Francine Ribeau Events

Firstly, my venue required that I hired a coordinator 3 months prior to he wedding. I fought so hard claiming I didn’t need help. That I could do it all myself. Thank GOD I was «forced» to hire a coordinator and found Francine. She was so organized, kept me on track and when we ran into little technical difficulties the day of the wedding, Francine was on it! Overall, I had the wedding of my dreams and I could not have done it without her. Francine CARES! You are not just a client, she is focused on every single detail to make sure you have your vision is delivered with detail and professionalism.
Thank you so so much Francine — you helped me create a memory for life!

When my fiancé and I decided we were going to get married — we faced a few unique problems. We had just had a baby, I wanted a really specific look for my wedding, and I had crazily decided that I wanted that wedding to happen four months from when I decided it was «time». I knew I could never achieve the level of detail that I wanted by doing the wedding myself, I frankly wasn’t even sure it COULD be done in my time frame, but I was determined to try.
My fiancé suggested using a wedding planner to help me out. I didn’t know where to start, so I went to Unilocal to look for wedding planners in San Diego. Francine Ribeau Events showed up along with a few other people. The thing that struck me was how FRESH Francine’s designs looked. Every other planner I had looked at just seemed so old fashioned or over the top gaudy to me. I wanted something that looked — current and beautiful without being ostentatious. Something clicked in my head and I knew that Francine was the planner for me. A week later I signed a contract with her for full service planning. I loved that when I told her I wanted this very detailed wedding in four months, she never blinked an eye. She said she would do it. And she did!
Within two days of signing my contract, Francine had scheduled me into three beautiful boutiques to look for wedding dresses. She was able to immediately envision and recommend a venue that perfectly captured my desire for a Spanish feel to the wedding. She was just so on top of things, and realized that time was really of the essence. I was impressed with how many contacts she had with vendors. As the weeks went on, I met with vendors to discuss flowers and hair and photography and was struck by how all of the vendors I spoke with really LIKED Francine and wanted to work with her. I really feel as though I got great vendors to work my wedding at least in part because they really enjoyed working with Francine.
Francine was so organized with every detail of the wedding. She kept us on track with our budget, she was always incredibly responsive with emails and phone calls and she was really innovative. I told her that I absolutely did NOT want an arch to get married under, and she came up with this amazing Spanish garden that encircled us instead. I was constantly surprised at the beautiful ideas she came up with to make my vision come to life.
As our wedding day approached, Francine kept a detailed list of our wedding party, she made timelines so that we knew where we were supposed to be and when we were supposed to be there. She handled everything so calmly and with such skill, it made what could have been a very stressful time for me, not stressful at all.
On our wedding day, Francine went above and beyond to handle everything. Our day was so perfect and so beautiful. She made it even better than what I had envisioned in my head. I was worried about handing over the reins of my wedding to somebody else because I am kind of a control freak, but I am SO glad that I entrusted Francine with everything. She took my vision and made it better, kept me from the stressful details, and made sure that I could focus on the wedding and my new husband and really enjoy the day.
As a lady who was struggling to figure out how to make my wedding the day I always wanted — I wanted to help any of the rest of you looking for a wedding planner. Francine is the best. Seriously — book her today without reservation — I promise you will not regret your decision.

We feel your pain, deciding whether to hire a coordinator and what package you will need is exhausting! We are here to put your mind at ease. Hire Francine and her team! :)
We ended up going with the partial package and it worked out perfect. Francine knows everyone and had great recommendations for each topic.
The most important piece was that the month, week and day of she took everything off our plate and our wedding day went smoothly, and as stress free as is possible for such a significant life event.
We are so happy with our wedding, and so appreciative to Francine! I could expand on all the little things she did to make us happy, but I think her amazing reviews speak for themselves! Hire Francine and you will be ecstatic!

Hiring Danielle as our day-​of coordinator was, without a doubt, the BEST money we spent for our wedding. We were like many other people who weren’t sure if a coordinator was in our budget, but I cannot imagine how our wedding would have turned out if we hadn’t had her. She is very connected in the wedding industry and had wonderful recommendations (we got our florist and DJ from her recommendation and were thrilled with both of them!)
Danielle somehow managed to begin setting up our reception venue, then came to the church to make sure everything was running smoothly before the ceremony, sent me down the aisle, went back to the reception site, and, by the time I had arrived, everything was set up more beautifully than I could have imagined. I have no idea how she pulled this off with only one assistant (it seems like the job would have required a crew of at least 10!)
I would highly recommend Danielle to anyone looking for (and especially to those who don’t think they need) a wedding coordinator.
Thank you, Danielle, for making our day more beautiful than we could have imagined!

Danielle was our wedding coordinator for our very special day. She not only found our venue, moniker warehouse, but did everything to assist us in planning and setup the day of. We could not have done this without her assistance and patience throughout the lengthy process. Danielle and her fantastic assistant setup the venue on the day and even cleaned up at the end. Everything went off without a hitch and we are so happy that we made the decision to go with Danielle and Francine Ribeau events.

Francine Ribeau and her team of pros were the answer to my wedding prayers! She is an intuitive, intelligent woman who just gets it done. My husband and I couldn’t have asked for more. The wedding was beautiful, FUN, playful yet classy. Look at her website to get a feel for her expertise. Or check them out on Pinterest or Instagram! This company has an amazing portfolio and Francine is the business!!!

How can I summarize nearly a years worth of work into a single review? Well to start — Francine & Danielle are the dream team.
I went with the full wedding package. No regrets on that whatsoever.
1. The initial meeting went really well. I felt Francine & Danielle had a fresh & current take on what weddings are about, all the while understanding my vision (which included some traditional «stylings».)
2. Francine is extremely organized. She has so many useful spreadsheets it makes you feel safe and secure. She will build you a personalized time line, budget, invite list, etc… So you know no stone will go left unturned. She will also keep you on track throughout the whole planning process.
3. Danielle and Francine are so creative. (Francine gives Danielle this credit…) They will discuss your vision, listen closely, and execute to perfection. Trust in that they will understand what you want. And in those few moments when you may not be on the same page, just tell them what you want and no questions asked… They’ll make it happen (within reason.) And even when I found little extra things for the wedding, Francine and Danielle were just as excited as I was and could not wait to see how it would all come together. That is good stuff.
4. They are fun and professional women. In those moments when I felt like I was being a bossy micro-​manager, they just listened and understood. It made for a wonderful collaboration. I felt heard, understood, and I knew I could trust them in the process. Once I knew we were meshing well, I felt our personalities worked well together. (That’s a bonus.)
5. They have connections to great vendors. The florists, the cake (s), the beauty stylists, the musicians, the décor rentals, photographers, hotels, etc… Everything hired and bought was executed very well.
6.Then the day arrived and everything was beautiful. The details were spot on. I just could not have been happier. I was on cloud 9 and could relax knowing this was happening and I could enjoy every moment.
7. With that said, there are always hiccups along the way. Nothing is perfect. There will always be things that aren’t flawless. That’s the way life goes. Just remember that in the grand scheme of things FRE is fantastic and these ladies will work hard to make it work no matter what. Just speak up and they will help make things right. That’s what makes a good wedding planner.
Just FYI: I was a very hands-​on bride and that’s the way I wanted to be. That is not to say Francine and Danielle were relaxed through the process… I felt these two women were on my level. Many times I was on top of things (again, how I wanted to be), but they also kept me on track when I was going off course (wedding planning is MAJOR!) Overall the collaboration was spectacular. Not only did I love the wedding, but I loved the process. I have great memories of everything that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

Francine was our wedding coordinator for my daughter’s wedding last weekend. All I can say is that she is amazing. She is great at immediately answering emails and phone calls. She doesn’t let anything fall through the cracks. And most important, she makes the brides wedding day a lot less stressful! Things did come up at the last minute (as they always do) and Francine was right on them. She kept everything going very smoothly. I highly recommend her.

Francine was the perfect choice to coordinate our close friend’s baby shower. The decorations were creative, unobtrusive and in some cases, hand made. The flower arrangements where classy. Invitations were lovely, accurate and sent on time. A highlight of the event was the caterer she chose, «Cucina Coronado». The salads and entrées were savory and healthful and a plethora of finely crafted deserts punctuated the experience perfectly. Jenny Wenny Cakes make a cake I’ll never forget. All the folks working with and for Francine were professional, timely and even relaxed under the gun. It was a great party. Yes, I would hire this company again in a heart beat.

A wedding coordinator wasn’t originally in our budget, but it was honestly the BEST investment and decision we made. Francine Ribeau Events came recommended by the owners of our venue and hiring them as our Month Of Coordinator ensured that our September wedding was flawless.
We just wanted to thank Danielle from FRE from the bottom of our hearts for helping to make our wedding day beyond wonderful — it was absolutely perfect! We, and all of our guests, had a truly fabulous time!
From our first meeting in June with Danielle and Francine, my then-​fiancé and I left thoroughly impressed by their day-​of timeline alone. They put us totally at ease. And although we only met Francine once, she spoke of her team with such pride and enthusiasm and, of course, it’s now easy to see why. After our first meeting, we knew we found our best match with Danielle! And we knew that no matter what happened (like our on-​site coordinator forgetting to attend our rehearsal walk-​through … oopsie!) that she would make sure our wedding went smoothly. And it did.
From the rehearsal on Friday until the Sunday morning after the wedding, there was absolutely nothing for us to worry about. And everything (with the tiny exception of hair and makeup running over) went smoothly and perfectly! Friends remarked on the fact that I seemed so relaxed leading up to the big day, which I told them is a testament to my fabulous coordinator. My then-​fiancé and I didn’t have to think about anything other than having a great time and enjoying our guests.
We want to thank Danielle for being an amazing, sensible, calm, artistically creative, organized, fun and inspiring coordinator! She was always there for us during the planning process — always patient — always trying to help turn our ideas into reality. Her suggestions were spot on and her guidance was truly helpful. The quality of her ideas was inspirational and her attention to detail is stellar. Danielle turned our vision into a reality and filled in the gaps. We had so much fun working with her! And my husband is forever grateful that she introduced him to Sugru!
Our ceremony went off without a hitch. Our reception was stunning. Taryn, who assisted on the day of, has such gorgeous handwriting and it was the perfect compliment. The fact that she recreated our monogram design was so special for us to see. Everything happened on time. My father even complimented the seamless the flow of the day. And we credit Danielle and Taryn, behind the scenes, making sure everything was perfect for us.
We love that they helped capture our vision perfectly on the day of. We have received countless compliments about all of the details and can’t tell you how many guests have mentioned our wedding was genuinely one of the best they had ever attended. Plus, they were all crazy about the venue, it’s view and that sunset!
The entire day had the exact vibe, look and feel that we had hoped for — it was truly magical. Danielle is amazing at what she does, and more importantly, we can tell she loves her job and it absolutely shows. We are also excited to hear that Taryn has joined the FRE team full-​time and know that she will shine!
We must say that one of the greatest pleasures was getting to know Danielle. She wasn’t just our coordinator, but she became an ally, confidant and friend. Thank you to Danielle, we couldn’t have done it without her on our team. As cheesy as it may sound, she really did help make our wedding dreams come true. Danielle rocks!
If you’re a bride and groom looking for a coordinator, do not hesitate to book with the team at Francine Ribeau Events to help create a memorable day!

You mean, I can only give 5 stars??? Francine and her team deserve at least 100! I worked mainly with one of Francine’s coordinators (Katrina), but, Francine helped too and another girl on my wedding day. All of these girls are absolute gems! All so nice, patient and helpful. I have to give a special shout-​out to Katrina, who I mainly worked with and who I think is a complete angel! I didn’t think I was a high maintenance person. Until I had to plan my wedding. I constantly wrote to Katrina. Asking questions and for her advice. She was so great at responding quickly and put me at ease.
My wedding day turned out absolutely perfect. I don’t know what I would have done without FRE to help me. We got tons of compliments on how smoothly the ceremony went and how beautiful the reception looked.
To all you brides-​to-​be out there, you need a coordinator, you need THIS coordinator: FRE! You will not be disappointed, I promise you!

Perfect in every way! Danielle made our daughters wedding such a memorable experience. Always available, quick with answers, and everything at the wedding went smoothly. The best money I spent on the wedding! Couldn’t have done it without her!
Thank you Danielle, you’re the best! Susan Walker

Planning our wedding in a remote location, we had NO idea what we were getting ourselves into. Hiring Francine and her team was the absolute best decision. Thanks to them, everything went perfectly! Having them on board allowed us to hand over the stress and actually enjoy our own wedding. They were so wonderful to work with, extremely professional and also just fun to have around. We are so thankful to them and would recommend them to anyone!

We heard about Francine from a friend of a friend, and after interviewing MANY coordinators we decided on Francine. It was an excellent decision, that led to a wonderful wedding. Francine is organized and responsive, and does a wonderful job working with many personality types. If things weren’t right, Francine made every effort to correct the situation, and ensure that both my husband and I were comfortable with the decisions. Francine truly shines when it comes to organizing vendors and making sure everyone is accountable. The day of was perfect, and Francine’s hard work in the months leading up to the event, as well as her attention to detail was to thank. We highly recommend.

Thanks for making me look good! My catering company, Dash and a Handful was hired by Danielle to cater an intimate dinner. I have worked with event planners before, but none as organized, and thorough as her. She paid attention to every detail. I look forward to working with them again!

I have no idea how what evolved from a small wedding to a weekend extravaganza of 175 guests would have been pulled off so successfully without FRANCINE!!!
She is not only a genuinely good, honest, diligent, organized and artistic person but she is EXTREMELY attentive and responsive… The number one quality you should look for if you are planning a wedding from anywhere!
While planning our wedding from 2,800 miles away was trying at times, I really don’t think it would have been any better to have planned from San Diego given Francine’s constant attentiveness, meticulousness and moral support via thousands of emails (no exaggeration there…6,722 emails to my work address alone. When my moments of genius for random things like escort cards or panic attacks to make sure I booked a shuttle bus occurred, it was usually first thing in the morning…7am eastern time… Francine astounded me constantly by replying within minutes sometimes (ie 4am her time)…I never went more than an hour without getting a response from Francine. More often than not, resolving the issue immediately or telling me exactly when she would be able to get back to me… another key sign of an excellent planner, managing expectations by over delivering!
As we came down to the wire, Francine’s calm and yet assertive nature was crucial in getting everything done. So many guests commented on how well-​organized we must be to have pulled off such a seamless and full weekend of events… It was all thanks to Francine… and her assistant Jamie was also extremely helpful through the planning process and saved the day by running back to the hotel when my mom forgot my second reception dress… What could have been a catastrophe and huge point of conflict between my mother and myself was quickly nipped in the bud by Francine and Jamie’s quick thinking and get-​it-​done-​ness.
I also want to mention Francine’s amazing aesthetic capabilities. She was instrumental in helping portray our theme by suggesting conceptual, design and style ideas. I choose her first for her body of work and style but found Francine to be more meticulous and organized than I could ever have imagined!
If you are debating planners, look no more! Francine possesses all the important qualities of an event planner and then some! As I said, she is extremely creative and possesses an amazing style aesthetic. Francine is also extremely organized, has a good sense of urgency and is responsive.
We could not have pulled such a fantastic event without her!

Francine is fabulous! I found her on Unilocal and am always skeptical of Unilocal reviews but I reached out originally to three coordinators and Francine responded immediately, which I very much appreciated! I met with her and she was very professional and I could tell she would be very confident and hold her ground when dealing with vendors. I went with the full service package and thank god I did! She helped me decide on vendors by narrowing down my choices and I can not say enough about the vendors we used. The wedding was absolutely beautiful!
I highly recommend Francine! She was very easy to work with and my guests even commented at the wedding how on the ball she was. Not a detail was missed. What is most important to me is response time and you will not have to worry about that… she responded to every email and call right away and took care of everything I needed. I definitely could not have done it without her! She’s also a wonderful person on top of being a true professional.

My then fiancé found Francine via Unilocal and just really liked her before ever meeting her. We live in LA, she lives in SD, and we were getting married in Palm Springs. So, needless to say, we were a little all over the place.
From our first encounter with Francine, she blew us away. I was immediately struck by her confidence, professionalism and friendliness.
Throughout the planning process, I bombarded her with tons of emails… sometimes about the dumbest, most minute things. And each time, she responded promptly and professionally. Obviously, she had done this countless times and this was my first time getting married. We discussed our ideas and she listened and offered her input when needed. And her input really helped! We had a lot of different events during our wedding (several dance performances, a video, a traditional hora dance, etc) and she put together this precise timeline with seamless transitions into each event.
The day of the wedding, Francine and her assistant made the day so easy. I really didn’t have to worry about anything! And the thing with getting married is that your wedding day is never absolutely perfect. There are always hiccups. But having Francine, our day and night went SO AWESOME! If I needed anything at all during the night, she was there to make it happen. Our guests kept telling us how organized we were and how smoothly everything went. We were able to relax and enjoy our entire wedding night!
I highly recommend her because she really does epitomize what a wedding/​event planner should be.
A million thanks to Francine and her team for helping us put on such an amazing, memorable event!

Francine was amazing! We could definitely not pulled off organizing and planning a fabulous wedding in San Diego from San Francisco without Francine’s help and support.
Francine was the perfect wedding planner for us in every sense, she understood our sense of style and what we wanted in the wedding from the get go. All vendors she recommended were absolutely great. She was über responsive over email and doing calls with us to plan, as we were not in the area. When we were in SD Francine would always make time to meet with us.
Her checklists and meetings kept us perfectly up to date on what we needed to do and her involvement alleviated much stress and worry from the planning process. Her day of execution was amazing and many people told us it was one of the best wedding they have ever been to. I have recommended Francine to anyone and everyone I know planning a wedding in the SD area.
Also bonus points for Francine for helping us with difficult etiquette issues like creating the guest list, messaging to our family members, and best practices for seating charts.
In short Francine rocks and her amazing planning skills helped my husband and I enjoy our big day and not stress, which is the best wedding present anyone could ask for :)

So, our wedding is over. The planning is done, the pictures are in (see my review of Natalie Kardos, It’s Too Sunny Out Here), the honeymoon has ended, and here we contemplating what a wonderful event we had.
We owe so much of the event’s success to Francine. There is absolutely no way we could have done it without her. She was instrumental to us on so many levels, for so many things! People who have never been married just can’t imagine all of the details that go into such an event. You think you know, you think you understand, but it’s truly overwhelming and having someone like Francine on your team is priceless.
Steven and I are strong headed and we had very exact ideas of what we wanted. Francine gracefully took in our thoughts and turned them into concrete plans. She saw what we were asking for and made it work. We wanted each table to have an individual cake as part of the centerpiece — that’s as far as I had thought. Get the cake, get the stand. Not Francine! She saw things like when will the knives/​servers come out? Cake plates? How will people know when to cut the cake? How will you handle it if someone digs in too early? Francine’s detailed mind saw what I wanted and made it reality, by understanding all of the details surrounding what i thought was something simple.
The whole event was like that! Francine saw things in a way that Steven and i didn’t, even though he and i are fairly detail-​oriented. Francine knows that i don’t drink champagne so she had my favorite iced coffee drink on my table in a champagne flute for toasts. she knows that brides sometimes fall apart so she had a 4-​piece Bridal Emergency Kit in the bridal suite — tylenol, tape, deodorant, tic tacs, band aids, scissors, hair gel, nail polish, hair pins, safety pins, paper and pen… no girl scout or boy scout is that prepared.
Francine also handled our vendors. we didn’t have to worry about a thing on the day! she handed over checks if needed. she coordinated time schedules (you should see her minute-​by-​minute excel time frame that we all got prior to the big day!) and most importantly she was in constant contact with the venue to make sure that everything was exactly what we wanted. if we weren’t sure about something — tradition, policy, ceremony, etiquette, anything! — Francine knew. she knew, and she interpreted, and she read between the lines. she worked serious magic, and we appreciate every little thing that she had her hands on. the event was polished, perfect, smooth, seamless, timeless, classy, and exactly the day that Steven and i had wanted. how many brides can say that?
I’ve had quite a few in my immediate circle get married recently and each and every one has a complaint about something. one girl’s father is still complaining about the many-​thousand-​dollar «wedding nazi» that they hired, who didn’t do ¼ of the things that Francine did. that same father called us after the wedding to thank us and express how much fun he had at the event.
you plan, you dream, you think you know what you’re in for on your wedding day. no one really has any idea what actually happens until you do it. i am here to happily tell you that the feeling you get from your wedding day is not something you’ll ever feel again. i look back on the day and i think «it was perfect.» no flubs, no mistakes, nothing was omitted. Francine was there, like a safety net, like a rappelling harness, like a parachute. she caught whatever was wrong and fixed it. she supported, encouraged, assisted, and suggested every step of the way. we had email flurries that she handled with grace and good humor, even when we were too stressed to be polite. we had last minute ideas that she deflected or modified without missing a beat.
Francine’s connections (photographers, florists, venues) combined with her abilities make her the resource of all resources. if she doesn’t know, she’ll find out. if she can’t find out, it doesn’t exist.
Steven and i can’t thank her enough. thank you, Francine! thank you!