Reviews of Umbrella Events (Event Planner)

Laura Smith

Cristie was fantastic! She was so easy to work with leading up to the wedding and then did an amazing job on the big day. It was such a stress relief knowing I was working with her! She was always friendly and responsive to emails and calls. She made sure everything ran smoothly and on schedule and she even helped with decor and made the venue look amazing. I would definitely recommend Cristie!

Halley Keevil

We needed a wedding coordinator for our reception and are SO glad we went with Umbrella Events! Stephanie made everything run smoothly from start to finish and was absolutely brilliant. We really feel like the reception planned itself, but it was all Stephanie! She was also really fun to be around and a genuinely great person. Would highly recommend to anyone. Thanks, Umbrella Events!

Jess Whalen

Cristie from Umbrella Events was absolutely wonderful to work with for our wedding. Courtesy of COVID, she planned our wedding a couple of times over. She is so attentive, organized and such a pleasure to work with. She made the planning process and day of so seamless. Her experience is very evident when working with her and she has an extensive network of vendors to refer to. Her friendly personality and efficiency make her an ideal wedding planner & business owner!! We can’t say enough about how happy we were with Umbrella Events & Cristie! Thank you for making our day so magical!

David Eng

Umbrella events planned our wedding at the Vancouver Pipe Shop in the fall last year and we couldn't have been happier with how everything turned out!! Their expertise and 'on-the-spot' thinking was invaluable and Cristie was great to work with!

kayla steinhauser

Our wedding was nothing less than perfect, but it would not have been this way without Cristie. It was as if she took so much pride, that it seemed like it was her own wedding. Cristie was smart, regimented, timely, and professional. Quite frankly, she was a total treat to work with and the smartest investment into our wedding that we made. I couldn’t imagine our wedding going the way it did without her there. Hire her, you will not be disappointed. We will miss working with her..

Mercedes Book

Cristie was incredible in the event planning of a hybrid corporate event across two offices and also online logistics. Thrilled with the result. Thank you Cristie!

Brad Coupland

We have had the please with working with Cristie and her team for 2 events in the past month, and we could not have had a better experience. Having worked with many vendors over the years, it is always great to have someone who is not only organized, but remembers that what we do is to help bring fun and enjoyment to the people whom we work with. Cristie was able to deal with many situations that were out of our control (Vancouver rain), and not only pulled them off without a hitch, but did it with a smile on her face. I would be happy to recommend Umbrella Events to any of our couple for their special day.

Amanda Pizzo

Cristie and her team absolutely made our day! We are so grateful we found her and decided to invest in a coordinator and planner for our wedding. We were SO happy and impressed with the entire experience. From help with every step in the planning process, her responsiveness, organization, knowledge and expertise, creativity, and more. One thing I really appreciated was that Cristie truly took the time to understand my vision and hopes for the day. I had the security that she understood the non-negotioables and things that were most important to me and she was willing to fight for these things and communicate them to our vendors. As well as all the little details too! The other main value that Cristie and her team brought was the day-of coordination. This was invaluable for us as it allowed us and our families to relax and enjoy the day knowing that every detail was taken care of. Not only that but her and her team added so much fun and joy to the day as well. We could not be more grateful!

Sandy J

Cristie genuinely rises to the occasion of creating the experience. A planner who sees the magic of every occasion, and an amazing human being.

John Bello

I. Love. Cristie. I get the chance to work with Cristie on so many weddings and events throughout the year and every one of her couples has a similar story that sounds something like this: "..Cristie is amazing..it only took us seconds after meeting with her, that we knew she was the one we wanted to hire." And it makes total sense. Her attention to detail, passion, enthusiasm, energy and heart make up the foundation of everything she does and Umbrella Events and her team is PROOF of that. <3

Natalie Rocheleau

We both agree that hiring Cristie as our day-of coordinator was the best decision we could have made! In the last month we had two comprehensive meetings where she went over every detail of our wedding and figured out a workable timeline. She responded almost immediately to all of our emails, liaised with our vendors to ask all the necessary questions, and even found us a fantastic last minute catering alternative when we were dropped by our caterer two weeks before the wedding! On the day of the wedding itself, she sorted out how to hook up a projector so that my grandma could deliver a recorded speech, coordinated all the deliveries, decorated the hall with our rented and personal decor, and arranged all of the cleaning up so we didn't have to worry about putting things away exhausted at 1am. If you're on the fence about whether you should hire a coordinator (like we were) please DO IT. We were able to show up and just be guests at our own wedding. The timeline worked beautifully and Cristie was so chill, organized, and fun, we never felt like we had to worry about a thing. We couldn't recommend her more highly.

Caitrin Innis

Cristie and Umbrella Events did a fabulous job at our recent event. Cristie has great connections, and was able to help us find exactly what we needed for our big day. She went above and beyond by picking up everything on the day of the event and coordinating the vendors. She made sure everything ran smoothly and was very pleasant to work with. 6 stars for Cristie!

Caroline Ross

I love working with Umbrella Events so much! Cristie is so organized and creative - her weddings and events are amazing. I highly recommend this company to anyone looking for event or wedding planning in Vancouver!

Justine Spencer

I can't say enough good things about Umbrella Events as our wedding planner. We were lucky enough to work with Ariel who was lovely, professional, and helped us pull off the pandemic wedding of our dreams! They went above and beyond in many aspects of the process and I can wholeheartedly recommend them for your wedding or event.

Uda Walker

Best money we spent. Stephanie Roberts at Umbrella Events was an amazing “month-of-coordinator” for our October 27th wedding. I had most of the décor figured out but she was a great sounding board in terms of process, set up, and visualization for the space that we used- False Creek Community Center. She was professional throughout and we trusted her fully to execute the event and our vision- there was NO stress in the run up to or the evening of wedding because of her. Cristie, the UE owner, handled the initial contact and invoicing and she was also a delight to correspond with. I highly recommend Umbrella events! In hindsight, I would have hired them for their full wedding package!!

Greg

Is there a 10 star option?? 10 stars out of 5. Cristie is absolutely exceptional. She is so well organized, fun, and outgoing. She really put my fiancee (now wife) and I at ease with getting things organized and setup. Our wedding was a blank slate, so we built it all from scratch with multiple vendors -- I just simply can't say enough about how valuable her presence was leading up to, and especially on, our big day. Cristie you and your team are rock stars. THANK YOU!

Vanessa Fernando

My wife & I worked with Jen at Umbrella Events for month-of coordination, and she and her team were an absolute joy to work with. From our first meeting, we felt her genuine excitement about our event, and were so impressed by her knowledge about all the details we might have otherwise forgotten. She was very efficient, reliable, and committed to realizing our vision; she was always checking in with us, which allowed us to feel at the centre of the process (making sure that we didn't get lost in the details). When last-minute hiccups came up, Jen was very calm under pressure and helped us find an even better solution! We feel so lucky to have been recommended Umbrella Events - it wouldn't have been the same without them. Thank you Cristie, Jen, and Blair for helping our wedding day be such a magical queer forest success!

Evan Brace

thhis i s like tom holland when he dance and sang to the song umbrealla by rihnana on that one show and he dressed as girl:) i really liked it was a good show i forget name? btu coool

Cascade Tent & Event Rentals

We worked with Cristie and her team last March for a production wrap up party and we couldn't be more pleased with their service! Great communication from start to finish and very detail oriented. Looking forward to working with them in the future!

Tanja Aelbrecht

Cristie created, planned and organized an amazing styled elopement wedding shoot, that we had the pleasure of photographing. I was very impressed by her creativity, the way she effortlessly solved little practical problems and the originality of her ideas! On top of that, she's a super fun person to be around. :) No big ego, no nonsense: down to earth with a great sense of humor and you can bet your money on it that she'll get the job done!

Erica Bennett

Cristie was an absolute dream to work with. She helped plan my wife and I's wedding this past August and we would have been lost without her. Her attention to detail was fantastic, and it allowed us to just sit back and enjoy the day. She was also incredibly kind and thoughtful to work with - her understanding of the LGTBQ community made the event so wonderful and I couldn't have asked for more. Would recommend Cristie to anyone who is planning an event - she is absolutely fantastic.

Kevin McLaren

Cristie helps us plan a 40th birthday party and she was amazing. We were thinking of doing it on our own and are so glad we did not. She handled everything and had tonnes of cool ideas to make it a great night. Highly recommend umbrella events for throwing a big bash!

Hardeep Thind

We hired Cristie and her team for our wedding this past July, and my husband and I still are so thankful we did! They did an amazing job coordinating our entire day and everything leading up to it. Cristie really listened to what we wanted and made sure that we got to have today that we imagined. Over and over she made sure we knew it was our day and we can do whatever we wanted, which was great to hear since weddings end up having so many opinions. To not have to worry about any of the vendors, scheduling, music Etc was in giant sense of relief for us. Thank you Cristie and Umbrella events for making our day truly special!

Courtney Dickson

I truly don't even know where to begin with this review. Cristie is hands down one of the most genuine, hardworking, passionate, and hilarious woman I have met to date. I had met with a couple wedding planners prior to meeting with Cristie and I was basically ready to go with someone else until Cristie just blew them out of the park. We sat down at Starbucks and instantly connected. She was so easy going but also very professional and organized. My husband and I didn't want a typical wedding and she read our minds. From there Cristie has essentially been my lifeline during the 18 months of planning. She was SO attentive; even during her busy wedding months. Cristie somehow found the absolute perfect venue for us and then all the best vendors. She kept a timeline going and we corroborated on a to-do list that was consistently updated. When I say we had a lot of questions... WE HAD A LOT of questions. Being the first one of our group of friends to get married we were basically clueless but cue Cristie to the rescue. No question went unanswered and not once did she make us feel like a question was dumb. Cristie went above and beyond throughout the planning process. No matter the stress, anxiety, or tears she was always there to talk us through everything and not once did I feel as if everything wasn't under control and usually much ahead of schedule! The month of communication was superb and we went into our wedding week feeling as though everything was completely taken care of. Everything was organized and her communication with all of the vendors and MC was remarkable. Not to mention her EXTREMELY detailed timeline for the day-of that would put any person at ease. The wedding weekend. We got married in Penticton and it was a full weekend event. Cristie was there throughout the entire rehearsal and we walked through every detail again on the Friday night. She even took time to make a relative a gluten free pizza we forgot to put in the oven. Seriously; just beyond thoughtful and caring. The wedding day; honestly If something didn't go as planned... to this day we still have no idea. Cristie and her assistant Taylor were just phenomenal. The set up was perfect, the decor looked INCREDIBLE, the organization was perfect, timing was perfect. We just truly cannot put into words how grateful we are for Cristie, Taylor, and Umbrella Events. All of my family and friends raved about her and just how truly helpful they both were. Not once did us or our family have to worry about anything other than having the best time of our lives. So from the bottom of our hearts; thank you Cristie and Taylor for making our day the most stress-free and perfect time of our lives. SO, moral of this; do yourself a favour and stop looking. Umbrella Events is the only way to go and to say we highly recommend is an understatement. THANK YOU xo

Emily Green

Where to even begin? Cristie was an absolute treat throughout our entire wedding planning process and was there on the day making sure everything looked perfect and ran smoothly. Her passion, knowledge and positivity made her an obvious choice for our big day. Meeting Cristie for the first time was wedding planner love at first sight. She is so kind and personable and really focused on what WE wanted. Cristie also specializes in LGBT weddings which made my wife and I feel very comfortable. Cristie helped matched us with nearly all of our vendors and made sure that they worked perfectly with our personalities, vision and budget. We can't imagine who we would have ended up with if it wasn't for her! Overall Cristie was there by our side for the entire planning process and made our experience much more enjoyable. If my wife or I ever needed her she was just a quick text message away and would always make us feel better. Highly recommend her or anyone from her team at Umbrella Events!

Glorianna Anderson

We worked with Cristie and her team this February for our wedding and we could not be any happier! Hiring her was by far one of the best decisions we made. She is such a kind, enthusiastic and fun person and went above and beyond to make sure that everything went well. She was a pleasure to work with and very professional! I truly felt stress free on the day of the wedding knowing that Cristie was there organizing, coordinating and just being her amazing self! We had endless compliments about how beautiful the venue looked and how smooth everything went! If you are thinking of hiring someone to help throughout your whole planning process, or just the month before, or even just the day of please consider working with Cristie. You will NOT be disappointed!

Kelley Backman

From the minute we met Cristie she was friendly, professional and organized. She put my daughter (the nervous/excited) Bride at ease with all her ideas. Cristie handled all the Vendors in the same kind, professional manner which put ME at ease. Cristie not only had great ideas which complimented ours, but her execution on the day of the Wedding was flawless. She handled everything from the ceremony set up, to the flip, to the clean up. It was a very long day for her, but she never lost her smile or enthusiasm. I would highly recommend Cristie and her team.

Dory

This may have been the best money that we have ever spent. Cristie Rosling and Umbrella Events helped us enjoy the wedding of our dreams. As with most couples going in, there is a huge ‘deer in the headlights’ moment that happens when one realizes how many moving parts there are to this type of event. Cristie navigated us through the entire year before our wedding and a seamless and stressless lead-up and wedding day. We had a 140 person Jewish wedding on the top of Grouse Mountain along with an out of towners dinner and brunch. Everyone had a fantastic time and none of the horror stories that everyone hears about wedding organization came to fruition. Cristie is impeccably organized (I honestly don’t know how she does it), professional and very very connected. She saved us heaps of cash as well by knowing already from her experience, who the vendors are that provide excellent value, and ensuring we did not spend money in places that would have been wasteful and not noticed. She engaged herself fully in the Jewish traditions and communicated with everyone else involved to ensure they were followed. Any time things got slightly stressful, Cristie was able to reassure us and kept us upbeat and excited throughout the year. All of our expectations were exceeded. We will miss her SO MUCH and will forever be grateful that she allowed us to have our dream wedding.

Shuyu Li

We hired Cristie and her assistant Stephanie as our wedding coordinator. They did a fantastic job! I really appreciate and highly recommended to everyone!

Emma B

Cristie helped us plan our wedding almost a year ago, she was absolutely amazing, she had a tonne of great advice and really helped make our day a stress-free and wonderful experience. Couldn't recommend her highly enough! Thanks again Cristie!

Mary Hein

We had the best experience working with Cristie at Umbrella Events. We had a clear vision of what we wanted, and were able to take on the planning ourselves, but we hired Cristie for her month-of coordination services. She was fun, professional, communicative, and so very organized - all the other vendors complemented us when they received the schedule she prepared. She was receptive to all of our ideas, and executed everything perfectly. On the day of, we were able to relax, enjoy, and fully participate in the celebration, without having to worry about a single detail. We could not have done it without her and her team!

Gladys N

How do I summarize how incredible Cristie is? She was hands down the sole reason we were able to pull the most beautiful backyard wedding during a pandemic of all times! As if organizing a wedding on a regular day weren't hard enough we decided to do it in late August! We truly can't ever thank her enough for being so wonderful to work with. She thought of all the details we wouldn't have even considered until it became a disaster on the day of. Instead, we were able to enjoy ourselves and all of our guests and had the best time ever. She pulled off the most beautiful wedding for us, but most importantly she was amazingly positive, sweet and just a blast to work with. Cristie you are a GEM!! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts <3

Noemi Pomerleau

(EDIT: Updated following response from Umbrella Events) We got married last June, so it's been a few months, but every time I think about the wedding reception, I still feel frustrated by our experience. Hiring a day-of coordinator was almost certainly overkill for our small event, but I was planning it mostly alone, and didn't want to spend my day fussing and worrying over small details, so at the last minute I decided to hire someone to help, purely for peace of mind. In the end, though, a few crucial details got missed anyway. We were assigned Jennifer, and in the lead-up to the wedding she was great. She arranged pick-up for our wedding cake and other decor items, she helped me negotiate with the venue, she was super responsive in her emails. I was beyond thrilled and sure we were going to have a great experience with her. The day of the reception, though, things didn't go so smoothly. First, Jennifer showed up as scheduled to meet me at the venue, where I had dropped off a bunch of decor and prizes and my shoes and dress so I could change later. I told her my husband was going to arrive soon with desserts and other things and would need help unloading his car. I thought I had been clear, and Jennifer was just going to park her car and come back to meet him. I went off to hair and makeup, I texted my husband that she'd be there to meet him. All seemed well. When he showed up, nobody was there. He had to unload the entire car of all the materials and desserts, walking from two blocks away and making him a sweaty mess in the process. (EDIT: In the response, Jennifer went to lunch & remembers telling me that, but we had some crossed wires because she didn't know he needed help, & I didn't know she was at lunch!) Guests started arriving shortly after. Jennifer and her assistant helped hand out drink tickets, and we seemed to be back on track. The first couple of hours went flawlessly - Jennifer was probably super bored, with things going so well. Then, speeches started. The audio was WAY too low, and my mother-in-law was barely audible, even to me, who was sitting right next to her. Guests in the back kept talking over her, and I could see people visibly straining to hear. Despite me asking, at no point did somebody turn up the audio. I couldn't do anything, being pinned up at the front next to the speech-giver. I was very upset that Jennifer didn't step in. Worse, though, was when dancing was due to start. After our first dance, which had some audio hiccups at first (to be expected, as the first audio switch of the night) the audio got turned down, and when the party playlist came on it was nearly muted. A crowd of us shouted for the audio to be turned up, but nobody did it. My husband left to get the sound turned up, but - predictably - he got stopped by 15 people on his way. It took 20 minutes for the sound to get turned up, and by the time my husband returned almost an hour later, people were done dancing. He'd put together a custom mix for the party and was hugely invested in the music, so he was devastated. It's still the first thing that comes up when we remember that day, because he was so upset by that stolen moment. I was disappointed that after the issues with the first dance, nobody had been double-checking the audio or paying attention during the switch. Finally, at around 10pm, Jennifer came to tell me she was leaving. She'd never mentioned she'd be leaving early (three hours before the event was due to end). I was in shock. (EDIT: Since my review they clarified this was because we opted out of tear-down, which makes sense, but I wish it had been on the event schedule.) Overall our wedding was a huge success, but after paying $1500 for a simple job, I expected more. It was disappointing that these small mistakes and miscommunications had such big impacts on our memories of the day, when that was exactly what I was trying to avoid. (EDIT: Upped the rating to 3 stars to better reflect all the work Jennifer did in the lead-up to the event, despite the misses on the day of.)