I live in SF but just had a rather large destination wedding in Las Vegas (so I usually hang out more on the Vegas board). I had such an amazing experience with my Bay Area-based wedding coordinator, though (I brought her with me to Vegas) that I wanted to share a review here.
Caitlin Arnold Weddings & Events- A+++
Let me preface this review by saying that I never even entertained the idea of having a wedding coordinator for my wedding until I met Caitlin-- I plan events for a living (I'm in PR), and I'm extremely detail oriented and wanted complete control of the vision I had for our wedding. I didn't feel that I needed to spend money having someone else do all of this when I could do it myself. Having gotten married last week and having the newly gleaned wisdom of a bride who just went through all the motions of wedding planning, I have to tell you this: you MUST have a wedding planner as part of your wedding process. And if you can get Caitlin to play this role for you, I can guarantee you will be sane enough to actually ENJOY and REMEMBER the fun and beauty of your wedding day.
After a very helpful initial consultation (during which Caitlin immediately tapped into the "anxiety areas" of my wedding-- things that I was a bit nervous about or that were already causing me stress), I started meeting with her about 6 months before my wedding. Extremely detail-oriented (I thought I was on my game with the wedding details-- she put me to shame!) and effortlessly professional and poised, she did ALL of the vendor communication and confirmation starting about a month out so I wasn't scrambling to confirm details. She worked flawlessly with all of my vendors, including my venue's dedicated day-of coordinators, to ensure that all of the details of our day were exactly how I wanted them. She even made these killer, UBER-detailed timelines that were customized for our vendors, wedding party, and my fiance and me-- down to the very last minute (they were about 8 pages long). It helped everyone get on the same page and we had very few questions from our family and wedding party because Caitlin had prepped them so well (and our groomsmen actually showed up when/where they were supposed to, haha).
The most stressful part of our wedding process was the few days leading up to our wedding itself-- we were so stretched in a million different directions by visiting family/guests that I couldn't imagine having to carve out additional time to call each one of our vendors to go over details of the services to be provided or confirm exact times/places they were supposed to show up. I am SO thankful that Caitlin did this for us and I could rest easily knowing that she was taking care of all of the moving pieces in the final hours.
Initially I thought I couldn't afford a wedding coordinator (and I thought I didn't need one because I tend to be extremely detail-oriented and I partially plan events for a living), but I found the money by cutting some other things out and now my memories of my wedding day revolve around my husband, our guests, and how much fun we all had-- instead of vendor mishaps and the stress of trying to set up for our own reception.
Caitlin was, by far, the best decision we made regarding our wedding and I could not recommend her services highly enough.
If you have any questions, feel free to PM me!