We worked with Cole Drake Events, specifically Courtney Bailey, and she was absolutely incredible. From the very beginning, Courtney was organized, professional, knowledgeable, and genuinely easy to work with. She respected our budget while still delivering a wedding that felt thoughtful, seamless, and beautifully executed.

Courtney immediately understood our vision and brought it to life across every event—from our tea ceremony (taking the time to learn the customs), to our welcome party, and of course our wedding day. Her expertise and passion made everything feel effortless.

People say weddings can be chaotic and that couples don’t always get to enjoy their day—but thanks to Courtney and the Cole Drake Events team, that couldn’t have been further from our experience. Everything was handled from start to finish, allowing me to truly be present, spend time with friends and family, and simply enjoy being married.

I am still obsessing over how perfect everything was. I trust Courtney completely, and after this experience, I feel incredibly lucky to have gained not just an amazing planner, but a lifelong friend. I cannot recommend her highly enough.

October 4th, our Cole Drake planner, Courtney Bailey, achieved what I never thought possible...a flawless wedding at the Four Seasons in Calistoga. I consider myself a perfectionist, but Courtney and her team have me beat! I knew from the beginning working with Courtney that we had nothing to worry about, but still I didn't expect everything to turn out just the way I had invisioned. The magnificence of this wedding was so far beyond my most hopeful vision. All of this orchestrated by Courtney and her amazing team, along with vendors she trusts. Courtney's upbeat personality was such a pleasure throughout all the months of planning. I don't know how this wedding would have come together had I chosen a different planner., but I will say there is no way it would have been the jaw dropping, exquisite event that ii was...not even close!

Stephanie, Makela and Courtney were the absolute best. We planned a large wedding at Stanly Ranch in less than 8 months. Every aspect was perfect; the vendors, the planning and the timing. As mother of the bride, there wasn't one aspect that I thought about or worried about for the entire weekend.

Can’t say enough great things about Cole Drake events and Stephanie! I watched my sister transform from anxious and stressed about planning her wedding to completely calm “Bride-chilla” once Cole Drake came into the picture. Stephanie’s professionalism, work ethic and communication skills made it so easy to just relax and enjoy the process and most importantly, the wedding day! She orchestrated the most beautiful and flawless day that went off without a hitch. She worked hand in hand with vendors to make sure every detail was in place, and gave recommendations where needed.
As a wedding photographer myself, I’ve been to many, many weddings and wish they could all run as smoothly and stress free as this one. As the matron of honor, I’ll be forever grateful that my baby sister got to have the wedding of her dreams and actually enjoy every part of it, because she knew Stephanie had it handled. That is priceless! Thank you, thank you!

Stephanie Cole from ColeDrake events was our wedding planner for our May 2019 wedding in Napa, CA and we recommend her with the highest regard. Stephanie is a true subject matter expert in wine country wedding planning. Working with her for over one year, Stephanie exhibited the following qualities that truly make her the best:

Personable - Stephanie’s gregarious personality is contagious. She loves what she does and that made working with her all the more enjoyable. You will spend a lot of time with your wedding planner. Whether it’s corresponding over hundreds of emails or discussing details over hour long calls. With Stephanie’s can-do energetic attitude I don’t know how you can’t not love her.

Meticulous - As to be expected, Stephanie pays attention to every detail. On your big day, her goal is for you to be stress free and that was truly the case with Stephanie. As my own mother said to me (who is extremely hard to please), “your wedding planner is incredible, she is always where she needs to be exactly when she needs to be there.” In addition, With her deep experience comes an intimate knowledge of every possible outcome and how to plan for it. Stephanie’s attention to detail and ability to plan for any mishap (i.e. rain) was incredible. Two thirds of our wedding was planned to be outdoors. When our wedding week rolled around, heavy rain was in the forecast for our big day. Within 5 days Stephanie put together an entire plan B that was executed without mishap. Our guests were none the wiser that the entire flow and the location of our wedding had changed 5 days before they arrived.

Connected - Napa is a luxury destination wedding location filled with vendors that are difficult to navigate. As someone that lives and plans weddings in the Napa region, Stephanie is connected to the best of the best of wedding vendors. From florists to photographers Stephanie will ensure that you have an ample selection of the most talented people to bring your big day to life (within your budget).

Honesty - We think one of the best qualities of Stephanie is her honesty. She will give you her true opinion and tell you what you need to hear, even when you don’t want to hear it. From telling you that those farm tables you want won’t add much and are not in budget, to delivering the tough news that we need to plan for rain, Stephanie ensures that her honesty is delivered with your best interest in mind. She really cares about her couples and this honesty is sometimes the thing you need the most.

If you are planning a wedding or event in Wine Country (Napa/Sonoma), then we could not recommend more that you use Stephnie or ColeDrake events for your special day.

We loved working with Cole Drake Events! They were very helpful and organized, making the wedding run seamlessly from start to finish!

Where to begin! From the initial meeting, to well timed follow-up calls/emails, coordination with vendors, and of the course the "you're about to get married, are you ready?" phone call during the week-of; Stephanie and her team at Cole Drake are unparalleled when it comes to professionalism and success with wedding planning.

My wife and I initially interviewed 5-6 wedding planners, and Stephanie was a clear-cut favorite from the beginning, she was well prepared and very polished during our first phone call. At every turn, she was direct, but professional and cordial, all the while being fun to work with.

Her connections and recommendations with vendors of all type were well-thought and perfectly paired. She was mindful of our budget, personality, preferred style, and wishes.

Throughout the entire year of planning, Stephanie exceeded our expectations with each meeting and interaction. However, the day-of is where she and Emily really shined! They were constantly on the move in discreet manner at our wedding, ushering guests around, timing actions with the vendors, insuring events moved smoothly, directing, and just silently running the show in the background. Stephanie and her team were an integral part of making our dream wedding come true. Highest of recommendations to Cole Drake Events. If you want your wedding to be a fun, perfect, dream come true of an event; work with Stephanie and Cole Drake Events.

Stephanie Cole, of Cole Drake Events, is the Beyonce of wedding planners.

I don't know how I could possibly sum up in so few words what she means to me, after this long wedding journey together. Stephanie is a planning machine, a force of nature. From the biggest decisions to the smallest details, she is a master of execution. Our day-of timeline was nearly 20 pages long. So many little, and not so little, things went wrong over the months we were working with Stephanie, but you would never have known it, because she handled each challenge with grace and poise. She kept us holding our heads high through so many tears - a few bad (like when our wedding band unceremoniously disbanded several months post-contract), but so, so many more of them happy. Our wedding day was perfect, exactly as we dreamed, and it was because of her. Stephanie will surpass your every expectation, every time.

I had never met Stephanie before hiring her as our planner, but I now proudly consider her my friend. Besides saying yes when my now-husband got down on one knee, hiring Stephanie is the single best decision I made with respect to my wedding. I urge you to make the same fantastic choice.

Sarah Drake and team were quite simply the best! Made our daughters wedding weekend pure magic down to the very last detail!!

Planning a Yountville, CA wedding from Chicago, IL was a breeze! Alexis was incredibly helpful, knowledgeable, and accessible throughout the entire process. As a bride that really did not want to be involved in the planning process, Alexis planned an amazing "surprise wedding" for us, and it was everything we had hoped it to be and beyond. The vendors and the details were all perfect. Thank you!