Sealed With A Kiss Events

Lara joined us as our month-​of coordinator for our August 2015 wedding, and from the moment we chatted on the phone, I just knew we were a fit. You can tell she truly loves her job and has found her calling in her profession. She has impeccable taste and is fantastically organized. It was such a relief to give her the reins a month before the wedding and watch her take complete charge. From site planning and décor to vendors, ceremony details, scheduling… she took it all on with a calm confidence that put us completely at ease. Not to mention that she is just a lovely human being and joy to spend time with. While we were planning together, there were moments when I felt like she read my mind, we were so in sync. Our wedding was an absolute dream, and thanks to Lara, I was able to soak it all in without a care. I will recommend Lara to everyone I know who is planning a wedding. She is the best!

Wedding Date: May 15, 2015
Package: Full Planning Package
Location: Napa, California
This review is long overdue.
Lara is absolutely amazing. My Husband and I interviewed three planners and practically hired Lara on the spot.
Throughout the year of planning, I probably contacted Lara daily. From actual wedding planning down to the logistics of making our dream wedding come true, Lara did everything that she promised in our initial consultation and more. I thought it might be helpful to give a step-​by-​step summary of the process with Lara.
Step #1 and the most important step, Lara helped create our budget. This became our roadmap for the entire process. The numbers definitely changed as a little bit of reality crept in, but it was never overlook by Lara.
Step #2 was finding a venue. Lara sent us a list of venues and had an intern help contact the venues to see whether they were in our budget. Tip — don’t take this on yourself. It is a ton of work and Lara is more than willing to help. You just have to ask ;)
Step #3 was hiring vendors. Lara supplied a list of vendors for me to research. I hired some of Lara’s recommendations and some of my own. Lara will definitely help with all the contract aspects, however, I took this on myself. Bottom line, all of my vendors were amazing and worked very well together.
Step #4 was downtime for a few months. Lara created a Pinterest board and would post inspirations. I would «like» or «dislike» the pictures. If I «disliked» the picture, Lara would immediately take the picture down and continue to post inspirations more in-​line with the pictures that I «liked». This was one of my favorite steps ;) Check out my Pinterest board on Lara’s site to see what she came up with:
Step #5 was the month leading up to the wedding and the day of. Lara come up to the venue the night before and coordinated the rehearsal. The day of the wedding Lara met with the vendors, set up the entire wedding, and did things that I probably don’t even know she did. She coordinated every aspect of the day. I had the best wedding day! The only thing that was on my plate was getting ready and hanging out with my maids!
Overall, Lara is extremely professional and extremely creative. She took my vision and turned it into something magical. Tip: You don’t know your wedding planner and it takes a minute to figure out your «working relationship». Everyone’s personality is different. While I was very «hands on», others might be «hands off». Communicate with Lara on how you work throughout the process. Sometimes simply asking Lara at the beginning, «how does all this work?» and «what are our roles?» is super helpful. Let Lara be the professional and help guide you through the process.
Hiring Lara was like hiring my best friend to talk and help with anything and everything wedding related! I had such a good experience. So whoever you choose, make sure you *click* with that person. I’m super lucky mine was Lara!
To see what Lara created, here is a link to the highlights of our wedding:
(Click — Christina & Tristan: «Worth Fighting For, Sonoma, California»)
Sincerely,
Christina & Tristan

Lara is a gift to any engaged couple. She is incredibly professional, kind, and thorough. She quickly assessed where things stood, guided us on remaining to-​dos, took on some remaining projects, and conducted our orchestra of vendors to make our wedding day the best day of our lives.
Our reception site praised her, noting that they have never worked with such a pleasant, professional person, and I hope to recommend her to future brides in my family and friendship group.
A lovely person inside-​and-​out, you can’t go wrong with Lara. :)

Lara is absolute magic. She is a true professional and a wonderful designer. As a bride with a very particular taste and vision (and admittedly someone who likes to know about everything that’s going on), Lara was able to not only manage the wedding coordination but did a great job managing me :)
She knew when to step in and guide us when we needed her help the most, especially when deciding on other vendors. Choosing Sealed With A Kiss Events was a no-​brainer for us, and the success of our wedding started with hiring Lara. Everything the month of and day of the wedding went smoothly and we couldn’t have asked for a more attentive and savvy planner!

As the Groom, I was not perfect in my overall planning. I forgot some things, I might not have kept the Bride as relaxed as possible either. Good thing we had SWAK, because no one would have ever known. Lara made our wedding perfect.
After getting married it was very clear which vendors I would recommend to others, and which vendors I am happy to never have to work with again. Sealed with a Kiss is a strong recommendation, and she elevated all our our less than stellar vendors to the appropriate level come wedding day.
So if you want a planner that is friendly to work with, makes Grooms not look like idiots, Brides flawless, and an amazing wedding… choose SWAK!

As a very busy professional, I knew that I would not have a wedding without the assistance of a wedding planner from Day 1. After spending 12 hours at the office during the weekdays and sometimes on the weekends, the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was to think about tablescapes and escort cards.
Unfortunately, the first planner I hired dropped the ball on her responsibilities, and 6 months before my wedding, disappointed and frustrated, we parted ways. As you can imagine, given the timeframe before the wedding, along with the limited personal free time I had, at that moment, I felt stressed and lost.
Thankfully, my jeweler recommended that I speak with Lara from Sealed with a Kiss. I interviewed 3 new potential planner replacements, and initially, my only reservation about working with Lara was that she no longer lived in the Bay Area. Those fears, however, were quickly put to bed. Lara’s extensive and current knowledge of excellent local vendors and all things wedding in the Bay Area blew me away; she always made time for me in-​person and responded to my emails/​texts quickly. At all times, I felt as if I was Lara’s most important client. Among the 3 replacement planners that I interviewed, Lara by far demonstrated that she had the best ideas, organizational skills and «can-​do» attitude.
To say that Lara saved my wedding (and sanity) is an understatement. She effortlessly took over dealing with all of my pre-​existing vendors, recommended fabulous additional vendors where needed, beautifully executed on creating and/​or arranging the décor and“look and feel” of my wedding and orchestrated a perfect wedding day. I always knew I wanted a pretty wedding, like most couples, on a budget. I just didn’t know what it would look like or how to execute on it. Thanks to Lara, I practically just walked into my dream wedding 2 weeks ago — one that I’m still fondly thinking of and will remember for the rest of my life.
I feel so blessed and fortunate to have had Lara as my wedding planner. She is detail-​oriented and has the perfect combination of meticulous organizational skills along with a creative crafty-​side. Best of all, she is a genuinely warm and friendly person. Lara loves her job and you can easily see her passion reflected in her work whether it’s her incredible Pinterest boards or the weddings that she plans for her clients.
If you are a busy, professional and discerning bride (with ridiculously high expectations of your wedding team), yet you desire a beautiful, stress-​free wedding, look no further than Lara from Sealed with a Kiss. She is unequivocally, absolutely one incredible wedding planner.

Lara is amazing! My fiancé and i wanted her for our wedding day but unfortunately she was already booked. She was more than willing to give us a consultation regardless and answered all of our questions and more! If it weren’t for her guidance I would not have found my dream dress or some amazing vendors for the wedding! Wish we could have worked more with her but I can only imagine that it would have been great. She really knows the industry and has an ease about her that makes her very lovely to work with! Thank you for all your help Lara!

Lara was a wealth of knowledge from the moment I met her! She certainly loves what she does, and her passion really influences others around her. She worked with me a month prior to and day of the wedding, but really was there for me if I needed her at anytime. She was very helpful with providing resources for vendors, several of which we ended up using and loved. Her «month before the wedding meeting» was awesome. We had a very deep dive around the event. I thought I had it ready to go, but she pointed out some really important things I hadn’t considered. I was glad she did as her little touches made a big difference the day of the event.
Day of the wedding I felt really comfortable handing it over to Lara and letting her run the show. It was important for me to pick a coordinator that I would trust to make calls day of and Lara did that. She has wonderful taste! She provided a touch of romance paired with elegance all at the same time.
I also really appreciate that she was there when we needed her, but gave us the space needed for our special moments. All in all Lara was a true pleasure to work with. My family and friends all enjoyed interacting with her. She also got along with all the vendors as well. If your looking for someone that really knows their stuff and takes pride in what they do, you have found your lady! Oh and not to mention she is drop dead gorgeous, so having her in the background of any of your photos/​video is just an added perk!

There is no doubt that Lara from Sealed With A Kiss Events was the one that made our wedding day and everything leading up to it run as smooth as possible! She was absolutely amazing to work with, there was not one question that she could not answer or offer advice on. Having two locations for ceremony and reception was stressful and worrisome for myself and now husband, but after talking with Lara and seeing how organized and prepared she was there was never a doubt that crossed our mind. I was in my last year of graduate school and not able to 100% commit myself to planning this wedding, I sat with Lara for hours working on timelines and vendor information, something that I could have never done on my own! She had it down to the minuet and it was perfection! I can confidently say that hiring Lara was the best thing I did for my wedding, it allowed everyone to enjoy themselves and not be concerned if something did or did not get completed. She also made sure that my ideas and inspiration were throughout my entire wedding, I was not always comfortable speaking my mind to other vendors and Lara was able to do that for me… something I appreciate more than anything! She truly is a talented, caring and wonderful person inside and out. I cannot offer enough compliments on behalf of husband and I, our family and friends, as well as all the other vendors and staff that worked with her throughout our wedding process. I would not change one thing about my wedding day and I know that had so much to do with Lara and her passion for making sure that each one of her clients has the most beautiful day ever.

Lara was the THE MOST amazing wedding coordinator I could have ever imagined. I know that’s a bold statement, but it’s true. It really doesn’t get any better than her. As soon as I met her, I immediately picked up on how down-​to-​earth she is, how professional she is, and how kind she is to everyone she meets. Over time, I also came to learn that she is ridiculously creative and organized, and totally fun. I feel like I can go on and on about how wonderful she is, not only as a wedding coordinator, but also as a person, but I’ll try to sum it all up as best I can.
So, my now husband and I hired Lara after we realized how overwhelmed we’d be if we didn’t get some help around planning our big day, and it was by far the best decision we could’ve made. We loved the way Lara really tuned in on us, listened to us, and cared first about the couple and getting to know us.
Then, despite being hired for «month-​of» coordinating, Lara did her best to be available to us whenever we needed her, which meant so much to us. She provided such peace of mind throughout the entire planning process, because I knew I could contact her to get a professional, honest opinion about anything.
Furthermore, when our wedding day finally arrived, Lara’s involvement and execution was flawless. I knew we (I mean myself, my hubs, our wedding party, our families, guests, everyone!) could enjoy the day and soak it all in, because things were so well planned and taken care of. Not to mention, I was completely blown away by the beauty of our reception site and the way Lara managed to incorporate our original ideas. It was perfect.
Lara is the best. Plain and simple.

Hiring Sealed With a Kiss Events for our wedding planning services and to implement our design was a godsend for us. We utilized Sealed With A Kiss since we got married in Paso Robles, CA and live in Chicago so we needed a full time planner to help us. Lara’s calm, coordinated attitude mixed with humor was everything that was needed during our wedding planning. Lara has a fantastic personality that puts you in a great mood no matter what is going on. She listens thoroughly, takes your wants into consideration and offers her own suggestions based on her experiences that pulls everything together to work and look flawless. She would say ‘I’ll always give you my honest opinion” which was always appreciated and glad that she did. Her recommendations for vendors were top notch and she worked diligently to maintain our budget while offering the elegance we sought. We always worked well together, she included us in every little decision along the planning process, and we trusted her advice knowing Lara would lead us to have the dream wedding day which we certainly did.
Lara’s organization and attention to details spoke volumes day-​of as we did not have even the smallest thing go wrong and that is attributed to Lara’s involvement and her dedication and coordination. When things felt a little chaotic with being pulled every way on our day, Lara was there to calm us and offer whatever was needed.
In the end, it was a beautiful collaboration all brought together and kept on track and in style thanks to Sealed With A Kiss Events.
It really stood out to us when we first met Lara how she stated that she «just loves Love and seeing couples happy together» and it shows in how she lives.
Lara is highly recommended to make your special day over the top incredible.

As a wedding officiant, I’ve worked with many wedding planners and Laura is among the best. Having worked with her this past weekend, here’s some things I noticed from someone «behind the scenes»:
1) She directs with a calm charge (not overbearing or easily flustered)
2) She is organized with a great eye for detail
3) She owns the bridal couple’s vision for the day… she’s not limited to one wedding «style» (in particular, this was a country wedding and she made it classy, fun, and elegant)
And ultimately… She made the wedding couple feel at ease so they could enjoy and soak in their celebration… and isn’t that what it’s all about? I hope to work with Laura from Sealed With A Kiss Events, again!

In short: Lara is sooo wonderful; she certainly made the magic happen!
My husband and I got married in mid-​July. But till the end of May, I was still trying to
finishing up my graduate school work and moving from East Coast to West Coast. We had
nothing set except the location of the wedding. This meant: I only had one month to plan an
entire wedding.
Moving across the country was exhausting and one month wedding planning sounded
virtually impossible. But since I got in contact with Lara, things started falling into places
very smoothly and quickly. She kept me worry-​free throughout the whole month and the
wedding ended up as beautiful and memorable as I could imagine.
Some highly notable things:
1. A good list of vendors is a wedding coordinator’s major asset. And Lara had a GREAT list of
vendors. Her selection was very high in quality and reasonable in affordability. Until I met
Lara, searching online and going through Unilocal lists just couldn’t yield me anything because it
was very difficult to pick out the high quality vendors. But after getting the list of vendors
from Lara, I got great stylist, florist, and cake store, etc.
2. Lara was very experienced and efficient. Once asked for my opinion, she would just move on
and follow the rest of the details through without putting any burden on me.
3. Lara was very organized. I’m normally an organized person, but when it came to planning
a wedding, even I felt emotionally overwhelmed at times, but Lara always had things
organized and under control, and helped me to feel in control and relaxed.
4. If I didn’t know what to do, Lara always provided plentiful good ideas.
5. One of the first things I admired after knowing her, and continued to admire, was her
passion for her work. She loves what she does, and her passion really influences me.
The list above is far from being complete, but it is my two cents and I hope my review can be of
help to the future couples out there. I highly recommend Lara, and trust me, your marriage
will start RIGHT with her for sure!

I can not say enough good things about Lara! She helped us so much and made our day so wonderful.
My husband and I had hired a different coordinator at the start of our planning and that person was a nightmare. She didn’t keep us on budget — focused on driving up the cost of EVERYTHING and really obviously didn’t care about us. So we asked our florist if she knew of anyone that could take over and really put us on the right track. She suggested Lara to us and we are SO SO lucky she did.
She fixed EVERYTHING!
From our first meeting with Lara she had us feeling so much more comfortable. She was very organized and only asked of us what she needed and then would come up with amazing ideas for us. She was always coming up with fun inexpensive ideas to make the day more «us». We ended up with our dream day. On budget. So uniquely «us».
Her calm demeanor on the day just speaks to how natural this really comes to her. She made us feel comfortable calm and at ease. We really remember our day (and we had been told it goes by so fast you forget a lot) but Lara calmed me down early and kept reminding me that the day was about having fun and enjoying ourselves.
We can not recommend her high enough!!!

I will make this short and too the point. I was just married 10−13−13 by RIchard Aptekar
HE IS AWESOME!!! I have only one regret, that I didn’t film him marrying us because he was that good!!! I got back so many compliments on how well he did the ceremony that I wished I video taped it. HE IS THE BEST!!!
if your planning on getting married… request him!!!

Where to begin?! I absolutely ADORE Lara from Sealed With a Kiss Events! From the moment I met her we clicked and I instantly felt comfortable with her– very important since you are entrusting your most special day to this person. Prior to the wedding Lara was available to me via email whenever I needed to ask a question or get her advice – and even if I didn’t need her it was just nice to know there was someone there just in case!
We weren’t able to get to the ceremony site for a rehearsal prior to the wedding day so Lara came to my house and ran a full rehearsal for me in my front yard while a pre-​wedding luncheon was going on in the house filled with all of our MANY crazy family members. She stays absolutely cool, calm and collected regardless of whatever chaos is surrounding her.
There were a lot of details that Lara had to handle and execute at my wedding and she did it all flawlessly and with incredible taste. When any issue arose (and there were a few!) during the wedding she handled everything with a smile on her face and never, not once, lost her composure (not even a little bit!). She would just smile and say she’d handle it and she did. She is truly a consummate professional. On the day of Lara instills a confidence in you that she can handle it all that it’s time for you to stop thinking and just enjoy your day and let her deal with everything else. And that was the best feeling– that all my months of hard work and planning was now handed over to the most capable hands and I could just sit back and enjoy the most magical day of my life and not worry about a thing! Hire her — she’s worth it!

Lara of Sealed With A Kiss Events is absolutely AMAZING. A one-​paragraph Unilocal review cannot do her justice but I’ll try.
My wife and I recently got married in SF/​Pleasanton, CA. We found Lara through a raving recommendation from someone that worked at our to-​be reception venue. After just one meeting with her we knew that she was exactly what we were looking for. She is friendly, very professional, timely, organized, always available, responsive, has GREAT taste and a great eye, fun, and above all, caring. She made us feel taken care of and involved at all times and did a phenomenal job of tailoring her services to our unique situation. We had to plan our wedding from a different coast and really relied on her to find and screen all of our vendors, which she did wonderfully. Not a single thing went wrong (we had the absolute perfect wedding) and she even worked with my wife to surprise me on wedding day with a very specific live band (and I am not easily surprised).
It’s now one month after the wedding and all our guests are still raving about how great the weekend was. My wife and I both feel like me had the best wedding planner in the world and that we made a new friend in the process. We highly recommend Lara and would be happy to answer any questions couples may have. Thanks again Lara!

I can’t say enough about Lara of Sealed With A Kiss Events. She is such a warm person that it immediately puts you at ease (which is important during the wedding process) She is the perfect combination of hopeless romantic mixed with type A organization that it takes to help plan one of the most special days of your life.
We hired her for the day of package for our September wedding but I honestly wish I would’ve let her plan the whole thing! She went above and beyond on our big day, I gave her free reign of décor set up & she nailed it. She also troubleshooted like a pro, pinned all of the boutineers on the groomsmen, anything and everything that needed to happen was taken care. Do yourself a favor and hire this lady!

Lara, the owner of Sealed With a Kiss Events, was our day of wedding coordinator. She was professional, kind and very knowledgable of the wedding industry. Lara had a team if people who helped make sure our wedding went smoothly. From lacing bridesmaids dresses and supervising the venue set up, to suggesting where to buy table numbers, no task was too large or small for Lara. She has a very positive can-​do attitude and I would highly recommend Lara!