Shawn Rabideau Events & Design

I wish I could say that Shawn did an amazing job on my wedding day, but unfortunately, he wasn't there because he dropped me as a client (both as a planner and as my floral designer!) 6 weeks before my wedding. Initially, he told me that it was because he didn't feel comfortable completing the job because of my modest budget (which hadn't changed from the day we met a year and a half before), but then I discovered that it was in order to do a celebrity wedding instead that he obviously felt was more important to him.

Thankfully, being a producer and having already been very hands on in my planning anyway, my actual wedding didn't suffer, in fact, my other vendors stepped up and things went very smoothly. However, his abrupt abandonment and the subsequent last minute stress it caused (finding a new florist at the last minute, etc.) left me beyond disappointed. I will however give him credit for bowing out before my final payment to him was due and for providing some follow through assistance for two of my vendors.

Your wedding is a very special, once in a lifetime event, and entrusting someone else to help you make your vision a reality is no small thing. I can't begrudge anyone for their ambitions. However, after over a year of working with Shawn, to have him just walk away weeks before the biggest day of my life was at best unprofessional, at worst, nothing short of a betrayal of trust and of a friendship that I thought we had developed during the process.

I would caution those brides who might also have modest budgets to stay away from this particular vendor for fear he might also forsake you for a more "glamorous" clientele. However, if you're famous or someone who has big bucks, I guess you'll be less in danger from this particular issue. Good Luck!

Our wedding was, in our humble opinion, a spectacular event. My husband and I had NO stress on the day of the wedding because we had full confidence in the team's ability to make the day go off without a hitch (as it did). I had been told as a bride-to-be that our wedding day would fly by so quickly and how important it is to take a moment to step back and appreciate the experience. Ofer and I agree that we were able to be fully 'present' at our wedding in no small part due to the professionalism of the Shawn Rabideau team.

It is important to mention that we were introducing Shawn into a very interesting situation: my fiance and I were to be traveling during the 10 months before the wedding. This means that we only met with Shawn TWICE before the week of the wedding and we mostly spoke and made decisions over the phone or Skype. This also means that a lot of the final decisions were made by Shawn after as much input as I could give and I walked into the planning of my wedding knowing I had to give lots of control to our planner.

Best things about our experience:
1. We didn't need to (in theory) do any ground work. Our appointments when we were in town were set up for us which was amazing and we didn't have to follow up on anything, that was all handled by Shawn and his team.
2. We were given templates and new sets of eyes to go over our guest lists, budget, contracts etc. Very important and helpful.
3. Shawn, Meagan and Michael were fantastic to work with. They really try to understand your vision for your wedding (or help you create one in my case).
4. Shawn and Meagan made sure the day of the wedding went perfectly, my husband and I didn't need to do a thing!

Considerations:
1. Our budget increased by 50% from our first meeting. When we thought about how much we were paying for our wedding day it made me us little weak in the knees but when we actually got down planning the wedding we felt like we could barely afford a 2 X 4 to hold up the huppa. Of course they in no way forced us to pay more, but I felt that we were being brought to more expensive vendors not particularly the best people for the job. Something to weigh is....experienced vendors vs. vendors that are still working hard to prove themselves. Sometimes I have seen that inexperienced vendors are more creative.
2. No one else will negotiate with vendors the way that you will because the money is not coming from their pocket. Not to mention that there is a high chance that there is incentive for them to keep the prices higher as well as maintain their relationships with the vendors. My husband worked directly with a few vendors and was able to get some significant discounts after we were told that it was impossible by Shawn and his team to do so.
3. A wedding PLANNER is just that a planner and organizer, he will NOT be as interested in the creative touches that I would have worked on had I been the one planning and organizing the wedding. I expected to have little special touches all around the wedding that would be very 'us' but this was not the focus of the planning team.
4. I had seen youtube videos of Shawn talking about fun and easy ways to reduce your budget and make special things for the wedding. What I didn't realize was that this was for the DIY-ers out there and that this would not be things that he would integrate into our wedding. I thought that since we hired an amazing planner there would be a lot of special details. Instead, if we wanted to cut corners to save some money it was done by reducing flowers and reducing decor instead of doing things in a more creative way.

Overall our experience with Shawn, Michael and Meagan was very positive. Our wedding day was a dream come true. We highly recommend the Shawn Rabideau team if you have a clear understanding of what you want your wedding to look like and you need someone to make it happen!

I woke up sunday morning, hours after my wedding ended, and the first thing that came to mind was WOW, Shawn is amazing. Our wedding was flawless, start to finish, and it is all because of Shawn, Michael, and the rest of their team. Everything looked beautiful, everything went seamlessly and I could never thank them enough. I would recommend using Shawn and am hoping I have the chance to work with him again for another event someday! Simply the best!

Truly truly truly the best decision of our entire wedding was to hire Shawn Rabideau Events & Design.

Absolute PERFECTION. Shawn and Michael are an amazing team. Their attention to detail, exquisite taste and true professionalism were unlike any other vendor we worked with. Shawn made our wedding exactly what we'd envisioned. He took our vision, executed it flawlessly and amplified it like only he can do. He made an already beautiful day truly magical. If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't change anything. It was perfection. And it was all thanks to Shawn and Michael.

For just a little background, my fiance and I decided to do a small destination wedding (about 40 people) in The Fingerlakes in New York. We wanted something elegant but rustic, romantic and warm overlooking the lake at a local vineyard at sunset. And to amplify the challenge, my fiance and I are in Ohio, SRE is in NYC and the destination was 5+ hours away for each of us!

Despite the distance, Shawn made the whole process enjoyable and stress-free. We talked and emailed weekly and Shawn was always quick to respond to questions. They jumped on every idea we had - explored options, provided suggested vendors and offered creative suggestions when needed. His professionalism and attention to detail cannot be overstated. He made it all very easy for us. Because of my fiance's and my busy work schedule, Shawn and I met only once in-person before the wedding week in a highly organized day full of vendor meetings and decision-making that Shawn meticulously organized. We knew from the get-go that our wedding was in good hands - and he made the process fun, too!

Throughout the whole process, Shawn and Michael handled all the details, coordinated every element and allowed my family, my fiance and me to just enjoy the planning process and the wedding weekend.

We had some major hiccups with our caterer throughout the whole process - a caterer we'd hired before we hired SRE - and Shawn dealt with all the roadblocks calmly and professionally. He shielded us from the drama the caterer created, but presented us with all the essential details and clear options for remedy. And in the process he really showed us the difference between people who claim to be wedding planners and the true experts like SRE who do this work seriously and with a passion for making each event spectacular.

Shawn and Michael are a joy to work with!! Not only are they wonderful people personally, but they are the best of best in their work. I would recommend SRE to anyone and truly give them the absolute highest review possible. Give yourself a wedding gift and call SRE.... it'll be the best decision you make.

A a working mother of a bride, I must say that working with Shawn was the best money I spent this year. His professionalism and attention to detail are unmatched.

I met Shawn almost a year ago when he was recommended by the catering hall where we booked the wedding. At the time I was going to have him do flowers and decorations , but no planning. He was very easy to work with and we were all set and at a very reasonable cost. He also gave recommendations for other vendors that we ended up using.

About 4 months before the wedding we went to finalize our invitations and we were told that our wedding venue was closed and may not open by the time for my daughter's wedding. I called Shawn in a panic, and from that moment on I was in his hands. He helped us find a new venue, on short notice, and took care of all the details. When I waited for the new contract from Shawn I was sure it would cost more than the original contract because I felt the venue required more decoration. I was actually very pleasantly surprised that indeed it was slightly less!

The week before the wedding was very hectic and Shawn's help was magical. He handled all the questions from vendors and timelines . All the details were handled by him, and knowing this we were all able to relax. The wedding came out better than we dreamed it would. The flowers were perfect and all the decorations were beautiful. Everything ran smoothly, from the pictures pre--ceremony till the last dance. I don't think we could have done this without Shawn's help.

My client had an event that was planned by Shawn and his team. Everything was perfect to a T and everyone was extremely satisfied and happy! I will definitely recommend him to anyone who wants a high-end feel yet intimate event!