Elegant Occasions by JoAnn Gregoli Reviews
Reviews
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Anthony Sent on 10/27/2022
Anthony Madonia
JoAnn and her team were great from start to finish! They were on top of everything! They took our ideas and brought it to life! We are extremely great full to her and her team! -
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Tracy Sent on 09/24/2022
Mrs Tracy Coene
JoAnn was an absolute pleasure to work with. She planned my 50th Birthday party in 2 months and didn’t miss a single detail!!! The venue was in a remote area with little resources but JoAnn pulled it together with more class than I could’ve imagined. She managed to book an amazing band, mixologist, photographer, sushi chef & beautiful furniture to transform the venue and elevate the party. My party was everything I had envisioned. JoAnn is by far the best in the business!! I can’t wait to plan another party with her. -
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Elizabeth Sent on 06/20/2022
A Truly Magical Wedding Weekend
A truly magical evening (and weekend) is the only way to describe my daughter’s wedding. From start to finish, JoAnn made it all happen. Hearing the words “I got it” and then seeing her in action making it all happen was truly remarkable. JoAnn is a true professional and her vendors are creative, knowledgeable, and truly first rate. She’s easy to work with … creative, elegant, service-oriented, listens to clients, works each event vs. handing it over to staffers, and really, not sure when she sleeps. No detail is left untouched. Literally, I had no idea when we hired JoAnn who we just teamed up with. She’s a force and in the best way possible. She is a true professional, a friend, someone I respect, and is now family to us.
We knew we wanted to give our daughter a unique, elegant and modern wedding and she delivered on that plus more. When I walked into the reception at Tavern on the Green, I could not believe how she transformed a beautiful venue into something even more elegant and “old New York” than it already was. It took all of us by surprise. The reception was so elegant from the furniture, tablecloths, tablescapes to the dance floor, lighting and all the special elements she included. She not only delivered exactly what we had talked about and worked on for several months but more than we expected. We didn’t even know we wanted it or needed it until we saw it. Everything was bespoke. From a champagne wall with customized place cards to custom linen napkins to our daughter’s wedding logo on the ice cubes, we were blown away. In my sleep-panic several months but close enough to the wedding, I woke up one morning, called her and said “I do not want to walk into the reception and think ‘I wish I would have …’ “. And, that did not happen, and we were not disappointed. She thought of everything. She truly listens to what the bride and her parents want the wedding to be bringing to life our vision not hers. It was a magical lifetime wedding weekend and one I know I’ll not experience again. And the feedback from all our guests as they described the wedding and full weekend events were magical, elegant, lovely, classic, beautiful, unique. Yes, to all of those.
A couple of additional highlights: Along with the wedding reception, she planned and coordinated our Welcome Party that included a sunset dinner sail with surprise fireworks and talent (for our guests and daughter/son-in-law). We chose this option based on her recommendations and it was such a success. She handled everything that evening including fake run of schedule for our daughter/son-in-law then the real schedule to us plus our special talent at the end of the evening. It was so special and a wonderful beginning to the wedding weekend.
She helped with the rehearsal dinner as well. Also, the day of the wedding, she coordinated hair, makeup, and the most important was a dresser who oversaw steaming all the gowns and fixing any dress problems. I’m so glad she suggested the dresser because right before the wedding, the hem came out of my gown and the dresser fixed it.
JoAnn also helped negotiate special talent for the Welcome Party and wedding reception that included Billy Currington and John Mayer respectively. She found their agents, helped negotiate the contract, and represented us and our commitments (travel, lighting, sounds, etc.) for the management of the two performers. She made it so flawless and took all the worrying away that when the welcome party and wedding reception came, I was able to party and enjoy their performances.
I cannot express enough how truly remarkable JoAnn is with her creative vision, flawless team, the best contacts in the city and impeccable taste. She is such a multi-layered event coordinator that produces the most impossible requests. We love her like family and am so happy she was the one that brought our vision to life. If you want a wedding like no one else, hire JoAnn Gregoli. I promise, you will be so happy you did.
Eliz & Marc W. -
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Abi K. Sent on 01/02/2022
Amazing from start to finish!
Where do I even begin. For my entire engagement the most common question I received was, ‘how are you handling the stress of planning your wedding?’. I can honestly say that thanks to Joann I experienced absolutely none of it. It was an incredible joy to let Joann and her team do what they do best and walk into my absolute dream of a wedding completely surprised. Everything was planned down to the very last detail and from our first conversation she understood exactly what I wanted (and didn’t want). On the day of the wedding Joann and Anna made things so easy for me I don’t even believe it. Everything was taken care of and every vendor Joann vouched for delivered tenfold. We were able to give our family and friends the experience of a lifetime all while having the absolute best day of our lives with no added stress. I can truly say I feel like I’ve gained a friend through this in Joann and I will look back on our wedding as the most magical day of our lives. - Abi -
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Morgan Sent on 12/10/2021Amazing. Couldn’t have asked for someone better and more genuine!
JoAnn was my wedding planner for 2.5 years and I couldn’t have been more thankful to have her. We first brought her on in 2019 right after our engagement and shortly after COVID completely derailed our wedding plans. Not only did JoAnn support us through the difficult time she also acted as our therapist! We went through so many reschedules, cancellations and iterations of our wedding plans and she helped us through all of it. We ended up having the most amazing wedding at a venue in NJ called Natirar and I couldn’t have pictured a more perfect day. JoAnn and her team got the job done and went above and beyond our expectations. She is well known and respected in the industry and has a lot of great connections with vendors, which was great because when it came time for the big day we were taken care of. At the end of the day, JoAnn is a good person who genuinely cares about her brides, their families and making sure they have a wedding reflective of their love. The wedding industry can be filled with people who try to take advantage of you and not only is she far from this stigma, she protected us from it. We love JoAnn! -
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Kelley Sent on 11/15/2021High Level Quality Customer Service
I have so much respect and high regard for JoAnn at Elegant Occasions. She provides high communication and will work after hours and weekends, which many planners will not provide this level of service. She helped me plan a wedding in the pandemic within 90 days! Most of my friends thought I was crazy, but working with JoAnn made this so enjoyable and doable. I was able to lean back and really enjoy the journey because of JoAnn. Every vision I had, she provided from the photos, to sky lanterns, champagne coupe waterfall, exquisite menu, and intentionally quality time with my groom on the wedding day. Her wealth of contacts provided me the BEST vendors from the photographer, to the band, and the invitations. JoAnn has a gift from God to create a magical and dreamy wedding. Brennan and myself could not be more than pleased and hands down my wedding was beyond my wildest dreams.
I would recommend JoAnn to anyone who is looking for a planner in the states or a destination. She is a diamond in the rough.
Kelley Anne Peterson -
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Dale Sent on 10/31/2021Fabulous Wedding
We just had an awesome wedding after 2 cancellations due to Covid. JoAnn navigated us through the challenges and we had the best wedding ever. It was unbelievable. -
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Scott Sent on 10/31/2021We Could NOT Have Done it Without JoAnn!
We weren’t fully prepared for just how intimate our relationship with JoAnn would turn out to be, and how important that intimacy was to a successful planning process. Picking someone we genuinely liked and trusted was crucial, and JoAnn effectively became a part of our family for the better part of a year (though without any “family drama” that sometimes seeps in and derails a couple’s vision for their special day). She always listened eagerly and intently, and NEVER “yes’d” us to death just to make her life easier or took the path of least resistance. For us, JoAnn always took the time to fully understand our vision and wasn’t afraid to remind us (gently) when something we were asking for (or neglecting to ask for) missed the mark that SHE took the time to understand so thoroughly. It’s not quite the same as a relationship with a doctor or attorney or therapist – though the amount of trust that’s necessarily placed in your professional’s hands makes the planner selection process as crucial as anything you’ll do for that day / event (other than choosing the right spouse!) More than anything, we appreciated that JoAnn’s focus was always on our vision and our guests’ collective experience rather than on herself, and she never once made us feel as though we were simply being plugged into an assembly line. She totally understood the “once-in-a-lifetime” experience of our day / weekend required a truly customized approach, and brought together the best of our ideas and her experience…
Simply put, there were too many variables to consider for us to handle the planning process by ourselves. We had NO idea how many things we didn’t know that we didn’t know! Starting with site and venue selection – especially for a destination wedding and operating within the complexities of a global pandemic – and continuing through making sure our musicians and bands were right for the place and “vibe” we were going for, and carrying on to things as seemingly simple as “save the date” notices, setting up a wedding web site as a constantly updating resource for our guests’ travel and logistics questions, and even making sure food and beverage selections for our rehearsal dinner and wedding reception were complementary and not repetitive – as well as reflective of the local cuisine / culture of the island and a “best foot forward” offering of our resort’s (extraordinary, as it turned out) chef and culinary staff. From our perspective, no detail was too small for JoAnn and her team at Elegant Occasions to bring to our attention, and – in that the task was still occasionally a bit more than our minds and hearts were able to process completely – she always seemed to know exactly when to step in and make editorial calls FOR us, then knocked every single one of those out of the park! We approached our wedding planning through the prism of “hey, at the end of the day this thing is supposed to be for and about us” and still – when all was said and done – every single one of our guests felt as though we’d planned the entire weekend of events for them! We lost count of how many times we saw one of our guests thanking JoAnn for what an amazing time they had, and – given the challenges and expense \associated with attending a destination wedding – there’s probably no greater testament to the necessity for retaining a pro liker her and her team to do the job than of those unsolicited comments of praise they so richly deserved…
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Shannon Sent on 02/22/2020
JoAnn Was Our Best Wedding Decision!!!
JoAnn and her team are simply the best. After getting engaged, I promptly started planning my wedding on my own. When I first came to JoAnn I was stressed, confused and overwhelmed. Between working full time and scouring Pinterest for hours on end every day to try and determine my personal vision, I was exhausted and discouraged. I did not know where to start and I was feeling anything but confident in my planning abilities. I knew I needed professional help, but I didn’t know where or who to turn to. From the first call I had with JoAnn I knew she was the perfect fit, from that moment on wedding planning went from a taxing process to seamless, enjoyable and fun. JoAnn is an incredible professional and person. She makes her clients feel as if they are her only priority, she is honest, hardworking, diligent and trustworthy. JoAnn maintains constant contact with her clients throughout the entire process. Her top priority is to make sure the bride and groom’s wedding day is the best day of their life. And I can say our wedding day far exceeded any expectations I had. I walked into our venue before the reception and I couldn’t help but tear up. It was simply my fairytale brought to life.
JoAnn became my lifeline throughout the entire planning process and as I called her our “Mama Planner”. She is a true gem; she is so easy to work with and manages to make what seemed impossible, possible.
When planning a wedding plans can change suddenly and of course at the worst times, obstacles are inevitable and things will go wrong, but with a smile on her face JoAnn figures out a solution to every bump in the road no matter the size of the bump. When I arrived at the church the night before my wedding for the rehearsal, I found out the priest wasn’t going to make it to the rehearsal due to an unforeseeable circumstance. JoAnn did not flinch and she calmly announced to my wedding party of 9 bridesmaids and 11 groomsmen that the rehearsal was still going to take place. She stood in front of the church and JoAnn the wedding planner became JoAnn the priest. JoAnn can really do it all. No vision is too large for JoAnn to execute. She was the best decision I made when it came to planning my big day.
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Jeanette Sent on 09/27/2018We are from NJ and we decided to have a destination wedding in France. We researched a few wedding planners. We interviewed some from France and others from around Europe. We then got into contact with JoAnn and immediately connected over the phone. She understood our vision. It felt right.
She made the entire planning process as stress free as possible. When we hit obstacles, she was there to solve the problems, and more importantly, made us feel like everything will be okay. The day of our events, we were able to be present in the moment and enjoy our company because she was there. She made it all happen and coordinated EVERYTHING. JoAnn allowed us to experience our wedding day as genuinely and present as possible. We are forever thankful for her! -
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Danielle Sent on 10/28/2017My fiance and I thought we could try to plan our wedding on our own, boy were we wrong! When the stress became too much I reached out to JoAnn based on a recommendation. She was amazing every step of the way! She calmed me down when I was super stressed and took care of all the odds and ends that didn't occur to me. Dena and Marissa on the day of were ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC! They took care of everything and made sure the day and night were perfect.
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