Distinctive Occasions

I have never been so pleased with a contracted service in my life. My wedding wouldn't have been half as amazing as it was without Distinctive Occasions!! Dawn helped me with planning/coordinating services every step of the way and her vision for decor was breathtaking. I can not think of one thing I was not more than pleased with! I will recommend them to anyone planning a special event. Thank you Dawn and Distinctive Occasions!

Working with the Distinctive Occasions team on our wedding was a joy! Dawn has wonderful visions and suggestions, and her contacts are equally as helpful and lovely to work with. I strongly recommend Distinctive Occasions for your special day!

It's impossible to say anything negative about Dawn and her team. They were there to help us plan the wedding and calmed my wife down during the process. Very helpful, informed, and we didn't have to worry/think about a thing on our wedding day -- we simply got to enjoy it. Highly recommend.

I don't know how we could have planned our wedding without the help of dawn and her team. From the very beginning of the planning dawn was always filled with ideas and had countless recommendations for vendors. We had a non traditional Armenian/Jewish wedding, and Dawn was a huge help and maintained her professionalism even when different languages were being spoken, and requests made that she may never have heard of before. The wedding day itself was perfect - any small issues that arose were immediately taken care of by dawn and her team. We (the bride and groom) didn't even find out about any issues until the day after the wedding. I'd highly recommend Distinctive Occasions for wedding planning services!

Dawn is the most amazing person to work with. She is extremely creative, flexible and professional all while being very personable, warm and friendly. Our wedding would not have been as spectacular without Dawn and the Distinctive Occasions team. Every single detail was flawless. Dawn's dedication to our wedding made the day not only more special, but care free. Dawn and her staff are the most amazing and pleasant people I have worked with in a very long time. I would recommend Distinctive Occasions for any event as Dawn and her team make everything they do special.

Dawn and her team at Distinctive Occasions were amazing, I highly recommend them to plan your wedding. We had the most amazing wedding day all thanks to the Distinctive Occasion team.

As an out-of-town bride, I used Distinctive Occasions as way to help tie things up the last month before the wedding and then to help things run smoothly on the day of the wedding. I am so glad that I did this because I was actually able to enjoy my wedding day. Dawn, the owner, is professional, super nice, very quick to respond to my emails, and took care of any and all problems on the wedding day. She is not pushy at all, but is quick to stick up for her client if there are any problems with vendors. I also hired her to design my wedding programs and menu cards... she was able to coordinate them with my invitations and they totally exceeded my expectations. On the day of the wedding, there was a problem with the band payment, but Dawn took care of it because she didn't want to bother me at the wedding. I didn't even know about it until a week later! Also, I started to panic a little before walking down the aisle, especially when a bee got stuck in my veil!.... but there was Dawn, picking the bee out of my veil for me and easing my anxiety. She is the girl you want with you on your wedding day!!!! The price they charge is more than fair and I actually wish I would have hired her sooner because it probably would have saved me a lot of hassles beforehand. Would I recommend Distinctive Occasions for brides-to-be?... Without a doubt!!!!

There were a lot of decisions we had to make in planning our “dream” wedding and choosing Dawn with Distinctive Occasions was definitely the best decision we made as it made all other decisions that much easier. We were married early September 2010 in a beautiful outdoor courtyard ceremony with the reception immediately following in the indoor ballroom at the venue. What we thought would make our wedding particular challenging was that we both live in Los Angeles and the wedding would be in my home town of Buffalo, NY. Coordinating with vendors, making decisions on the spot, site visits, etc, were just not quite possible. We needed someone who could guide us through the process who we trusted to make decisions that would reflect us as a couple on our behalf in the event we were not there. We were so fortunate to find this in Dawn at Distinctive Occasions. Being that we do live in LA, we and our guests have begun to grow accustomed to lavish weddings with seemingly infinite budgets. This budget was not quite in our cards. Instead of blindly throwing money around, Dawn was able to direct our resources to basically get the most bang for our bucks. In the end, to sum up the words of our out-of-town guests accustomed to these extravagant weddings, we heard plenty of, “this was by far, the best wedding I’ve ever been to” and, “I’ve NEVER had so much fun at a wedding” or how about, “I have never seen such a beautiful wedding in my entire life.” As for us, this truly was the most wonderful day of our lives and we owe it all to Dawn. Dawn’s level of professionalism, expertise, and organization made everything go by without a hitch. We followed Dawn’s checklist in the months leading up to the wedding and by doing so, we never felt overwhelmed, or that things would not get done. Being that we could not meet quite a few of the times in person, we set up numerous meetings over the phone to discuss decisions that should be made and what was next in line to do. Throughout all of this, Dawn always kept careful notes and never missed anything. When planning a wedding, it’s easy to have all these wild ideas but to bring these ideas down to earth and successfully implement them takes the work of a true expert which we were so fortunate to have found in Dawn. As things got finished on the task list, Dawn would check it off the list. By doing so, we never felt lost or misguided. The path was as clear and we knew exactly what needed to be done to get from planning stage to the wedding day. To be a successful coordinator, meticulous organization is an absolute must and Dawn’s organizational abilities were just PERFECT. Vendor management is such a hugely important job in putting together a wedding. Dawn’s ability to do so was amazing. Everything from the tables and chairs, to the florist (Flowers by Johnny), to the photographers, to the various music acts (we had a bunch), to the transportation were all perfectly handled and managed by Dawn and her staff leading up to the wedding and most importantly, during the wedding so that we did not have to worry about it. Dawn made sure that everything that was supposed to be done was done. I can see it easily being overwhelming dealing with so many vendors, but, Dawn takes the worry out of it. No matter how organized and professional the coordinator should be, I think it is equally important to have a creative vision and to understand the vision that we (the clients) have. We really felt like Dawn was instantly able to relate to us and understand what we wanted no matter how off-the-wall some ideas were or how much additional work would have to go into it. She was always receptive to our new ideas and always had new fun ideas to go over with us. Even though this statement is probably not true in all cases, I think it’s important to note. For other coordinators we considered, we noticed A LOT of individuals who have been doing this too long of a time. While that is great and all, what we found was the inability of other coordinators to think outside the box. It’s important to have fresh ideas of today and tomorrow, not the ideas of 20 years ago. She thinks like us and can relate to us but still has a firm understanding of proper etiquette and wedding customs. She keeps current on all the relevant wedding trends across the country and is always willing to try new things. A wedding should NEVER be a cookie-cutter type of event and Dawn makes sure to make the wedding a true reflection of us and add that element of beauty and grace to the event that on our own, we just would not be able to do. I know cost is one of the biggest decisions in planning a wedding. We found the cost of Distinctive Occasions to not only pay for itself, but, to end up being a cost SAVINGS in the end. Here’s why: Dawn knows all the vendors, all the costs, all the people, everything! Right off the bat, Dawn was able to bring in some vendor or some innovative ideas that ended up saving us A TON of money. After the wedding was done, just for fun, we added up what those misc savings were and they ended up being greater than the cost of Distinctive Occasions – officially making it the best decision of the wedding! With all of the out-of-towners at our wedding (more than half) and all of the custom extra stuff we threw in, this would be considered by most, a very logistically complicated wedding. On our own or with any other coordinator for that matter, this would have NEVER worked. It was amazing to see Dawn and her staff on the day of the wedding making sure everything went on without a hitch. Dawn’s day-of staff was absolutely wonderful in every way. They were able to spread out and ensure that every detail was tended to and everything was covered to ensure perfection. I’m sure that with any big event like ours, there would always have to be hiccups BUT, we (the bride and groom) were not aware of ANYTHING going wrong. I guess in the end, that’s what makes Dawn and Distinctive Occasions so valuable. We were able to enjoy our amazing day without being bogged down by problems, issues, or anything else. It was incredible to see the day go by without any incidents that we were aware of. We kept asking ourselves, how can everything be so perfect? Well, it takes very competent individuals managing all the small details and working their tails off to ensure that we and all of our guests have the most fabulous times of our lives. Dawn is ethical, hard-working, creative, organized, knowledgeable, relevant, and an absolute pleasure to work with. With the greatest confidence and without any hesitation or doubts, we would recommend Dawn and Distinctive Occasions to anyone getting married or planning any type of event. This decision of hiring Distinctive Occasions made our wedding exactly what a wedding should be: the most amazing day of our lives! If you have any questions about our experience with Distinctive Occasions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at zais2AThotmail.com. Thanks for reading and happy wedding! Abby & Zack

Dawn was absolutely great! Our wedding had a lot of details, including two ceremonies. Dawn took all of our details in stride. She was extremely well organized, patient with out last minute decisions and changes, and she remembered every last detail we had planned. Her assistants were equally great and helpful. I would definitely recommend Distinctive Occasions to anyone planning an event. Thanks Dawn!

My husband Ryan and I have nothing but praise for the outstanding work done by Dawn and Distinctive Occasions. She was nothing short of amazing when we struggled to find a ceremony location, the reception venue closed on us, and even when I was just plain stressed out-- I could go on and on. My wedding day was unbelievably stress-free, and I can say without a doubt that I could not have done it without her. I'm still hearing from friends and family how they've never seen a wedding as beautiful and elegant as ours. Dawn executed my every thought and vision flawlessly. I highly recommend Distinctive Occasions for help in planning any event!

We can’t thank Dawn enough for everything she did for us. We honestly couldn’t have done it without her. She made a stressful thing (planning a wedding) a lot less stressful!