I would recommend Kia/ ESTOccasions to any bride or individual holding an event out there. Her prior reviews are certainly in keeping with her friendly demeanor and professional attitude. I am recently married, but would not hesitate to contact her again for future events. I began my wedding planning with Kia about a month after I became engaged. A long story short, I very quickly found out that I was in over my head for the wedding planning process. We hoped to fashion a small, backyard-feel for a wedding but still maintain the intimacy and decorum of an actual wedding. Given the demands of our family/ guests/ our needs and my work schedule, I knew I needed help. I first came to Kia having interviewed a few other wedding planners. I have nothing negative to say about them, but what made Kia stick out to me was her well-honed sense of can-do, humor, lightheartedness, and an impressive automatic draw of inspiration and ideas. While professionalism is key (she definitely is), Kia immediately understood what I was hoping to achieve with my ceremony and slowly sifted through and relieved my every anxiety, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. I knew then that I wanted to work with her. Through a combination of my naiveté and inexperience, there were of course some bumps in the road. (In all honesty though I think this would apply in everyone’s case, period.) I have an exceptionally demanding work schedule, and on top of this I was required to be out of town for the six weeks prior to my wedding. With the exception of a few weekends before, this left little time for miscommunication or errors. Luckily I need not worry as Kia had already considered the MANY “loose ends” and had planned for them. Communication with vendors was completed and things were done, all before I had a chance to ask about them (much less time to think about them). I cannot say how thankful I am that she did this, especially during such an incredibly stressful time on multiple fronts for me. My husband is also eternally grateful to her as she found a way to incorporate homebrew into our wedding. (This was my main obstacle when I first thought I could do this myself.) Luckily, she works with another wonderful vendor (Lizzie’s catering), and the duo was more than accommodating to his wants and wishes. Kia was more than successful in designing an intimate wedding with a backyard feel. She (and her really, really awesome team!!!) transformed the venue into a very cozy, inviting, and Southern space that perfectly reflected who me and my husband are. Considering that I gave her next to nothing (other than “we want our homebrews and nothing fancy please”), I was amazed at how perfectly she captured our vision. Though decorations and such are very important, what was more impressive to me is the fact that Kia is an absolute professional mama bear for her clients. We had a few hiccups the day of that were completely unforeseen and had nothing to do with the planning process – she handled it like the true expert she is. When we were dealing with the “aftermath” of this event, she stayed in touch with us and offered her advice. With her assistance we reached a positive resolution – to me, this is above and beyond the call she signed up for. If you choose work with her and communicate your needs clearly, you will not be disappointed. Unfortunately, she is not a mind reader, but in my humble opinion she came pretty darn close.

Kia and her staff are just fabulous. We hired them for day of coordination. Kia has a way to make you calm when you are not. She will email or call to check on you. Answer any questions that you may have. She also helps stomp out any issues that may arise. They are worth every penny that you spend and so much more. I would recommend her for any event. Love her.

Everything I needed and more Wow! Estoccasions is INCREDIBLE!!!! I can't say enough about just how happy we were with the final outcome of my gorgeous wedding! My mother and I went into the wedding planning without a clue as to where to begin, We were in way over our heads! We met Kia at a wedding show in new london, and fell in love. The first question she asked was "How do you envision your wedding?". My mother and I didn’t even have an answer to that. She talked to me about what I loved and liked, showing me what was possible. From the word GO, Kia was "spot on" with answering any questions we had and getting us on track for planning everything from the ground up at that first meeting (while keeping budget in mind). She brought up things we didn't even know would have been issues if we tried this ourselves -- The greatest part about working with estoccasions was their sense of humor! This is what made things click for my mom and I, and we SO loved being able to joke around with her while everything kept moving along with ease and style. Honestly, if there was something that went wrong, we didn't know about it and everything was taken care of behind the curtians. My family and friends were able to enjoy themselves without having to work my wedding because Kia had it all figured out.

Day of BLISS! Kia of Estoccasions is a fabulous wedding planner! I hired her for the day of service. My wedding was entirely done by my friends and I, and I took care of all contracting, little craft projects, and arranging everything before the event. However, Kia was on top if it all, and easily took the reins of the wedding so that I could enjoy it, rather than me running around placing centerpieces or calling the baker to see where the cake was. I was able to just focus on the day, my friends, and my husband. She helped decorate the venue to my needs and wishes, ran the ceremony and reception, took care of final payments, and I'm sure did a million other things that I (thankfully) am not aware of because I was enjoying my day! If you are a bride that has dreamed of doing all this yourself, Kia is the perfect finishing touch to your wedding - you take care of all the details, and let her make sure they're all put together so you can enjoy all the work you've put into it. I always recommend her to all of my friends that are getting engaged needing help coordinating the whole thing!

Day of BLISS! Kia of Estoccasions is a fabulous wedding planner! I hired her for the day of service. My wedding was entirely done by my friends and I, and I took care of all contracting, little craft projects, and arranging everything before the event. However, Kia was on top if it all, and easily took the reins of the wedding so that I could enjoy it, rather than me running around placing centerpieces or calling the baker to see where the cake was. I was able to just focus on the day, my friends, and my husband. She helped decorate the venue to my needs and wishes, ran the ceremony and reception, took care of final payments, and I'm sure did a million other things that I (thankfully) am not aware of because I was enjoying my day! If you are a bride that has dreamed of doing all this yourself, Kia is the perfect finishing touch to your wedding - you take care of all the details, and let her make sure they're all put together so you can enjoy all the work you've put into it. I always recommend her to all of my friends that are getting engaged needing help coordinating the whole thing!

perfect night My new husband and I found Kia and estoccasions online because half way through planning oir wedding. Both of us work over 40 hours a week and planning this became a pain. Everyone was pulling in different directions, my mom, the vendors, my sister. Everyone wanted us to something different and I was a wreak. Kia listened to us and gave everyone involved a plan to make our wedding what we wanted and took so much stress off my shoulders! Our night went so smooth I felt like a VIP! Everything we wanted was there and and I almost had tears of joy! My mom fought me about hiring a.planner, she even hugged Kia and thanked her at the end of the night I'll never beable to express my thanks to estoccasions enough

Vineyard Love ~I can not say enough wonderful things about Kia and ESTOccasions. My husband was VERY hesitant about hiring (paying) a wedding planner because he is very frugal. The budget he set for us was a lot smaller than I expected, and since we were paying for most of it on our own, I had to adjust some expectations. I wanted an eco-friendly wedding - or as much as I could get with the budget we had. (I hate talking about money, but I can tell you, our budget was less than half of the CT average. Very hard to do a full blown organic wedding on that. . . .) We looked at some venues, we looked at some caterers, we looked online for all sorts of ideas. Nothing matched my vision and still fit in our budget. I had met Kia at the CT Bridal Event at UCONN, Storrs, CT, and really liked her. So, I pulled out my bag of cards from the event and sent her an email. We talked and eventually I convinced my husband to at least meet with her. We could just hire her for day-of-coordination to make sure everything ran smoothly. Well, that was my pitch anyway, and he agreed. After the first meeting, I was in, and so was he. We decided to hire her for full blown wedding planning! She told us (and showed us) that we could have a beautiful, elegant wedding on our budget, and still incorporate as many eco-friendly things as we wanted. She met with me regularly and was always available to me by email, and sometimes by text. I had a unique situation - all three of my bridal attendants were pregnant at some point during the engagement. On top of that, my matron of honor had dated the brother of my next in line gal, and the third gal married that same brother. These are my best friends, but since my MOH lives in Buffalo NY, the awkwardness was never a problem - until I decided to have them all in my wedding party. Kia was invaluable in helping me navigate this situation, and I counted on her to step in and take over if I needed her too. Luckily, her advice was perfect, and we managed to get these ladies together without any issues. They actually ended up as friends. . . . go figure! Besides that, my mother-in-law was gunning for a town hall wedding, and my mother was looking for a big-ole-princess wedding. Kia helped us balance these two very different ideas with a medium sized wedding at some fabulously local venues. My husband also had his heart set on getting married at a local winery (church was absolutely out of the question for him) and we were unable to get much information from the owner. Kia was able to get in touch with the owners, negotiate a contract, and give us a beautiful outdoor wedding. Any time there was a conflict or question about this venue, I called Kia and she took care of it. She helped us find a local florist that gave me EXACTLY the kind of look I wanted at the perfect price. Our ceremony was beautiful and we got exactly what we wanted. She also set up interviews with several different caterers that focus on local food, which was great. We selected one who lives in the same town as the ceremony venue and who also has worked at UCONN and with the Alumni Center many many times. The food was great. My biggest challenge was finding supplies - plates, utensils, etc. so Kia helped us coordinate that as well. Another big challenge we had was finding invitations that were eco-friendly but still budget friendly. All of the recycled paper or paper alternatives were WAY out of our budget, and the invitations that we could afford were a complete waste of paper products. Kia found a solution to that too - she created a new division of ESTOccasions! Now ESTOprints can meet all sorts of print needs for all of their clients! The graphic designer and Kia really nailed down our theme and colors and we got beautiful postcard invitations that really captured our style. Another amazing thing Kia did for me was come to a dress fitting. My mom couldn't make it because she had to work late, my friends couldn't come because they had infants or were on bedrest. I asked her I think THAT DAY and she came. It was just nice to have someone else ooh and ahh over me for a minute, and it gave her an idea of my style once again. I tried not to call her for every little thing, but Kia was truly available to me at every turn. Oh yeah, and she helped me find a hair dresser who does a great job with my crazy hair. I have been so happy with her that I decided to keep her as my regular hair stylist! I can tell you that I didn't stress about the wedding really at all. And anytime I would start to worry about something, I'd tell Kia, and she'd take over and fix it or give me some great ideas to try myself. The ceremony was perfect, the reception was beautiful, and she managed to coordinate different vendors - some she knew and some she'd never met - into the most wonderful day. We have gotten a ton of compliments on our party and I just keep telling people that it was all Kia and her crew. I could've had a wedding without them, but it would NOT have been what I wanted, nor would it have been so beautiful, and so simply elegant. Really. There is a picture collage of my wedding on the website, and I put a review on her FaceBook page too. I know this is a lot of information, but I truly truly loved what Kia did for us. It really was my perfect fairy-tale wedding, and we did it on a budget AND I got to have a boat-load of eco-friendly options incorporated. If you decide to go with Kia and ESTOccasions, I'm sure you will be pleased.

Simply the best We hired Kia for our Big Day almost 2 years ago. She took on this project, listened to our ideas, and executed every dream and wish that we could have had. She made us a custom Cake stand, and a Custom Card box! They were so creative and one of a kind, you will never see another one anywhere! She was there for me when I needed to talk ALL the time, weather it was via facebook, email, text or phone...she was ALWAYS available! The grooms cake went missing the day before the wedding, and by the morning she had it figured out. She is absolutely fantastic in all that she does. The day of the Wedding, she was EVERYWHERE, running back and forth, getting us drinks smuggled out to the Boardwalk, or getting us food...She always kept us ON schedule, told us what was coming next, and also let our guests know what to do. At one point she was even running out side, with no shoes on...We loved her so much, definately worth every cent. And she will forever hold a special place in our hearts and in our memories!

WONDERFUL!!! I can not thank Kia enough for all of her talented work. She not only listened to my ideas but created pieced for the wedding based on these ideas. I would absolutely recommend her.

Loved it I dreamed of my wedding my whole life. I thought it would be easy & fun to plan. It was for awhile & then I felt overwhelmed. I knew what i wanted but wasnt sure if the price was right or if i could have better. My friend recommended Kia. She was able to make my dreams & along with things that I didn't even think about come true. She was always on top of things & never bothered to answer a question or seven of them for me. Thank you for making us laugh & making the whole process fun again.

Best Decision I Made! The best decision I made in planning my wedding was to hire Kia from ESTOccasions!! I was a very hands-on bride and did most of the details myself, but did not want to have to worry about getting bogged down in planning/coordinating details the week of my wedding. I made the decision to hire a wedding planner a couple months before my wedding and was skeptical as to whether it was something I really needed to spend the extra money on. Kia was EXACTLY what I was looking for and I'm so glad I came across her company and cannot sing her praises enough!! She was perfect - she has a great demeanor and was calm and not pushy at all...just made sure that everything came together, and let me and my family relax and enjoy our big day! My family couldn't have been happier with everything she coordinated and made happen! She was extremely helpful with some last-minute questions I had the week of the wedding, went out of the way to help us, gave me some great decorating and timeline ideas, and was just incredibly professional and detail-oriented! My family and I still can't stop talking about her and how she helped make sure our day went off without a hitch! Whether you need day/week of help with your wedding, or someone there with you for the long-haul, Kia and ESTOccasions are true professionals and know exactly what it takes to pull of every detail of a successful party! I would 100% recommend them!

Could not have been better! I was pleasantly surprised with ESTOccasions and simply cannot say enough of how happy I was with the services Kia and company provided. Planning a same-sex wedding was filled with difficulty, and Kia was able to be an invaluable help in creating our own rules so that we could have the fun but classic wedding that we were going for. Every person we dealt with had an excellent, friendly manner, and were able to avoid many of the heterosexist mistakes that other businesses made, such as asking who the bride was and where we were ordering the dress. The menu that ESTOccasions helped us create was nothing less than perfect, and the favors that they helped us put together could not have been more perfect. Thank you, Kia, Jess, and everyone else involved!

A Wedding Planner makes all the difference Estoccasions and Kia gave me the absolute wedding of my dreams. It was perfection from the moment it started to the moment it ended. With my long hours and high pressure job I didn't have a spare moment to plan my own wedding. I knew however, exactly what I wanted in my mind. I called Kia and told her how I envisioned my special day and asked if she could accomodate a destination wedding. Kia was up for the adventure and rose to the occasion. My wedding was taking place at the beach with a cocktail reception to follow. I basically told Kia I wanted the decor to be a beach theme with passed hors d'oeuvres and cockails. I gave her free reign to take it from there. Being the professional expert Kia is she came up with recommendations that had not even occured to me that I should have and needed to have such as a canopy for the beach to keep sunlight out of our eyes and to keep us cool, chairs on the sand for our guests, a refreshing signature beach cocktail and amazing decorations and unique cocktail foods. She handled every last detail from my invitations to decorating to setting up and tearing down. She was on hand the entire time to make sure everything went smoothly and on the day of my beautiful beach wedding when there was a high wind advisory Kia was calm under pressure and kept everything under control, including my nerves, so that everything ran smoothly without a glitch. Needless to say I was not disappointed. When I walked into my own wedding it was beyond my wildest imagination. She took everything I asked for and turned it into a fairytale. There is not one single thing I would change. My family and friends are still raving about the most beautiful wedding they have ever been too! One of my best friends swears that when she finds her Prince Charming she will be calling Kia to make her dreams come true too. Please do not let me forget that all of this was done under my budget and looked like it cost a million dollars. Actually it was priceless. Thank you Kia and Estoccasions for giving me memories of a lifetime. Tracy Rostanzo

30th Birthday of my Dreams! After a debate about my 30th birthday party, and a recommendation from a friend, I contacted ESTOccasions for a free consultation. I explained what I wanted for a party, and Kia took over from there. She was absolutely amazing. She handled the venue, the invitations, all of the details. She dealt with the family drama, a complete change in party theme at the last minute, and helped with all of the questions without breaking a sweat. When I needed a cake, she knew who to send me to. When I needed a photographer, she knew who to send me to. When I needed a DRESS, she knew where to send me! I could not have asked for a better experience, and I look forward to working with her again! My 30th birthday was the party of my dreams, and it was all thanks to ESTOccasions!

Speeding We knew from day one we were going to need a planner. We interviewed as many as we could and knew that Kia was the match. She listended to our vision and plan and gave us a price that was perfect. We thought we would be working with ESTOccasions for close to a year but sadly things changed. Due to some family medical issues, getting married sooner was going to be more important than the big huge wedding we wanted at first. I can't express enough how thankful I was to have Kia working for us. She jumped into action and pulled as much together as she could for us in just a few days. It ended up being more than I could have dreamed of, and while all of our friends weren't able to share this important day with us, we now have memories last us a lifetime. Thank you ESTOccasions for pulling together a wedding and a life long marriage in speedy fashion. We will be coming to you when we plan our 5 year anniversary party.

Perfect Day! I used ESTOccasions to plan my seaside wedding in Southern RI in November 2005. My work schedule is very inflexible, and Kia was extremely helpful in taking care of all the details I needed because I was unavailable to meet with vendors. My venue required outside vendors for everything- food, tables and chairs, etc., and Kia's help was invaluable in contacting, meeting with, and selecting a caterer, rental company, florist, and everything else that was needed. My Sunday brunch wedding was absolutely beautiful- everything was perfectly arranged from the centerpieces to the buffet table, the transition from ceremony to reception was seamless, and guests still tell me what an amazing wedding it was! I tell them I can't really take credit, all I did was show up! I found it extremely easy to work with Kia; she was always accessible whenever I had a question or wanted to make a change, she took every problem in stride and didn't get flustered or let me get stressed out. I would absolutely recommend ESTOccasions for planning a wedding. I can't imagine how frustrating and stressful it would have been without their help!

thank you I have used ESTOccasions for many of my special occasions. My daughter's wedding was 02/14/09 and it was the best day in our families life. Kia was able to provide us with the wedding of our daughter's dreams while staying within our budget. I loved her idea's and how she was able to pull everything together. Kia was quick to respond to all of our needs small or big, always returned our phone calls, texts, and e-mails very quickly. Our lives are very hectic and we are always on the go. It was wonderful to know that someone was working for us and looking out for us with such care. I am looking forward to having her plan our other children's wedding's. 1 down and 4 to go.

ESTOccasions was AMAZING I can't say enough wonderful things about ESTOccasions! They made my wedding day a dream come true! Kia was always there to answer my questions, she was reliable, knowledgeable, and was able to make me relax and actually ENJOY the day. Having ESTOccasions help me out was WORTH EVERY PENNY!! I didn't know how much went into actually planning a wedding, and ESTOccasions made it easy and fun. I don't think that the wedding would have come together as easily, or been as stress free for me without ESTOccasion's services!

ESTOccasions is awesome Kia did a wonderful job planning our May 25, 2008 beachside wedding. Without all her help before, during and after the wedding I would of went insane. I didn't have to worry about anything wedding related the day of the wedding, Kia took care of it all. Having her there made my wedding stress free. And I was able to spend all my time with my husband, family and friends. Kia is such a great wedding planner and a great person to know. You won't regret hiring her for your event, I promise.

Perfect With the help of ESTOccasions we were able to have everything we wanted and more, plus we stayed on budget. That rocked! Thanks again and I know we will be using her again for any type of event we need planned. I'm thinking baby shower in about a year. Thanks.