Mary Rios Events Reviews
Reviews
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![Annie]()
Annie Sent on 10/14/2021Forever grateful
No review I could write will be able to express our gratitude for Mary and her team during our wedding.
We hired Mary Rios Events as our day of coordinator, and we are so grateful we did. Leading up to the event, Mary provided me with detailed checklists and to-do’s to make sure I had everything ready for our big day. I thought having a micro-wedding would be a breeze, but there was still so much to do (and so many things I forgot to do), that having Mary’s help and guidance was a god send.
On the big day Mary ensured everything ran smoothly and perfectly. My husband and I didn’t have to worry about a thing but enjoying ourselves and our families. Even when we experienced some day of hiccups with our venue, Mary was there to right everything and keep everything flowing.
Mary’s professionalism, communication, and attention to detail was exactly what we needed on our beautiful day. Her love of her craft and care of her clients was so apparent in everything she did and every interaction she had with our guests and other vendors. I can’t even imagine how our day would have gone if she was not there with us every step of the way.
Mary, thank you doesn’t feel like enough for everything you did to ensure our day was as magical and perfect as we hoped it would be. We will be forever grateful for your support before, during, and even after.
- Annie + Rob -
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![Karoline]()
Karoline Sent on 05/01/2021Mary rios is the best
Mary and Marlene took me through a pandemic and back, and got me married as if no time had gone by at all. It was seamless and perfect; and that's why you need Mary Rios Events your life. Because if a storm hits, and it will with wedding planning, you want the best Boat Captain to pilot your ship back to shore safely. That's Marlene and Mary from MRE.
MRE helped plan my 250 person destination wedding in 2020. 3 weeks before our wedding date, the pandemic shut us down. My husband and I re-scheduled our wedding 3 times before we got married this April 2021. #Finally
The only reason I don't feel much like a "covid bride" is because of my incredible wedding planner and her team. They made sure I felt like a bride, always. Delicate, special, glowing, all the things... they made sure I could enjoy every moment of planning our wedding.
They fielded difficult phone calls, helped make tough decisions, and I especially appreciate that they made great suggestions when I asked for guidance with vendors. Their commercial knowledge, especially in the Houston market, made me confident in their experience level, judgement, taste, and ability to throw a well-orchestrated, fun, large event.
Being a Covid bride...wedding re-planning seemed impossible at times. I was discouraged, unsure, frustrated, indignant. It takes a lot of work to pick up a wedding and move it to a new date. Mary knew what to do every step of the way. She and Marlene guided me through every new invitation, new order of events, New contracts with vendors etc. when picking new wedding dates. Marlene communicated with every vendor, me, and my family all the way through so we were always in the loop. She thought of things I didn't know I was supposed to think of.
Truth be told: Mary and Marlene were my rock. They stepped up and helped make sure we pulled off the wedding of my dreams. From La Hora Loca carnival dancers, to flying in Chicago Deep Dish pizza, -I can't thank them enough. Look no further for the your wedding planner, MRE is the best. -
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![Karmela]()
Karmela Sent on 01/07/2021Great experience with MRE!
Mary and her team were very kind and really helped us with our wedding vision. Unfortunately we had to scrap our original plans due to COVID-19, but Mary was very understanding and helpful when it came to putting together a plan for a small and intimate, and most importantly, safe ceremony and reception for our closest friends and family. She handled all of our vendors and also helped to calm our nerves with all the uncertainty that came with a worldwide pandemic. I would definitely recommend working with Mary Rios Events! -
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![Elisa]()
Elisa Sent on 05/08/2019Galvez Sista's
Hiring the Mary Rios team was the most important vendor we booked for our big day. Becky was my wedding coordinator, and she went above and beyond all expectations I had! We shared the common bond of having our weddings at the Hotel Galvez and I knew she was the right one for the job. Leading up to the event they are making sure you have gone over every detail to make your wedding spectacular and have your own stamp on it. The attention to detail helped me rest easy, knowing all the time and energy I personally put into planning our wedding would follow through seamlessly. If you think you don't need a wedding planner/coordinator you are sadly mistaken. Spend the extra money, even if only for the weekend of event. You want be fully present on your wedding day (it fly's by). Becky and Marlene made sure to run the show while I enjoyed every minute with my Husband, Family and Friends!!! -
Liz Sent on 03/29/2019
Becky made it so we could enjoy our wedding! She's AMAZING!
As the title references, I worked with Becky Wendel from Mary Rios Events. I found MRE through a list of preferred vendors provided by my venue, the JW Marriott Downtown. When I was planning my wedding, I was also working a full-time job and going to graduate school in the evenings. I always knew that I wanted to use a planner because of this but didn't know the extent to which I would need them. Surprisingly, it actually isn't that difficult to book and plan with other major vendors that are needed for the wedding. I could do that on my own in advance. However, I was scared of managing the details on the day of on my own. My goal was to do nothing the day of the wedding but show off and, if possible, allow my family to just show up as well instead of getting pulled in to help. I knew I would need a planner for this, specifically.
I met with at least 5 planners before deciding to go with MRE. At our intro meeting over lunch, my fiance and Becky bonded over their alma mater, Texas Tech. This was awesome for me because he felt more comfortable with her. It was clear from our conversation that we had no idea what we were doing. We had a very basic idea of what we wanted for our wedding - no ceremony, only reception with an upscale but cozy party feel - and had a great idea of what we didn't want but we were missing a lot of details in the middle.
Becky asked us a lot of questions and gave us an idea of what she would need from us in the future if we decided to work together. This was so valuable to us because it was essentially our homework and helped guide us to making more decisions that we had missed. The other planners that I met at this point did not push as far at the intro meeting to give me a sense for what it would be like to work with them up to the day-of.
I had two more meetings with Becky after formally engaging with her. One was a mid-planning session where we got significantly further on setting details. The last one was prior to the wedding and tackled the tiny tiny details (in my mind) like an inventory of what I would provide her, what the guest list should look like, final headcount, etc. These meetings were great for me to stay on track while the work and school parts of my life were going crazy,
On the day-of... AMAZING. Just completely amazing. I never thought I would be a bride that would have a meltdown. Wrong. I had booked a bunch of rooms at the JW for my family and had been receiving email confirmations for their rooms and realized that I never got one for my own. I called them the morning of the wedding, only hours before I was supposed to meet my make up artist there, and found out they had booked me to check in the evening before and cancelled the room because I was a "no-show". Now the hotel was booked and I, the bride for the only wedding at the hotel that evening, had no room.
I called her crying and she stepped in to calm me down and assure that she would take care of it. I really think that set the tone for the rest of the day. Once I got there and started getting my make up done, she would occasionally pop into the room to give me an update of what was going on downstairs. She shared so much of my excitement, anticipation, and joy and this was very important to me because I didn't have a bridal party. She was my girl!
After the ceremony, she touched up my make up because I bawled throughout the same thing. She and her assistant bustled my dress, handed us cocktails and sent us out mingle with our guests.
What a lot of people say to engaged couples about their weddings are things like: it'll all fly by, you won't remember anything, you won't be able to eat, etc. What they don't tell you is why. The reason why all these things happen is because you've carefully curated a group of guests that consists of the people who mean most to you. Your wedding will probably be the one time in life when all of the people you care about from family, work, school, etc are all in the same room at the same time just for you. Of course you get carried away talking to them and spending time with all of them! I remember everything.
But this exactly reason is why you need Becky. She will shepherd you throughout the evening and will make sure you eat, will serve as your telephone, will get you in the right place at the right time for dances, speeches, toasts, and cake cutting. Without her, I guarantee our night would have been so unorganized and the DJ would have been burdened with doing this from his spot at the front.
All in all, I cannot recommend Becky and the MRE team enough. In the immediate days after the wedding, I would cry thinking about them. Becky did so much for us and for that we are forever grateful. I continue to recommend them to my friends and family and encourage you to consider them as you tackle wedding planning! -
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![Veronica]()
Veronica Sent on 01/16/2019Incredible!
What I love about Mary is that she took the time to get to know us. She was professional, honest when we needed it and communicated effectively. I completely forgot to get a table cover/cloth for our cake table and she managed to set an appt at a place where we were able to just walk in and choose one; she took care of the rest. From helping me fix my dress (plenty of times), making our dance floor Bitmoji happen, to finding my groom when he got lost (lol), she made us feel like we put our special day in the hands of our best friend. She made our wedding day stress free. I could truly go on and on but I’ll just let you all experience it for yourself. Absolutely. worth. it. Thank you, Mary, for all that you did for us! -
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Caky Sent on 05/01/2018We found Becky and Mary Rios Events by luck. Becky was a dream to work with. Her recommendations for a florist, a caterer and anything else we inquired about were perfect matches for us. Our daughter’s wedding was exactly what she wanted. When we opened the doors to enter the wedding area, my knees almost buckled. Our daughter’s vision for the space was before us. The reception space was stunningly beautiful as well. Thanks to Becky and Mary Rios Events for getting us to the right vendors for a dream come true wedding weekend!
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Lori Sent on 05/01/2018Very organized and easy to work with. Becky is amazing and really made my wedding day perfect!! I’m so glad I hired them, by far the best decision I made regarding my wedding!!!
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![Angelica]()
Angelica Sent on 05/21/2012Mary Rios was overall an excellent planner! She is incredibly sweet and genuinely wants to make your event perfect! We hired her for the "Weekend Of" services and she met with my husband and I when we were in town to review everything in detail. Then, a week prior to the event, we had a 2 hour phone conversation with her where she confirmed every detail so that she can make the weekend run flawlessly. She was there for me throughout the entire night, even helping me put on my garter or make sure champagne was placed at the cake table. Our only negative comment about our experience was that we wish my dress had been steamed earlier in the day. Mary got preoccupied with other vendors when I was getting ready and never got to steam it so my bridesmaids had to pitch in last minute and rush to do it. If this has been done a few hours prior, it would have been ideal so that we did not worry. Overall, I would still highly recommend Mary Rios! She is a pleasure to work with and I really appreciate her constant positive attitude and organization. -
![Ru + Clau]()
Ruben Sent on 08/07/2023Mary Rios Events Review - Houston, TX
Our wedding day was absolutely spectacular! More than a year later, we continue to receive kind feedback from our guests and requests for wedding planning advice. All of this was despite the participation of Mary Rios and her consultant Marlene in our wedding day, however. They were helpful in a few ways (see below for details) but we cannot recommend them. Our heart goes out to wedding vendors still recovering from the pandemic years, but there is no reason to take it out on clients. We initially did not plan to review vendors we did not find to be professional, but the continued requests for guidance on wedding planning we have received convinced us to leave this review. You as consumer deserve to be respected and treated in a professional manner by all your wedding vendors. We hope our review is helpful to you.
When we contacted Mary Rios, she was initially not available for our April wedding date and assigned Marlene Baltazar to our small wedding for day of coordination. Marlene seemed nice enough in our video interview and Mary had assured us the organization planning document and processes she had shown us in our initial call was their internal standard.
They were kind and responsive until we signed the contract and paid the deposit. Then they went silent.
We followed up and after nearly a week Mary responded saying they were on “spring break”. They had no out of office e-mail nor had they told us they were taking time off, but we gave them the benefit of the doubt. They did have good reviews and seemed established after all.
Unfortunately, the process then evolved in a similarly inefficient pattern with Marlene seemingly ignoring e-mails and texts. She complimented us on how efficient and organized we were but unfortunately did not do the same for us. She apologized, explained her personal issues and promised to do better.
Thankfully our ceremony and reception venues each had experienced in-house coordinators who ultimately ensured the most important things happened and that key vendors had what they needed.
During the planning process, however, when Marlene joined us for tastings and planning sessions with our reception venue coordinator, she was clearly more focused on having free meals. It was quite awkward both times as the first time she invited our DJ at the last minute. That turned out fine, but the second time, she brought a draft timeline for our wedding day that had clearly been hastily copied and pasted from a previous event. It included numerous glaring errors. The other strange part was that Mary Rios attempted to join us at the last minute for our final food tasting. We were not consulted and were confused as we had only spoken to her a couple times before signing the contract. Suddenly she was available for our wedding?
This all happened weeks after Marlene assured us she had spent “hours” on the phone with all of our vendors and had things under control. It was too late to hire another day of coordinator, and we felt confident in the abilities of the in-house coordinators for our venues.
Marlene had also gone on at length during our meetings (a couple of which she had cancelled at the last minute) about her personal issues and gripes about other clients. We did our best to be understanding and re-focus the conversations on completing the necessary tasks.
In hindsight, however, she seemed to take this cordiality as permission to procrastinate and further disrespect our boundaries as well as those of bridal party members the day before and the day of the wedding. She went so far as to follow members of the bridal party to the hotel to ask them to help her get organized for wedding day. We had already provided her with written instructions and had discussed it thoroughly over the phone in a friendly conversation. We thought all was well and we could get some rest before our big day. It was as if she did not want to leave us alone and wanted us to hold her hand through the entire process.
She also behaved very oddly about the fact that the bride had someone to help prepare her gown on wedding day. Marlene claimed they “always” help the bride get dressed as if the bride should have bended to her will. When you pay someone thousands of dollars in a timely manner and provide clear written and verbal instructions, they should not be following anyone trying to violate healthy boundaries.
Mary Rios also got involved a couple days before the wedding and sent bizarre demands via e-mail asking for cups for pens (?) and other items that were not actually needed or ever discussed. Mary and Marlene were late on wedding day from the time they had scheduled for themselves. Some vendors also complained afterward that Marlene had not provided the information she had promised.
Thankfully we still had a spectacular day overflowing with joy but not without awkward interactions with Mary and Marlene. The three or so times we interacted with them during the reception it was clear they had just been arguing with each other (thankfully outside the reception venue). Um, awkward, guys.
Marlene did facilitate the payment and contracts with our DJ and mariachi, which was helpful. We had looked them up before but were unsure about the quality of their services. Marlene and our reception venue coordinator reassured us about their experience with them and the vendors did end up doing a great job with music.
The only thing we saw Mary Rios do at our wedding was distribute ribbon wand streamers and presumably line people up for our two grand exits. Those were actually well done and made for some nice photo shots, so kudos on those to Mary and Marlene.
Marlene did a decent job of packing up things and checking us out of the hotel on time, though not without losing a special commemorative piece of art. We had had our guests work on the art as one of the activities during the cocktail hour.
When we contacted Mary Rios about the whereabouts of the piece, she said she had not helped with any aspect of cleanup. Marlene then attempted to pass the blame to the reception venue before admitting she had left it behind. She apologized profusely and that was our last interaction with Mary Rios Events.
None of these things ruined our wedding day, joy, honeymoon, or marriage. We do share these experiences with folks who ask for our wedding planning advice as examples of what to avoid. Mary Rios Events’ website no longer appears to be functioning, so it may be that they are no longer in business. Either way, we wish them lasting prosperity and joy and hope that our review is helpful to other consumers. -
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