The Wedding Connection

Denise with The Wedding Connection is wonderful! She helped my fiancé and I look at many beautiful venues in the Santa Cruz and Aptos areas. They work with many private estates which are gorgeous and give you a very one of a kind wedding. She has been doing weddings for years and thinks of all the important aspects to make sure your wedding and wedding venue are perfect for you. If you are looking at venues in the Santa Cruz area definitely contact Denise first :)

After reading all the negative reviews, it is clear that some people did not have proper expectations: Wedding Coordinator vs. Wedding Planner. Call Denise and talk to her. She will tell you what you can expect. We did and we LOVED her work.
Wedding Date: August 2014.
Attendance: 150 people.
Location: Rancho Soquel.
Wow, where to begin… We chose Denise and The Wedding Connection for 2 simple reasons: we trusted her judgment and guidance & she has an exclusive agreement with Rancho Soquel.
TRUST is the word that best describes our wedding planning strategy. My wife and I wanted to find experts that could operate the event smoothly by:
(i) ensuring my bride and I would be happy and immersed in the celebration,
(ii) following our rules and requests,
(iii) keeping the mojo of celebratory atmosphere at the proper levels, and
(iv) handling any rowdy family members or other negative situations quietly.
We knew that Denise was the right person for the job because I had already seen her in action in 2008 at my brother’s big fat Italian wedding. The wedding was an incredible success despite a couple of over intoxicated guests trying to strong-​arm Denise and the DJ for access to the microphone.
I give Denise 5+ stars for her role in our wedding. We had no Idea how she was going to corral our wedding guests to the several beautiful rendezvous points at Rancho Soquel and maintain the celebration mojo. Despite my inability to visualize her strategy, I trusted her and it paid off BIG TIME! She coordinated with the other vendors beautifully. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
My simple recommendation: meet Denise and ask her questions. She is here for you and knows how to help. DON’T BE SHY!

I recently got married in Carmel Valley and Denise helped me plan a pull off the wedding of my dreams. When my new husband and I were on our honeymoon and basking in the glow of what we continue to call ‘the best day of our lives’ we both agreed that there was simply NOTHING that didn’t go the way we wanted it to. And we have Denise (and her fabulous partner Vicki) to thank largely for that.
Denise will come on board and help you with everything from checking out the venue grounds (if she hasn’t already worked there), assisting with vendor referrals (all of which turned out to be amazing), and reviewing your contracts to make sure everything looks right.
She’s a calming force in the midst of the mayhem and stress of planning a wedding and each conversation we had leading up to our big day was so helpful not only in ironing out all the details but in helping relieve the stress I was feeling. On the day of the wedding Vicki came in and executed everything with total perfection. Not a thing was overlooked and she made sure the day and all the events ran smoothly.
Our wedding was a dream come true and Denise and her team are worth their weight in gold. Thanks Denise!

Denise planned and pulled off my spectacular wedding in Ben Lomond for over 170 people in May, 2014. Her specialty is finding just the right referrals to make the event perfect for you – from a local old-​time string band to adding last-​minute lighting and even finding a nanny, Denise seems to know everyone in town.
I’m a pretty hands-​on planner myself, so I didn’t mind being actively involved with my vendors, but Denise did shake down a vendor or two that wasn’t being as communicative as they could be. That said, if you’re looking for someone to exclusively deal with all your vendors on your behalf, Denise might not be perfect for you.
The end result was a beautiful wedding filled with perfect memories. Thanks, Denise!

I very much agreed with Kate. When I hired a wedding coordinator I thought that they would do more of the coordinating. Denise was great for referrals (Nick our Guitarist was AMAZING!), but that was really it.
I had a huge shuttle project that I very much needed help with. My maid of honor, Dad, Mom, now Husband, and I ended up coordinating the whole thing. I thought that what I was paying her to help with?
People at our wedding told me they weren’t sure who she was or what she was doing there. When they would ask her questions she wouldn’t have answers. When there were little things that needed to get done she was not helpful. My maid of honor ended up arranging everything and making sure I had no idea what was going on. (Bless her).
If you are looking for information to plan, Denise is great. If you are looking for help coordinating I would go elsewhere.

I hired Denise to help me plan my June 2013 Wedding at the Felton Guild. Being an out of town bride (working in New York and getting married in California) I really needed the help. Unfortunately I was disappointed by the lack of interest and help provided by my planner and ended up doing most everything by myself with the help of my stepmom and our caterer. While Denise did provide a lot of referrals for vendors, like DJ and florists etc. it was still up to me to coordinate everything with them. Also, there are a lot of things she does not do, like arrange chairs (that’s not her job), help put together wedding décor while you are stressed out and too busy to do it because you have family in town to entertain (also not her job). I do give wedding connection a few stars because I think as a day-​of-​coordinator she did alright, and things went fairly smoothly besides a few glitches that could have been avoided if properly monitored (like the dance floor not being securely put together, thank god nobody tripped). However if I had to do it all over again I would not hire wedding connection to help me plan my wedding, the level of service I received for the amount of money I paid just did not add up.

I was married in Scotts Valley during the summer of 2011. Our venue required us to use Wedding Connection with Denise as a wedding coordinator. She was absolutely horrible to work with! I had in mind how I wanted my wedding to look, and she definitely wasn’t afraid to suggest something else because she didn’t like it. I appreciate your opinion but this was my wedding. Also, during the wedding she was nothing but an annoyance. Everything had to get done on a schedule and in the time frame she had set. I felt like I couldn’t just enjoy the day because she was constantly rushing us. One thing I really regret and wish I would have put my foot down on was the fact that she rushed our picture taking session because she didn’t want the guests waiting for us. My husband and I have limited pictures of the two of us on our wedding day because of this. I regret working with her, and cannot believe how un-​accommodating she was at my own wedding. My entire bridal party was extremely annoyed with her by the end of the day. I would highly suggest looking elsewhere when looking for a wedding coordinator, she put a damper on our wedding day. Do not use Denise Addesso through Wedding Connection.

Denise at Wedding Connection is awesome. She knows the best vendors to contact and thinks of so many important details related to wedding planning that I would never have thought of. She was extremely prompt in answering my many questions. I never thought I’d need a wedding coordinator for a wedding, but she was recommended to be by another family member, and I am so grateful she was. She made my wedding day run so smoothly and made me feel at ease during the planning process.

October 2011 Wedding — I only had 2 months to plan my wedding and Denise made it happen. We just took things one step at a time. Denise was always one step ahead and just kept things on track. She’s easy to work with and fit me into her schedule like it was not a problem at all. She saw our vision and expanded on it. Two thumbs up!

In 2009 my Husband and I rented a beautiful estate property in Soquel for our wedding (Rancho Soquel), through the wedding connection, & had Denise as our Day-​of-​Coordinator. She was terrific to work with and always immediate in her correspondence. She helped us figure out everything we needed for the day and made sure it all went according to the scheduled plan. Denise even went to an extra effort to provide a vast amount of useful information she had on the area of Hawaii we were honeymooning. (unmarked beaches and secret locals eateries!)
Wedding Connection, or rather Denise, exclusively represents over a dozen amazing properties in the Santa Cruz area. If you’re looking in that general area for your party, I highly suggest dropping her a line. Elements like old barns, out door pizza ovens, patios, gazebos, bridges and more with a Great Gatsby «Summer Party in Rhode Island» feel rather than the cheesy manufactured wedding «just for the pictures» blah.
For some reason only one or two of the properties are currently on Here Comes the Guide (when we were married in 2009 none of them were)…but there is more, check her website!
PS…Thanks Denise!

My husband and I just got married at a beautiful home in Ben Lomond on Aug. 1, 2009 and Denise Addesso (through the Wedding Connection) was our coordinator. Denise was so helpful and warm through the whole planning process. She was organized and helped us do things in a timely, non-​stressful manner. On the wedding day I didn’t have to worry about a thing and again Denise was so present and helpful at every moment.
Many of my girlfriends have recently gotten married locally without Denise and they all have experienced different levels of stress, but honestly our day could not have been more perfect. It was nice to be able to sit back and have everything run smooth that day. The best part about working with Denise was that although she was always available and very «present» she was never annoying or in our faces like I’ve heard some coordinators can be.
I would highly recommend the Wedding Connection to anyone who is planning a wedding and congratulations!

Denise Addesso was my personal wedding angel.
I want to start off by saying that I was not interested in hiring a wedding coordinator before I met Denise. My mom and I, in our early stages of wedding planning, really thought we could handle it all. [hah!] Surprisingly it was my dad that kept pushing the subject. He really wanted me to find a coordinator! He absolutely insisted on it. Well, dad ended up being right. And I’ve thanked him a million times over for continuing to press the subject because I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done without her [and Vicki, for that matter!].
Denise totally caters to your own needs. Depending on what you already have done, she’ll help you with whatever else you need. Whether that’s everything or just a couple things. Since I live in Dublin and got married in Santa Cruz, it was incredibly helpful to have someone that is 100% familiar with the vendors in the area. And honestly, I’m just not the type of person that enjoys calling up different people for quotes and styles and pictures and what-​not. All I had to do was ramble off to Denise for a bit about my vision and the next thing I knew, I’d have 3 or 4 different options and quotes from vendors. It was SO, SO easy. She got everything right. She completely understood my vision! She’s so easy to talk to, has so many great ideas and tips. Knows way more about weddings than anyone else I know. obviously, it’s what she does. And she’s good. Really good. :)
I also had many people tell me how calm I was on our wedding day, and I owe that to Denise. Having her there the day of was priceless. For my mom and I and the rest of the family to just be able to relax and enjoy every moment. instead of worry about paying vendors, making sure they’re on time, making sure they brought the right thing, making sure it’s the way we wanted it… making sure that the day just runs smoothly, one thing after the next… OOof. I can’t even imagine how nervous that would’ve made me.
I could go on and on about all the little amazing things that make Denise the perfect wedding coordinator. Honestly, I’m a little sad that it’s all over now because working with her was so great. She’s amazing. I would recommend her to anyone, anywhere. You will love her!