Umbrella Events believes there are no rules when planning your wedding. Traditions can be fun, but doing something different can be unforgettable! Umbrella Events is made up of a group of fun and innovative women that want you to have the best day ever- whatever that looks like to you! Contact us for a free consultation.
Services offered
This business offers personalized services to fit your needs and budget. For couples who would love to do all the planning themselves and want a coordinator only for the day of the event, Umbrella Events has got it covered. It also offers its services for couples who need experts to handle the entire planning process from beginning to end. Wedding events such as ceremony, reception, and rehearsal dinner are all covered by the business. Planning services include the following:
Budget analysis
Day-of coordination
Event design
Full planning
Guest list
Partial planning
Referrals
Timelines
To-do lists
Other services
All types of private events are covered by the business. These include anniversaries, birthdays, holiday parties, graduations, reunions, showers, and more. Special events such as charity events, pride events, trade shows, galas, concerts, opening nights, art shows, etc. are also covered by the business. Event rentals such as birdcages, chalkboards, pillars, vases, table runners, and much more, are also provided.
My wife & I worked with Jen at Umbrella Events for month-of coordination, and she and her team were an absolute joy to work with. From our first meeting, we felt her genuine excitement about our event, and were so impressed by her knowledge about all the details we might have otherwise forgotten. She was very efficient, reliable, and committed to realizing our vision; she was always checking in with us, which allowed us to feel at the centre of the process (making sure that we didn't get lost in the details). When last-minute hiccups came up, Jen was very calm under pressure and helped us find an even better solution! We feel so lucky to have been recommended Umbrella Events - it wouldn't have been the same without them. Thank you Cristie, Jen, and Blair for helping our wedding day be such a magical queer forest success!
Sent on 03/09/2019
Alex Tong
· Married on 06/07/2019
5.0
Quality of service:
5.0
Responsiveness:
5.0
Value:
5.0
Flexibility:
5.0
Professionalism:
5.0
A great wedding planner, who works well with remote couples!
We hired Cristie of Umbrella Events to do month-of-coordination, and also hired her to advise and procure floral-decor related items, since by the time we engaged her we had already secured the venue and photo/video. We lived three time zones away from where our wedding was (Vancouver), so we needed someone who could provide some vetted floral/decor vendors and could do a great job managing vendors on the month/day-of. Cristie was a joy to work with, very responsive, and did an especially amazing job on the day of! It put our mind at ease knowing she had things under control. A true professional! Thank you, Cristie! -- Alex and Karen
Sent on 28/07/2019
Noemi Pomerleau
· Married on 13/06/2019
3.4
Quality of service:
2.0
Responsiveness:
5.0
Value:
2.0
Flexibility:
5.0
Professionalism:
3.0
Very Small Wedding = Very Little Commitment
We got married last June, so it's been a few months, but every time I think about the wedding reception, all I can think is "it was fantastic - too bad about the day-of coordinator". Admittedly our reception was small and extremely simple, and there was no ceremony involved because we'd done a private one the day before. Hiring a day-of coordinator was almost certainly overkill. But I was planning it mostly alone, and didn't want to spend my day fussing and worrying over small details, so at the last minute I decided to spend about $1500 on having someone to help out, purely for peace of mind.
We were assigned Jennifer, and in the lead-up to the wedding she was great. She arranged pick-up for our wedding cake and other decor items, she helped me negotiate with the venue, she was super responsive in her emails. I was beyond thrilled and sure we were going to have a great experience with her.
The day of the reception, though, was just bizarre. Jennifer showed up as scheduled to meet me at the venue, where I had dropped off a bunch of decor and prizes and my shoes and dress so I could change later. I told her my husband was going to arrive soon with desserts and other things and would need help unloading his car. She said "no problem, I'm just going to park my car for the evening, I just wanted to make sure you were okay because I know your hair appointment is soon". She went off to park, I went off to hair and makeup, I texted my husband that she'd be there to meet him. All seemed well.
When he showed up, nobody was there. He had to unload the entire car of all the materials and desserts, walking from two blocks away and making him a sweaty mess in the process. Jennifer didn't return for two hours, arriving just before the reception was due to start. By that point, I was too frazzled to question where she'd been, and guests started arriving shortly after. Jennifer and her assistant helped hand out drink tickets, and we seemed to be back on track. The first couple of hours went flawlessly - the venue was completely on top of things. Admittedly, Jennifer was probably super bored, with things going so well. Like I said, hiring her was probably overkill for a wedding this simple.
Then, speeches started. The audio was WAY too low, and my mother-in-law was barely audible, even to me, who was sitting right next to her. Guests in the back kept talking over her, and I could see people visibly straining to hear. Despite me asking, at no point did somebody turn up the audio. I couldn't do anything, being pinned up at the front next to the speech-giver. I was very upset that Jennifer didn't step in.
Worse, though, was when dancing was due to start. After our first dance, the audio got turned down, and when the party playlist came on it was nearly muted. A crowd of us shouted repeatedly for the audio to be turned up, but nobody did it. My husband ended up leaving to get the sound turned up, but - predictably - he got stopped by about 15 people on his way. It took like 20 minutes for the sound to get turned up, and by the time my husband returned, people had lost interest and didn't dance. He'd put together a custom mix for the party and was hugely invested in the music, particularly the first song, so when it got botched so badly, he was devastated. It's still the first thing that comes up when we remember that day, because he was so upset by that stolen moment.
Finally, at around 10pm, Jennifer came to tell me she was leaving. She'd never mentioned she'd be leaving early (three hours before the event was due to end) and she didn't phrase it as a question, but as a statement - "I'm leaving now". I was in shock.
Overall our wedding was a huge success, but after paying $1500 for a very, very simple job, I expected more. I thought I was paying for the peace of mind that little things that went wrong would be fixed, but the little things that went wrong still had to be fixed by me and my husband, and it ended up leaving us with some frustrating memories and an expensive bill to pay. It was an extremely disappointing experience.
For a bigger wedding, it seems like they do great work. But I really felt like they didn't think we were important enough to warrant their best.
Sent on 27/01/2020
Alexi
· Married on 17/02/2019
5.0
Quality of service:
5.0
Responsiveness:
5.0
Value:
5.0
Flexibility:
5.0
Professionalism:
5.0
Just what we needed!
Cristie from Umbrella Events was amazing! We did the "month of" coordination and it was just what we needed. We had already booked the vendors ourselves, but it was great to get help with creating a timeline and remembering all the little details from a professional! Cristie was very easy going and had great recommendations for vendors and cute ideas for decor. The day of coordination was amazing, everything ran smoothly and the set-up of the venue looked amazing!
Sent on 16/03/2019
Elouisa
· Married on 13/09/2018
5.0
Quality of service:
5.0
Responsiveness:
5.0
Value:
5.0
Flexibility:
5.0
Professionalism:
5.0
Umbrella = phenomenal!
I honestly don't know what I would have done without Cristie - she was an absolute lifesaver!! I am based in Victoria but held the wedding in Vancouver, and Cristie helped me put together absolutely everything from afar. She has incredible contacts and made everything so smooth and simple for me - even when I was having a wedding meltdown, or changed my mind 500 times about things! For the wedding day, she had everyone and everything set up on a strict timeline and her communication with myself and the vendors ensured everything stayed right on track. I was a total nervous wreck but she kept me (and my mother!!) calm and positive all day and throughout the evening celebrations. The venue looked absolutely stunning with the decor she arranged and set up, and I so appreciate the effort she went to in trying to find items in my very-specific colour scheme! From day one I felt that everything was under control and I knew my big day was in good hands! Not only is Cristie super organised, professional, and experienced with large events, she is an amazing, bubbly person who will become a true friend throughout the process. I cannot recommend her and her team enough! Thank you Umbrella Events for EVERYTHING - you are amazing!!
