July 8, 2003

Dear Yumi,
Hal & I are still on “Cloud Nine” after Jen & Craig's Wedding last Saturday evening at the Four Seasons Hotel.

When we began the planning process of the wedding almost one year ago, Jen brought up the idea of having a Wedding Coordinator. The hotel had given us the impression that this was really not necessary – that they could handle most of what needed to be done the day of the wedding. However, after discussing the idea with many of Jen's friends who were married recently, they all felt strongly about hiring a separate Wedding Coordinator, who would not only help out at the hotel, but also take the stress away from myself and Jen before the wedding, at the rehearsal and the day of the wedding.

How very fortunate we were to have found you through recommendations from Tobey Dodge.

Yumi, you were our “life saver”. I truly do not know how our wedding would have ever run as smoothly or have been as perfect if it weren't for you.

From the day we hired you in January, 2003 we felt we had made a good decision. You continued to call jen & I with updates as the year progressed and held meetings with Jen & Craig to discuss all aspects of the wedding. You were continually in touch with all the vendors and prepared a detailed time-line of the wedding day. Your sweetness and calm manners always relieved any stress we may have felt – you were totally in control of everything.

On the wedding day you arrived with your usual sense of calm, even though you were aware one of the Bridesmaids was ill and would not be in the bridal party. This meant the line-up needed to be altered and you were there to handle what needed to be done.

You went from the bridal suite, where all the bridesmaids were congregating to the groom's room where his groomsmen were getting ready, reassuring everyone that all was well and keeping the pace of the day going according to the time-line. You even thought about ordering pizzas for the baby sitters and children that were too young to attend the reception.

You stayed and did more than was ever expected of you, and for that we are extremely grateful. You took a very genuine interest and dedication to all of us and we feel very lucky to have had the privilege of having you as our coordinator and would highly recommend you to any bride-to-be.

We now realize there was no way that the hotel could have ever handled all that needed to be done in order for a wedding to go as perfect as ours was. Everyone who has called us told us it was the most beautiful and absolutely perfect wedding they have ever attended.

Fondly,
Eleda & Hal Matorin
(Jennifer & Craig's Wedding at The Four Seasons Hotel, Beverly Hills -- 2003)

November 23, 2002

Dear Yumi,

Thank you very much for your help before and during our wedding on November 23, 2002. Without your help, the wedding would not have been so successful. We will remember it.

We are living a very happy married life now. Best wished to you and your family.

Susan & Hai

September 11, 2002

Hi Yumi,
I'm sorry it has taken me so long to write you this letter. Things have not slowed down much since my wedding (can you believe it!) and I'm still trying to catch up.

Thanks so much for all of your assistance with my wedding. When my mother first mentioned getting a wedding planner, I was a bit stressed. The wedding was already way over budget and I was looking at it from strictly a cost prerspective. Looking back, I can't imagine how we would have done it without you!

At our first meeting you had so many good ideas. So many ideas, in fact, that I was worried about how much was yet to be done. We had already covered the major stuff like the location, the dress, the band, and the flowers. What I hadn't thought about was all of the little details – the things that take up much more time and the things that make the wedding so special. I walked away from our meeting with my head spinning.

As the day grew near, you did so much work. Much more, I think, than we contracted you for. I really appreciated this about you. Your gentle reminders early on about getting started on things. You nearly daily contact with emails as the day drew closer with reminders of every little detail. Your organization – from the binder to the wedding ceremony diagram

After the wedding a few family members mentioned how great you were. My stepmother mentioned that you had such a great persona and genuine way of interacting with people. She had just come from another wedding where the planner was like a drell sergeant. You were able to keep everything together during the event while at the same time winning people's hearts.

I also appreciated how you tracked the spending during the event. As it turned out, we received nearly $3,000 of our deposit back from the location. I was very happy that you watched over things and signed off on the bills at the end of the evening.

Anyhow, if you ever have a potential client that is wondering whether or not to hire you, please give them my number.

Thanks for everything!!
Staci Glovsky
(Staci & Michael's Wedding at The Bel Air Bay Club -- 2002)

6/11/02

Yumi Okazaki served as my wedding coordinator and did an extraordinary job. My wife and I are both in the theater business and have produced plays and so had very specific ideas of what moon we wanted to create for the wedding: one of love, celebration and inclusion. We put a lot of thought and effort into making this event special for us and all of our guests. In doing so we contacted and worked with over a dozen groups and individuals: caterers, location rental, floral designers, 3 musical pieces, a group of dancers, and entertainer for the kids, photographer, videographer, equipment rental, cake, minister etc. etc. etc. We wanted everyone to be happy.

As the wedding date approached the enormous task of following up with all these groups and individuals fell on Yumi's shoulder as my time and my wife's time was taken up with the guests, decorating the space and preparing ourselves for the big day. Yumi was extremely thorough in making sure everyone knew my wife and mine's wishes. She did not hesitate to double-check and even triple-check times of arrivals and agreements with everyone. With Yumi's clarity and precision I knew my wedding was in good hands and could relax. What I really appreciated is that while some of these groups who were taking part in our wedding looked at the event as just another job, Yumi looked at it as the most special day of our lives and treated it with the care and the priority of a wedding. For this I am eternally grateful.

But what I most appreciated was the work above and beyond the call of duty that Yumi performed the day for the wedding. She was constantly, yet discreetly asking if my wife or I needed anything, making sure everyone was on time, she was everywhere yet no one noticed her. I believe it takes a special person of enormous competence and with a great sense of responsibility to do the work she performed. By going above and beyond the call of duty the day of the wedding, Yumi helped enormously make this day a special one, simply because she treated it specially... All the skills, talent and experience anyone might possess pale in comparison to the enthusiasm and care and individual can bring to such and event. Yumi fortunately possessed an abundance experience, enthusiasm and care. Her contribution to our wedding was nothing short of monumental.

Sincerely,
Emmanuel Deleage
(Emmanuel & Josefina's Wedding at Castaways in Burbank -- 2002)

Email from Groom -- October 28, 1999

Hello Yumi –

I just wanted to touch base since we've been back from our honeymoon about 3 weeks. Tahiti was great – very relaxing.

Rose and I want to thank you so much for your help and support with the wedding. You did a great job and made the wedding day so easy for us. We have 10-15 people say it was the best wedding they ever attended and most people said it was great overall.

Hopefully we didn't drive you too nuts. We have some photos we'll send in the next week or so. Hope things are well and let's keep in touch.

Dan and Rose

Dear Yumi,

This thank you is long overdue – we really can't thank you enough for all your help with our wedding day! You really did an incredible job “managing” the day & the rehearsal the day before. We feel everything went very smoothly and having you there really did give us “peace of mind” – and that made a huge difference in that it allowed us to really enjoy the day. And for that we thank you, Yumi.

Anyway, we would love to hear how things are going with you, Danny & the little one… we hope you're doing well & feeling well. When are you due? We've been pretty busy since retuning from our honeymoon – but we're enjoying having our lives get back to normal.
Again, Yumi, thanks again for everything you did to help make our day relaxing & enjoyable!

Fondly,
Rose & Dan
(Wedding at The Bel Air Bay Club – 1999)

October 9, 1998

Dear Yumi,

Thank you so much for everything. We had a beautiful, stress-free wedding and looking back, we both agree that you played a key role making everything run smoothly. At first, we were a little reluctant to have a coordinator – not truly understanding your role and the mountain of details that eluded us. Our brother, Kenny was just married – without a coordinator – and we both noted the difference.

Needless to say, we think you are a very talented coordinator – you are organized, are knowledgeable and most of all, we both felt that you truly cared about making it a special day for us. We will be happy to refer other couples to you – and please feel free to use us as a reference if you should ever need one.

Sincerely,
Roy and Nancy Sumida
(Wedding at Huntington Ritz Carlton, Pasadena – 1998)