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Weddings

About

Your expert Hudson Valley wedding planner & design company. We are a top-rated, award-winning team serving New England, NY, and destinations worldwide. We provide each client with exceptional service and meticulous attention to detail, which has made us a leader in the industry. Our goal is to create authentic, immersive, and well-orchestrated weddings for our clients.

  • Woman-owned
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Frequently asked questions

What is the starting price for partial wedding planning?

$9,000

What is the starting price for full wedding planning?

$11,000

Do you offer an hourly rate?

No

What wedding events do you provide services for?

Ceremony
Reception
Rehearsal Dinner

What wedding planning services do you offer?

Full Planning
Partial Planning

What weddings do you have experience planning?

Civil
Cultural
Destination
Double Weddings
Eco-Friendly
Military
Non-Religious
Religious

Reviews of Cathy's Elegant Events

This AI-generated summary gives you a snapshot of the overall ratings and feedback from the reviews this vendor has received.

Review summary

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Cathy consistently receives high praise from couples and families for her exceptional organizational skills, meticulous planning, and genuine care throughout the wedding process. Reviewers highlight her impeccable communication, vendor recommendations, and ability to handle any situation seamlessly on the wedding day. Cathy's thoroughness, deep vendor connections, and dedication to executing couples' visions make her a highly recommended choice for those looking for a skilled and thoughtful wedding planner.

Review summary

Powered by AI
This AI-generated summary gives you a snapshot of the overall ratings and feedback from the reviews this vendor has received.

Cathy consistently receives high praise from couples and families for her exceptional organizational skills, meticulous planning, and genuine care throughout the wedding process. Reviewers highlight her impeccable communication, vendor recommendations, and ability to handle any situation seamlessly on the wedding day. Cathy's thoroughness, deep vendor connections, and dedication to executing couples' visions make her a highly recommended choice for those looking for a skilled and thoughtful wedding planner.

Anne-Claire
Anne-Claire Sent on 10/22/2023
5 out of 5 rating

Cathy Ballone - not your average wedding planner

If you want a wedding planner who will actually roll up their sleeves and run the traps on all of the nitty gritty details of your wedding from start to finish, no matter how complicated things get during the planning or on the day of your event, and who will do it with grace and professionalism, you should hire Cathy. If you want to leave all of that up to chance, hire someone else, but I promise you will regret it. My husband and I were in no position to take on the complexity of our vision on a 9 month timeline and Cathy was honest with us at every turn about what it would take to get things done. On the day of my wedding when a forecasted squall threatened the evacuation of our tent, Cathy calmly came to find me during hair and makeup, helped me appreciate the options, and then personally moved heaven and earth to make an alternative cocktail hour plan happen as the storm passed.

Cathy is a hard-working, honest, experienced planner. She knows every vendor in the Hudson Valley. She chases people down and will not rest until there's an answer (e.g. given a very bad peach harvest this year, how will I source 250 peaches to achieve my client's vision?) When you’re writing check after check for your wedding and the thought crosses your mind — “can I even trust this person?” Um, yes, I would trust Cathy with most anything. She is not the wedding planner you see on TV or that your friends lament “didn’t even do anything”. Oh, no. Cathy will keep you on track week by week, organized in GoogleDrive, and even on top of things she’s not contractually responsible for (e.g. have you selected accessories yet? How is honeymoon planning going?), and then, when cocktail hour is going swimmingly and the first rain drops start to fall, she will just APPEAR with an umbrella over your head like she is ACTUALLY MARY POPPINS. She excels at the knowledge work, the hard work (turns out this can be a very physical job!) and is very service-oriented with families and guests.

I was perhaps the happiest I have ever been on my wedding day and I know that having a trusted, experienced planner like Cathy (and her team!) — who genuinely cared about us, our families, and our friends — gave me the freedom to enjoy my day to the maximum. There is no greater gift to give yourself.
D
Dale Sent on 11/12/2025
5 out of 5 rating

Our best wedding decision!

Working with Cathy was truly one of the best decisions we made for our wedding! She partnered with us for over a year and a half, guiding us through every step — from the venue search and vendor selection to decor, design, and all the tiny details in between.
Cathy is the most organized person you will ever meet. She kept us on track with regular calls, detailed timelines, and comprehensive documents that made the entire process feel manageable and stress-free. Beyond her impeccable organization, Cathy was always our biggest advocate — whether negotiating with the venue, communicating with vendors, or helping navigate delicate family dynamics, she always had our best interests at heart.
Her vendor recommendations were spot-on, and she was endlessly patient when we wanted to talk through every little decision (no matter how small!). We always felt supported and heard, and on the wedding day itself, everything ran seamlessly thanks to her meticulous planning and calm presence.
We truly can’t imagine going through this process without Cathy! She’s professional, thoughtful, and genuinely cares about her couples. If you want someone who will make your wedding vision come to life while keeping you sane throughout the process, Cathy is the one!
Kathryn
Kathryn Sent on 10/28/2025
5 out of 5 rating

Highly Recommend Cathy!

Cathy planned our wedding in September of 2025 and we are so happy and thankful that we had her leading our event! We would 100% recommend Cathy to any couples interested in hiring her and her team.

Cathy’s communication from our first call through the wedding day was best-in-class and she was always available to answer any questions we had. In the wedding planning process, it can be daunting to even know where to begin, but Cathy made everything so clear for us and set us up for success by using her deep experience and knowledge of local vendors to simplify the decision-making process. From there, Cathy did an incredible job of keeping us on track with bi-weekly calls and a running to-do list for us to tackle, while behind the scenes working with all of our vendors to allow for everything to come into place.

When it came to wedding day and the weeks leading up, Cathy made everything so smooth for us, our families and our wedding party. On the wedding day, we were able to just focus on enjoying the day knowing that Cathy had everything handled!
Jeff
Jeff Sent on 10/12/2025
5 out of 5 rating

Wedding in the Hudson River Valley

Cathy was a wonderful and thorough wedding planner at our son and daughter in law’s wedding. We teased her that she had a “Mary Poppin’s purse.” For example, one of the groomsmen’s tuxedo arms were too long. Cathy had a supply of safety pins in her purse and was able to fix the tuxedo before the ceremony. Cathy was around and available at all times but wasn’t in the spotlight. We highly recommend her.
Sisi
Sisi Sent on 09/29/2024
5 out of 5 rating

Couldn't have done it without Cathy

We knew Cathy was the right fit for us as soon as we got off the first call. We needed somebody to bring structure, experience, honesty, and attention to detail for an 7 month planning process. Cathy gave off that first impression and delivered in spades.

To illustrate an example of Cathy's approach that worked well for us: Cathy set up a shared Google Drive, budget, timeline, and biweekly calls, where we only focused on the decisions / discussions that had to happen at that point in time and didn't needlessly worry about the rest. We were in a very busy season at work, and this allowed us to direct the limited mindshare that we had to the right things at the right time.

Furthermore, Cathy has experience working with the best vendors across the Hudson Valley. We trusted her to give us honest advice and a range of options that honoured our preferences and price points - particularly helpful for a couple based in Brooklyn and could not always visit vendors ourselves. She also knows the best sandwiches in town for when we did visit.

Finally, Cathy worked tirelessly behind the scenes during our actual wedding weekend to make it truly more than we could have hoped for, while we got to be carefree and present (seriously, we went jogging through the trails and had bagels the morning of!) She monitored the evolving rain situation all day, with backup plans in place. She translated every detail from our conversations to execution (including pulling off adapted Chinese / British tea ceremony, and making sure we both had change of clothing for the after party in case of rain or sweat). And she coordinated with our vendors and wedding party, so we didn't have to field any questions.

Thank you, Cathy! We strong recommend her planning services.
Christine and Jason
Christine Sent on 09/05/2024
5 out of 5 rating

Hire Cathy. She is the best!

Cathy is excellent. We felt a connection with her on our very first call, and we thoroughly enjoyed working with her throughout the entire 15 month-long process. She is organized, methodical, and was our partner and advocate every step of the way. Cathy brings expert knowledge and special thoughtfulness to planning. She knew the best vendors in the Hudson Valley to work with to execute our vision of a lush and vibrant summer wedding with our guests’ experience at the forefront.

She advised us through decisions large and small, listening to our ideas, spending countless hours working through the details with us, making expert recommendations. Cathy built and managed thoughtful, detailed timelines for the planning process and our wedding day. We came to rely on her as our trusted advisor, and felt assured that she cared as much about the finer details as we did. In the end, all our hard work together paid off. We had an absolute blast on our wedding day, and knowing Cathy was in charge played a key role in our enjoyment.

Moments before the ceremony began, Cathy discovered that Christine’s veil had been forgotten, and Cathy took off running to recover it. Another planner might have overlooked a detail like this, but Cathy took notice and immediate action to ensure our wedding went according to plan.

Heavy rain was on the forecast for our wedding day. Cathy diligently monitored the weather conditions during the weeks prior, and ensured our rain plan was in place the week of. The morning of the wedding, the weather appeared to have stabilized enough for us to proceed with our original ceremony plan. Nevertheless, Cathy remained prepared and had golf umbrellas at the ready for us.

We absolutely loved working with Cathy and would hire her again in a heartbeat. Along the way, vendors who had worked with Cathy in the past spoke highly of her work and genuinely seemed relieved (on all our behalves) that we had chosen her as our partner in bringing our dream wedding into reality. So are we!

We recommend Cathy’s planning services highly and without hesitation.
D
Dan Z. Sent on 01/23/2024
5 out of 5 rating

We NEEDED Cathy, you do too

We cannot recommend Cathy highly enough. From our first contact with her, it was clear that we were over our heads planning a wedding, but the solution was simple: Cathy. Cathy immediately worked with us to create a vision board that made sure we all were talking a common language and had a singular vision. From there, biweekly meetings made sure we were making the progress we needed. Even better, between those meetings, Cathy was always available (both quickly over text and for in-the-weed phone calls). No detail is missed, because Cathy won’t let it be missed; she creates a masterfully organized Google Drive to make sure we are all working with the same documents and that nothing gets lost. We cannot emphasize enough how much easier life is with Cathy! I wish we could hire her to just run our lives forever.
If all the planning, contracts, vendor work, and tough love wasn’t enough, Cathy took it to the next level on our wedding day. In the midst of a torrential downpour, Cathy dug irrigation trenches to prevent our ceremony tent from flooding and got a friend to bring a tractor to help move a tree that was down and blocking the driveway to our venue. Then, because my wedding dress wasn’t bustled high enough, Cathy did emergency stitch work, while I ate dinner to make sure I could cut up the dance floor. Those are no hyperboles; Cathy literally did hard manual labor and on the spot seamstress work to assure we had the perfect day. And the best part, we had no idea either of those near catastrophic events had occurred. Nope, Cathy made our wedding day seem effortless and perfect, when without her it would have been the opposite of both.
In summary, Cathy has the organizational infrastructure to make your wedding planning seamless, a deep rolodex of vendors to make sure you have the right ones on your day and has seen it all. If you choose Cathy to work with you on your wedding day, you will end up wondering how you could have done it any other way.
C
Catherine Sent on 01/20/2024
5 out of 5 rating

She was a lifesaver! Highly recommend!!!

Cathy is the most organized person I may have ever met! She was on top of every aspect of our wedding from A-Z. She helped me stay organized with spreadsheets, files, and even let me mail items directly to her to bring to the wedding so I didn't have to worry about setting things up myself. She provided a level of organization I didn't know I needed, and the whole day ran completely smoothly. She was a lifesaver! Highly recommend!!!
Shara
Shara Sent on 10/08/2023
5 out of 5 rating

Highly Recommend

Cathy was friendly, flexible, accommodating and professional from the very beginning. I couldn't recommend her more. Anything we threw out there as far as ideas or thoughts was well received without any judgment or pushing us to go in either direction. I felt very taken care of, heard and she followed through on every part of the planning we needed. Cathy's organization was something I have not seen before- extremely reliable and always following through on tasks not only on her end but made sure we did our job as well. I felt like she really cared about our happiness for the wedding weekend and not that it was just a job to her. I was very impressed and would hire her for anything in the future.
Clara
Clara Sent on 09/08/2023
5 out of 5 rating

Hiring Cathy was the BEST decision we made for our special day!

I have nothing but kind things to say about Cathy and her team. Cathy stood by us through the pandemic, 2 canceled weddings and a complete location, country and theme swift. We went from Upstate New York to New York City, and eventually Tulum, Mexico where the wedding was finally celebrated. Cathy is a superhero and she truly goes above and beyond for her clients. Cathy has a waiting list of clients, but made us feel like we were her only priority which was such a nice feeling. Our special day was better than we could ever have imagined, thanks to Cathy. She is always five steps ahead, extremely organized and amazing under pressure. It didn't take long for Cathy to figure out our vision and priorities, which is why Cathy is so good at what she does. I could use a daily dose of Cathy to keep my life in order. We miss her.
We're all about trust. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.

Awards

112
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2023 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2022 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2020 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2019 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2018 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2017 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2016 Winner

Professional Network & Endorsements

13 Endorsements
Bo Shim Bo Shim Wedding Photographers

It's always a pleasure to work with Cathy and her team! They are professional and so easy to work with. She does a great job in coordinating and bringing your vision to life!

Adena Orchard Adena Orchard Barn & Farm Weddings

Cathy's Elegant Events thinks of everything. EVERYTHING. Cathy is one of the most organized and professional people in the wedding industry and is always happy to help make connections and introductions. Her follow through is unparalleled and she can make even the most complicated and daunting logistics seem like a piece of cake! We highly recommend Cathy's Elegant Events.

Bennett Miller Entertainment Bennett Miller Entertainment Wedding Bands

Cathy's Elegant Events does a such great job of coordinating and curating beautiful events! It's always a pleasure to work with Cathy and her team. Her knowledge, professionalism, and positive attitude make for a winning combination!

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Next Wedding Planners: Mary Jacobs Weddings and Events

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