Ida Gardner Events

Words cannot express how thankful I am to have had Ida there on the day of the wedding, and the days leading up to it. Everyone told me not to expect everything to go perfect because things go wrong and there is nothing you can do, however EVERYTHING went perfectly and I have Ida to thank for that. I couldn’t have imagined it going better. Even My new husband, who is the hardest to impress, was incredibly pleased with her and keeps talking about how on top of everything she was. I am so glad the Ritz Carlton led me to Ida Gardner Events and they definitely need to move the name to the top of their preferred vendor list. Ida is the best and I highly recommend her to anyone planning a wedding. She always made herself available to me, responded very quickly to all emails, and she can meet up late too (it’s hard when you work full time and most vendors only meet Mon-​Thurs 8 – 5). Overall, I had a great experience working with Ida!!! Thank you Ida!

After interviewing many very highly respected event planners I decided on Ida Gardner for my rehearsal dinner and my wedding day. I could not have been more pleased! Everything was perfection and I could not find one thing that did not go off as planned — I don’t think too many brides can say this! What I loved about Ida was her warm and caring personality and her ability to work within my budget. She is so very creative and can make everything look like a million bucks! From start to finish people raved about the venue. I am so busy traveling for my job that I had to find someone that I could totally trust to deal with every aspect of these very important events. Ida was the perfect fit for me and I highly recommend her to anyone planning an event.

I got married on August 22^nd, 2015. Our venue, the Portofino Hotel and Marina, recommended Ida as wedding coordinator. From my first meeting with her (before I hired her) she was amazing, she answered all my concerns and was very professional. I decided to hire her for a Day-​Off coordination because I wanted to plan and style my own wedding, but she offered to help with anything I needed (looking for vendors, ideas, etc) and was always available and responsive via email. We then had a face to face meeting to coordinate the schedule so she could share it with all my vendors and make sure everyone was on the same page.
We had our ceremony at a catholic church, and even though they provided their own «church coordinator», Ida was there for the rehearsal and the full ceremony making sure everything was running smoothly and that I was happy. She did an amazing Job fulfilling my vision during the ceremony and everything ran smoothly. My Husband and I are extremely happy with how our wedding day went and all of our guests had an amazing time.
Although Ida herself was amazing, we had a few small issues with the assistant she used for my wedding. I told Ida my feedback at the end of the night, which she graciously took. Ida gets 5 starts for the service she provided, but I would suggest she gives her assistant feedback on how she communicates with costumers. First, one of my bridesmaids noticed an issue with the seating chart, which was not set up according to my specifications. My bridesmaid knew I would flip about this, because this issue it involved my mom. The reaction of the assistant towards my bridesmaid was rude and dismissive to the point where my bridesmaid had to take it upon herself to fix it. I (the bride) also experienced a slight attitude from the same assistant as she made a comment that was unasked for an not welcomed.
Overall, my experience with Ida was amazing and I would recommend Ida 100% to any bride who is looking for a coordinator/​planner. As brides, we need to remember to calm ourself down, relax and enjoy the day (because if should hopefully only happen once). Things will never go 100% as you envision them in your head, specially if you dont communicate it to anyone, because others can’t read your mind. But Ida will do a great job fulfilling your vision and needs if you communicate it to her. Also, remember that this is a service and as such you should both be clear on what the expectation of that service is.

I worked with Ida on many weddings. She is probably the best wedding planner I ever worked with. She is very friendly and warm and most importantly, ORGANIZED. Every time I work with her, the wedding runs smooth and the guests, bride and groom are very happy. I highly recommend her.

Ida came so close to ruining our wedding that our venue, which had contracted her, issued us a full refund for her services. Our venue (The Portofino Hotel in Redondo Beach) had recommended Ida for day of coordinating. Right off the bat, she didn’t contact any of our vendors (as she said she would) and sent us several incorrect timelines ignoring information sent by our photographer and d.j. We assumed (incorrectly) that the day of, she would get it together. I’m not sure if she decided to not to do a good job for us because we didn’t get our vendors through her (no kickbacks) but listed below are just a few of her whopping mistakes throughout the night:
— Ida left over 2 hours early despite being contracted to stay until the end of the wedding around midnight. As a result, the groom and I had to pack up everything with our friends/​wedding guests at the end of the night. I was so flustered I forgot my bouquet which I had really wanted to save for a few days. Ida never told me she was leaving. Just snuck out. She also arrived 6 hours later than what she was contracted for that day. So, in total, she worked half the number of hours we were paying her for.
— Ida miscued everyone including the groom, urging him to walk when there was no music playing, telling him to «just go» even though he wanted to wait for his music. She then realized she needed to cue the D.J. to play the music. Um…
— One of our flower girls got the last minute jitters and started to cry when she saw the number of people waiting for her to walk down the aisle. Instead of gently escorting her to the side, Ida PUSHED the flower girl into the aisle way while she was crying. Had I not been right there to tell her that I would just walk (as my music was almost done playing due to the miscues and the girl’s tears), Ida would have sent this crying, scared, little girl down the aisle. One guest was really offended by watching her and could not believe that she was the coordinator and not a relative of this child to be forcing her that way.
–Ida lost our cake cutter and server and then denied ever seeing them. Despite the package they came in being opened and emptied at the wedding site.
–Despite assuring my mother several times that she would reserve the front rows for my family at the ceremony, she did not. Our photographer had to scramble and do this which of course was not her job.
–I could go on but you get the idea. Brides beware and DO NOT HIRE Ida.