The Simplifiers: Event Planning & Personal Concierge

There are not enough words to describe how great Mary and The Simplifiers are to have as partners in event coordinating. I’ve had the privilege of working alongside them for the implementation of three large-​scale, multi-​day corporate training programs. Each time, our employees RAVED about how incredible, thoughtful and professional their experience was and even left comments in our post-​event surveys calling out her team and how much they loved them. Two of our events culminated with a companywide, year-​end party, and, for each one, Mary revealed surprises that took the experience to the next level. Mary knows how to cater to executives, manage her trusted vendors, and provide personal touches (without breaking the bank). She is always pushing the envelope, knows the latest in her industry, and never misses going above and beyond for her clients. Her fun, creative personality is an excellent complement of her deep expertise and savvy ability to navigate business and negotiate on your behalf. What’s even better is that she also spots great talent and carries her excellence through her company’s culture. The Simplifiers are seriously superheroes.

I reached out to Mary regarding the development of an events space. I was surprised and overjoyed to receive an email outlining very sound advice based on her experience. Then I went to the Simplifiers’ FB page and was surprised to find her most likely focused on her own business expansion. If Mary can take the time to write a thorough and supportive email to a previously unknown entrepreneur, I can only imagine the level of service she offers to her clients. I am very impressed!

Mary and The Simplifiers have been such an amazing and helpful team for us during our wedding planning days. Most importantly, Jordan Adams, was our superhero from the beginning to the end, and even after! We had some hiccups even after the wedding, and Jordan was there to step in for advice and refunds! I was very appreciative of her help even after the fact.
Jordan was quiet in the beginning, but didn’t take long for her to break out of her shell a little more and really start offering up her opinions and suggestions. We became friends through out the process and we’re lucky to say that.
My husband and I are pretty organized and opinionated people already and so we knew what we wanted going into the wedding. Jordan was receptive to our ideas and helped us execute them all, within budget. She was always (and I mean ALWAYS), quick to respond to any emails/​phone calls or provide feedback. Since we hired The Simplifiers from the minute we got engaged to the day of the wedding, Jordan and I and my husband set up weekly phone meetings to make sure we remained on track for everything and that was the most helpful! We appreciated over communication about everything. And Jordan knows how to handle what needs to be informed to us and what doesn’t, that separation made the stress level low to non-​existent through out 85−90% of our wedding planning.
We had some hiccups on the day of the actual wedding and things get so busy and chaotic, time runs out, lots of family/​friends, pictures, greetings and hugs, lots of scheduled events of where the bride and groom need to be– so it was such a blessing to have Jordan constantly checking up on us, bringing us water, and showing up in times where I really needed SOMEONE SANE! She would even show up to give me hugs, I was so grateful for her.
Definitely DEFINITELY, get a wedding planner. I don’t care how organized you think you are or how DIY and self-​sufficient and independent you might believe you are… you can still be all those things WITH a wedding planner! There’s nothing more crazy (besides maybe preparing for a baby) than the day of your wedding. It’s the biggest party you and your husband will ever host, and it should be amazing! You really need a third party to just solely watch over the wedding and be your voice for all your wedding vendors and family/​friends. I was so relaxed leading up to and on the day of the wedding, and I was so thankful that I chose to have a wedding planner! DO IT!
*Suggestion* The Simplifiers should definitely get some head sets or walkie talkies. It would make the day off run even more smoothly if event planners could find each other more easily and answer questions.

The simplifiers were recommended to me by a co-​worker who had used them for her wedding about a year before mine. Upon our initial meeting, we were very impressed and decided to hire them… big mistake.
At no point in the wedding planning process did I feel secure knowing that they were handing things. 100% of the time I had to think of something and ask them to do it, rather than them having the knowledge and experience to be proactive about it. By the time I asked them to do something, I probably could have just done it myself.
When I asked for a wedding day timeline the week before the wedding (not a bizarre request), I was then asked for all the times of events… by this point I had essentially created my own wedding day timeline, which I did in the end because what they sent back to me was terrible (they even misspelled the names of all the wedding party even though I had sent them detailed information and a copy of the program… unacceptable for someone who is supposed to be detail oriented).
Even just when I needed another opinion (I was doing most of the wedding planning by myself) I couldn’t even get that out of them, just for something as simple as table linens or where tables and chairs should go.
At one point a payment deadline for chair rentals completely passed with no mention of it from the Simplifiers. At this point we were 2 weeks out from the wedding, they had been handed all the contracts and were supposed to be in full control of everything. I would have at least appreciated an email reminding me that I had a payment due.
2 months after our wedding I received an email from the bakery asking where the cake stand was. The entire time I had assumed this had been returned back to them the day after the wedding. I called the Simplifiers and all they could say was that they didn’t know because they left it at the venue. I called the venue, they were nice enough to track it down and when they asked if the Simplifiers could come pick it up and return it to the bakery, they said no. This is completely unacceptable from a wedding planner. This is one small task that should have been a no-​brainer for them to automatically do. We are lucky that the baker is a friend of mine and did not charge us the huge fee for the missing cake stand. Eventually, they had to go to the venue themselves and get it when the Simplifiers would not.
Bottom line, I did every single piece of wedding planning with absolutely zero help from the simplifiers. I am incredibly disappointed in their service and the ridiculous amount of money that we wasted on them.

My husband and I chose the Simplifiers full-​service package for our wedding planning, and Jordan was our planner. Working with the Simplifiers was a phenomenal experience from start to finish and the results were even better! My Mom has even been receiving thank-​you notes from our guests — my favorite «it like we walked through the wardrobe into Narnia.» What makes this even more amazing is that our venue was the Georgetown Community Center, which is basically just a beautiful limestone rectangle. We had to bring in EVERYTHING: lighting, draping, tables, linens, plates/​glassware, bars, floral, catering, drinks and the DJ. It was an extensive list of vendors and people to coordinate, but everything ran seamlessly and thanks to Jordan it never felt stressful!
The full-​service package was the best wedding purchase we made. The Simplifiers listened to our design style, our event priorities and recommended vendors based on our unique needs. We choose from several vendors per category and we were extremely happy with every selection we made. With Jordan at every vendor meeting taking notes and handling the follow up, we could just experience everything without having to worry about the details. The Simplifiers also did a great job keeping us on budget and having wonderfully creative solutions when the original idea was above budget. The creativity also helped when my husband and I were unsure of what we wanted — Jordan learned our styles very quickly and was always able to make great suggestions. They were also incredibly diplomatic in dealing with our very particular priest. The wedding day went off seamlessly, even my normally stressed Mom was able to just enjoy the day, and that is the best gift the Simplifiers could give me. I cannot recommend them highly enough!

I cannot say enough good things about The Simplifiers. Everyone else’s reviews are spot on: the team that Mary has put together is absolutely FANTASTIC. Jordan was our personal coordinator for our wedding this past weekend, and was beyond invaluable to us. She did our month of/​day of coordination, and everything was organized to a T, explained and tended to promptly and professionally, and fun. On the day of there was a hiccup with the alcohol (as in it didn’t show up), and Jordan and her assistants fixed it so quickly and easily that it’s a wonder my type A self and family even noticed the goof up. Jordan’s kind, calm demeanor stayed put the entire time, and by the end of the night (and it was a long one, she was there from 2 p.m. to 1 a.m.), she was still up and at ‘em.
I’ve seen wedding coordinators that annoyingly hover around the bride and groom during the wedding, directing when to do toasts, cake cutting, etc., and this team does not do that in the least, but they still manage to be there exactly one minute before you realize you need them. All of a sudden I would be slightly hungry, and there was Jordan saying she was bringing me a plate of food. I’d turn around to find a glass of water, and turns out Jordan and company had brought water and gatorades for my husband and me. And speaking of my husband, even he noted multiple times how amazing the entire Simplifier team was. Turns out guys notice those things, too!
I think it’s easy at the beginning of wedding planning to think you can handle everything, but trust me (and my mom, who had planned 3 weddings before mine) that having someone else that is trained in this stuff to handle all the nitty-​gritty details is a must. Ten stars out of five.

If you are looking for a wedding/​event planner… YOU HAVE FOUND IT!
I can’t give enough kudos to Dani, Mary, and the RAD people at The Simplifiers! My wife and I were planning our wedding in Austin while living states away in the San Fran area and Dani Viveros and her team helped to make everything picture perfect. On our wedding day we didn’t have a worry in the world that things would go smoothly (and they did)! This group of cool people know how to party and know all of the best vendors in town to take an event over the top. I can now say that the best thing we did in preparing for our wedding was to bring on board The Simplifiers team.
I’m serious, look no further. Many thanks to Dani and to everyone at The Simplifiers.

Mary and her Simplifier team helped make our wedding one that everyone remembers. A year later, family and friends are still talking about how great everything was. We recently went to another wedding with many of the same guests and people kept commenting on our wedding rather than the one we were at… awkward, but a testament to what a great job The Simplifiers did.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend their services.

Without the help of the Simplifiers, my mother and I would’ve killed each other on my wedding day!
Dani Alvarado and the team were like an army of organization, keeping me in check throughout the process the month of my wedding in February 2012. I work a crazy 60-​hour/​week corporate PR job and I needed to run the wedding planning like a business. From daily email status updates to vendor coordination (which was a huge help) and the occasional Skype call to talk me off a ledge, the Simplifiers removed all of my worry and took care of every detail. I wanted a non-​traditional ceremony and a fabulous fiesta and that’s exactly what I got!
The best part was that my husband and I truly had the most amazing time. I have heard from so many brides that the stress of planning distracted them from the single most important aspect of the whole thing — the celebration of your love. Luckily for me, I had the help of the Simplifiers to make my day absolutely awesome! HIGHLY recommended.

The Simplifiers were recommended to me after Mary and team had successfully planned and executed a SXSW party (with very short notice) for another San Francisco startup.
The introduction to Mary was one i will always be grateful for. She and her team were nothing short of miracle workers when it came time to plan my company’s event.
Why Mary is the best:
— she is very mindful of budget and ensures you get the most bang for your buck. Having someone negotiate all of the venue fees, lighting, caterers and city permits is an unbelievable weight i was thrilled to have taken care of.
— attention to detail: she thinks of everything! Every aspect of my event exceeded my expectations. She even threw in some little surprises here and there that added a tremendous amount to the overall look and feel.
— she does all the heavy lifting. Need i say more? Having the ability to just show up and actually enjoy an event is beyond wonderful. Mary and her team are completely dedicated to the success of an event. They are always on top of everything!
— Wonderful to work with. Mary is an absolute joy to work with. When i finally met her i couldn’t help but give her a giant hug. She knows her stuff, gets it done on time and takes pride in each event.
I was delighted to hear that Mary does events across the US and not just in Austin. I will definitely use her again in the future and happily give the Simplifiers Team 5-​stars.

Mary and The Simplifiers are AMAZING!!!
We hired Mary to do day-​of wedding coordinating and she began helping me more than a month out. I shopped around for other wedding coordinators before deciding on The Simplifiers, and no one came close to the services she offered at a reasonable price.
Mary has great attention to detail and is fantastic about keeping vendors on track. Not only was she perfect with vendors, but she kept our family and wedding party in line with a complete day-​of itinerary. When anyone was late (or lost) she made sure that we still kept to our schedule. The venue I was working with was very unresponsive and difficult to work with, but Mary stepped in to keep everything peaceful.
Since the wedding day can be so crazy, Mary and her team took on every hiccup so that my wedding party and family didn’t have to worry about anything. She kept in contact with all of our vendors and wedding party and made sure that everything ran smoothly and flawlessly. At the end of the night, she tied up all of the loose ends and hand delivered items that I had forgotten throughout the day.
We really appreciate Mary’s hard work and would recommend her for any important event.

Christine & Mary are the most wonderful event planners! They are creative, detail oriented, and resourceful. You cannot go wrong with these ladies.
Christine has been so wonderuful managing our budget and my stress. We would not do this without her.

Mary and The Simplifiers team helped plan and coordinate our Feb 13^th wedding and my husband and I couldn’t be happier with the results!
I can honestly say that wedding planning is probably one of the most stressful things I’ve ever undertaken. It would’ve been impossible if we didn’t hire a planner and I couldn’t speak more highly of the services by The Simplifiers, they were an integral part of the design and execution of the entire day and I would recommend them to ANY one looking to get help for their wedding :)
From the beginning, Mary was absolutely professional and helped to keep us on budget. In fact, I feel like Mary completely understood us and what our vision for our wedding was. We wanted something whimsical and fun and very «Austin» without being overly «Texas», which doesn’t even make much sense if you think about it but The Simplifiers understood exactly what we meant. I’ve heard horror stories of people getting wedding planners and being forced to get things that they didn’t want or having their ideas shot down by some «professional» who just doesn’t get that it’s what the couple wants and not anyone else. Not so with The Simplifiers. I don’t know whose kneecaps they had to bust but the quotes that they got us for all the food, liquor and rentals was definitely much less than anything we were expecting.
The entire day was flawless and memorable for all the right reasons and I just can’t say enough great things about them and their services without this review coming across like some love letter but it’s true; I’d hire them again in a heartbeat!