Reviews of New Narrative Events (Event Planner)

Shyah YZ

Our mother passed away unexpectedly in April of 2021. With lockdowns in place due to Covid, we were left with the option of either postponing the memorial service or looking at doing something virtual. We debated about doing it ourselves but then engaged the folks and NewNarrative to assist. They were very helpful and accommodating. It was good to know that they were there to deal with any technical issues, to provide support to those who were new to Zoom and just taking that burden off of my brother and I. The virtual session allowed those who might not have been able to attend in person the ability to reminisce and pay their respects. Thank you to Christina and Katey

Susanna Stewart

Christina made one of the most stressful days of our life significantly easier, and there are really not enough words to thank her for that. New Narrative & Christina did an outstanding job. We would hire again in a heartbeat & happily refer New Narrative to anyone, regardless of the type of event. Christina's coordination and professionalism are unparalleled. Her thoughtfulness and reliability allowed us the time and mental space to focus on what was important. We would have been overwhelmed by the countless, and time sensitive, decisions that were needed if not for her help. From the very beginning she was entirely supportive, told me many times she was here for me if anything was needed. I was constantly impressed by her calm nature, and diligent follow through. I highly recommend New Narrative's services to anyone who needs a positive, supportive guide through a very tough process. The day of went off perfectly. I find it very hard to entrust someone else to set up things I have envisioned, but Christina took care of all the little details. She was very hands on, in constant communication with the vendors (caterer, DJ/music, event staff etc) & I felt completely secure she would take care of things. And she did - everything from the planning, set up, to the take down. The day of, we were able to be entirely completely hands-off & just celebrate thanks to Christina. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

DeeDee Downs

We engaged Christina to host my father's virtual memorial service and she helped to create a meaningful and memorable ceremony in difficult circumstances.She helped to locate a wonderful guitarist to handle the pre and post ceremony music, a storyteller to help the family in constructing stories to share during the service, put together a wonderful invitation for us to send out, and put together a great slideshow to share as part of the program. Christina was professional and responsive and worked collaboratively with our life celebrant to pull together a beautiful event. Prior to the event there were a few family members that were skeptical about the virtual platform but provided feedback after the event that it was perfect, meaningful, and a wonderful celebration of my father's life. Throughout the process I was comfortable that I was in good hands. My heart goes out to anyone losing a loved one during the pandemic which has added multiple layers of difficulty in the grieving process. Christina is a true gem and I highly recommend her to anyone else looking to organize a celebration of life for their loved one.

Iris P-H

We are in Florida and have family in Europe and friends in Canada. Our Dad was a respected and beloved physician in Stuart Fl. Planning a funeral during covid 19 for such an important man was a seriously daunting task. I did not know where to begin. Christina immediately put me at ease. She was so professional, qualified, empathic, courteous, conscientious and organized that I felt I was in very capable hands. She responded to my emails in a matter of minutes despite the time difference on opposite coasts and even responded quickly on weekends. The memorial was today and everyone remarked at how wonderful it was. I am so grateful to Christina and her crew for making Dad's memorial service exactly what he would have wanted. People even remarked that this was the best service they ever attended.

Lauren Kennedy

When my father passed away during Covid19, I thought it would be fairly simple to coordinate a flawless memorial for him online. After all, I had a Zoom account, right? However, I was in a trough of mourning, which made everything in life more difficult. We decided to hire Christina and New Narrative Memorials at the last minute. I think we gave her all of 7 days to start from scratch and create something meaningful. It was a tremendous relief to have such an important project out of our grieving hands. Christina was extremely easy to work with, kind, professional, knowledgable, experienced, and compassionate. She and her crew pulled it together and produced a very professional and outstanding memorial for a great man. There were a lot of older guests (in their 90’s!) and New Narrative made it easy for the non-tech savvy to attend and participate. The first thing my son said after the event was “I’m glad we hired the professionals.” I whole-heartedly agreed. The memorial itself was beautiful and seamless. Thank you to everyone who worked on this program. You’re the best. We highly recommend your company.

Sharon B

The team at New Narrative provided everything we thought we needed and several pieces of support we didn't anticipate. With their professional, responsive and warm-hearted expertise, we gathered as a community in this most difficult time to honour, mourn and celebrate or beloved. We are eternally grateful. Gift yourself and your family by hiring New Narrative. You and your deceased deserve it.

Jane Voss

Nothing short of a positive experience here. Christina and her team planned and hosted the Celebration of Life for my mother-in-law about three months after her passing. The loss of a family member in any scenario is painful, but Christina's team came in professionally and empathetically, working ever so patiently with the family to create a beautiful online ceremony that was attended by friends & family from all across Canada, into the United States, down to South America and even as far as Asia. The event itself was flawless, as Christina patiently and professionally coached certain attendees through the complications that can arise with turning on cameras/microphones. I cannot recommend the New Narrative team enough; at a time when it would've been impossible to have the family together in one room, we were able to come together virtually and say goodbye the way that my mother-in-law deserved. Thank you, again!

Matt Dunn

Christina, Rob, Emily, and the entire New Narrative team did a fantastic job in managing everything about our zoom memorial. From setup, to practice, to the actual event. 5 stars not enough - they deserve 10 stars.

bryan lesseraux

Six days before my aunt's memorial, I contacted Christina of New Narrative. I am so grateful that I reached out! After our first phone conversation, I already felt supported and cared for. I have organized memorials and other events before. I planned my aunt's memorial, feeling that I can do it with preparation and a little help from a few cousins. However, I soon realized that there were some things I needed more support with because it was happening virtually. Plus, I was facilitating the memorial myself. Christina has been a patient, wonderful and wise guide throughout the process! You can tell by her work (slideshow, invitation, videos) that she put a lot of care and love into its detail. It actually felt like she knew my aunt personally. During the virtual memorial, my laptop threw a tantrum. It froze. The cursor wasn't moving. O.M.G! Thankfully, Christina and Rob embodied the phrase "grace under pressure" and saved my you-know-what. They remained calm and grounded. They made adjustments in the sequence of events as I figured things out with my laptop. We continued with the memorial without any hiccups after. As a recovering perfectionist, Christina and Rob's support and positivity were just what I needed. My family was so happy we could get together to honour my aunt even if we were in different places in the world. You want New Narrative on your team for the memorial of your loved one. And, more importantly, they are who you NEED when the unexpected and unplanned happen. With them, you know someone's got your back! Iris Paradela-Hunter

Marina Bennett

As an event planner navigating the new world of virtual events, a company like New Narrative has been essential to me. I recently worked with Christina of the NN on a clients wedding. Having her in the background, managing the virtual components made the day run smoothly and took stress away from me, so I could focus on being present for my clients and not fiddling with all the techy things! I highly reccomend!

Aimee Barton

Christina and her team at New Narrative Memorials were wonderful to work with during an incredibly difficult time. They helped us create a timeless and moving remembrance for my father, who passed away from COVID-19. Since we chose to hold an online memorial, New Narratives allowed us to gather loved ones from across the country to honor my father's life. Their commitment to quality was superb. Christina's patience with helping folks through technological difficulties was exceptionally worth the cost. New Narratives helped us focus on mourning and remembrance instead of muting, connection issues, or any such difficulties. Her professionalism and empathy made all of us participants and speakers feel safe and in very good hands. The rehearsal and touch-base time was soothing and helped get everyone acclimated to Zoom, and feel confident on the day. After the service, my family received many compliments on the smoothness of the ceremony, and how tasteful and touching it was. New Narratives does more than simply connect folks safely to mourn and grieve, they foster a smooth flow. Christina worked diligently with our priest to perform a full Catholic Mass in honor of my dad. Their editor made a gorgeous slideshow that brought all of us to tears. Receiving chat logs and attendee lists helped us feel as though so many people attended -- because they did. Over 100 people logged into our service and it went of with nary a hitch. I should also like to mention that my family are VERY much in the funeral business, and they were blown away at how thoughtful and compassionate the service, and its preparation were executed. Thank you, Christina, and your New Narratives team.

Neil Camhi

We had an amazing experience with New Narrative Memorials. We were really thrown for a loop by the virus while planning our father's memorial. We decided to have it online but were confused and apprehensive about the technology and how to manage it. Christina and New Narrative guided us through the process, made us feel comfortable, and produced a great event that people loved. They made extra technological help available for the many luddites in our group and were always patient and kind despite our many questions. Christina was extremely responsive and had great ideas. A real pleasure to work with. We would highly recommend them!

Patrick Sullivan

Christina is such a lovely person to work with, and I am so incredibly grateful that I found her to help us celebrate the life of my late father. From the get-go her enthusiasm and warm spirit made us feel comfortable and heard, and she was an extremely organized, focused, and communicative team member to work with. She also worked wonderfully with others we had involved in the big day, and her timeline and lists of things to get done were a huge help. It felt like we could relax the moment after our first meeting because she was handling a lot on her end, but always open for feedback and kept us looking forward to sharing the day with others. From the set up to tear down, she was present and aware and extremely helpful. We had so many positive comments on the big day and were even able to leave and go to dinner the same evening knowing Christina was handling the tear down. Everything went smoothly and I would highly recommend her to anyone who needs a coordinator for a special event. She's the best! Thank you Christina.

Michelle Pante

Christina Andreola and New Narrative helped my family celebrate our father's life. I am so impressed with her and the company. Compassionate, creative, responsive, patient with my technical limitations, professional, just a pleasure to work with during a stressful time. I can not recommend this company highly enough!

Dallas Johnson

When my father passed away, the family decided to hold a Celebration of Life a month later. This gave us plenty of time, but my problem was that I lived on the other side of the country and we didn't want the standard somber funeral experience. We wanted something different. Did a quick internet search for someone to help us out, but all that came up was funeral services and corporate entities. Then I came across New Narratives web site with the tag line "Its not your grandmother's funeral, unles it is your grandmother's funeral". I had the feeling that this was something different. After a quick meeting with Christina I was confident that the event would be in good hands. Christina was very pleasant to work with. Having worked in this area for a number of years, she had a great knowledge of venues and suppliers. She went out of her way to encourage and accomodate any ideas that made the event unique and that honoured our father. She was sensitive to our budget constraints and was very organized and proactive. Our family had a couple of telecons to discuss what we wanted, and Christina took it from there, keeping me informed of her progress, and letting us know when she needed input from the family. She did all the leg work in putting everything together. Come the day of the Célébration of Life, Christina was there early to set everything up, and the event went smoothly under her management. It left myself and the rest of the family the unique opportunity to forget all the organization, and to be able to concentrate on remembering and honouring our father. The event was unique, and all about our father. It was definately not your grandmother's funeral.

Jill Leversage

Christina and the New Narrative team pulled off a feat of love, laughs and community. Our dear friend and colleague left us abruptly in late October and we held his celebration of life last night. From the venue to the decor to the itinerary, everything was on point. Two things that stood out to make this event extra special were 1) the beautiful slideshow that really celebrated the memory of our loved one, and 2) the fact that it was.a hybrid event, so those who could not attend in person could feel like they were with us. There were multiple cameras set up to give multiple perspectives. Very pro! Finally, and this is maybe a strange thing to praise, but Christina is like a ninja. I saw her before the event, setting up and making sure everything was in its place, and I saw her afterward, cleaning up. But during the event she seemed to have this uncanny knack of making herself invisible. She was there, making sure everything ran perfectly… but she made sure to step back and really let the event be about our friend and his family and loved ones. It was stealthy. It was perfect.

Geoff Tsou

Planning for and holding a memorial service is never easy. Doing so when public health restrictions don't allow for gatherings is even more difficult. After our sad loss we were faced with months of waiting, or holding a memorial in a different way. We decided to hold a virtual service and were pleased that we found New Narrative. The service was well planned, respectful and thoughtful, and enabled us to honour our loved one with prayer, family memories and stories, photographs to music, meaningful songs and a poem. A significant bonus what that people could attend and participate from all over Canada. Speakers and our officiant were able to go through a full rehearsal and there was clearly very professional expertise in video production and optimizing and controlling the Zoom technology so that participants whether new to Zoom or well seasoned were able to engage appropriately. Our personal experience and feedback we received was that the memorial was highly effective, respectful and meaningful. Thank you very much Christina and the New Narrative team.

Caitlin Deck

I am so glad I decided to work with New Narratives. They helped me organize a Zoom-based Remembrance Ceremony for my mom and were extremely professional, competent and communicative from beginning to end. I am a fairly technical person but I did not want to worry about technical details. New Narratives took care of those, allowing me to focus on my mom and her memory instead of sound quality, admitting guests, troubleshooting connection issues, etc. As a Project Manager myself, I appreciated how familiar New Narratives was with the overall flow of events, the kinds of problems that might arise, the before and after details... this kind of knowledge comes only from experience and can not easily be replicated by non-experts. I was tempted to go it alone but can see now that it might have been a big mess had I done so. Also worth noting that New Narratives is a small but super meticulous company, which is exactly what you need for an important Remembrance ceremony: they are communicative and accessible, meticulous when it comes to the details, and their pricing is very reasonable considering the invaluable service they provide. I highly recommend them.

Kathryn McIlveen

The whole experience was very positive. From the first meeting with Christina to the actual event, the team provided outstanding service and was extremely professional in all their interactions with the family. Definitely a “value add”