venue, offered ideas and suggestions for the reception in the final weeks (thanks to them we ended up with the perfect cupcake towers for our reception and they came up with a fun idea for lighting the stage at our venue), and confirmed with all the vendors the week of the event. After booking the basic package I added a couple of additional tasks which they added with no problem at a very reasonable per hour cost.

Our coordinator, Christie was professional, low key, and on top of every detail – if anything went wrong, I didn’t know about it! I would wholeheartedly recommend using Events in the City to anyone looking for a planner.

We chose the full coordination package. This was actually my husband’s idea to pick this package because he knew that I would get overwhelmed and stressed with the whole planning process and he wanted someone to hold my hand, and Megan definitely did that.

I think that Megan has a great number of strengths. She was always prompt in responding to me (which for an anxious bride it definitely helped calm my nerves). She also has so many contacts and relationships with vendors in the industry which was very helpful. She helped tremendously with choosing my caterer, deciding on the menu, and even negotiating the contract which was worth her weight in gold. She knew our budget and was conscious of it; she recommended where we should splurge and where we could skim. She went to all of the meetings with my vendors and asked questions about details that I would not have even thought about. She attended our walk through, arranged the timing of the vendors to arrive on the day of, and came up with a very detailed time line for our wedding day. It was very nice to just spend the day of my wedding getting ready with my bridesmaids and partying! I think that in addition to Megan’s planning and organization skills her design concepts are amazing. I didn’t have a set color scheme (my bridesmaids wore black and our flowers were burgundy, deep purple, and cream with a splash of gold), but Megan had such a great idea of how to pull it all together to look amazing.

I honestly can’t think of any areas of weakness (and I am a pretty critical person). Megan kept me on point, on budget, and made me feel at ease. About a week before the wedding I started to panic thinking that I didn’t do something or that something was missing and it was nice to be able to call Megan and go over everything and be reassured that we did do everything.

And smart thinking on hiring a wedding planner! My husband and I still agree that hiring Megan was the best decision that we made.

She transformed an old, worn out room into a room that we could be proud to invite our guests into. It was just amazing. She handled any and all of the little bumps in the road that occurred with a high degree of professionalism. I just really can’t say thank you enough. I know in the future that if I or any other friend of mine was in need of her services that I would not hesitate to call her. She was a great person to work with, but more importantly she was a great friend to work with. Thank you again Laura!

Her vision is truly inspired and unique. Laura not only helped us figure out exactly what we wanted our day to look like, but also found us great deals that allowed us to come in under budget! She was beyond flexible with us. We felt comfortable calling her any time we had a question, even if it was as silly as how to address the save the date envelopes. She knows how important this day is in a couple’s life together and goes above and beyond to make it as special and perfect as possible!!! We definitely recommend Events in the City!

And so many people kept saying they had never been to a wedding like this – one couple said from the moment they drove up the drive and saw the house they felt they were on a movie set. Magical is the only word that describes the entire day for me.

I am so glad we did all the little and all the big things. Amanda and I were talking on Sunday and she was over the moon with how everything turned out. Jon even went on and on…. so did the groomsmen here for the brunch… when groomsmen mention the little details and big details you know it was amazing! I just saw the photo of the rings in the wheatgrass! And then the cookies and sodas in the wheat grass. How creative.

So many people told us over and over it was the most beautiful wedding they had ever ever ever attended. – Gail Batt, Mother of the Bride

You are a fantastic friend and coordinator and I will recommend you to anyone!!! Words are not enough to show my gratitude for everything you did for us.

From the Groom: I know you’ve probably gotten a couple of these already, but thank you so much for all your help this weekend. It was everything I could have hoped for, I know I haven’t stopped smiling yet. You got so many compliments on your design stuff, more than one person came up to me and told me it was the best wedding they’d ever been to, which in no small part was thanks to you. And I’m sorry to throw the loop of the Terp showing up … no one had any idea, but it made my night even better if that is at all possible. You managed, somehow, to keep my raucous group of idiots under control, Eric and Jon can be a handful on their own. You treated us as friends, and gave us the day we dreamed of. Thank you very much!!!!

A few days before the wedding, I got really anxious and Laura took care of everything (making sure that all the vendors had what they needed, knew where they needed to be, etc). It was such a relief to know that Laura was handling it because I could really trust her. On the day of the wedding, Laura coordinated everything and kept us on schedule. Laura handled all the vendors and made sure all of my details and DIY projects were set up perfectly. She honestly set everything up better then I could have (and I’m a perfectionist). If there were any problems with set up or the vendors, I never heard about them. Laura also packed up my parent’s car and made sure we got everything back that we needed (toasting flutes, gifts, etc). My parents and I were able to leave when the guests did and not worry about running around at the end of the night. Laura allowed my family and myself to just relax on the wedding day and have fun. Booking Laura was one of the best decisions I made in wedding planning. She kept me completely sane and relaxed from start to finish and I can’t thank her enough for making our day perfect.

However, I need to let you know ASAP and in short that you are a woman of ALL THINGS UNBELIEVABLE and I can’t see how I could have had the most perfect evening of my life without your help. Everyone commented on your professionalism, skill, and how you made everything just perfect. My family felt respected and although I am not surprised (as you have been nothing short of a sister & a friend to me through all of this), I was so very touched. The day would have been nowhere near as special if you hadn’t calmed my nerves when the rain poured and made me feel like the day was magical. My mother even wants to send you a note!

I just have to thank you for how incredible everything was that you set up for us, and to let you know I noticed the small details taking place behind the scenes (I heard about a table that had to be found for candy; for setting up of additional cakes, for chasing down guests who tried to steal Holly’s stands, etc.) You were a woman in all places at all times, you set up a freaking carnival for me, and you did it all with style and grace. If not for you we wouldn’t have benefited from so many financial breaks by dedicated and amazing vendors. Because of you, I knew I would have THE MOST kick-ass room that has been seen on that vineyard! Because of you, my fears were calmed over months of agony that it would all look a hot hot mess. Because of you, it – was – PERFECT! For that and so, so, so so so much more, my HUSBAND Chris and I thank you!!!

There were so many of those details you handled at the reception that made it possible for my husband and I to sit back and enjoy the evening. I appreciated the way you made sure that the wedding party were served drinks and appetizers immediately as they went through their photo session. Even though many of the guests arrived earlier than the actual start of the cocktail hour, you made sure the bar was opened and hors d’oeuvres were ready to be passed among the guests. I was most impressed that you kept everything flowing on the time line that we had discussed.

You helped make this a truly memorable and beautiful event for the Valluzzo and McDermott families. I would certainly highly recommend your services to anyone in need of a wedding coordinator. Thanks again for everything.