My husband and I had plan to marry at Basilica in Hudson, NY on August 22, 2020. We put our deposit down for the venue in December 2019. By February, we had confirmed our wedding planner, Jeanne, and caterer, Josephine from Local 111. When COVID struck NYC in March, we had no idea what to do. Working with Jeanne and family, we eventually decided to move forward with a smaller wedding in parents' backyard in Westchester with 40 guests. It wasn't what we had originally thought, but it was wonderful! Jeanne was a SUPERSTAR helping us through every decision and staying on top of health regulations. She introduced us to every vendor and the day was absolutely perfect, given the constraints from COVID. We feel so fortunate that Jeanne was working with us and guiding us through these major decisions as a complete professional. My family loved working with her and everyone loved all of the staff and vendors at the wedding. It was a very special day!

We used HVC / Jeanne for our wedding in May at Basilica Hudson. Seriously cannot recommend her enough! She was so knowledgeable about vendors and super helpful throughout the process. She was always very responsive and made herself available when we wanted to see the venue multiple times (with both sets of parents). We purchased the lowest package (day of coordinator), but she did SO much more - she truly went above and beyond. We also ended up using her staff for the bartenders and servers, and they were great. Jeanne is the best!

We loved working with Amanda for our November 2019 wedding. She was always there for every little question we had and was so accommodating with our visits & unique requests. She helped us manage vendors & plan every little detail of our wedding. She was also great when we had a few last minute fire drills & changes the day before/day of. Thank you Amanda & team!

Hudson Valley Ceremonies was a pleasure to work with! Being a covid bride had it's challenges, but working with HVC was not one of them. Amanda was really helpful and accommodating when we needed to change our date from early June to end of September. Reverend Lawrence officiated our wedding. He took the time to chat with us and get a sense of our personalities. He then sent us a prototype of the ceremony before we officially booked HVC. It was exactly the type of ceremony we were looking for. Thank you HVC for helping us have the perfect day!

My wife, Julie, and I hired HVC and specifically Jeanne Stark to coordinate our wedding at the Basilica in Hudson, NY. Now that our wedding has come and gone, I can say confidently that Jeanne was the most instrumental and valuable vendor that we hired. She took our vision, which started off with a deposit at a blank-canvas venue, and helped to make it a reality. Jeanne's experience at the Basilica and specific knowledge of Hudson Valley vendors made it possible for a couple from NYC to plan a wedding 2.5 hrs north and never feel overwhelmed or out of touch. You want something done? Working together for over a year, Jeanne was always available to schedule a call to address concerns, even when she was in the midst of busy parts of the wedding season and she had other clients to attend to. Jeanne listened to every one of our concerns and when our weekend came, our 220 person wedding went off without a hitch; every last detail was accounted for. Jeanne and her staff went above and beyond ... Read moreto ensure that our wedding was as special as it could be. I cannot recommend Jeanne and HVC enough.

We originally thought we didn’t need a day-of coordinator. Our venue had an onsite coordinator who was a total pro, and in general they have weddings down to a science. But as time went on and we got closer to the wedding day, we realized there were so many details (non venue related) that someone would need to manage—and I didn’t want that someone to be me (or the groom, or my mom, or anyone else who was supposed to be enjoying the day). We interviewed a couple of people, but the moment we got on the phone with Jeanne from HVC, we knew we were dealing with a professional. She had worked at our venue countless times, was detail oriented, calm, and friendly. In the few months leading up to the wedding Jeanne helped us refine our day-of timeline and helped us find a vendor for our shuttles. We also ended up renting some candle holders through her, and for a very reasonable price, she assembled and delivered our welcome bags to the hotels where our guests were staying (something tha... Read moret would have been a logistical nightmare for us to manage alone). Jeanne was present for our rehearsal the day before the wedding, ensuring everything ran smoothly. On the day of our wedding, Jeanne checked in on both wedding parties at the separate locations where we were prepping, and her smiling face welcomed us when we arrived at the venue. She helped wrangle family members for formal photos, and every time I realized I was thirsty (we got married in July) she was already standing there with water for me and my husband. At one point my bustle broke, and she was right there pulling safety pins out of her pocket to help fix it. It was also such a relief to know that if any of our vendors had issues or questions, she would be their go-to (not me!). I have no idea if anything went wrong on the day, but from my perspective, it was seamless. Thank you Jeanne! You are a treasure!

When we started planning our wedding, we didn’t think we needed a coordinator. We thought we could coordinate all our external vendors, the venue, and everything else on our own. After getting into the weeds and booking at a “non-traditional” venue (that did not have an in-house maître d', bridal attendant, etc.) it became clear that we needed some help. Sandra at Hudson Valley Ceremonies was recommended to us and she was absolutely amazing. From the first phone call we had, she made us feel calm and comfortable. She was so much more to us than just our Day-Of Coordinator as she was truly there for us every step of the way through the planning process, helping us brainstorm ideas, giving us suggestions for rental vendors, decoration ideas, and everything in between. She helped us navigate some tricky situations with our vendors and always stayed professional. On our wedding day she was fantastic, coordinating deliveries, catering set up, and helping us with odds and ends to make... Read more sure everything went seamlessly. We were so thankful to have her and Mary (her assistant) there! It is clear Sandra has a ton of experience and knows exactly what she’s doing! There are not enough nice things to say about Sandra - she is a fantastic wedding planner and all around wonderful person! We would very highly recommend Sandra at Hudson Valley Ceremonies!

Sandra was absolutely amazing! I cannot imagine our wedding day going so smoothly without Sandra there ensuring everything went through without a hitch. We had our wedding in the backyard of our home, so there were a lot of moving parts happening at the same time and Sandra was on top of every single one. Whether it was setup questions from staffvendors, hosting people that showed up early, decorating, or making sure the shuttles we able to reverse out of the driveway Sandra was there with a perfectly calm demeanor to make our day perfect and we are incredibly thankful. Nearly every guest commented on how everything was perfect. On top of the wedding day she was also extremely helpful during the planning stages. Our food was coming up from Brooklyn, our band’s manager was three time zones away in California and she was able to adapt her schedule for onsite visits and phone calls outside of the standard business hours. The staff she recommended were all great as well, positive... Read more attitudes with helpful personalities. They all stayed to make sure everything was cleaned up after the wedding and the next morning when my wife and I came home, it did not even look like we even had an event in the backyard. We could not have done it without you, thank you Sandra.

My daughter was married on June 8, 2019 in an outdoor ceremony at a boathouse on a lake in the Hudson River Valley. We knew from the moment that she announced her engagement that we were going to need help! I contacted several wedding planners but felt that Hudson Valley had the best package at the most reasonable price and I certainly made the right decision. Sharon O'Connell worked with us beginning last June. I couldn't have been happier working with Sharon and I knew almost immediately that our celebration would be in good hands. Her knowledge of planning the details of a wedding, coordinating a large event and her knowledge of vendors in the area together with her skills in negotiating with vendors made a hugh difference in how smoothly the planning process ran. Communication- Sharon was available by email, text and phone and always replied to my messages promptly. Her follow through on questions asked was always complete. Identifiying vendors- Once Sharon has an idea of th... Read moree kind of wedding we wanted and the price range of what we were willing to spend, she recommended numerous vendors that we needed: caterers, flowers, photographers, DJs, music, rentals, hotels and bus transportation among others. She has relationships with a wide swath of businesses in the region and her recommendations were top notch. Developing a time line- Sharon helped us to develop a time line for contacting vendors and securing contracts. Her insider tips and suggestions helped this process run so smoothly. Detailed planning for the day of the wedding- Our daughter's wedding was held at a non-traditional event space so nearly everything had to be brought to the location. Sharon was extremely helpful in the walk-throughs recommending spacing, timing, items that needed to be rented etc. Negotiating through problems- We had a problem with one of the vendors prior to the wedding and one during the wedding. Sharon made recommendations of how to deal with both sets of problems that led to smooth resolutions. The bus company delivered our guests about 30 minutes late and I was pleased to see how calm Sharon was in a stressful situation mediating between our caterer and communicating with us. We never felt that we were responsible for solving the problem. All ended well! Planning a wedding is a big job. As the mother of the bride I wanted to savor every moment of my daughter's wedding. Being able to enjoy the planning process, which is so much a part of the celebration, was important to me and to be able to "be in the moment" during the wedding festivities was an important goal. I felt that with Sandra there with us every step of the way, Claire's wedding day was true bliss.

We are so lucky to have worked with Jeanne for our wedding at the Basilica. Since our first phone conversation, Jeanne made me feel so comfortable. Jeanne is open, honest, professional and creative and has the BEST ideas plus she knows the Basilica like the back of her hand. Jeanne made the day of our wedding flow smoothly and perfectly. Jeanne even had metal cutting scissors that she used to get my veil comb out of my updo when it got stuck... ! We are so thankful for Jeanne and everything she did to help make our wedding the most perfect night!

Hudson Valley Ceremonies made finding an officiant for our ceremony hassle-free. The wedding ceremony was entirely customizable, from the readings used to the blessings and prayers included. While we did not have any special ceremonies (unity candle, etc), they were included as an option. And there were many sample readings and blessings to browse through! Reverand Elizabeth Roth was a pleasure to work with and helped us customize our ceremony to our liking. She was friendly, upbeat, ans always available for email communication and last minute questions. She arrived at the venue an hour early, which gave us plenty of time to go over the processional order and ceremony instructions. She was very professional during the ceremony and we were happy to have her as our officiant.

Rev. Lawrence McCauley was a pleasure to deal with. We had a phone interview where he prepared a draft of our ceremony. My husband and I edited it a bit to our liking and he gladly incorporated our changes. Our entire experience with HV ceremonies went well and we highly recommend them!

So we hired our wedding planner through them. She will be apart of the review but the star value is really towards the company. I don't really know what I "paid" For by going through them. Every payment I made I would get a receipt and then I would have to email them to up date my account bc they would say I owed money. So there was a huge disconnect bc their payment portal and their records. We hired Lauren Pasternak for partial planning and she's lovely. However I guess/ I have been told that I am an atypical bride and much more organized and planning than most. I am VERY proactive and I felt that Lauren although a nice person was more reactive. I dealt with many of my problems myself. I had the majority of my wedding planned 6 months prior so issues that arose I tried to squash right away. She clearly was a very busy planner and the weddings that I saw of her were beautiful. However I quickly learned that if I emailed her on a Thursday that it wouldn't be until Monday or Tuesday... Read more when I would hear back. I called her on four different occasions for different reasons and she never called me back. In my head I figured that she gives her weddings 100% so when it's my turn it will be the same. She did our ceremony and reception flowers and they came out very nice. She had an assistant Amber who was lovely the day off. I just felt that she could have handed the programs and scarves that we had made vs putting them on the ground where no one got them. We had extended our cocktail hour to take pictures and she was no where to be seen in regards to help organize that to go smoother so that was disorganized. I felt that she could have sent the bridal party upstairs so I wasn't alone for 30-45 minutes before the ceremony. She did help get our grandparents home a little earlier which was appreciated. When my dress broke she did have safety pins. She didn't even say goodbye to us which I thought was a little weird. I felt that she could have advocated for us a little more in regards to things like the caterer. None of my vendors really interacted with her and preferred to go through me which was annoying bc the purpose of the WP is so I didn't have to deal with things so I wish she was more assertive in that regard. The transportation debacle she should have been on top of it. I will say that more than likely I was too "on top" of things and I often asked myself maybe I'm not letting her do her job. However when I would try to relinquish things they weren't attended to timely I felt. She also opened a new business two-three weeks prior to my wedding and I felt that took some of her attention away. I don't know if I would recommend hiring a wedding planner, I guess it depends on how you are organized and if you are a control freak maybe do it yourself .

I would say that process was fine until the actual day of my wedding. Rev Stuart was great via phone interview and a Skype session leading up to our wedding but the day of my wedding was different. He was in my opinion a little rude to my cousin who read a short poem during our ceremony, the mic was way too high for her and instead of adjusting it he just made her do the reading, which no one heard. Several guests asked me what she said after the ceremony which was annoying to me seeing as that poem was very important to us. Also this company requires payment the day of, a little odd but it is what it is. Obviously I completely forgot since I was busy with a million other things so instead of just politely letting my wedding planner know so I could take care of it after my wedding, or suggest that he will send over an invoice, he tells her twice he is not leaving until he gets paid. Thats fine, I get it the man wanted his money, but there are better, more professional ways to go about ... Read morethis. Luckily she had my cc info on file and gave it to him to charge me. My suggestion to this vendor is to require payment before the day of via an invoice like every other vendor most people work with. Weddings are hectic, especially the day of.