Zest Productions by Cay Lemon

Cay Lemon did our wedding in 2009 and she helped us realize our dream wedding, probably better than we even imagined. She was so helpful navigating the family dynamics (which can be tough) and then helping us take our imagination as far as we could: wedding tables shaped like a tree, a «baratt» style marching band from the wedding to the reception, and every detail was worked out so we could relax and enjoy. Thank you Cay!

My biggest regret in planning my wedding is choosing Cay as my wedding planner. She is very upbeat and sweet, but that is only in the beginning before she gets snippy and starts forgetting things she is supposed to do and you have to keep reminding her. To be specific, here is a list of grievances from my experience with her from this July:
— On the day of the wedding, she stalled the ceremony by more that 20 minutes in the summer heat claiming that a shuttle full of guests had not arrived when they did. Guests had to sit in the summer sun longer than anticipated and some were very elderly.
— On the day of the wedding, instead of helping keep on the schedule, she was nowhere to be found and was caught by all my guests, family, and the groom just standing around talking to staff. Because of that, we ran so late, that half the guests went home on the shuttle without getting any cake. My husband got so upset he had to angrily tell her to do her job.
— She erroneously told me that there should only be 8 – 9 per table and got upset and made a snippy comment about my mom when my mom needed more tables based on that amount. Turns out the number is 10, and we had to redo the seating chart three times because of her. I finally got the right count from the vendor itself.
— Cay repeatedly pushed me to get a tent which costs almost $ 10k after I inquired for the sake of sound. When I asked the opinion of those at the venue, they flat out thought it was a mistake since the venue was so big. I’m glad I listened to them because the venue (The Vintage Estate) was already so beautiful it didn’t need anything extra. I almost lost $ 10k because of that alone. It also shows she doesn’t take the time to learn about the venue.
— I was rushed on ordering cake because I had to remind her that we needed to get it done.
In general, Cay was forgetful, not detail-​oriented, and didn’t respect the budget. Worse yet, she is not present at all on the wedding day. She was without a doubt, the worst decision I made during an otherwise very lovely wedding. But it was great in spite of her.

There just aren’t enough good things to say about Cay Lemon and Zest Productions.
My wife and I met Cay to see if she would be a good fit for planning our wedding and reception. We had met a few other candidates beforehand and were looking for a planner that could click with our ideas for that big day. Upon meeting her for the first time, we both knew we found the right planner. She was friendly, outgoing, attentive, and very professional. She was very receptive to our ideas and came up with quick working solutions to even the most abstract of requests.
What really impressed us about Cay was her contact list of vendors that supplied us with everything we needed for the wedding and the reception. We took all her suggestions on whom to hire and came up with possibilities that we would never have imagined. She really became our agent and we never felt cheated or overcharged by any vendor.
Bottom line: our event was planned exceedingly well and it was a memorable success. She absolutely knows how to plan an event and we highly recommend her for organizing any big event, not just weddings. A well-​deserved, solid 5 stars!

Cay Lemon is wonderful! We originally met her when my husband and I were planning a Napa wedding — we loved her immediately! We ended up eloping, but contacted Cay to plan our One Year Anniversary party. We had a 3 month turn around and could not have done it without Cay. She watched our budget, matched our personalities, and made our party and all the extra events that we did EXTRA special. her recommendations were spot on. She’s a delightful person and we loved working with her!

I contacted Cay about possibly being our wedding planner for our upcoming wedding this summer. She was very friendly and spent a lot of time with me on the phone answering all my questions. Considering I’ve never done this before I was more than appreciative. She wasn’t able to be our coordinator but instead of hanging up she helped me search for one within my budget and who knew the area we are getting married in. While we hunted I offered to pay her hourly for her knowledge of vendors in the area we plan to get married in. She was very honest and said she didn’t know the area well enough to charge us. I totally respect that kind of honesty. I know we would have been in good hands if she could have been our planner. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her to others.

Cay is professional, kind, and a class act. I am a coordinator myself, and not all reviews are accurate.

We had the pleasure of working with Cay recently on a gorgeous wine country wedding. Every detail was stunning, and Cay was able to keep the bride & groom and their families relaxed throughout the day, managing all the little details from behind the scenes. Her real strength is in making sure the wedding never feels too tightly orchestrated or that the bride is on a minute by minute timeline. Instead, Cay manages to create a very relaxed and fun atmosphere where nothing feels rushed or out of sync with the experience. The wedding we photographed that Cay had planned had a dinner tent in one area and then a dancing & lounge in another area of the venue. When it was time for the guests to walk to the tent, Cay had orchestrated the music and these cool lights going which made for a really cool entrance, and guests were literally dancing the way into the room. I’ve never seen people have that much fun at a reception before.
As a photographer, she made it easy on us by making sure that we were informed of things so we didnt miss any key moments & really took the time before the wedding day to discuss the plans and timeline with us to see if there were any ideas or suggestions we had for improving the photography opportunities. Very easy to work, great vision and seamless execution, I highly recommend her!

I’m a wedding photographer based in San Francisco. I have worked with Cay on a few weddings and she is one of the nicest and most creative people I’ve met. She’s one of the most down to earth people in the industry, and just great to have around. Cay works best when she plans the wedding from start to finish, as most people hire her for her sense of style and vision. I think the most important thing to look for in a wedding coordinator is a great personality, and Cay has it.

I was just married October 25^th, and my husband and I had the great pleasure of having Cay Lemon as our wedding planner. My mother was very much invested in the planning as well, so we all went to met Cay for the first time. We loved her from the spot and we couldn’t wait to start working with her. Cay is extremely fun, out-​going, humorous, organized, knowledgeable and she makes you feel that your wedding is the only one she is planning (certainly not the case). Every time we met up with Cay, whether picking out the linens or tasting the cake, she makes you feel so excited for your wedding. She was extremely open to our ideas and fully supported them and made them into a reality. Cay has been in this business for awhile and it clearly shows. I loved how focused she was on our wedding day, I loved feeling like a guest at my own wedding! When the night ended, and Cay came over to say good-​bye, I remember becoming teary-​eyed and sad. I really felt that my mom and I were saying good-​bye to a friend. We love Cay and her professionalism and friendship she provided through this process and we most definitely recommend Zest Productions!

My brother got engaged recently, and I’ve gotten a touch nostalgic about wedding planning as I’ve been talking with him and his fiancée about the early stages of their plans. Ah, the yummy cake! Sigh, the photographs. Oh, the view from the reception site. And so I’ve been adding some wedding vendor reviews to Unilocal (since I wasn’t Unilocaling yet back in the day) and I saved the best for last.
Without Cay’s help, our wedding simply would not have been the joyous, personal, FUN, stress-​free celebration that it was, and planning it wouldn’t have been half the fun. From our first meeting, she helped us figure out how to make it a day reflective of us. She recommended vendors she thought we would work well with, and was spot on with each one. When we met with the other vendors and told them we were working with Cay, the responses were unanimous: «you are in great hands.» It was also very clear how genuinely they each enjoyed working with her. You can also see from my other vendor reviews how happy I was with each of them.
Cay gave great advice on the big decisions («yes, I think you will be happy splurging on the photographer because you’ll have the photos forever») and on the small ones (such as wording on the invitations). Meetings and conversations with her were always fun, and she did a great job of keeping me organized throughout the planning process.
She ran the rehearsal the day before the wedding, and helped everyone feel comfortable about what to do, where to go, etc. Her style is both friendly and authoritative, so no one felt bossed around and yet everyone felt confidently led!
On the day of the wedding, I know she was managing vendors and keeping things on schedule because we didn’t have to think about any of it – we were able to just enjoy ourselves at the terrific party! What more could we ask for?

I had a pretty short engagement (6 months) and chose to tie the knot on a holiday weekend. Luckily enough the only vendor that we had a hard time securing was our Wedding Planner. Cay Lemon of Zest Productions was recommended to us by two other Wedding Planners in the area who were unavailable for our date. When I first contacted (phone) Cay she was very agreeable, and I felt that she completely shared my vision of how I imagined that they day would go. My mom met her the next day and immediately liked her and they put together a contract. With hindsight I can see that she was a very very good saleswoman. Soon after we started working together the crack started to show in her work. She was only helping us to find 3 vendors, a florist, transportation to and from the wedding site, and a bounce house for all of the kids (OK, and for me too!). She had a really big problem with each of these tasks. To get the bouncy house she placed 4 separate 1 hour phone calls to me while at work. She misquoted the transportation by 100%, so when my mom went down to pay for it she was absolutely shocked with the bill. And finally, she kept giving us excuses with the florist, so that two weeks before the big day nothing had been planned and I finally put my foot down and had to ask her what was going on with it, and she told me that she had a great florist who would do it (mind you there really aren’t too many options left 2 weeks before the wedding). I 100% believe that the florist was her friend, and that she had us wait so long so that there wouldn’t be any other options. She also completely ignored what my mother had said was the floral budget, and really was not an advocate for us at all in this process. My favorite «Cay» moment though was when she called me at work to complain about having to work with my future mother in law on the rehearsal dinner, and was really unprofessional.
With a few days to go to the big day my mom and I both hoped that she would pull through for us. Unfortunately she didn’t. The only stress that I had at my wedding was from her. She was screaming around the house, and loudly/​rudely interrupted the Bedeken ceremony which happens with the immediate family right before the big wedding ceremony. She did not follow the time line that had been set out, and put my parent in uncomfortable situations on several times, like when she told our guests who were seeking shade from the bright sun that «Carol» my mom did not want them there (around the pool) and that they needed to go back and stand in the sun in the designated cocktail area. For the record my mom is one of the most laid back people ever, and what she wants is for her guests to be comfortable, and that it really didn’t matter where the guests stood. She also decided to make herself the MC during the toasts and would not give the mic to my father to welcome his guests (he was totally sober mind you). As if things weren’t bad enough, Shaun and I did not get to eat dinner as most people don’t get to at their wedding. Right before we were supposed to leave to our hotel she told me that the caterer had put together a few plates of food for us, and that she, Cay was going to put them in the trunk of the town car for us to enjoy at the hotel. After we had left the party in our «grand exit» I had the driver pull over because I wanted to make sure that there was indeed dinner for us (I was starving at midnight!), and I knew that we were going to a hotel in a very remote area, and that they did not offer room service that late at night. Hmmm, no dinner in the back? So for our big day dinner Shaun and I went to the only open place in our neck of the woods, the Taco Bell drive thru. It only got better when after checking into our hotel and starting to do what you are supposed to do on your honeymoon we hear a knock on our suite door. Who do you think it was? Cay trying to deliver our dinner after she realized that she forgot it, I can’t imagine what inspired her to drop by someone’s honeymoon at 1AM. Absolutely avoid at all costs!