Cathy's Elegant Events, LLC

Service levels: Full-service planning

Team size: 5 – 8

About Cathy's Elegant Events, LLC

Cathy's Elegant Events, LLC

Hudson Valley Wedding Planner and Design Company

Cathy founded Cathy's Elegant Events in 2010. Although she was born in NYC, her family moved to the Catskill Mountains at a young age, but they maintained a home in Brooklyn. This allowed her to have a unique upbringing in both Upstate New York and Brooklyn, where many of her relatives still reside. Cathy holds a degree in Mathematics and Statistics.

With over 50 years of wedding planning experience between us, we're a top-notch team in the Hudson Valley, recognized with numerous awards. Our varied backgrounds have equipped us to plan flawlessly and handle unexpected situations with ease and perfection.

Services by planning level

Service included in starting price
Service available for an extra cost
Full-service planningDestination weddingEvent designPartial planning
Description

This is the perfect package if you don't have a lot of free time, would like help and guidance throughout the planning process but would like a professional to handle the details and arrangements. This package will allow you and your fiancee to enjoy the engagement period and put your energy into the fun and exciting part of the planning process. Go ahead, relax, and let us do the heavy lifting.

You can hire us for either Full or Partial Planning + the cost of travel. We would require at least 1 site visit in the immediate future for preparation purposes and then of course the travel required for the wedding itself.

Full Design is included in both our Partial and Full Planning Packages. After your first tour of the Venue, we help with planning and suggest vendors. You can reach us anytime by email, Zoom, phone, or text. We'll meet every two weeks to check progress and plan. We design sketches and 3D models for your wedding. This gives you a preview of key elements. We handle all details, including budget, bookings, and progress.

The ideal package if you have already begun the planning process and/or have flexibility with your schedule. You would like professional assistance with design, vendor referrals, professional wedding advice, staying on schedule and keeping everything organized throughout the planning process but can manage a handful of the bigger ticket items on your own.

Planning begins12 Months out12 Months out12 Months out12 Months out
Event Styling & Design
Budget Planning
Venue Recommendations
Vendor Selection
Vendor Management
Contract Review
Rentals & Linens
Wedding Favors & Accessories
Accommodation Coordination
Transportation Coordination
Venue Visits
Final Venue Walkthrough
Timeline Creation & Management
Onsite Event Management
Wedding Website
Invites & Stationery
PricingStarts at $11,000*Starts at $9,000*Starts at $9,000*Starts at $9,000*

Reviews

Write a review
Rating: 5.0

5.0 out of 5

10 reviews

  • YD

    Yael D.

    Rating: 5
    •Zola
    •Oct 4, 2026

    I genuinely miss wedding planning because of Cathy

    Hiring Cathy was hands down one of the most important and best decisions we made for our entire wedding. She is so much more than a wedding planner. She truly becomes your right-hand woman, and there is no task too big or too small for her. From the very beginning, Cathy had an incredible ability to understand our vision, sometimes before we even fully knew what we wanted ourselves. She listened to every idea, paid attention to every detail, and somehow always knew exactly how to bring everything together. At one point, she literally went to a flea market to find the decor inspiration we had been looking for. When I was having issues with my dress alterations, she had the perfect words and plan to calm me down. She goes so far beyond what you would ever expect from a wedding planner. I can genuinely say that I miss wedding planning because Cathy made the entire experience so enjoyable and positive. Throughout the planning process, she made herself incredibly available and kept us organized and on track without ever making the process feel stressful. She is extremely professional, organized, honest, and fair, and we always felt like we knew exactly what needed to happen next. And then there was the wedding weekend itself. Cathy made sure that my husband and I never had to worry about a thing. If something went wrong, she had already handled it before we even knew it had happened. We were able to be completely present and enjoy every moment because we trusted her so completely. Our guests absolutely loved her and her energy, and our wedding weekend turned out to be more beautiful and special than we ever could have dreamed. It is so evident how much Cathy genuinely loves what she does. This is so much more than a job to her. It is truly her passion, and she pours her heart into every wedding and every couple she works with. She was a math major, which makes perfect sense once you see her spreadsheets and the incredible level of organization she brings to the entire planning process. But beyond how meticulous and organized she is, what makes Cathy so special is how much she genuinely cares. You can feel how personally invested she is in making your wedding everything you dreamed it would be. We truly do not know what we would have done without Cathy. By the end of the process, she felt like so much more than our wedding planner. If you are considering hiring her, do it. Having Cathy by our side was the best investment we made in our wedding, and we could not recommend her more highly.

  • R

    Ria

    Rating: 5
    •Zola
    •Sep 21, 2026

    Cathy's Elegant Events is the Best in the Biz

    Cathy and her team are simply the best - easy to work with, highly organized, efficient, and creative. Our wedding (August 2026) was in a non-traditional space (a theater) and I had a number of ideas I wanted to execute to ensure that my wedding felt like my own. Cathy was on board, asked the right questions, created step-by-step plans so that everything could happen, and also set expectations around what was achievable versus what was a stretch. She took all the headaches of the process out of my hands so I could focus on what was important to me. The wedding itself was smooth sailing. She took care of everything so that my husband and I could be fully present with each other and my guests. (I even had a minor dress mishap, which she fixed *on the spot* with a travel sewing kit she kept on her person!) Cathy and her team go above and beyond while staying warm and welcoming (and often funny)! I felt so cared for throughout the process. For an organized, thoughtful, and enjoyable wedding planning process, choose Cathy!

  • RL

    Ryan L.

    Rating: 5
    •Zola
    •Jun 17, 2026

    No one does it better than Cathy Ballone

    Cathy Ballone is, hands down, the very best of the best. You hear horror stories about some wedding planners, so we went into our own planning journey with low expectations. But working with Cathy makes us want to do the whole thing over again (and again!), because yes, she’s that good. Words cannot convey how fortunate we are to have found Cathy, and that she was willing to take us on with such little notice. Our first venue unexpectedly fell through with only months to spare, and she literally saved the day. We were recommended Cathy’s services while searching for a new venue, and needless to say, our wedding quite literally would not have happened without her incredible professionalism and stellar attention to detail. Hiring Cathy is like having a new best friend who is on call, 24/7, to help you achieve the wedding of your dreams. She’s warm, she’s funny, and she strikes just the right balance between keeping your nerves calm while gently nudging to make sure deadlines are met and vendor agreements are finalized on time. We had weekly planning phone calls in the months leading up to our wedding, which we genuinely miss having. During these calls we ran through a multitude of meticulously organized checklists (that Cathy provides, via Google Drive) which helped to keep everything on track, ensuring that every task item was completed on time and that there was plenty of buffer space in case contingencies arose. But outside of planning, Cathy always took the time on every call to ask how we were doing and how life was going, which was an added personal touch that made the process much more enjoyable and much less formal than you would expect. Additionally, no matter what time of day or where she was, Cathy was available (and promptly replied) to every inquiry and question we had, regardless of how small. This was especially impressive given all the other weddings she was simultaneously planning, and made us feel like our wedding was the only one she was focused on. Very few people on this planet have that kind of energy or knack for high-level multitasking, but Cathy is truly blessed with both. Truly a white-glove service experience. Following our weeks of planning together, we went into our weekend with full confidence — not only that things would go smoothly — but that our vision would be realized. But nothing could prepare us for just how great the weekend went and how beautiful everything turned out to be, from the seamless vendor coordination to the flowers & decor to the venue setup, with all credit going to Cathy (who was equipped with, along with her team, a wireless comms system, not unlike an NFL coaching staff orchestrating your very own Super Bowl). As an added bonus, Cathy – a fan of many things outside of planning, including birding and meteorology – has her own weather forecasting spreadsheet (containing formulas she developed herself!) that kept us calm about the forecast in the days leading up to our date. Her weather predictions ended up being spot on, and even though the official NOAA forecast was calling for rain, it ended up being -- as her spreadsheet had predicted -- a perfect, cloudless, sunny weekend. Talk about going the extra mile! All in all, we cannot more highly recommended Cathy Ballone to anyone looking to plan a wedding in the Hudson Valley area and beyond. No one does it better than her. With Cathy on your team, you are in the best of hands.

  • CS

    Christopher S.

    Rating: 5
    •Zola
    •Dec 23, 2024

    Most Trusted Planner

    I've worked with Cathy at events in New York City and upstate New York, at venues both rustic and elegant. She's so easy to work with: organized, calm, friendly, prepared, impossible to ruffle. When I work with her, I just feel like I'm working with a great friend. She has such profound maturity and cheer - she's perfect for the wedding industry, which requires a steady hand for nervous couples. She is the best and I am always excited to work with her!

  • GM

    Garrett M.

    Rating: 5
    •Zola
    •Dec 23, 2024

    Outstanding NY Wedding Planner

    Working with Cathy and her team is thoroughly a joy. Before the wedding day, she is extremely thorough, responsive, and clear in her communications which makes the wedding day itself a total breeze. I have worked with her through torrential downpours, managing venue flooding and making large adjustments on the fly - all with a smile on her face and a positive attitude. She is willing to put in the work to ensure the best possible wedding experience for her couples even in the face of inclement conditions. Beyond her work ethic is her attention to detail. Cathy cuts no corners when it comes to accomplishing your vision. From managing your vendor team to your reception styling and more, her industry expertise helps bring all of your wedding elements into a cohesive, flowing event that represents you. Make no mistake, Cathy is one of the best in the biz and worth every single penny. This is your sign to book her now!

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