Aligned Events - South Deerfield, Massachusetts

Yunhan Xu

Working with Shannon was, undoubtedly, the best decision we made in our wedding planning process. We initially started planning our wedding on our own, as we were fairly confident in our vision and hesitant to invest in a planner. As we got closer and closer to the date, we realized that we were in dire need of an expert to bring our vision to life and make sure everything went smoothly. From the moment we brought her on in January—only four months before our May wedding—she became our superwoman.

Shannon is everything you could hope for in a planner. She possesses that rare combination of calm, warmth, patience, competence, and expertise that instantly puts you at ease. She is an incredible ideation partner—no concept was too “out there” for her to engage with, and she helped us distill all of our rambling thoughts into something cohesive and deeply personal. She helped us make sound decisions about everything from florals to transportation to timelines—decisions that we would have agonized over for weeks, were it not for her wise and honest counsel. And, at all times, Shannon listened closely to what mattered most to us, particularly around our desire to honor our cultures, and made sure that those details were thoughtfully woven into the plans.

One of the things that stood out to us was how much vendors love working with Shannon. Her strong relationships and professionalism made everything so much smoother and more enjoyable. This, combined with her logistical prowess and attention to detail, made us feel like we could fully let go and be present at our own wedding. Even when unexpected circumstances arose, she was the steady presence that kept everything on track.

What sets Shannon apart, though, is her incredible dedication and kindness. Shannon goes above and beyond in every way, and she does it with such warmth and grace. She pulled our wedding together in record time with a stellar vendor team. She provided creative solutions and addressed every question we had—and we were peppering her with questions daily as we got down to the wire!—with remarkable patience. She kept us grounded with her positivity and good humor, and brought clarity and reassurance to every interaction we had with her. Throughout, she felt more like a trusted friend than a planner.

We are endlessly grateful to have found Shannon!

Nell & Nick Cavallo-Schwed

There is a simple solution to ensure your wedding goes smoothly and includes fantastic vendors: Hire Shannon! Are you looking for a wedding planner who will answer a thousand questions, keep you cool, calm, and collected throughout your entire wedding process, who is truly one of the kindest, most thoughtful people my husband and I have been lucky enough to meet (let alone to work with) for such an important event? Then hire Shannon. You will not regret it.

Shannon so clearly loves planning and executing weddings. She was responsible for connecting us to nearly 100% of the vendors we ultimately worked with across our wedding weekend, and seemed to intuitively understand our style and preferred approach without ever having to explicitly ask. We knew we wanted to get married in my parents’ backyard–an at-home wedding, which comes with its own challenges–and Shannon talked us through every iteration of potential plan (rain, heat, tent floor or no tent floor, among so many others) with patience, understanding, and a clear objective to support us in whatever decision we ultimately made. We have no notes for Shannon. She is an excellent wedding planner, and we’re so jealous of any future couple who makes the smart (and correct) decision to work with her.

Daniel Litwin

It's hard to imagine what our wedding would have been like without Shannon. It's safe to say that it's not a guarantee the event would have even happened. Shannon was essential to making our wedding as special as it turned out and we truly enjoyed working with her every step of the way.

Our wedding was not the most straightforward affair to plan, but throughout the planning process Shannon was on top of every small detail. We always left our calls & check-ins feeling confident (and often relieved) that our wedding was in the most capable hands. Shannon always looked for ways to make things easier for us and helped keep us on track and focused.

Shannon was, without a doubt, our best friend through the planning of our wedding and we couldn't recommend her more strongly.

Emilee Gagliardi

What can we say—working with Shannon was seamless! Extremely professional, organized, and calm. We knew we needed help the day of our 150 person wedding, but Shannon provided so much more than that. She guided us every step of the way. She worked her butt off and we honestly could not have done it without her. She’s also the type of person that you want to stay friends with well after the wedding. Thank you, Shannon!!!

Samantha Lewis

After our wedding, I admitted to my husband that I was entirely unprepared to manage my jealousy of other couples who would get to work with Shannon, to which he replied how jealous he was of everyone who got to go to a Shannon event. Our selfishness: a testament to the work Shannon does - she delivers everywhere, from behind-the-scenes to every last guest.

I (the bride) work in hospitality events which often intersect with the wedding world. We never anticipated hiring a planner - assumed my skillset would be a good fit for the process. We learned (very) quickly that the nuance of planning your own wedding is a venture that no prior experience can prepare you for. Enter Shannon.

When planning a wedding, peace of mind is everything. Shannon is a peace-of-mind all-star: organized, attentive, thoughtful, professional, patient, calm, thorough, detailed-oriented, responsive and joyful. We never once worried that details were unaccounted for or that the budget wasn’t exactly where it should be. She kept us on track with every to-do list and turned the overwhelming moments into completely manageable ones. She approaches every conversation and decision - with us, our families, our vendors - with thoughtfulness and professionalism. An October 2021 wedding meant we had to account for Covid’s unpredictability throughout planning - Shannon had a Covid plan B covered for every last detail.

And no time was this peace of mind felt more than on the day of our wedding. Shannon at the helm meant we could be fully present for every moment. With a weather forecast that seemed to change (by the minute) from one extreme to the next, there were plenty of last-minute decisions that needed to be made - all left in Shannon’s hands, all exactly right.

Shannon prioritizes getting to know her clients - not just the couple, but their families and loved ones too. She took the time and asked the questions to make sure she understood our vibe in its entirety. Though our wedding was big (175) making it feel personal was important to us - Shannon made this a reality. There were a lot of family nuances to account for (the good and the bad), details to cover, and combining two religions meant we had to be that much more thoughtful when it came to navigating all - couldn't have done it without her. She even had some secrets up her sleeve - worked behind-the-scenes with our families on some day-of surprises. She takes so much joy in her clients' joy - there's simply nothing like it.

Among the most important qualities of a wedding planner is their relationship w/ vendors. And all we can say is: WEDDING. VENDORS. LOVE. WORKING. WITH. SHANNON. Those who had worked with her prior shared their delight to do so again, and first-timers went out of their way to say how easy and seamless their jobs were thanks to her. She created specific timelines for each and anticipated every last need.

Shannon helped us stick to our budget - always mindful of where we stood $$-wise, reminding us of costs still unaccounted for and where our dollars mattered most / how to spend them most effectively. She helped us interpret proposals, account for costs that might sneak up along the way, and navigate budget conversations.

My sister got engaged last month and, once all the family and friend phone calls were out of the way, next up on the call list: Shannon 🙂 No better person and team to have by your side - we're so grateful to have found her, cannot imagine a wedding any other way.

Will Roland

We initially hired Shannon for partial planning for a backyard wedding in the Berkshires in the Fall of 2019, never realizing that we would have to postpone our May 2020 wedding multiple times (May 2020, August 2020, June 2021, and finally June 2022).

Throughout this process, Shannon was a logistical and emotional ROCK. She kept us sane and organized, coordinated vendors, provided comfort and answers in our most challenging moments. Her recommended vendors were exceptional. She formed a team that made us feel supported and held throughout the entire process up to and including the SUDDEN UNFORECASTED RAIN IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE CEREMONY.

We, as a couple, were often overwhelmed by choice, we're not overly detail oriented with regard to aesthetics and design, and we needed someone who would make the choices we didn't wanna make, and guide us to the correct solution with matters about which we cared deeply.

We will never be able to express how grateful we are to Shannon for all her work. We have no notes, only praise.

Her energy is calm, competent, and caring. By the end of this wonderful (and at times harrowing) process we felt that we'd not only been guided and cared for, but that we had made a new lifelong friend.

Hire Shannon! You will be glad you hired Shannon! Tell those other people you spoke to "thanks" and hire Shannon!

Robin Bedford

Right from the start, I knew that hiring Shannon was going to be the best decision we were going to make throughout our wedding process. We hired her in the middle of a venue issue and she immediately swooped in to start mediating, reasoning, and fixing - which would soon become the norm for us. Shannon handled any and all problems we had with our vendors, and always carried herself with professionalism and kindness that consistently kept my husband and I at ease. We truly felt like we could trust her through it all. Shannon handled so many logistics that I feel like we didn't even know the half of what she was doing - in the best way possible! I would always look forward to our meetings because I knew it meant we were going to get things done and feel more and more prepared each day. She also kept a level head and insanely relaxed vibe when it became apparent that our fully outdoor wedding had to be reworked due to rain. She did everything to keep me calm and to ensure our weekend was as stress free as possible. Shannon is so smart, patient, level headed, reliable, fun, insanely organized, honest, trustworthy, and overall just a kind and cool person! She is truly an amazing planner and I could not recommend her more!

Zoe Hyde

I'm not really sure how people get married WITHOUT Shannon, and I do mean that literally. We brought Shannon on thinking it would be nice to have someone dedicated to navigating venue delivery on the day of our wedding, we did not realize that Shannon would soon become a cherished member of our family. Countless emails were sent over the next few months, many of them just to ask, WWSD (What Would Shannon Do). She was infinitely patient and sweet with us, and when she finally left the venue the night of our wedding, I was more sad to see her leave than I was many of my beloved family and friends. That is not hyperbole! Shannon is extremely LGBTQIA/NBPOC friendly (and probably POC friendly in general, I'm sure, but my wife and I only belong to those two minority groups) and most importantly, patient, kind and nice. She was worth far more than we paid her, and far far more than we could ever afford. Someday she will realize she's undercharging her clients substantially for the level and quality of services she renders and you'll want to book her before that happens, so do not delay!