”I am providing my review of James Abel, not as the bride, but as the mother of the bride who also worked closely with James over the course of the wedding planning process. In short, I could not have been more pleased with the absolutely gorgeous wedding that James and his team coordinated for my daughter Caroline and her husband Matt. It exceeded anything I could have imagined.

”From the practical standpoint, James worked closely with me on the budgeting aspect of the wedding, and he was creative and industrious in making the very most of our budget and negotiating discounts to help bring everything into line. At the same time, he provided great options to further enhance the overall event, and I happily took his advice.

”It was amazing how effortlessly James captured Caroline and Matt's vision for the wedding and executed it beyond what we could have dreamed. He easily acted on our many, many suggestions and further elevated the entire event with unique ideas of his own. The venue was breathtaking and the entire day unfolded flawlessly. I am still receiving notes from guests who were blown away by the day and so thankful they could be a part of it.

”I'm so thankful that we found James to plan Caroline and Matt's wedding, and I feel I have gained a new friend in the process. Hopefully we'll be able to work with James again to celebrate another happy event!”

“We are so happy that we worked with James Abel to plan our wedding day! From the beginning, James understood exactly what we wanted our "dream" wedding to be and worked through every detail to make it come to life. He was involved every step of the way - helping us lock down the perfect venue, plan our engagement shots, custom design beautiful wedding invitations and stationery, and coordinate with multiple vendors to execute a perfect wedding. He worked within our budget to make sure that all of our priorities were met beyond our expectations. He even saved the day and replaced all of our florals just two days before the wedding when a hurricane wiped out our vendor – he didn't tell us until the problem was solved so we wouldn’t worry! The flowers and decor at the wedding were incredible and suited both our taste and the venue perfectly.

“We have been to dozens of weddings over the last few years, and many of our guests are still reaching out to say it was the best, most beautiful and well executed wedding they have ever been to. We wish that we could do it all again! Thank you, James, for truly making this the best night of our lives!”

“James- thank you so so much for everything. The entire wkd was so unreal and perfectly executed. We couldn't have imagined it coming together better than it did.”

“I cannot say enough good things about James Abel. We got married on quite short notice (fewer than 3 months of lead-time), with James's help, and he did an absolutely utterly PERFECT job with everything -- the rehearsal dinner, the wedding ceremony, the reception cocktails and dinner, and post-wedding brunch the next day. Every single detail was incredibly thoughtful, and I have truly never seen a table setting as beautiful as what he did for our reception dinner. Magical is the probably the best word for it. James is also just such a pleasure to work with -- he is creative, passionate about his work, fun and funny, responsive, and resourceful. He seamlessly handles any hiccups that might arise, and he also knows the "just right" way to do everything, taking into account his clients' input, of course. James's intuition is spot on and he has a ton of experience and a great network of contacts to help pull together just what you want and need for your event. I will be recommending James and his team to every person I come across, going forward, who needs event-planning help.”

“Almost every single person told me that was the best wedding they've ever been to! Frank and I had the time of our life. The space was gorgeous, the flowers absolutely blew everyone away. The service was great. Couldn't have been better !! Thank you so much for being a major part of putting it all together , it's all in the details and they were perfect! I loved  working with you ! Let me know where I can write an official review for you ;). I hope you enjoyed yourself too!”

“I don't normally write reviews but I felt compelled to help anyone considering the tremendous value of a wedding planner.

“If you want a wedding planner that will return your phone calls or emails when panic hits, James Abel will respond in a timely manner.  If you're considering a wedding planner that takes your budget very seriously, look no further than James.  Within your budget, if you want the top of the line in terms of wedding vendors, you will not be disappointed with who James recommends.  He was also able to save us a lot of money on flowers, linen, table and chair rentals and invitations.  I consider myself very picky and at times hard to please, but I can assure you that the end result of James Abel Events will leave you and your guests very impressed!  Thank-you James!!”

“When my husband and I researched and contacted wedding planners, James stood out from the very beginning. Not only did he offer us the best rate, but he was also the ONLY planner we talked with who actually asked us questions about ourselves (our backgrounds, what our interests were), and he immediately put that knowledge to use. Before we even officially hired him, he put a venue on hold for us (!) --they were almost out of available dates and he thought it'd be perfect for us. And it was! He found us an incredible photographer, DJ, and, after consulting with us, handled the save-the-dates, invitations, and all the venue decorations. We wanted to incorporate specific catering and cocktails, and he made it all happen. James is incredibly responsive--I've heard horror stories of wedding planners disappearing for weeks at a time--but if James is available, he'll respond immediately, day or night. And he's good with the reverse challenge too--my husband and I were often pretty busy and weren't on top of the wedding stuff. James patiently followed up.

“The night of our wedding, we were both able to have fun and not worry about anything because James was there. At one point, the bar ran out of ingredients for our specialty cocktails. James went out and bought more, and didn't even tell me about it until after it had all been handled. Amazing. He made sure the evening ran smoothly, from speeches to making sure the wedding cake rolled out on time. I can't say enough how great it was to have him--I've seen so many stressed out brides and grooms, but we were actually able to enjoy the wedding as much as our guests, which was one of our top goals.

“One last note about James: he is very creative and loves event planning, and never really stops working or thinking about the events he is working on. His ideas added some lovely touches to our wedding, and really served to amplify the mood and atmosphere we were looking for.”

“Peter and I are ‘back to reality’ after the wedding whirlwind weekend and I finally have a minute to send a thank you that I have wanted to extend since Sunday:  Thank you so much for the absolutely gorgeous setting for our very happy - and beautiful - wedding.

“I can’t tell you what a pleasure and comfort it was working with you.  You gave me confidence from the minute I met you that you had exquisite taste and extraordinary judgment and an eye for the Penthouse space - and for people. And I told guests all night how amazed I was by how you took one clue - my dress - and created an entire atmosphere and look around that to create the gorgeous space you did.

“And you are just a great guy.  Someone who is a pleasure to know.  My family loved you - I got compliments from my parents at how nice you were -- as you kept them company while Peter and I were a bit late arriving for photos!  Peter has already visited the tailor you recommended....

“So, thank you, James.  I couldn't imagine the rooms being any more beautiful.  And it was just a pleasure to meet and work with you.”

“I got married a year ago and James Abel and his assistant JJ planned our wedding. THEY ARE AMAZING. I cannot even begin to describe how much help they were. Like other Manhattan working girls, I am not one of those girls that wants to spend hours picking flowers or color schemes for the tables, I have better things to do. James helped us from step one, picking the venue (he flew out to L.A. with us a year before the wedding to tour all of the venues we had contemplated), to everything else. Every single aspect of the wedding was taken care of, from picking the chairs, minister, etc. to getting heel liners for my bridesmaids during the wedding because their shoes hurt them. The morning of the wedding I was freaking out about the length of my dress, so he took me to a store where I found a new dress THAT morning. (I wore them both....oh he also gave me input on the dress.) He found the cake person, the lights person, got us an INSANE discount on an AMAZING, famous photographer that delivered 10,000 photos. The value of his contacts and knowledge is, well, invaluable.

“I will be forever and ever grateful and happy that my husband and I found the most amazing wedding planner out there. I am telling you we interviewed DOZENS of wedding planners. They were either inexperienced, too expensive, too intense, etc. James is the one.”

“James thank you so much for everything! I think its obvious that the day was a total success and I attribute that to you and JJ. It was amazing!”

“We just returned from our honeymoon and I wanted to thank you for doing such an amazing job for our wedding. We received SO many compliments on the flowers and decor!! Everyone was commenting on how beautiful and warm the wedding felt, which was exactly what I had hoped for. It was just perfect!”

“Our wedding in Anguilla would not have been nearly as perfect without the meticulous assistance of our wedding planner James Abel. James’ creativity and attention to every detail made each guest feel special and taken care of. From the spectacular gift bags he created, to the lanterns and rose petals on the beach, he left no stone unturned! To this day, our friends and family tell us it was the best wedding ever and we (the bride and groom) were able to relax and enjoy every minute of it, knowing that James was there to take care of everything and anything.”

“Words can not expressed how lucky I feel to have met you during our early stages of planning.  I really don't think our wedding would have been as good as it was if you weren't such a big part of it.  All I keep hearing is how much fun everyone had and how organized things were.

“A very big THANK YOU!!!!!   Seriously,  I've been thinking about how to write you for the last two weeks and it's just hard to capture all of my emotions about your involvement.”

“Now that we're back home and settled in, I wanted to make sure I sent you a special thank you. You did an incredible job and blew myself, my parents & my guests away. Not only that, you did it with a smile and made sure to keep our thoughts and preferences in mind. I wish I had pictures to share with you- but it will still be a few weeks until we get to see them.

“I don't know how to really express how happy you made us all- but please know, we are forever grateful.”

“Thank you for an absolutely perfect wedding. It could not have been more elegant and enjoyable. People have been raving about it for days. All would not have been possible without you!”

“Thank you for making our wedding day fun, easy, seamless and unforgettable! The whole weekend was just perfect and we owe it to you guys! Your creativity is to be admired and patience appreciated.”

“In case no one thanked you enough, I'll sum it up in a word...FABULOUS!! Want another word.... SUPERCALLIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS...want another word....Ok you get the idea. Simply the best weekend of its kind that we have ever had. You're a great guardian-angel!”

“What a wedding!  Thank you for helping us to have an unforgettable wedding.  Thank you for helping to make our vision come true.”