Lauren + Chris at Mills College

Arvi and Alice at Cornerstone Sonoma, 2011

Alice + Arvi at Cornerstone

Helen and Emilio at Mills College, 2011

Helen and Emilio by Joel Flory Photo (c) 2011

Heather and Blair at Greens Restaurant, 2010

Heather and Blair by Bruce Forrester Photography (c) 2010

Erika and James at Preservation Park, 2011

Jiwon and James by Erika Jackson (c) 2011

If you didn’t see the great news already, Va de Vie Events was featured in Ruffled’s Real Wedding post about Britta and Kyle’s whimsical and colorful outdoor wedding at Flora Grubb Gardens.

Britta and Kyle had been together for 10 years before tying the knot; these Midwest “kids” met in Arizona, moved to Costa Rica for a bit of adventure and recently settled in Oakland, CA last year after getting engaged.

Details of the wedding included colors of jadite, saffron and coral popped with accents of charcoal. We did a lot of hands on work, including hand-dying muslin ribbons in those colors to hang above her head table, to creating invitations with designer Lilli Keinaenen, mason jar escort cards, and more. Pilar Zuniga of Gorgeous and Green Events created a whimsical bouquet that was literally buttoned up with vintage buttons and fashioned handmade flower boxes. The beautiful pink ombre cake was made by Two for Two Cakes.

8.12.11 “From Here to Eternity” Styled Shoot, Featured on Elizabeth Anne Designs

This beautiful shoot is inspired by the idea that love is eternal. The team of Anna Wu Photography, Va de Vie Events, and Gingerleaf Floral designed this gorgeous inspiration shoot with time related props: vintage clocks, an hourglass, a metronome, and pocket watches to play off the “From Here to Eternity” theme. Anna and team did a wonderful job with this photo shoot, not just because it’s so beautiful, but also because she gives such good tips on her blog about how to work with a theme and different ways of playing with budgets. Incredible advice for brides and incredibly beautiful as well! – Christen, Elizabeth Anne Designs

7.11.11 Vera (me!) and Fred, Featured on Wedding Noveau

Wedding Nouveau, a  dedicated to multicultural wedding my very own wedding, which was on a $10,000 budget. My husband and I planned a wedding that reflected his Southern roots and my Filipino-American heritage. We were excited to share our persimmon and peacock blue themed wedding, featuring photography by Davina + Daniel, cake by Two for Two Cakes, flowers by Events by Ideal, music by Quinn DeVeaux, makeup by Beth Alyse Beauty and hair by Penney Do, and catering by Chef Peter Jackson.

6.10.11 Angelica + Daniel, Featured on Style Me Pretty
Last September, I had the pleasure of coordinating the day-of for a sweet couple, Angelica and Daniel. I love Angelica’s style and it shines through! Check out more details to drool over at Style Me Pretty. (I wish there was video because Angelica sports a rockin’ voice!) The full gallery of beautiful photos are care of the very talented Andi Hatch (Photography).

1.4.11 Eugenia and Michael’s Solage Calistoga Wedding on Destination Inspirations

New Yorkers Eugenia and Michael traveled with family and friends to sunny Calistoga California to have their destination wedding. The ceremony and reception took place at the beautiful Solage Calistoga Resort. From the beautiful vibrant bouquets, pink tutu flower girl dresses and the gorgeous hot pink parasols all the details tied in together perfectly.

Photographers Ingrid and Jerry from Jerry Yoon Photography have the most wonderful approach to capturing those important moments. Filled with soft light and of course plenty of charm Eugenia and Michael’s destination wedding was filled with smiles and love.

11.17.10 Shenna and Owen, Feature on Snippet & Ink

I didn’t think I’d need a coordinator, but to have someone like Vera by your side before and during the wedding was priceless.  The wedding day goes by so fast, it’s important to work with someone you could rely on to handle the details and allow you and your husband to sit back and enjoy the day. – Shenna

07.23.10 Joanne + Vincent, Feature on Style Unveiled

We hired a day-of-wedding coordinator because I wanted to make sure everyone in the wedding enjoyed that day (especially me). Our 325+ guest event would not have gone as smoothly without Vera Devera. It was hard to coordinate our wedding from a distance (we live in Southern California) but she went above and beyond our expectations. She had a lot of ideas and even made a “Photo Tour” for our guests to take part in between the ceremony and reception. She was flexible with her schedule and always made herself available through phone, email, and meeting in person. She was both professional and very easy to get along with. She coordinated everything with the vendors so that I would not have to deal with them on the big day. – Joanne Frisco

04.22.10 San Francisco Style Unveiled.com: Bride in the City

I am a natural project planner so a wedding planner wasn’t necessary. But we hired a month-of-coordinator, Va de Vie events, to take care of the details for the Big Day. We want to enjoy the big day and not have to worry about the little things. We are really glad that we hired Vera from Va de Vie because she is very easy to work with and has great ideas. She really goes above and beyond. – Joanne Frisco

04.21.10 My San Francisco Budget Wedding: Why We Hired a Wedding Coordinator

We met with our day-of coordinator over the weekend, the lovely Vera Devera of Va de Vie Events and Canvas Underground. I’m gushing about Vera because after our meeting, and based on our phone calls and emails, I am excited to get to know her. She’s our kind of people, and I am thrilled we found someone who I think will make such a nice addition to our little party.

Photo by Belathee Photography (c) 2010

What can I say? I love celebrations! And if you were to sum up my job as your wedding planner, you would call me your quarterback — you call the plays and I carry them out and troubleshoot in advance and on the big day itself.

I founded Va de Vie Events, meaning “It’s about life” because I am passionate about bringing people together behind the scenes and orchestrating the details that make your event run smoothly so that you can enjoy every moment! On your special day, you will be smiling, laughing, savoring, and dancing the night away — and I’ll be chugging along cheerfully in the background to make sure everything goes without a hitch.

With over 8 years of special event planning experience, including 3 years at San Francisco Opera, where I was part of the team that brought 80 events annually, I can plan and coordinate events as intimate as a dinners for 10 to as large as a galas for 400+ guests.

I love checklists but I geek out on craft projects and design. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, I’ll surely find a way to have fun and laugh again about the event planning process — be it your wedding, 50th birthday party or other celebration.

I thrive on bringing your ideas to life and making sure your personality and style shine through no matter your budget. And you can count on my team to be grace under fire, detail-oriented and team players.

My motto? Make it work.

Va de Vie Events is currently booked for all of 2012 but accepting requests for proposals for 2013.

More about me:
You can find my articles on budget weddings at weddzilla.com, weddingchicks.com, Bay Area Bride Guide, and my very own My $10,000 wedding — my personal blog where I chronicled the planning of my October 10, 2010 wedding to Guitar Fred and continue to post party planning inspiration and tips.

An avid hiker and competitive tennis player, I am also a do-gooder. I serve on the board of Bay Area Wilderness Training and help youth get outdoors, support Smiley Dog Rescue, and Not for Sale. In my free time, I also host pop-up dinners, Canvas Underground, with Chef Peter Jackson and Dave Kim.

Read all of our Wedding Coordinators Reviews at

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.

Celebrate Kate and William’s big day and help raise money for the world’s poorest children. Even if the royal wedding doesn’t float your boat, you can party for us anyway!

BORN TO KNOW IT ALL

Test your colleagues’ royal knowledge with our quiz. Charge for entry and the winning team get to be treated like royalty for the day. Another cup of tea your Highness?

WEAR YOUR WEDDING DRESS AGAIN

Throw a fancy dress party with a difference and get your guests to wear their wedding or bridesmaid dresses. The blushing brides make a donation to attend – a small price to wear their favourite outfit again – and you could sell mini wedding cakes to boost your fundraising total.

ROYAL WEDDING SWEEPSTAKE

Play our royal wedding sweepstake to win a cash prize and help save children’s lives. Put the poster up at work and get your party guests to guess what Paul O’Grady would buy Kate and William as a wedding gift. Order your royal wedding sweepstake poster using the form at the top of the page.

One of my boards is called “Paper Lust” and that’s where I store great invitations, save-the-dates, prints and more that I come across. And I’m stoked to recently pin @luvyourway‘s invitations from her Etsy shop, ctrlP Designs (love that play on a keyboard shortcut).

Ultra Mod Printable Invites by ctrlP Designs

Mixtape Printable by ctrlP Design

“Did you ever share the scrapbook you mentioned? I want to do a guestbook with pictures and am thinking each guest (couple or family) could take a page and write their names and a note and then their picture will be added later. However, I’m not quite sure how it will all work out and I would LOVE to hear what you did! ”

Traditional guestbooks (where guests just sign their name) aren’t my style — I wanted something more personal. What we did was hire Green Cheeze Photo Booth so that our guests could take fun photos and immediately scrapbook one of the two strips they got after their session. We provided heavyweight black paper, gel pens and scrapbooking trim and baubles (all in the bargain section at Michael’s or Target). Some friends even used our program! I had such a blast reading everyone’s messages at the end of the night (and for the weeks to come). Here are a few of my favorites:

Alison baked a two-tiered cake with buttercream frosting for us. Fred loves Reese’s Pieces so it was only fitting that the bottom layer was the Peanut Butter Cup, made of  Chocolate Butter Cake, Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting and Salted Peanuts. At our tasting, we were both bowled over by the Aunt Bea’s Banana Cake, made of Banana Cake, Heath Bar Toffee Bits, and Vanilla Butter Cream Cheese Frosting, and decided it would be our top tier. [We have a few friends who are still telling us that the Banana Cake was the best wedding cake they'd ever had!]

I had bought vintage type letter caps ($3 each) that spelled VERA and FRED and Alison tied them together with teal grosgrain ribbon and gray felt heart (the heart was her special touch). Two glittered birds in a nest topped off the design, which also feature swags and dots in charcoal gray. The cake turned out to be super cute, don’t you think?

To learn more about Alison, see my interview of her here from 2009>>

Cake by Two for Two Cakes (San Francisco) and photos by Davina + Daniel (c) 2010 All rights reserved

Utterly Engaged and Ever Ours joined forces to create For Japan With Love, which has a direct link on the website to the fundraising page for ShelterBox, one of the first responders to Japan after the quake and tsunami. Each ShelterBox relief package is tailored to the nature of the disaster but typically contains a disaster relief tent for an extended family, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items.

So far, For Japan With Love has raised over $16,000 and the number continues to grow with the support of people like you and me. Please give today and also spread the word!

Tweet: Help Japan via @UtterlyEngaged and @Ever_Ours http://bit.ly/hSg60g #forjapanwithlove