Aficial Events -

Abigail Beals

When it came to wedding planning, I knew I wanted to take on the challenge of planning our wedding. I had a vision and had ideal vendors I wanted to work with for the most part. The missing piece for us was having a coordinator that can understand that vision and execute it for us and Karen did just that and did it so seamlessly. From our first conversation, I could tell Karen was professional and organized, my kind of vendor! She was also kind and personable which made her a joy to work with. I provided her with all my decor and gave her free reign to design our ceremony and reception space, and she did not disappoint. I walked into the room and was in awe of what we had put together. Karen kept us on pace with our timeline and was the go-to person for my family. She did so much for us the day-of that was above and beyond. I would recommend anyone who's looking for a coordinator or planner to work with Karen!

Jenny Pagador

Karen was awesome to work with from beginning to end! from the very first meeting, Karen was extremely easy to communicate with. I was literally able to text her at any time… day or night… And without hesitation, she answered my question or if she didn’t know the answer to the question she would research, call contacts/vendors.. etc, and then come back with it within minutes. She worked really hard from the very beginning to help organize my wedding to be as wonderful as it was. Karen was extremely organized, and I felt like everything was done extremely efficiently. I was able to send Karen pretty much my entire wedding Pinterest board… And she made sure that all of those elements happened. My wedding would not have been as efficient or beautiful as it was without the help of Karen and her coordination! on the day of my wedding, I didn’t have to do anything, but walk down the aisle and party! Karen made sure of that. She took care of everything and everything that day and worked really well with my venue and their coordinators… And I couldn’t have asked for a better team to work with!

Abby & Ryan

Karen is the GOAT! Detailed, organized, friendly, and just an overall wonderful human being. We hired Karen for 2-month coordination and right off the bat, she was such a thoughtful planner and her willingness to guide us through anything and everything was amazing. I love a good spreadsheet and Karen has the best!!! Every meeting with her was so productive and we left each one with clear next steps/homework.

The day of the wedding, everything went SO smoothly. Karen and her team took care of setting up all of our decor and they did so beautifully! When I arrived to the venue and saw everything, I was taken aback by how stunning everything looked — we had a mix of florals, candles, and fruit for our decor so getting everything set up was no small feat. Karen’s creative eye flawlessly brought my vision to life and I am so so grateful! Outside of decor, Karen’s organization, vendor communication, and speedy cleanup at the end of night was top-notch. We were able to truly enjoy the night, knowing Karen was there. She even took fun videos of the reception on my phone, which were great to watch the morning after to help relive the night :’) Literally each one of my vendors raved about how much they loved working with Karen — if that’s not enough to convince you to hire her for your next event, idk what is! SUCH a pro.

Would 100% recommend Karen to any couple!

Stephanie Lu

We just had our wedding on 05/04/2024 and I don't think it would have been possible without Karen! We hired her as a full planner about 1 year before our wedding date. She was organized, helpful, and was really able to bring our vision to life and more! She kept us within our budget, while simultaneously meeting all of our requests!

Correspondence with her was seamless. she would answer text messages and email so promptly. I would get a text back from her sometimes within minutes. She was so easy to work with and really knew what she was doing.

We found some of the best vendors through her and it really made our wedding day so special and stress-free! Karen was pregnant during most of the planning, yet she still delivered both her new baby 1 month before our big day AND when it came to working on our wedding, (yes, pun intended.). She seriously can do anything and was so amazing!

We are so very happy that we chose her to plan the best day of our lives and we could not have done it without her. We were so worried about things going wrong but everything turned out even better than we expected. Even our family members kept telling us how this was the most beautiful and perfect they have been to.

For anything we may plan in the future, we will definitely be contacting Karen and we highly recommend her to anyone trying to plan any beautiful event.

Thank you Karen for your hard work!

Mia Mae Manalastas

Newlywed here! During the time of my engagement, many family and friends would tell me stories of how wedding planning can be absolutely stressful in addition to having a handful of things go wrong the day of; however our wedding was not part of this statistic and it was all because of Karen. When you hire Karen, you hire an individual who is HONEST, professional, organized, and extremely calm and collected. We hired Karen for full planning and coordinating and we had the most chill and fun 10 months of planning. There is no question she couldn’t help us with. She is an absolute gem. There is so much I can say about her and the quality she delivers, but you simply must meet her to really experience what she has to offer you Thank you for a wonderful experience Karen, the Nhan’s love you!!!!

Alexis Jaravata

After getting many recommendations from our friends who already had Karen as their planner, we booked her for the 2-month coordination + day of service. Since we figured out pretty much all of our vendors, Karen came in and took care of all the logistics that we definitely wouldn’t have been able to do on our own. From the get-go we really appreciated her super-organized Excel sheets which, acted like a checklist for us throughout the entire process. Her meetings were always efficient and her communication and responsiveness were top-tier (as we’ve learned that not all vendors are like this). We always felt at ease and honestly impressed with her after each meeting.

She created a ‘Day-of” timeline, which was useful to share with our bridal party as well (ie bridal hard-stop for makeup/hair, where to be, what time to leave certain locations, etc.) The actual wedding day went swimmingly with no hiccups whatsoever! She would pop in with us during the reception to make sure we were good and would cue us to get ready for certain things on our timeline such as the bouquet/garter toss outfit changes, cake cuttting, etc all while coordinating with the DJ as well. Even the clean-up process went so smoothly. Our families also commented on how good and nice she was after the wedding. We truly felt taken care of throughout the whole day.

We would 1000% recommend her to anyone planning a wedding! (We know 5 couples who have used her services – including ourselves – and 1 more friend who has her booked for 2025!) Everyone says you need a planner or at least a day-of coordinator, but don’t get anyone else… Karen is your girl. Her professionalism and how she is on top of everything PLUS her kindness and chill personality make her super easy and fun to work with…you won’t regret it!

Mar Ta

Long story short:
Hire Karen, you won't regret it. Good vendor recommendations/connections. Organized, thorough, easy to work with. Will make sure the big day runs smoothly!
Long story long:
When I began the planning process, I was overwhelmed. We had an idea of a budget, but clueless on what’s affordable, normal, overpriced, etc (ie some venues appear affordable, but charge up the wazoo with their own caterer that you're stuck using). I needed guidance. Is it possible to plan your wedding on your own? Sure. But I work full time and a lot of overtime, and I wanted to keep the stress levels low. The most important thing I needed was guidance, and Karen gave us that. Most places require you to have a day-of-coordinator, might as well add planning services as well.
I gave her details on budget, guest count, main color, and request for venue recommendations, which really isn’t much information.
I was super impressed with Karen on our first official meeting. Our initial hurdle was venue. I was clueless, and she came to the rescue. She came prepared with a detailed spreadsheet of numerous affordable venues in San Diego, to include price, availability on our chosen date (or other dates we could consider should we decide to since our date was so popular, 10.10.2020) and notes about the venues. I was thinking I’d only get a list, but she went in and did a lot of the footwork I did not expect. That’s when I knew we chose the right person to help us through this process. When we toured venues & spoke with vendors, Karen asked the questions that I didn’t even consider or think to ask. Karen not only gives you what you need, she’ll give you that and more.
I am a notorious procrastinator, so having Karen there to make sure I met our deadlines prevented me from getting stressed or overwhelmed. By 02/2020, we had 4 vendors out of the way (3 of the 4 were great recommendations by her). Then COVID-19 came and everything was put on hold.
I thought we’d be fine since our wedding was later in the year. Then came the 3 month mark, and we had to make the decision to cancel our big wedding. I didn’t want to postpone and I didn’t want to cancel and lose out on deposits, so I told Karen that I would like to continue with a micro-wedding. In a little over a month, she was able to find us a venue that would accommodate a ceremony and reception during COVID. With that short time, she was able to find us great and affordable vendors that were available (makeup, hair, florist, officiant, videographer, a new photographer after our original photographer pulled out, and a photobooth that I requested week of the wedding!) She renegotiated contracts with existing vendors to accommodate the new wedding. For décor, the only thing I offered were ZZ Plant cuttings from my mom, and she transformed them into beautiful centerpieces that fit perfectly with the wedding and venue.
I wasn’t stressed about anything the day of the wedding. As our day-of-coordinator, Karen made sure that everything ran smoothly. Karen was there to make sure all the vendors arrived and were set up on time. She coordinated the transition from ceremony to cocktail hour to reception. I didn’t have to ask Karen to do anything, because it was already taken care of. She anticipated the needs of the wedding, the guests, and us. And as busy as we were, she made sure that my husband and I were able to enjoy the food, drinks, and the day.
Essentially, Karen planned 2 weddings for us without complaint. She stepped up to the challenge and worked with us to give us the wedding we wanted and more! She took my lacking details and turned it into something beautiful. I am thankful that she was available and that we were able to work with her. Some people might be hesitant about a planner because of cost, but it’s beneficial to have one by your side for your mind and well-being. I highly recommend hiring Karen. Karen is someone you can trust and rely on, and her prices are reasonable from what I’ve seen in comparison.

Julie Ann A

Planning a destination wedding?! Or want to have a destination wedding?! BOOK KAREN - SHE IS YOUR GIRL!!!! Trust us, you and your s/o won’t regret it! We love her so much and will refer her to anyone we know that is engaged &/or planning their upcoming wedding.

My (now) husband and I heard about Karen while she was planning my (now) brother & sister-in-law’s wedding. We were very impressed with how well she communicated with them whether it was virtually or in-person, and we saw how organized she was with her excel sheets, google docs, and PDF files that were sent to them. Immediately, my husband and I wanted to reach out to her and inquire to see if she would plan our dream destination wedding in Kaua’i!

We wanted to plan a destination wedding in my husband’s hometown in Hawai'i, on the island of Kaua'i, but to be completely honest, it was daunting at first because we had no idea on how to initiate our plans and became extremely anxious. On our first initial meeting with Karen, she asked us about our wants, our goals, and how/what we envisioned for our wedding - we wanted a very intimate, simple, and unique Hawaiian wedding - and Karen reassured us that she would be there to help make our vision come true. My husband and I opted for the Planning and Day-Of Coordination services - this was the best choice for us as we didn't want to stress about anything about our wedding, especially on our wedding day.

Karen is AMAZINGLY organized, the queen of Google Drive! She sent us a checklist of everything that was needed & to be due on within each month to help keep us and her on track with the planning process. She also sent us an excel sheet where each tab was broken down per vendor where we &/or she lists vendors that we could choose from. This was very helpful because we were able to compare vendors that would fit our wedding theme and that were within our budget. It was not easy finding vendors on the island of Kaua’i as it is a small island, plus a lot of business had to close down during Covid but Karen went above and beyond with helping find our perfect team! In the end, all the vendors that we chose executed their part very very well and we are extremely happy with the outcome!

Words cannot express how grateful we are to find Karen as our wedding planner. She completely put our minds at ease throughout the planning process. She listened to everything we were looking for and executed what we had envisioned. I can't say enough how smooth everything went. It exceeded our expectations. Because of her, our wedding was a success. And if we were to relive it again, we definitely would. We miss everything about the planning process and our wedding day, and of course we miss you, Karen! Thank you so much, Karen, for making our dream wedding event come true! We are looking forward to seeing you at our friend’s upcoming wedding in July!