We hired Sara McIntosh with Candlewood Events for our July 2023 wedding and it was hands down the best decision we have ever made. We hired her for full planning for our 215 person wedding at the Woodstock Inn in VT. She helped plan every detail for that wedding during the entire year leading up to it, and did an exceptional job doing so. Less than a week before our wedding, Vermont was unfortunately hit with devastating floods, our venue had a water main break, and they could not host our wedding that weekend (cancelled on us on a Tuesday, with the wedding planned for Saturday). Most people could not re-plan an entire wedding in 4 days, but we were able to still get married that weekend with the wedding of our dreams ENTIRELY because of Sara. When our venue cancelled, Sara immediately jumped into action- she came over our house, set up shop in our office, and led the charge in re-planning our entire wedding weekend. We decided to move it to a tented wedding at my parents house in MA, and Sara jumped into action. She worked around the clock for 4 days straight, and managed to pull off the wedding of the summer. She quite literally pulled off planning a 215 person wedding in a new location in 4 days- new Rehearsal Dinner venue, new caterer, new ceremony space, entirely new printing, schedule, transportation, hotel room blocks, etc. Our wedding day happened and was completely seamless and stunning all because of Sara, and we will never be able to thank her properly for that! Our guests were in absolute shock with how perfect the weekend went- everyone was in disbelief that we were able to pull it off, and said that there was NO way this was our "Plan B." We could go on about the heroic efforts of Sara in the lead up and during our wedding weekend, but to sum it up- if you want an absolute rock star planner who will go absolutely above and beyond (and then some!) to make your weekend perfect, Sara is your person. We would not have had a wedding that weekend if it wasn't for her, and it was perfect in every way.

Of course, our experience in the week ahead of our wedding was a unique (and dramatic) one, that I hope most couples will not encounter, despite it all working out for us! To speak to the year leading up to our wedding before the venue cancellation, Sara made our entire year of planning absolutely stress-free, organized, and enjoyable. Sara did full planning for us, assisting with choosing every vendor (her recommendations & relationships in the vendor space are AMAZING), negotiating prices/contracts, and booked every single hotel room block, vendor, etc. As mentioned, she has incredible relationships with some of the best vendors in the industry, which allowed us to book a renowned photographer, band, videographer, and hair/makeup artist, who normally get completely booked up. Sara is a master planner- she has an amazing ability to see the big picture to ensure everything operationally runs seamlessly, while also thinking of all of the small details that make such a big difference on the day.

On the actual wedding weekend, Sara was the engine behind the scenes making everything happen. She took care of the big things of course, like running the rehearsal at the Church, communicating & coordinating the weekend timeline for the vendors down to the minute, and keeping everyone on time and on schedule. But she also went above and beyond to do the smallest things as well that made such a big difference- bustling my dress when others were struggling to, making sure the caterer had a server waiting at the door for the bride & groom to serve us each of our own specialty drinks, and ensuring every vendor got tipped at the end of the night. It's these small details that make ALL the difference on the day, and Sara thought of everything.

It is very difficult to keep this review concise given how much Sara & Candlewood Events means to us- but to sum it up, if you are looking for a wedding planner, look no further! Thank you Sara for pulling off the wedding of our dreams- we are forever grateful!!

You know what you need to have the best wedding ever? Your partner...and Sara.

She was (hands down) the best money we spent at our wedding. At 3 months out from the day, Sara took over all vendor communication, began planning, firming up last minute details, and most importantly...made me feel like we were going to have the best day ever!

Sara was super organized and very attentive prior to the wedding. She responded super promptly over email and text and never made me feel as though any question I asked was silly (and, I'm sure there were some silly concerns). On our wedding day, Sara made sure everything went smoothly!

We had our wedding in June 2021 in Boston, MA at a venue Sara hadn't handled before...and the day was....perfect! She helped us make (what felt like...) 587 COVID wedding plans, and helped us execute the day exactly how we saw it! She also helped me when I broke my bustle on the dance floor!

Sara is the best vendor we hired! She's was literally my best friend that day. When the wedding was over, I was sad for many reasons...but also because I couldn't talk to Sara daily anymore!

Whatever you do for your wedding...hire her! If it's a cost issue, cut around flowers or stationary - find. a. way. to. hire. her.

I promise, aside from choosing your partner, it'll be the best decision you make for your wedding day!

I couldn't be more grateful and thankful that we hired Sara at Candlewood events for our wedding. Right from the start, Sara impressed us with her knowledge and professionalism. Most importantly, her positive attitude was contagious and made us all feel at ease throughout the whole process. She is incredibly proactive, responsive, and will do whatever it takes to get the job done flawlessly (no matter what challenges may come along). On my actual wedding day, it could not have rained harder, but Sara's quick pivoting and direction made it seem like a non-issue. She had everything planned perfectly down to the tiniest detail. Our guests are still raving about how beautiful everything was. We could not have had a better experience, and would recommend her to anyone planning an event, large or small!

Working with Sara is the best decision we made for our wedding experience, no question. All wedding weekend long, I kept thinking to myself "thank goodness we have Sara on our team". Planning process: she found vendors for me, found discounted prices, coordinated meetings, came with us to vendor meetings, she helped me pick designs and helped me make decisions with her expertise that I had no idea what to decide on. Leading up to our wedding, she created a schedule (by the minute) that she coordinated with all our vendors and the venue. She truly ran the show. The day of the wedding, all vendors and even family members relied on her for questions and direction. She helped me with so many decisions and 40 out 40 times, her direction and intuition was spot on. She handled many different challenges with planning, weather, and did it all with grace. Everything that happened behind the scenes, I wasn't aware of because Sara handled it. Not to mention she has become a friend of ours - she is funny, direct, honest, professional and the kind of person you want on your team. We love her to pieces!

My husband and I got married on Cape Cod last month and we had the absolute best experience working with Sara at Candlewood Events as our planner. I truly can’t say enough - not only did she implement every detail beautifully, she also brought a fun, festive, and professional vibe to every interaction and to the big day itself. I had a relatively short engagement so we had a lot to plan in just a few short months, and Sara pulled everything together seamlessly. She has amazing connections with great vendors (I loved every one that she recommended), she is organized, fun to work with, creative and smart. I also very much appreciated that Sara is a sole proprietor and when you hire her, she is the one who will be planning your event every step of the way (along with her amazing day-of assistant Chelsea). You will have a lot of decisions when you are planning your wedding but if you are lucky enough to have Sara free on your wedding date, hire her! She will really help make your special day easy and enjoyable. A total pro and someone we now consider a friend!

Besides saying yes to my now husband, hiring Sara was the absolute best decision I made during my wedding planning process. Sara is incredibly organized, professional, trustworthy, and has an incredible attention to detail, not to mention, kind, patient and fun. From our very first conversation, I knew that we were in great hands and that I didn't have to worry about a thing. She completely understood our style and what we were looking for and gave us great recommendations, from vendors, colors, timeline. Sara thoughtfully and patiently answered every question, idea and late night email that I threw at her. It felt like I was planning my wedding with a close girlfriend, and every part was so much fun and stress free. Sara flawlessly planned, coordinated and executed the wedding of our dreams as well as made sure that my husband and I, my parents, in laws, wedding party and guests felt completely taken care of all weekend long. The entire day and process was so much better than I could have ever imagined, and I am forever grateful for Sara and her team!

I was on the fence about hiring a coordinator to help with my wedding since I felt I was very organized. I had interviewed a few people and nothing was really clicking. Then I was recommended to talk to Sara from Candlewood Events. Instantly it felt different - with everyone else I had interviewed I felt they could handle whatever I asked of them but with Sara she was thinking of things she could do before I had even thought of it. I knew right away I could trust her to make sure my wedding ran exactly as I had planned. She fit in seamlessly into the final months of preparation. I never felt rushed in our meetings and it was so great to have someone to "offload" all the details to so I could free my brain up to focus on other things. The week of the wedding we had death in the family and at the last minute we were not sure if some guests were going to be able to make it. As it turns out people were flying in for the funeral so we had to add 3 guests the day of the wedding. Sara handled everything. What could have been a stressful last minute change went so smoothly. She even hand lettered place cards for the extra guests so they felt included. I would urge anyone who is on the fence about hiring a coordinator to think about all the hard work you have put into planning your day. On the wedding day you don't want to worry where things go and who is showing up when - you want to enjoy what you worked so hard to plan. On my wedding day I was able to sit back and relax. I was able to eat food we worked so hard to choose and socialize with all our friends and family without out once thinking about what was going on behind the scenes. Sara was the best gift we gave ourselves on the wedding day. The value of not adding stress to an emotionally packed day was worth every penny.

There are only two things you need to get married: someone who is willing to spend the rest of their life with you and Sara McIntosh. To set the stage: I'm an incredibly organized person; I own a business, I love an Excel sheet, I live in to-do lists. I was pretty convinced I could plan a wedding on my own. But the second my now husband and I met Sara, we knew we couldn't have the stress-free, all fun, no-issues day we wanted without Sara. She immediately understood how I make decisions and presented everything strategically and directly handled the things we didn't care about but needed to get done. She knew what my husband wanted to be involved in and what she could come to me directly to discuss. She listened, she communicated, and most importantly she shared her incredible knowledge with us every step of the way - from the tasting to the rentals. There's just so much about the wedding industry that, unless you're in it for years, you'll never even think to ask, never know what you can negotiate and what you have to suck it up and pay for. To get everyone's immediate question out of the way - Sara's fees are incredibly reasonable, both for full planning if you choose to do so (which I HIGHLY recommend you do) or day-of coordinating. But more importantly, she easily paid for herself time and time again through helping us negotiate down fees, managing a couple tricky/difficult vendors, and surprising us with amazing touches throughout our wedding weekend (for example, Sara knew my favorite local farm florist that we unfortunately weren't allowed to work with at our wedding venue, so she surprised me on our rehearsal dinner by bringing in my favorite blooms!). On the day of the wedding, she and her assistant Chelsea had every aspect covered, including handling things we didn't even know were an issue - for instance, we apparently ran low on vodka during cocktail hour, but only knew when we saw Sara calmly strolling back into the venue with a box of five handles of Titos. That peace of mind is exactly what you need on your day. Trust me. Just book Sara and thank me later.

Sara is truly one of a kind and the absolute best. We hired her for month of/day of planning, but she worked with us throughout the entire process, helped ease our anxiety, answered ALL of our questions and was always very quick to respond to an email, call or text. She gave us tons of recommendations and contacted vendors on pricing. She was my rock throughout the entire wedding planning process. On our actual wedding day, I did not have any worries, I knew Sara would make it absolutely perfect. She took care of EVERYTHING and even made personal connections with our bridal party and family, which made everyone feel at ease. It was the best day ever and I am so thankful for everything she did to make our wedding day unforgettable. I highly recommend using Sara and Candlewood Events to assist in planning the wedding of your dreams :)

Sara’s firsthand experience with area vendors eliminated guesswork, and a lot of stress, from our wedding planning process. She coordinated the timeline of our event so that every detail was accounted for and we could enjoy our day without worrying about logistics. Sara was patient, responsive, and wonderful to work with!