Love Letters
We cherish every couple we work with and strive to make sure your vision is carried out as you wish. And we are proud to have been part of more than 60 weddings to date, since 2007! Here are some reviews from our clients and you can find more on Yelp.com or WeddingWire.com.
Erin B. | Married September 2011, Oakville, CA Private Estate
Vera is a truly superlative wedding coordinator. She is enthusiastic, creative, extremely professional, and very reasonably priced. And perhaps most important of all, she was a genuinely nice person to work with, who shared our sensibilities and was able to help us create our own DIY event while remaining attentive to the needs of 100 relatives and friends.
Though we initially felt strongly about not hiring someone to help with day-of planning (we began the search for a coordinator mostly as a concession to our parents), I can say without hesitation that having Vera’s assistance was one of the best decisions we made.
In the months leading up to the wedding, Vera was accessible, responsive, and helpful. We did the majority of the coordination with vendors, and Vera provided us with a valuable way to check what was reasonable, what was needed, or how to go about managing a particular task. She had great techniques for collecting information about the flow of the day and even drew up sketches of the site to help us visualize each area of the wedding site (helpful when working with vendors). Also, while it was easy to get caught up in some of the family tensions and aggravations of planning a wedding, it was a breath of fresh air to have Vera around helping us get excited again.
The day of the wedding, Vera was instrumental in making the event run smoothly, from the little things (bringing a basket for gift cards, finding additional envelopes for tips, making signs for the bathroom that no one could find) to the larger ones (timing the processional; facilitating toasts between our emcee friends, the toasters, the servers, and the photographer; and smoothing out some end-of-the-night transportation hiccups). She was a blur of activity and even had an assistant for part of the day.
Why hire Vera?
The assistance she gave us was above and beyond any reasonable expectation for a “month of” or “day of” coordinator.
So many of the other coordinators we interviewed were either professional but flat and jaded or enthusiastic but a little ditzy and unprofessional. Magically, Vera has this incredible ability to be clearly enjoying herself while being extremely organized and efficient.
The day of the wedding, my partner and I were able to throw the schedule we’d made away and just focus on enjoying the gathering of friends and family. If we hadn’t had her around, we would have spent way, way more time trying to run the event ourselves. Instead, we had the confidence that Vera was around to help things run smoothly. And while we did a huge amount to incorporate friends into the wedding (baking wedding cakes, creating our decorations, leading group dances, etc.) it was incredible to have Vera there to make sure that our friends were able to help in ways that were meaningful without being saddled with so many responsibilities that they missed the fun of the event.
In sum, Vera was a pleasure and made our event a pleasure as well.
Christie D. | Baby’s 1st Birthday, Oakland CA
Not just weddings – Vera can throw a heck of a party! We hired Vera and Brittany to help us coordinate/plan/execute a birthday party our 1 year old inviting over 200 of our closest friends. (Seems excessive for a 1 year old party, but we had a LOT to celebrate. This little girl has overcome much in 12 short months.) Vera provided guidance and creativity while keeping our budget in mind throughout. She did all the heavy lifting and the light lifting for that matter. I barely had to lift a finger! She did the research. She did the shopping. She managed the vendors. She did the timeline. She did it all. And she did it beautifully. She planned for every detail and removed all the stress from my.
I actually got to enjoy my own party becasue Vera planned so well and Brittany ran a tight ship with the day of coordination. It was a match made in heaven.
I totally and completely recommend Va de Vie for your party planning needs. Vera ROCKS!
Jessica W. | Married June 2007, North Lake Tahoe, Plumpjack Resort
Vera was my day-of wedding coordinator, and she is the best you can possibly get. She was extremely organized and on top of things, and she was the perfect person to handle logistics while I was off, well, getting married! Vera is very professional, courteous, and able to work with all sorts of people and juggle a bunch of things at once. She also has a great sense of style, so if you want to bounce ideas off her, she’ll make you look good. Not only did she do all the coordinating and organizing day-of, she also worked with my mom-in-law to do a rehearsal dinner with “surprise” decorations that I loved!
If I had to do it again, I would 100% choose Vera Devera and Va de Vie Events.
Bonnie E. | Married 2008, Sausalito, Marin Headlands
We loved Vera. She was smart and enthusiastic and warm. She listened to our concerns and asked thoughtful questions. She didn’t feel like an “employee” she felt like a friend that really cared about our special day.
On the day of the event, she allowed me not to think about the workings of our ceremony and reception, but out of the corner of my eye I saw that she was running things efficiently and cheerfully.
She took initiative, worked well with my friends and family who had pitched in to help with logistics and everything ran wonderfully.
One of my favorite pictures of our event is one of Vera tapping on a chime to signal the start of our ceremony. She’s got this amazing smile and we included the picture in our album because she was such an instrumental part of the day.
By the way, I’m a control freak, and there’s no way I would have been so hands off if I hadn’t felt Vera had it under control.
I highly recommend her services.
Lisa C. | Private Parties in San Francisco, CA
Vera DeVeradeveradevera is one of my very favorite people!!! This is not only because she is the consumate professional; the consumate hostess; party planner; amazingly creative and enthusiastic events ideator and executor… She is just one of the cutest, most personable, people pleasing perfectionist and, “do or die” producers of social events i have ever known!
There is nothing she and tribe can not do get create or make happen! I am in the business of tv commercial production, and i know what it means to “get it done no matter what”, and Vera fits that compulsively overacheiving mold! I have hired her and her associates so many times now to throw huge special theme parties and events in our house, that i have lost count! If i’d been allowed to use her for our wedding (it was at a venue where we had to use the in-house crew) i certainly would have! As it was she did the rehearsal dindin party which our friends are still talking about!! i give Vera and Va De Vie an A+++++++ = Va De Vie!!!!
Megan B. | Nonprofit Event in San Francisco, CA
Vera was critical to the success of Future Women Leaders’ big annual event. She’s incredibly passionate about her work, has fantastic attention to detail, and blew me away with her creativity. I’d recommend Vera’s work in a heartbeat and am happy to speak with anyone interested in her services. Two big thumbs up.
Kat G. | Wedding in San Mateo, CA
I opened a Yelp account just so I can tell everyone how great Vera is. I was debating whether or not I should hire a day-of wedding coordinator. I thought I could do it all myself, and the costs of the wedding were already rising. A co-worker recommended Vera to me, and I decided to go on one interview. We clicked during the first meeting and her prices were reasonable. Although I hired her for day-of services and a few extra hours beforehand, I felt as if she was there for me months before the wedding. She was extremely organized, creative, professional, and upbeat. She was on top of every detail and had the solution for everything — down to a stain on my wedding dress. During a photoshoot in between our ceremony and reception, my dress got a huge red stain from my husband’s boutonniere. I called Vera from our limo, and to my surprise, as my bridal party and I stepped out of our limo to the reception, Vera was waiting for me with a stain remover in hand. That’s only one of many reasons why I’m so glad I had Vera’s help during my wedding day. All my vendors commented on how experienced and pleasant Vera was. She carried out her tasks without being intrusive- some of my guests had even asked me if she was a family member! Anyhow, to wrap up, I 100% recommend Vera. She’s help you make your wedding day as stress-free and fun as possible.
