A Touch of Grace

If there’s one advice that we would give to an engaged couple planning their wedding, it would be to hire a wedding coordinator right away! Our second advice would be to go with A Touch of Grace!
We are so blessed that we were able to work with Melissa Faubert. During our first meeting we had questions prepared for her and we were so impressed by her quick answering and knowledge of the wedding industry, that we knew she would be our full service wedding coordinator! In fact, she was the only one we interviewed. Melissa is such a people person! So kind, patient, personable, and understanding. If you’re someone that has difficulty getting your ideas across, she knows how to fill in the blanks and make your wishes come true.
Our meetings with Melissa were always productive and structured — no time wasted at all! It would start off on what’s been completed, what’s in progress, and lastly what’s still needed. Communication was simple — text, email, or phone call, she would always respond in a timely manner. Melissa has coordinated so many weddings in her experience that she has a great network of vendors. Most of our vendors were actually found through her. And as for new vendors, she’s great at engaging and developing professional relationships.
A few months before our wedding date, Melissa brought in Halina Brown, another coordinator, who was also such a pleasure to work with. The more help the merrier! Both were completely reliable and had great judgement. Then on our actual wedding date, Melissa brought in Lauren, an assistant. She was such a sweet heart and an amazing help with informing our guests of important wedding day details.
Our wedding was absolutely gorgeous! All of our wedding guests were amazed at how beautiful and romantic everything was and we received so many compliments from them. We’re really lucky and thankful to have worked with A Touch of Grace. They have such a wonderful team that’s passionate in what they do. We truly appreciate Melissa and A Touch of Grace tremendously! Not only did we have an awesome wedding coordinator, but we gained a new friend as well. To that end, thank you so much Melissa and A Touch of Grace, you made our fairy tale, dream wedding a reality, and would love to work with your team again when we decide to renew our vows!
–The Aquinos

I can’t say enough positive things about Cinthy Walsh and the team at a Touch of Grace! Cinthy was recommended to me by a friend who got married in San Francisco last year, and I am so grateful that we hired her as our full-​service planner. While I’m sure we were not the easiest clients for her to deal with (a bit picky about some things, totally clueless about others, plus I had to plan this whole this from across the country!), that didn’t phase Cinthy. She was amazing from the beginning. She was always extremely responsive to my emails and accommodated my crazy schedule, setting up meetings with us for the whirlwind planning weekends when I was only in town for 36 hours. She was also the perfect amount of hands-​on. Whenever we needed advice, she was there with pro tips from all of her experience. She set us up with some of the best vendors around, but also let us make our own decisions. She was never too pushy, and always did everything within her power to help us create the exact wedding we had in mind.
Cinthy truly became a lifesaver during the week of the wedding. She seamlessly handled anything that went wrong– from handholding the venue manager who kept messing up our details to getting the AV team to raise our outdoor café lighting two feet higher to literally scrubbing our white dancefloor clean. She made sure that every single detail was perfect, and throughout the whole thing, she completely kept her cool. She has such a relaxed positive energy, and I feel lucky to have had her as a part of my wedding experience!
I would recommend Cinthy to absolutely anyone in the Bay Area looking for a rock star wedding planner! She will be your fairy godmother on the big day and make you feel like you are in the most capable hands.

Halina was a life saver. I was planning a wedding on a limited budget and from a distance. My MOH and I were going to be doing my flowers and the bakery where I was getting our desserts from didn’t deliver. I needed someone willing to do hourly work to pick up desserts and flowers and set up. Halina was wonderful with this. She was punctual and she even made a return trip to our hotel to pick up beer we forgot to give her for the reception. She was absolutely responsive and great to work with. I highly recommend her. Thanks Halina!

When we got engaged, we wanted to do some of the planning on our own. We knew that we wanted some design help and a day-​of-​coordinator, and interviewed several planners. After meeting with Halina, we knew she would do a great job, and booked her right away. We booked the Wrap Up service, which starts two months prior to the wedding.
Halina was wonderful to work with. She kept us on track at regular meetings, and sent weekly to-​do lists of things that still needed to be done. She tactfully handled a last minute change in caterer, and was invaluable with her industry knowledge and assistance with finding vendors that we had not booked.
She had great ideas for elements in the wedding such as the escort card display. She created a beautiful display from an old frame, that fit so well with our theme.
She stayed with me in the bridal suite on the day of, helping to put together the backdrop to the sweetheart table, and steaming my bridesmaid’s dresses when they were wrinkled from travel. Two other planners were on site at the venue directing the delivery and setup of rentals and other items. Halina listened to what we wanted, and produced an amazing design for three separate areas for the wedding. We got so many compliments from friends and family. We cannot say enough good things about Halina and the A Touch of Grace team that handled our event.

I cannot say enough wonderful things about Cinthy from a Touch of Grace! Hiring her was the best decision we made while wedding planning! Although we selected the wrap up service, Cinthy was available throughout our entire planning process with vendor recommendations, timelines, and general advice. We ended up selecting our cake baker, DJ, and hair dresser (Branching Out Cakes, Fog City DJ, and Anything for you Salon, respectively) per Cinthy’s referral and were thrilled with all of them. She was mindful of our budget and very respectful of our decisions to deviate from certain wedding traditions. In the weeks before our wedding Cinthy kept us organized and on-​track, helping trouble shoot last minute details and keeping the lines of communication between us and our vendors open. Perhaps where Cinthy shone most was on the actual day of our wedding. She was there with two assistants and handled EVERYTHING with grace. We didn’t have to worry about a thing. For example, when our alcohol vendor didn’t deliver ice or vermouth, she went out and bought some. There were quite a few things that went wrong behind the scenes but we were blissfully unaware and Cinthy made sure out wedding went off without a hitch. On top of all of that, she is just a lovely person to be around. We would highly recommend her to anyone who’s planning on getting married!

Cinthy made our wedding! My husband and I were planning a wedding in Marin from LA and without Cinthy, we would not have been able to pull it off. We put off planning until a few months prior to the wedding, luckily our venue knew and recommended A Touch of Grace, Cinthy’s company. Cinthy came in during the chaotic few months in which she helped us get organized, connected us to last minute vendors and effortlessly navigated through emotional relatives. The day of, she helped with everything and was able to keep us running on time, leaving us able to enjoy the day. I recommend A Touch of Grace whole-​heartedly, Cinthy is a pro.

About 5 – 6 weeks before my wedding my mom suggested we look into a day of coordinator. My reaction was, what the heck for, we’ve basically done everything already. But, I decided meeting with a few wouldnt be a bad idea.
Halina was a recommendation from our florist. And from our very first meeting with her I knew we had to have a coordinator. It was probably the best money we spent for this wedding.
She is so amazingly nice, organized, and so on top of things. She started coordinating and communicating with my vendors immediately to make sure everything ran smoothly. She had great ideas and suggestions for venue décor and little tid bits we hadn’t thought of.
The day of she made sure me and my bridesmaids had everything we needed water, snacks, she even went to the kitchen to get some appetizers from our caterer :)
After the wedding we got back to our hotel room and they had decorated our room and brought us some food to make sure we had eaten that night and some dessert.
I can’t say enough great things about Halina and would recommend her to anyone. She also brought Lauren, another coordinator with her, who was also fantastic!

From start to finish, Halina from A Touch of Grace made my wedding planning so easy. My engagement was only 9 months and I was starting to feel very stressed out and overwhelmed by the whole process. Halina eased all my anxieties. She kept me on track by constantly checking in and was always there to answer any question I had throughout the planning process. I used ATOG for my day-​of coordination but they did so much more. Halina and I had multiple meetings where she consistently went above and beyond for me. We went over every wedding detail together and she set up the most amazing timeline that had every detail planned out to a T.
On the day of my wedding, Halina could not have made things run more smoothly. Every single part of the day went perfectly. She showed up in the morning with breakfast for me and my bridesmaids and made sure every vendor showed up on time. She was even there to save the day when my custom veil got caught by a gust of wind in the park and flew into the bushes! Halina kept everyone on time and ensured that everyone in the bridal party knew where they were supposed to be at every point throughout the day. We were even running ahead of schedule at one point!
Every aspect of my ceremony and reception were set up beautifully and exceeded every expectation I had. Her and Dawn made my vision come to life. I cannot thank A Touch of Grace enough for keeping me sane and making my wedding day so stress free which made it truly memorable. I would recommend them to any bride-​to-​be!

Words cannot even express how amazing it was to work with Melissa Faubert from A Touch of Grace to help plan our destination wedding in South Lake Tahoe. We met Melissa 14 months before our June, 2014 wedding. She was the first coordinator on our schedule to meet with and she ended up being the only one we met with! I knew immediately that she and I would get along and had a lot of the same taste and ideas. My husband also instantly said he liked her! We were looking for a coordinator who was similar to us in age, had a bubbly but calm personality, good under pressure, and someone who was very organized.
When Melissa came to our first meeting, she provided examples of the binders she creates for each of her weddings which was helpful to see the overall process before we began. Throughout the process, Melissa was incredibly organized and provided weekly and sometimes even daily updates to our planning schedule, check-​list, and vendor payment reminders. When it came to giving advice, Melissa never pushed her own thoughts or ideas upon us. She simply asked us questions to help us decide what was best for us. However, when I flat out asked her for her professional opinion, she gave us the advice or ideas we needed to make those decisions. I also knew I could call, text, or email her day or night and she would get back to me within just a few hours!!! Melissa would even come over to our meetings with little fun gifts for us. Her thoughtfulness and kindness play such a role in the amazing woman she is!
Never through the 14 months of planning did I ever feel an uncommon amount of stress. Of course there is always going to be some stress, but Melissa has this incredible ability to make you feel like everything is going to be ok. It was due to her organization and knowledge of the wedding business that produced our beautiful wedding. Melissa played a role in it all. She painted wine bottles navy blue for our table pieces, she embossed our save the dates, she absolutely goes above and beyond the call of duty. Every time we needed to head up to Tahoe to check out vendors, Melissa was always there right by our side making the process easy, fun, and painless!
We got married at Edgewood Tahoe and on the big day, I don’t think I could have been more relaxed and it was really all due to Melissa. I was cool as a cucumber and to me, it seemed, Melissa was too… Which I know she probably wasn’t!!! Never once did she let on that there was any stress occurring that morning, afternoon and night! Everything went off as perfectly as I could have imagined it. Our wedding ended up being published on the Wedding Blog, Wedding Chicks. I owe a lot of that to Melissa and her amazing ideas and details that really tied our whole wedding together into this absolutely beautiful, happy, once in a lifetime event.
Everyone in our bridal party, family, and friends absolutely adored her and her A Touch of Grace collogues who helped her out for our big day. All of the «Grace» girls are friendly, happy, organized, and just down right amazing. They all work together so well and you can see that in the result! They even decorated our hotel suite so when we got back, there were details from our wedding all over the place! My bouquet, table settings, flowers, candles, cards from family… it was such an amazing touch to the end of our wedding day!
Melissa truly became part of the family that weekend! She kept her cool with everyone, didn’t boss anyone around, and truly seemed to enjoy the rehearsal dinner and the wedding night while she was working. Melissa was not just a wedding coordinator to us. She has truly become such a dear friend to us this past year. I love her dearly and have really come to know that what I saw in her the first day we met was her absolute true genuine self. She is pretty much a freakin’ super woman. If you are looking to hire a coordinator, you better call Melissa at A Touch of Grace!!!

Working with Melissa at «A Touch of Grace» was truly a delightful experience from start to finish. My daughter decided to have her wedding in Lake Tahoe and being that we lived in the Bay Area we thought it would be a good idea to hire a coordinator to take us through the entire process. I had no idea how much work went into a wedding. I was simply amazed at the process and the remarkable calm and wisdom Melissa had regarding every detail from the very first day we met her. I enjoyed every moment of the planning. When the wedding weekend finally arrived after 14 months of planning, I was just so excited and happy at how everything had come together. The actual wedding day was absolutely beautiful and everything was perfect. I really can’t thank Melissa enough for making it so easy and so much fun. I so enjoyed getting to know her and watching the bond she formed with my daughter most especially. You are simply an amazing young woman. Thank you from the bottom of my heart :)

We worked with Melissa from A Touch of Grace and had the wrap up package, so she started two months in. I highly recommend her and having a day of coordinator. Melissa kept everything running smoothly and on time and took care of all the little details. It was so nice knowing everything was taken care of and that we could direct others to her for questions. Thank you ATOG!

Cinthy Walsh from «A Touch of Grace» was amazing and our wedding would not have been as great without her! She made our lives so much more sane during the 8-​month planning period.
Because of our busy schedules & short engagement, we decided to get a wedding coordinator — especially as we were planning our wedding in the SF Bay Area from LA. We needed a coordinator who would be able to work with us mostly online & on the phone, & Cinthy was amazingly accommodating in doing our initial meeting via FaceTime. She has a great energy about her & was very enthusiastic about helping us plan a multi-​cultural wedding which included a Christian ceremony, a Hindu/​Indian ceremony, lunch, a Chinese banquet, & the reception. Another plus was that this was not the first mixed Hindu/​Christian wedding that she had coordinated.
We definitely found everything we were looking for in A Touch of Grace, especially Cinthy. She understood our Indian/​Chinese traditions, our time crunch, our budget, our OCD tendencies, & our family dynamics. After our initial teleconference, she was able to sketch out an plan for what our needs would be. She then put together a very detailed timeline & budget, so that we would meet our goals, without feeling overwhelmed with decisions.
Both my fiancé & I wanted to be very involved with making decisions, selecting vendors, & working on details — especially me. She was able to assess our requests, had fantastic vendor suggestions, & researched vendors we found. She was a great asset in going over vendor contracts to make sure that they included everything we needed. Her vendor suggestions, in addition to being high quality & very professional, gave us quotes which were lower than we were expecting which definitely allowed us to maximize our budget. In reflecting on our wedding, we loved all the vendors that we worked with, many of whom we only found because of Cinthy’s suggestions.
Throughout the entire process, we were able to meet with her in person, as well as teleconference at frequent intervals. Between these larger meetings, we regularly emailed back-​and-​forth, & she almost always replied to emails within a few hours, often within a few minutes (including when she was planning a wedding outside of the country).
As the wedding drew closer & I got more and more stressed out by family/​details, Cinthy swooped in & dealt with everything/​everyone so that I could focus on all the non-​wedding aspects of my life. She created a timeline for the day, accounting for all of the tight changes b/​w ceremonies & other common pitfalls. She met w/​us a few days before the wedding & picked up all the supplies we had made ourselves so we didn’t have to worry about transporting them to the venue on the day before (in between our other wedding-​related events).
On the day of the wedding, everything went flawlessly. Everyone, including us & our family, really did just get to enjoy the day without any of the stress. On top of that, we’ve received tons of compliments on how our wedding was one of the best weddings they’ve attended, and how smoothly everything went — that would definitely not be the case without Cinthy.
We have no regrets or reservations about Cinthy at all. Honestly, one of our biggest regrets was not having Cinthy involved from the very beginning — especially for venue selection! She is a wonderful planner, who is exceedingly organized & creative! I cannot say enough how grateful we are that she was our wedding coordinator

Perhaps the best statement that could be given of the level of service we got from Amber came from our good friend and officiant. He remarked that he had never seen a couple so calm and relaxed the last few days before their wedding. We had every reason to be calm. We had been over all the details of the day ahead of time and the pressure was off — we knew it was taken care of.
Along the way, Amber worked incredibly hard for us. She was very conscious of the fact that we were paying for our own wedding and needed to control costs, but still wanted a perfect day. She found us a location that was everything that we had hoped for in terms of setting and the venue management was new to weddings and so was both inexpensive and flexible on food arrangements. Amber took full advantage of this and arranged drop off catering from a local restaurant and extra help for serving the dinner. It all went off without a hitch; the guests all remarked that the food was excellent, and no one knew that we hadn’t gone with the standard caterers.
Amber also pulled together an excellent set of professional vendors to support the wedding. She gave us a short list of musicians and photographers and it only took a few interviews to figure out who we wanted to go with. It was very much a no-​muss, no-​fuss process, and she followed up by negotiating excellent deals with everyone.
Choosing the décor was something that we had been dreading, but working with Amber, it ended up being a lot of fun. Amber generally «got» our tastes very quickly, and suggested many designs and tweaks that tied it all together. Because we chose flowers that weren’t out of the norm, she arranged to have them all purchased at a huge discount at the San Francisco flower district. After the wedding, one of my relatives, who is familiar with the wedding industry, took me aside to talk — she was concerned that we had spent nearly four times as much as we actually had on the wedding!
In the end, the wedding day was everything that we hoped it would be. We were married in the late afternoon atop a ridge overlooking the rolling wine estates of Sonoma. The location, the décor, the music, and the time of day all came together for an absolutely magical ceremony. It has only been a couple of months, but we look back on our wedding as a truly wonderful beginning to our married life. It was thanks to Amber that it all came together as well as it did.

Cinthy, from Touch of Grace, was a HUGE help in all the little details of planning my wedding. I did most of the booking of vendors myself. I made almost all of the artistic aspects of the wedding details. Wedding favors, table numbers, chalk board, candy bar, announcements etc. However, Cinthy, thought of a lot of things I didn’t think of, reminded me of payments for vendors and made my wedding day easy and worry free. That was the most important thing to me and my husband. Cinthy and her team helped with all the vendors on the day of the wedding. They kept everything running smoothly and I didn’t have to worry about tables being set up right, candy bar being cleaned up later or even the tux being returned when my husband and I were on our honeymoon. Cinthy did everything!
On the morning of the wedding she came to the hotel room with snacks, drinks and big smile. She was pleasant to work with, relaxed and seems like she loves what she does. I think without her help I would have been a nervous wreck of a bride.
Cinthy is well organized with a relaxed natural attitude. I would definitely recommend her to anyone who wants the full monty of wedding coordinators or someone who can simple help with last minute details and make your wedding day run smoothly after all your own planning. Either way Cinthy can deliver.

We used Cinthy from a Touch of Grace to help us coordinate our wedding. She was wonderful. From the moment we had our first call she set the tone that this was going to be a fun, exciting, once-​in-​a-​lifetime experience and that we should never let stress make us lose sight of that.
Cinthy was very helpful from the outset at recommending vendors and even calling to make sure they were available, even though she was only hired as a coordinator rather than a planner. (And the vendors she recommended were absolutely amazing.) She also sent checklists to keep me sane and feeling on top of things. Overall it was probably all the little extra things she did that really stood out. She made signs, brought vintage props to help us fill out a big reception space, and even designed some simple succulent planters for me at no charge when we had to cut some of the flowers we had planned due to budget constraints. When my hair and makeup artist dropped out only a few months before the wedding, Cinthy reassured me that everything would be ok and found me an even better replacement within a few days.
About 5 months before my wedding I got overwhelmed with trying to plan the wedding from across the country while working a very demanding schedule. I called Cinthy and asked if she could adopt a larger role – to essentially step in and take over vendor coordination several months before our contract called for. She was understanding and flexible, and with a very reasonable additional payment she did so and made my life much easier.
Due to this hybrid planner-​coordinator role there were a few misunderstandings as to which of us was responsible for what. There were some last minute snafus, where each had thought the other had taken care of a certain detail, but there was nothing that Cinthy wasn’t able to take care of – and she did so all with her characteristic enthusiasm and kindness.
Overall I highly recommend Cinthy and a Touch of Grace! The quality of service that we got for the price we paid is unbelievable. I couldn’t be happier with how our wedding turned out.

Melissa is an amazing wedding planner. It’s all the little things that make her service incredible. Not only is she organized and on top of things, but she gives the wedding party a calming notion that everything is under control. This woman has everything on lock, and I have to tell you that as a makeup artist doing the bridal hair and makeup, it makes my life so much easier to have someone who’s on time and makes sure everything is on schedule. Melissa’s cheerful personality also makes her a joy to work with.
Any thought of a wedding planner should always consider Melissa first and foremost!

Cinthy with a Touch of Grace is the best wedding coordinator I have worked with. I am a hairstylist and makeup artist specializing in bridal & special occasions. I have worked with Cinthy on several weddings and she is on top of her work! She is not only a hard worker, but she is full of love and laughs. She is a truly talented individual. She responds to emails swiftly and is always punctual with her clients. The bride-​to-​bes always rave to me about how helpful Cinthy is to them during the processes of wedding planning and on the day of their weddings. She ensures her clients are taken care of and everything runs smoothly! I look forward to my continue collaborations with Cinthy! If you are looking for a wedding coordinator, I would highly recommend Cinthy. Reach out to her soon because she does get booked quickly.

I am the booking manager for KJ All-​Stars (Band/​DJ.) I’ve had the chance to work with A Touch of Grace several times in the past. The word that comes to mind is, Consistent and Professional with lots of Patience. With all the high demands that come with working direct with a band and DJ. As the booking manager we require advanced details information for each event, Cinthy provided us everything we needed to do our job well.
From adding a last minute our sound tech for an outdoor park ceremony, she managed to deliver a much need gas generator to help complete her Brides last minute request. Without the generator, the much needed PA system would not work.
Also, she and her staff did a fantastic job with the cocktail and dinner reception. everything looked so beautiful and Everything the band/​DJ needed for this event was one Touch of Grace. I thank you very much Cinthy for making it all happen for us and your client at SF WInery.

A year and a half (and baby) later. I’ve finally got around to writing this much deserved review for Dawn. After meeting with a few planners, we ended up picking Dawn mainly for her easy going personality. We knew she would be a perfect fit for us.
From the start, she was organized, worked well with sticking to our budget, offered several great ideas and was patient with us every step of the way. She’s very flexible and always available to help meet with vendors with you or go on your behalf. Since we were both busy with work, we would have conference calls and meet at our house after work periodically to check in. Here are some highlights of their services and work:
— she outlines all your vendors or services you will need (with costs associated) and keeps in touch with vendors to ensure everything goes accordingly on your big day
— we had a hindu/​catholic wedding with several events leading up to our wedding day which Dawn helped managed. Including mendhi, tea ceremony, rehearsal BBQ and more. She worked well with our family which was a huge bonus, she’s just easy to get along with.
— she helped with décor and making my centerpieces to cut costs (so sweet). They also have décor you can borrow!
— you don’t have to worry about one single thing on your wedding day. I seriously do not recall any issues or problems. Dawn managed everything behind the scenes while checking up on you periodically to make sure you’re doing well and to see if you need anything. Much needed in my case since I get overwhelmed easily with large crowds.
In short, we went with their full service option and can’t imagine having it any other way. If you just don’t have the time/​creativity to plan and want someone you can trust and not second guess… Go with Dawn. I know that some brides think a planner can be costly, but it beats trying to stress to do it all yourself or assigning responsibility to your family and friends. She really became a friend to us and we will miss meeting with her and talking over a glass of wine!

We would definitely recommend A Touch of Grace to anybody planning a large event because they made sure that we two, plus our guests had a wonderful time. We originally hired them for a «Jump Start Coordination» to help us find a venue and define the overall vision, then to step in again to assist with the final planning stages & day-​of coordination. However, the first coordinator assigned to us didn’t work out, and Melissa had to step in and take over. Not only was Melissa on top of things and supremely organized, but A Touch of Grace were extremely flexible and supportive. They were very helpful in finding vendors, coordinating with those vendors, creating to-​do lists and keeping us on task. At times it seemed as though A Touch of Grace had accepted too many clients, and Melissa had a lot on her plate. But she handled it very well, and we ended up with a wonderful day. We could not have managed to pull this off without their help.
A Touch of Grace truly excel at the coordination leading up to and the day of the wedding. Melissa helped us bring all of the elements and vendors together, and made sure our day went smoothly and on schedule. She picked up the décor items before the wedding, and A Touch of Grace set up Everything — from flowers to centerpieces, to photobooth backdrop to décor on the welcome tables and all of the little things in between. Behind the scenes, Melissa arranged for one of her assistants to wait at the hotels to coordinate the shuttle for guests. Other members of A Touch of Grace brought in the centerpieces and cupcakes. We chose to use Melissa’s talents for all of our flowers, and all turned out beautifully. Afterwards, Melissa brought our gifts and décor items back home. It was a huge help not to have to worry about setup/​takedown or to wonder where the gifts might end up at the end of the night.
All of our guests have complimented us on how impressed with A) how beautiful everything looked, B) how we seemed to be so relaxed, and C) how much fun they had! This was all because everything ran smoothly thanks to Melissa and company!
Despite any minor hiccups we had in the beginning, we highly recommend A Touch of Grace — and especially Melissa — to everybody.