Thank you so much for your support throughout the wedding process and on our special day! We truly could not have pulled it off without you?! We are so grateful and cheers to an incredible 2023!
Love
Natalie & Troy
From my heart I want to thank you for your time, dedication and work. Excellent work. I appreciated the effort you had to speak to me in Spanish and design everything in a way that I could understand it. An optimal person to recommend. You are very good at what you do. I hope that in the future we can meet again. Blessings and many successes in everything you do. I have a lot of love for you.
Kisses.
Marcela
Ricki did an amazing job helping us organize the Bar Mitzvah with very little lead time. She is very professional and has great attention to detail. Ricki helped us find the perfect catering service and the ice cream sandwich dessert option was a huge hit! She was always responsive to our questions and needs. Ricki and Richie set the stage for a very successful event. They coordinated the day and helped schedule and contacted each vendor. She did a nice layout of the backyard so we knew everything was going to fit – from chairs, bema to tables. She came early, stayed all day and made sure everyone was having a great time!! We highly recommend Special Event Genie!
Suzanne F., Marina del Rey, CA
Ricki was an amazing wedding coordinator. She helped me stay on track with my event planning and she helped me find my bakery, hair and makeup artist, and videographer. She was so helpful with planning out the timeline for the day and helped create beautiful table settings. The signs that her team created worked so well with the design theme of the wedding. I was so grateful for her help throughout the process.
Sarah Lancaster
Good morning. Thank you so much for your amazing work. I loved the party and it turned out beautifully.
Elaine K. In LA
“A big THANK YOU to Ricki and your partner, Robin. You both made our wedding day so memorable. Every detail was so beautiful. It turned out exactly how I envisioned it to be. A job well done!”
Denise, Claremont, CA
Got Our Wishes! Special Event Genie is the best! We saw Ricki in action at a friend’s wedding; when we saw how smoothly everything went, we knew she was the wedding planner for us. Ricki helped us with all the planning; from our first meeting to the last minute detail, she was there for us. When our original wedding date was postponed by the pandemic, she worked with the venue and all the vendors so that we could pick up where we left off when restrictions were lifted.
She made sure our wedding was the special day we wanted. She asked questions, made suggestions, gave us the benefit of her expertise freely. She was tireless in getting the details the way we wanted them. Her Planning Genie App was a real advantage here – she laid the key points of the day out in schematics, revising them as the rules of social distancing changed so we knew how every moment would look. It was easy to ask the “what would happen if we…” kinds of questions, because she could show us the answers. We didn’t have to guess or imagine – we could see it! She has a wealth of connections and we loved working with all of them. Each of them shared her energy, her joy in creating something beautiful, and focus on making the day a special day for all the wedding party and our guests. She worked tirelessly so that things went smoothly.
She’s a genie, right? We wished for a beautiful event, where our friends and family could celebrate with us and share our joy. Wishes granted.
Susan O. (5 Stars on Yelp)
Hi Ricki,
Yes, Sierra’s Bat Mitzvah was truly wonderful and we heard from many who attended it on Zoom as well as all who attended it in person that it was really delightful and lots of fun.
With a cc of this to Joyce she will know that you thank her for her good reviews of the Special Event Genie.
Thank you Ricki and best wishes to you for equal success on all your future event plannings.
Michael
Robyn L. Woodland Hills, CA
Ashley Chaco. 5 stars on the Knot & Wedding Wire
Christy O. 5 stars on The Knot & Wedding Wire.
This was the first time I ever used a party planner. . . . But I wanted to be able to fully enjoy the day of the event and looking back, I am glad I had Ricki. . . . on the day of the event, she took control of everything. I was so thankful to have her, and I gladly abandoned ALL control. The event was so successful, and people enjoyed themselves so much that I could not believe the feedback!
Ricki’s vendor partners were absolutely phenomenal! She is particular with who she partners with, and when the team gets to work, you can see why. The bartenders and servers were repeatedly complimented by guests as being stellar, and I would wholeheartedly agree! Even . . . . . the rental companies were competitively priced and responsive. . . . The cake vendor did a fabulous job with what I would have considered being a challenging design, and it was delectable. . . . I heeded Ricki’s advice and hired a photographer. So grateful that I did! . . . He was AMAZING and captured everything! The guests could not wait to see the photos afterward and the event was documented with beautiful photos. Trust that her vendors will deliver on Ricki’s assurances and hire them!
. . . There are a lot of details in the planning. Ricki thinks of them all! This is great because it covers bases I would not have considered, making the event even better. . . . super ecstatic I used a party planner and thankful for Ricki running the day of my event like a boss!
Mark M. 5 Start on Yelp, Thumbtack, Bark, Facebook
Helping us get the Wedding we Wanted!!!
When we began planning our wedding we knew it was going to be a big job; we knew we would need a wedding planner to advise us and keep us on track. A friend used Special Events Genie for her wedding, and we were impressed by the work they did and how smoothly everything went. When we contacted them, the proprietor, Ricki Lewis, was very pleasant on the phone; she was prompt for our initial meeting and proved to be very knowledgeable. She gave us wonderful and helpful information and we hired her soon after that.
She has been an absolute treasure in helping us craft the wedding we want. This year has presented many challenges that nobody could have foreseen, with many businesses and vendors having to suspend operations because of a world wide pandemic. Ricki helped us navigate these obstacles, and has come up with extraordinary solutions to problems that don’t usually occur in planning a wedding. Thank you Ricki!
Glen O. (5-Stars on Wedding Wire & The Knot!)
Our Beautiful Wedding
My wife and I would like to thank Ricki for all of her incredible work coordinating our wedding. We hired her quite late in our planning process and she still completely orchestrated everything we desired. There were a lot of last-minute changes, especially with our guest list and she fluidly rolled with it and had everything done on time for us! Every step of the way, she was there offering ideas, suggestions and advice to help make our wedding an exceptional and unique event. Ricki truly went the extra mile seeing so that all the arrangements were completed in a timely fashion—even thinking ahead to the unexpected with a Plan B and C! Rain was predicted and yet, we were still able to have an outdoor ceremony! Well, we didn’t worry knowing that Ricki was on board, planning for every contingency. When I called her in a panic the afternoon before, she had already arranged for the canopy to cover the grounds, for our ceremony and guest seating areas. Ricki was a gem to work with, generous with her time, and had a keen understanding of our religious customs. Our beautiful wedding went off without a hitch thanks to the creativity and organizational skills of our fully prepared “Special Event Genie®,” Ricki Lewis. We couldn’t have done it without her. We would love to work with her again in the future (anniversary, baby shower and birthday parties, God willing!). – Thank you, Brian F.
Brian F. (5-Stars on Wedding Wire & The Knot!)
Megan L. (5-Stars on Wedding Wire & The Knot!)
Thanks for all that you do. We are so relieved to have you to coordinate our wedding.
Lizelle G. (5-Stars on Wedding Wire & The Knot!)
Ricki is a thorough, creative event planner. She is very responsive and puts her heart and soul into her events. Ricki went above and beyond to make sure our daughter’s bat mitzvah was memorable and that there was thematic unity across all the elements of our party. If you don’t like a vendor she recommends, she doesn’t take it personally and will keep searching.
John F. (5-Stars on Yelp!)
Thank you, Ricki, for EVERYTHING you did to make Max’s Bar Mitzvah a complete success!!! We are still reeling in the amazing time we had yesterday. We loved every minute of it . . . and would love to do it ALL OVER AGAIN!!! I am so grateful for your keen attention to detail, your aspiration to only deliver the best and your indefatigable ability to get things done. You’re amazing! Warmly,
Cary
Dear Ricki, Thank you very much for planning my bat mitzvah for me! Everything was absolutely perfect and spectacular. You really made my party special. Once again thank you! Sincerely,
Sydney F. (5-Stars on Yelp!)
I’m so glad you enjoyed working with us. And thank you, again, for helping us pull everything together at the last minute. I so appreciate all the hard work you put into our event.
Jenni C.
In less than a week, Special Event Genie put together my mom’s funeral reception for 150+ people. It was elegant, tasteful, and surprisingly reasonable! The food was perfect, the servers were attentive, and the décor was lovely. My son said, “Grandma would approve of this, and you know how high-maintenance she was.” (Mom really was, bless her.) Ricki took such a load off my shoulders during a terribly difficult time. She is part event planner, part therapist, and 100% awesome.
Susan G.
We were down to the wire for an event in L.A. and had several things fall through. We were very stressed and anxious and weren’t sure how we were going to make sure things went off well. I looked around and found Ricki online. She had a lot of positive reviews and was one of the most reasonably-priced event planners. She was able to take us on as clients with very short notice and helped pull off a miracle. She’s very detail-oriented, responsible, and organized. I felt like I was in good hands with her because of how competent, experienced, and on-top-of-things she was. She also had a good network of vendors who came through to help us pull off a great event. Also, loved her company’s event planning app! So helpful. It was a night to remember — in a good way! And, I’m so thankful that Ricki was available and willing to work with us on such a short-notice, higher-stress project. Thanks, Ricki!
Moving The Needle LLC (5-Stars on Yelp!)
Ricki Lewis is a really good party planner, and she will enhance any event with quality amenities at a better price than you can get on your own. Look if you are arranging a wedding or some special event you have a dollar amount you are thinking of spending, just call her and let her know what you are trying to do and see what she can do to make it better and for less. She is worth her weight.
Neil M.
I wanted to thank you very much, on behalf of Sara and myself, for all your hard work to get our event organized, and for all your hard work the day of the event to help it run smoothly. We are getting great feedback and appreciate everything you did to help us with our Autism Investors Summit.
Ronit Molko, Ph.D.
We hired Ricki Lewis of Special Event Genie for our wedding. We really did not want to wait the usual 9 to 12 months of planning. Once we were granted permission to have our wedding at USC, we called Ricki. This was only six weeks before our wedding date! Ricki totally shared our vision of the look and feel of our wedding decor. She designed our invitations and RSVP management! She even went out of her way to walk the entire University to make sure all departments had the required permits approved and all money was paid. Ricki and her team stayed the entire day, to make sure everything went smoothly from start to finish. We cannot say enough about her attention to detail and to our individual needs. She has a can-do attitude and never gives up. We could not have done this without her guidance and assistance every step of the way. We are so appreciative! Thank you Ricki!
Shauna & Rik (5-Stars on Yelp!)
Ricki did an AWESOME job at our backyard wedding. We had a wonderful time and the feedback from the guests has been great. We couldn’t have done it without her help. She went above and beyond to make sure everything was going smoothly and even went out and served food when the wait staff were overwhelmed. It truly was the best day of our lives, and we owe a huge portion of that to the help that Ricki provided.
Anthony R. (5-Stars on Yelp!)
Ricki, did an amazing job helping put together our daughter’s Quinceanera. She was very detailed, knowledgeable of the celebration and meaning of our Mexican traditions. Her suggestions were amazing and helpful. She suggested baile Folklorico for our reception… and it was a total success. All of our guest enjoyed the performances. She is amazing, we definitely recommended her services. She makes your planning so much less stressful! We love you Ricki!
Francis T. (5-Stars on Yelp!)
We celebrated my mother’s life on Saturday November 10 with the help of Special Event Genie. Ricki and Robin were phenomenal! We had a church service at 2:00 p.m. and a reception at the house at 5:30 p.m. Even though I have lots of experience throwing parties, doing this after my mother passed was daunting. Ricki made sure no detail was missed. She was on top of everything from the beginning. She arranged the food, the bar, the rentals, the music, the invitations, and a myriad of other details. She followed up with me daily but gently.
Cathe C. (5-Stars on Yelp!)
Dear Ricki, Cameron & I cannot thank you enough for everything you did to ensure the success of our wedding day! I hope you will agree that the decor turned out lovely – your hard work and meticulousness (plus our referral for lighting) made it all come together. The fact that you made yourself available to us more or less 24/7 did not go unnoticed, and throughout the whole wedding process you proved your value again and again. Thank you for being our advocate, personal shopper, and friend time and time again. We would love to work with you again in the future (anniversary, baby shower and birthday parties, God willing!)
Rebecca & Cameron
If you are looking for the most professional wedding planner in Los Angeles, Special Event Genie is where you will find them. My brother got married this past July and there are no words to describe the impeccable service my brother’s fiancé and our family received. We took the full planning package, they took care of everything since we both work full time, collected our RSVP cards which were sent to their office (saving us a lot of time and worry), updated our guest list for each RSVP, booked all the vendors, created the timeline, floor plans, distributed payments to the vendors, they did so much I don’t even know where to start! There were also many details in the design that we wanted and Special Event Genie gave us their professional advice. After I witnessed it all come together, we were so happy that we listened because they really do know their stuff. Trust me, from the past bride to the current bride, hire a professional – they save you time, money, stress, so you can enjoy this special time in your life.
Benjamin P.
Ricki – Thank you for everything you have helped us do over the last few months. We are so grateful!
Nicole & Bradinn
Ricki took personal responsibility for our 50th anniversary celebration just two weeks before the event: she worked effectively with everyone we’d already arranged to support the event and brought her own teams in to fill in the gaps. Ricki is warm, professional and incredibly responsive. We had a great event and Ricki was a key reason everyone who attended had a great time.
Norman Kulla (5-Stars on Yelp!)
Since I am so busy with my business, I hired Ricki to create a party for my ten-year-old son in our back yard. I wanted the party to be fun for the parents as well as the kids. I only had three weeks to put the whole thing together and Ricki responded right away. The next day she came by to measure the back yard and determine how many tables we could fit comfortably while still having room for the kids to play games. Ricki had no problem keeping to my budget! She immediately contacted her rental company to order tables, chairs and linens in my son’s favorite colors. She was most thoughtful asking my son what games he and his friends liked to play. She bought party favors for the kids including sports memorabilia and Minecraft toys. Ricki even hired a bartender that made “mocktails” for the kids named in honor of my son. I was very pleased in the way Ricki acted as “mother hen” during the entire party, making sure everyone was happy and having a good time. She arrived early to set up and stayed an extra hour afterward to clean up and make sure my home was better than she found it! I would highly recommend Ricki, the Special Event Genie! Thank you, Ricki!
Ron Benveniste (5-Stars on Yelp!)
Ricki will save you time, money and heartache. She’s a pro whether you need a major event organized and executed, or a smaller gathering done right. She can even make a Sunday evening football barbecue epic. Thank you Ricki!
Tommy (5-Stars on Yelp!)
Ricki organized a weekend of parties for my husband’s 90th birthday–an informal house party of 40, and then a formal dinner party for 100 people. She handled both extremely well and without a hitch. We were impressed with her enthusiasm and her ability to suppress her own ideas in order to allow ours, though often her ideas were the better, and we gladly used them. Many people have told us that ours was the best party they had ever attended and we thank Ricki for helping to make it so. We recommend her happily to future clients and wish her well in her career.
Sherrye (5-Stars on Yelp!)
More organized than you can imagine, Ricki Lewis takes the stress out of the planning. She gets discounts off catering and venues and more, and she saves more money than she costs…. She’s an unbelievable partner with all the anticipation I could wish for to head off any trips and shortfalls. I’m so impressed I recommend her to everyone with no reservations!!!
Michele (5-Stars on Yelp!)
I have planned birthdays for many years, and this time, I needed someone to take over so I can finally enjoy my daughter’s 7th birthday. For someone as meticulous as me, It’s hard to find someone who I can fully trust. When I met Ricki, I knew she was the one. The love and passion she has catering service for Client is beyond. Ricki loves to ensure that clients are well taken care of as soon as she steps in. She is well organized, on track, and knows what follow through means. We are grateful for having you in our event, I was able to enjoy my time and savor every detail of the party because someone like you were there to take care of things. I am happy to gain a friend in you and much more, thank you for taking care of my daughter’s party. There is a saying that “the only way to do great work is to love what you do” – You are an epitome of that quote in all aspect. You are highly recommended and I will definitely use your service again and again and again. More blessings to come to you and your business.
Alona (5-Stars on Yelp!)
Ricki was able to efficiently pull together an event for me last minute. She knew exactly who to call and which vendors to work with. This saved me a lot of time. I really appreciate the extra gestures she did to help out.
Janelle (5-Stars on Yelp!)
Ricki throws the greatest parties! Her events leave no detail untouched. Everything is perfect. And the best part is how much money she saves. Ricki and Special Event Genie have been doing events for my business group Wildfire Networking for several years now. We have annual holiday parties with sit down dinners and dancing to a dj. Always gorgeous decorations, great food, good drinks, and at least 75 people. Ricki also arranges quarterly cocktail parties we call “mixers” and scores some great locations around West Los Angeles for us. I am looking forward to having her help with my next big birthday party! Call Special Event Genie if you want your wishes granted perfectly!
Cathy H. (5-Stars on Yelp!)
Thanks for a wonderful party.
Patsy & Rod Mansfield
Dear Ricki – The Celebration of Life for Jan was, as so many people said, beautiful . . . You and your very capable co-workers along with your choice of caterer and florist made it all the more so. Many people raved about the food in particular. Your video expert also did a great job creating a very wonderful slide show. So thank you once again for a very fine job well done.
Gratefully, Dr. B.
There aren’t enough stars to give to rate the level of service that you’ll receive when working with Ricki. She is professional, personable, takes the time to get to know the vision of your event and helps to pull everything together to make it come to life. We hired Ricki after trying to get all the details for our wedding together on our own but as we moved forward in the process we realized we need help. Ricki is very organized and detail oriented. She gave us a timeline to help guide us through the day and we were able to view her vision with the help of her planning tools. When she saw our invitations she immediately tied in the place cards and table numbers to match. She helped us hone in on the things we had ideas for but weren’t sure how to execute. My best friends and I had lots of favors, details and ideas to work into the wedding and for a lot of them we needed that special touch with in to make it wedding perfect! We were even able to work in elements to the event I had ideas for but no idea how to make them come to life like helping us craft a special dedication to our children who were now going to join as one big family. Her years of experience in the field, expertise and experience with the many organizations she is affiliated with definitely have shaped hee into an expert at planning events. We were even able to get the photo booth layouts that tied into our theme. Ricki worked well with all of our vendors. We had an amazing team and she was able to contact and coordinate them leading up to and throughout the big day. She went out of her way to make sure we were ok during the wedding emotionally and physically. We like her so much and our guests were enjoying her so much that we asked her to join everyone to eat and chat. My friends and family loved her not just for her service and for her dedication to bringing a fairy tale wedding to life but for feeling like it was personal for her to make our dream a reality. By the end of the process it felt like we gained a friend. We will definitely work with her again and hope to keep in touch in the future. My niece has even started talking about design and event planning after being with Ricki! (Ricki was also very patient with the little ones and took their ideas into consideration because they were very important to me.)
Theresa (5-Stars on Yelp!)
I can not say enough good things about Ricki! I had the pleasure of working with her on a wedding a few weeks ago and she is the most organized and easy to work with event planner I have come across in my six years in the business. As the business owner of the venue she had a wedding at, I had the chance to work with her very closely. I can confidently say she really will make your life easier. She has created a program that she creates custom floor plans for your event! This made the event very easy to run and creates very impressive floor plans. She communicates very thoroughly and is very efficient with her planing but more importantly she is genuinely a kind and person to be around!! I highly recommend Ricki and Special Event Genie for any event. I am sure that we will be working together again in the near future. Thanks Ricki!
Messina (5-Stars on Yelp!)
If you’re looking for a wedding planner, search no further. I feel that the wedding planner you hire is a personal decision. When I met Ricki, I felt an instant connection with her knowing that she was to be my right hand women especially for the day of my wedding. I heard about Special Event Genie and Ricki, and I could not believe that she could provide such detailed and committed service with a never ending no problem attitude! I was overwhelmed, especially since we moved up our wedding date giving Ricki three months less to change and make new plans! She handled everything with ease including ideas to orchestrate our ceremony to include our children. To my surprise, she responded right away and assured me by writing suggestions for vows that would make us a united, happy family. Ricki designed a plan to meet our needs at a reasonable cost…which she did by suggesting creative ways to make things less expensive and by procuring discounts with our vendors because of her established professional relationships! Ricki is a pro in so many ways and she was so delightful to work with! She is beyond creative and goes out of her way to make it a magical experience, tailor made. We were all blown away by the extra touches and the attention to detail. This was way beyond my expectations and I highly recommend her as she is outstanding! Thank you Ricki!
Jenifer (5-Stars on Yelp!)
You made our community veterans’ event successful. The app that you created is absolutely magnificent and we would suggest it to be used for any event, party or wedding. Thanks for giving back to the men and women who fought for our country. (This event was for 4000 vets at the VA hospital in Brentwood, CA.)
This highly-decorated veteran chose to remain anonymous.
I recommended Ricki to work on a relative’s wedding. She did a great job and worked with the bride throughout the entire process. She was able to gauge the bride’s needs and accommodate her. Ricki was able to provide discounts through her many contacts. Ricki knows all the pitfalls and possible problems that can occur throughout the wedding planning process. She works hard to prevent any mishaps from occurring. She was on call and present whenever the bride needed her and worked hard at the wedding to make sure everything went smoothly. It was a beautiful wedding and everything went seamlessly. Bravo, Ricki!!!!
Gail (5-Stars on Yelp!)
Ricki works so hard and really cares about her clients. She goes above and beyond the basics and thinks of everything. It was reassuring to have her at our wedding making sure everyone was happy.
Alice (5-Stars on Yelp!)
All the scenes of our wedding including: the processional, at the altar, the recessional and reception seating diagrams that Ricki produces with her Planning Genie® App is extraordinary. Now we have them as a keepsake of our wedding party.
Rene K
Ricki Lewis at Special Event Genie did my daughter’s wedding and it was absolutely fabulous. Her total knowledge of wedding procedure for accuracy and follow up on all details was incredible and flawless. We were so happy the venue she found for our celebration, it couldn’t of been any better. She totally understood the vision for my daughters wedding. Kept our budget concerns and even found creative ways to save us money. She went downtown to the flower mart and designed flower arrangements and bouquets saving 50% off regular florist fees. The flowers were amazing! She orchestrated the ceremony and reception seating and designed and set up the reception tables. She was there putting on all the finishing touches and more before we arrived to the venue. Provided a timeline for all vendors to follow which was seamless. Worked closely with the DJ and assisted with song order and selection. The event was a huge success and all family and guests raved about how much they enjoyed themselves, and how lovely and fun it was. The most important thing I have to say, is that the bride and groom were thrilled with the whole day and evening. They said it was the best day of their lives. Everything was perfect. I can’t wait to use her services again for more events.
Katherine B (5-Stars on Yelp!)
Ricki, Thanks so much for all your help to make our wedding day truly memorable. Your insights from your other weddings were undoubtedly useful in making our day go smoothly and for that we are thankful. Love & Thanks
Tiaunia & David
If anyone is getting married, you need to have Ricki plan everything, cause she is the best in the business. She handles everything from the cake, flowers, and is with you every step of the way. She is graceful and really listens to what you want. I would recommend her to everyone I know who is getting married. She is AMAZING!
Michelle (5-Stars on Yelp!)
“I’m so happy to be working with you!!”
Love, Stacey
Dear Ricki, We would like to thank you for all that you did to help with our wedding. You came into our wedding plans very late in the game, and yet you still found things to help us with. We appreciate all of the time that you invested in contacting our vendors, and setting up accurate times for deliveries. You helped make our rehearsal and wedding day successful. The Planning Genie® software that you designed is absolutely magnificent and we would suggest it to be used for every wedding for organization and accuracy. You and your Planning Genie® App were very informative about procedure of the processional and recessional. We believe that things would not have run as smoothly without your help. Again, we appreciate all of your help and time in helping make our wedding perfect.
Scott & Sandra R.
Ricki: There are not enough words to describe how thankful we are for everything you did for us. You are truly amazing. We were able to have an amazing wedding thanks to your help. Also, your “something old” was the perfect present for the most important day in our lives.
Gina & Hernan (5-Stars on Yelp!)
Dear Sweet Ricki, Where can I start . . .First and foremost thank you for all your organized help with our wedding. You have been a role model I can look up to because of how strong and talented you are. From day one in planning our wedding, it has been a joy working with you and all your advice was beyond helpful! You were sweet and generous & we can’t thank you enough for everything! Love