Allure Event Designs by Jenn

I worked with Jenn Hocker as my day-of wedding coordinator and florist. I'll review each aspect separately. First, Jenn is a terrific florist. She really understood what my husband and I wanted in our wedding flowers. It helped that we had put together an inspiration board for her, and then Jenn made one for us to show what she could do based on our creative conversation thinking about how to use ceremony flowers again for the reception to maximize our budget. She also did creative things like put the mothers' corsages on a magnet so they could easily adhere them to their dresses without pins. I had a friend who is a professional wedding florist review Jenn's proposal and confirmed it was very thorough and well priced so she is excellent in that regard. The final result flowers were exactly as I imagined and as we discussed, if not better. My only random issue is that about 10 days before the wedding she contacted me to ask what I wanted my bridal bouquet to look like. It kind of threw me for a loop since we'd exchanged photos and talked about it, but I chalk it up to overwhelming her with other wedding details as my coordinator. The bridal bouquet was incredible and I got MANY compliments on the dozens of eggplant calla lilies she put together for me - GORGEOUS! As a planner I didn't find Jenn as satisfying as I had hoped to. She's very friendly and responsive in person and over the phone but over email we weren't as smooth in our communication. I am a professional event planner so I was definitely more nit-picky than the average client, especially a day-of client. I really strive for a "YES - how can I help?" attitude and I felt that sometimes Jenn felt like she didn't want to answer my little detailed questions and simply to just trust her more. Naturally with my Type A personality I wasn't able to let go of little details - I was paying her to help give me peace of mind and I didn't always get it, sadly. The timeline she sent me wasn't as detailed as I expected it to be - it was a cut-and-paste of the information I had been sending her. And the payment calendar she laid out wasn't correct - dates and amounts due were incorrect. This made me MORE stressed in my last weeks before the wedding, not less, which is what you hope for in a day-of coordinator who comes on board 5-6 weeks before the wedding. Again, I am a planner myself so this was surely hard for Jenn and the people of Paso Robles who aren't as anal retentive as I am. And it is important to note that everything turned out fine. All payments were made on time, all vendors were well communicated with by Jenn. She was a rockstar at the rehearsal and on the wedding day. I felt like she a was on-the-ball with every little detail I had given her, which could not have been easy considering how many there were. She knows Silver Horse Winery SO well and that was a huge plus and would be for any other bride doing a wedding at that venue where she is the coordinator. Jenn helped a lot along the way also by offering good vendor ideas. She had recommendations in all areas based on our style, our wedding vibe, and our budget which was incredibly useful and made hiring her well worth it. She saved us much more than we spent on paying her which is an incredible bonus!

After reading these reviews, and looking at some examples of weddings Jenn and her team have coordinated in the past, there's no doubt in my mind that Jenn is capable of planning a fantastic, gorgeous wedding. However, I regret to say that my experience with Jenn left a lot to be desired. I feel that the reason for this may be because I hired her for month-of coordinating (her "Simply Charming" package) rather than paying for her to coordinate our entire wedding. As a DIY bride, I'm afraid I would not recommend Jenn. I hired Jenn to do month-of coordinating for our wedding because I wanted our day to be seamless and stress free. I spoke to Jenn on the phone a few times during the months leading up to our wedding, and she was helpful and usually prompt with her email responses. About 2 1/2 weeks before our wedding day we started to speak more regularly. I emailed her all of our vendor contracts, and even provided her with a schedule I had worked up on my own and a detailed list of decor items. The weekend of the wedding, she seemed on top of things and even called me the morning of the wedding to make sure I was doing alright. The wedding went well, and I gave Jenn a tip in the form of a check. It wasn't until after the wedding, and talking to some of my friends and family, that I was disappointed. We got married at The Santa Margarita Ranch, where there is a train on the property that you can rent for your guests. We rented the train, and paid an optional, non-refundable cleaning deposit so that our guests would be able to enjoy their drinks on the train. Jen had this information, as it was marked clearly in our contract with The Ranch, which I emailed to her the week before. Unfortunately, she remembered this incorrectly, and our guests were asked to leave their drinks on the dirt before they got on the train. When one of my bridesmaids brought this to my attention, I asked her to please tell Jen that we paid the deposit, which she did (twice) but Jenn mistakenly informed her that we had not. After the wedding, I emailed Jenn explaining that she had made a mistake, and that we'd like to be refunded our deposit. She wrote back basically saying that she wished somebody had brought this to her attention (which somebody did), and that she was sorry, but did I expect HER to pay the money back to me? I wrote back saying that wasn't my concern, but that I had a contract and I would like the money back. I CC'd the email to somebody at the ranch, who was kind enough to let me know she's trying to come to some resolution on this matter. I still haven't heard from Jenn, and shortly after I wrote her that email she deposited the tip that I gave her. Money isn't really the issue here- it was the overall impression that I got that left me feeling less than pleased with Jenn. I feel like this issue wasn't really of great concern to her, and she had little to no interest in resolving it for me. In addition to this, I was told by a few friends and family members who were helping us out on the day of our wedding that Jenn was a bit short with them when they came to her with questions/problems, which I found very disappointing. Again, I'm sure Jenn is capable of planning a lovely wedding, providing her brides with excellent service. But, as a bride on a budget, who worked extremely hard to be able to pay for most of her own wedding, including Jenn's services, I can't help but feel like an afterthought.

Jenn Hocker is amazing!!!!! I 100% recommend Allure Event Designs. Jenn made my wedding even better than I ever thought it could be. She is extremely organized, detailed, thorough, responsive and professional. But on top of that, she is so fun to work with, down to earth, supportive, encouraging, endearing and generous with her time. She makes you feel taken care of, and you know everything will be ok when she is around! I absolutely LOVED working with Jenn! I've been to a lot of weddings (two of my siblings included) with various wedding coordinators, and Jenn surpassed them all. She knows the perfect balance of listening to feedback before taking charge of the situation, and she handles everything with care. She was a comforting and warm presence at my wedding, and she was irreplaceable!

Jenn Hocker was the most amazing person to work with throughout our entire planning process and the incredible flowers she created for our elegant, vintage, garden wedding were beyond our expectations. She listened to what my daughter wanted and completely captured the look and feel we were hoping for! The added touch of crystal chandeliers and candleholders, along with accents of mercury glass, was breathtaking. Our guests are still raving about every detail. Jenn truly created a magical evening and has ended up as a family friend!

Jenn is superb at what she does. She's a great listener, extremely attentive to detail, efficient, organized, and well-connected to local vendors. She takes every request seriously and makes it come to life. When she first asked me what I envisioned for my wedding, I didn't have much of an idea... I'm pretty sure I said something like "uhh.. a really nice wedding?" which she turned into a beautiful, memorable, and basically perfect day/evening for us. The day of the wedding could not have gone any smoother and I had absolutely zero stress the whole day. (In fact, I had minimal stress throughout the entire planning process because of Jenn!) I'm sure there were a million behind-the-scenes details to worry about, and Jenn handled everything so beautifully. After chatting with her about our wedding for oh, the past 8-10 months, I had complete trust in her ability to help make our day magical. Which she did :) It was so convenient to have her as our florist as well, since she already knew us and had an idea of what we wanted. But, honestly, her work with flowers is beyond just convenient, because she is super talented in this area as well. When I first saw the bridal and bridesmaid bouquets I (along my BMs) was blown away by how gorgeous they were, and how she nailed my vision spot-on. I received lots of comments about how beautiful the centerpieces and bouquets were. Jenn, thank you so much for everything! You and your crew did an amazing job and we couldn't be happier with how our wedding went.

Jenn is amazing! She did both the flowers and wedding planning for our rehearsal dinner and our reception. For the rehearsal dinner, the flowers were stunning, exactly what we wanted, and it fit into the theme and vibe of the rehearsal dinner perfectly. I didn't think that they could get better but then I saw what she did for our wedding and reception and I was in awe. She not only did exactly what we wanted and planned, she EXCEEDED our expectations Jenn is brilliant! She has such great taste and she is classy and professional. Ad far as her wedding planning services, she couldn't have been better. Every time Jenn and I spoke or emailed or met, I felt calm and happy and peaceful. I never once was stressed or worried about any part of my wedding planning. I don't understand what it means to have wedding stress, it just didn't happen to me, Jenn made everything just perfect. She is simply the best! Thanks Jenn, we love you!

Jenn and her staff were the best! They helped me with all my details, no matter how big or how small. Jenn was always there for me even when I had a personal problem, just to listen, that was all I needed and she was there. Allure Event Designs you ROCK!!!! You made our day more the we ever dreamed it would be. Thank you.

Jenn was super professional and organized. She made the wedding day stress free and fun for me. I would reccomend her without reservation!

I don't know what we would have done without Jenn! With her we were able to plan a wedding in 5 months, for the busiest month for Paso Robles! All the vendors she recommended were perfect! Her connections were invaluable. She also provided the flowers for the bouquets and they were beautiful! She was a joy to work with!

Jenn was absolutely amazing!! She took every bit of stress away from me and the turnout could not have been more wonderful! She is extremely professional, easy going, and an all around great person. She truly loves what she does and it shows!!

We used Jenn for both our wedding planning and flowers in October 2009. She was absolutely wonderful to work with. Jenn listened to our ideas and desires to make our wedding the day of our dreams and helped make everything a reality! The venue we selected required that we use a wedding planner and while I thought I could "do it myself" I am forever grateful that we hired Jenn to assist with our wedding, she was the best investment ever: - Jenn was easy to work with, is a great communicator and was always available for little details and questions that came up along the way. She returned calls and/or emails promptly. - While we had a good idea of what we wanted for our wedding day, Jenn helped us brainstorm ideas to add special touches throughout. - She suggested alternatives if something was outside of our budget and was extremely creative with our floral arrangements. We loved our bridal party arrangements, centerpieces and ceremony flowers - they were stunning! - Throughout the wedding rehearsal and wedding day, Jenn remained calm and professional without ever being bossy to us or our wedding party. - She always had a smile on her face and made sure everyone was enjoying themselves and that the entire event was running smoothly. - She worked wonderfully with our other vendors. Throughout our wedding ceremony and reception, every moment was orchestrated beautifully, without feeling rushed. Our friends and families are still talking about how much fun they had at our wedding and it was because of Jenn that everything went so smoothly. Thank you Jenn for all your work!

Jenn was one of the best decisions we made during our planning process! She stepped in a month before the wedding and was a HUGE help! She brought together all of our ideas into a beautiful wedding. She was also super flexible - our wedding day was one of the hottest weekends in Paso Robles (114 degrees!). We ended up moving our start time a little later due to the heat and she made it happen. Jenn called all our vendors and informed of the new start time. Jenn also did our flowers and decor for the wedding. We didn't get her a lot of direction, just our colors choices and our overall vision of the day. She took all of our ideas and created a romanic, chic vineyard wedding! It truly was a prefect day!

Hiring Jenn Hocker, owner of Allure Event Designs to design and coordinate our wedding was without a doubt the best decision we made. We literally hired her on the spot following our first meeting with her and a review of her outstanding portfolio. Through our eleven months of planning Jenn consistently demonstrated, unrivaled design abilities, professionalism, flexibility and always made us feel like a priority. We also had the pleasure of hiring Jenn for our floral decor, which was absolutely stunning! Additionally, Jenn has stellar relationships with key vendors in the Central California region so she made it so much easier for us to meet and hire other vendors for our wedding. Jenn really gave us a fairy tale wedding that people are still raving about! I think it would be virtually impossible to find a better multi-talented event designer in the region. Love Jenn! ~Amber & Price

Jenn was the best decision we made. She also did our flowers for us, which were amazing. Our wedding was a bit complex as we had a wine ceremony, wine tasting between the ceremony and reception that involved 90 people and 4 shuttle buses, a barrel room with over 300 candles and everything went off without a hitch. Jenn was absolutely amazing, I couldn't have asked for anything more, she was perfect!!!

Jenn Hocker of Allure Event Designs was absolutely one of the best investments we made throughout our wedding planning process! I could not be happier with our decision to hire Jenn for our wedding coordination and design - she had been recommended by many area vendors due to her attention to detail, kind demeanour, and ability to work with multiple vendors to ensure a seamless event. From the moment I met Jenn, I knew she was the one who could help bring my vision to life! Jenn has extensive experience in both event coordination and design – I initially was looking to Jenn for coordination services, but after we discussed floral and overall event design and I had a chance to look at her amazing portfolio, I asked her to take on all design aspects as well. She listened to my ideas, and created a day that was truly perfect. As things came up (seating chart, programs, to name a few) that my husband and I really didn’t think of, Jenn was quick to offer unique ideas that fit within our budget, and took on tasks as needed. I don’t know what we would have done without her. Our wedding, in my opinion, was the most beautiful, memorable day ever – and many of our guests echoed that statement. So many people told us that our wedding was the most gorgeous, unique, and fun event they had ever attended (thanks to the beautiful backdrop of Robert Hall Winery, Mike Larson Photography’s amazing photo booth and slide show, Allure Event Designs “S’mores Bar,” amazing food by Chef Jeffrey Scott, and great tunes by Kramer Entertainment). Many said that they were amazed at how smoothly and well organized the day was, and I credit Jenn 100% with that! She has such a good working relationship with other area vendors, and I think that was critical to the success of the day. In Jenn, I not only found a phenomenal event planner, but someone I consider a friend! I highly recommend her for both wedding coordination and floral/event design.

I wanted to work with Allure after seeing photos of their previous weddings. They have such an amazing level of attention to detail. Our wedding was in Paso Robles and we live in Los Angeles, so it was a priority to have a planner that knew the area, could recommend vendors and would handle everything on a day-to-day basis. In addition to the organization, I wanted an event designer to create an overall look and feel that would be very "us". Jenn was able to manage the details AND the design exceptionally. Throughout the wedding planning process, Jenn kept me calm (not an easy task) and kept everything in perspective. I enjoyed the wedding planning much more than I anticipated and never had any kind of bridal melt-down that I've heard about - I give Jenn credit for this! The wedding was beautiful! The old world rustic theme that Jenn created suited us perfectly. We had a paired 5-course wine dinner that was exceptional (my husband is in the wine industry and we're both avid foodies). The day was perfect! Everywhere were the little extra touches that make a day special - a beautiful aged piece of wood across wine barrels served as our port bar; sweet, calligraphied saying adorned lovely displays of pashminas and cigars. My favorite part was the moss-covered table that Jenn designed for us. The table was covered entirely in moss with flowers in the center, holding our table placecards. It was absolutely gorgeous! Our guests are still raving about the day and the beauty of the wedding. Jenn is extremely talented - an amazing blend of organization and creativity. I absolutely recommend her.

Working with Jenn was a true DREAM! Our wedding was everything we dreamed of...and so much more. She brought in ideas that we could never have imagined. Our guests were talking about our wedding for months after and everyone had the most memorable day. As a bride, I could not have asked for more. Jenn...you were a dream to work with and we are so lucky to have found you!!! Thank you!