I am a travel-addicted, coffee drinking, plane catching junkie with a love for planning and creating new experiences. My personality is EXTRRA sarcastic, I speak directly & am a sucker for a good love story.
I was born & raised in Northern California, called the bay area home for over 20 years and have planted my roots in the Napa Valley. I'm a city girl living in a small (ish)town, & I never say no to an adventure. If i'm being honest, nothing gets me more excited than experiencing something or somewhere new (Hence why i'm literally down to travel anywhere to plan your wedding!!)
I'm 29 years young & and living my very best life with my best friend & my 2 love bug pups. As of May 2023, I planed my first destination wedding, that just so happened to be my own!
Hometown Gatherings was created to be a safe space for couples when seeking guidance after getting engaged. It's important to me, when working with my forever new friends (that’s you!), that they feel 100% comfortable, confident & at ease walking into their wedding.
I'm here to help you navigate through the messy, fun & real wedding planning experiences. I'm not joking when I say, this is about to be your best adventure yet & I can't wait to be a part of your wedding planning journey!
Nomatter where your wedding takes you, you should always feel at home
hello hello!
Im a wedding planner based in California & I'm always in the mood to travel
Dark chocolate + Cookies
MARRIED MAY 2023!!!
mama of 2 doggos
black ice coffee addict
christmas is my holiday!
avid traveller
5 fun facts about me!
FIG | Images from my past travels
Kate + Alex
Hiring Marissa As Our Planner Was One Of The Best Decisions We Made For Our Wedding! We Worked With Marissa In The Last Months Leading Up To Our Wedding Weekend To Bring Her Up To Speed On All Our Plans And Help Firm Up Final Details. We Were So Impressed With How Marissa Seamlessly Integrated With Both The Staff At Our Venue And Worked With Each Of The Vendors. She Is A Natural And Confident Leader, But Also Quickly Jumped In To Assist Whenever Someone Across The Wedding Team Needed An Extra Hand. Overall, She Is Fantastic.
Jessica + Roy
Marissa Was The Best To Work With! I Hired Her As A Month Before/ Day Of Coordinator For My Wedding In San Diego, CA And It Was The Best Decision! We Had A Few Follow Up Calls From The Day I Hired Her Leading Up To My Wedding And Then The Month Before We Had Weekly Check Ins. She Was Accessible And Easy To Work With. She Is The Reason I Was Able To Genuinely Enjoy My Day And Not Stress About Anything. She Made My Vision Come To Life And Everything Went Better Than I Could Have Imagined. She Made Sure Vendors Were Where They Needed To Be And When They Needed To Be And If Anything Did Go Wrong I Had No Knowledge Of It Because To Me She Made It Seem Like The Most Perfect Day. If You Are Looking To Hire Someone I Couldn’t Think Of Anyone Better Than Marissa!
Sang + Alec
Marissa Is Amazing. An Absolute Pro Start To Finish. Our Wedding Was Perfect And Had The Perfect Flow. Some Minor Changes Happened During The Event And Marissa Set It All Into Place Seamlessly. She Was Such A Great Guide As Well. We've Never Done This Before And We Needed Someone To Help And Add Clarity To Some Decisions And She Was There For It. We Hired Her For The 3 Months Plus Day Off And It Was A Key Investment. No Way We Could Have Done It Without Her. She Was Instrumental In Making The Best Day Of Our Lives Come True. It's Actually Kind Of Crazy And Just Silly Luck That My Wife Just Found Her Online. Marissa Rocks! If In Doubt Just Interview Her And You'll Get It.
let's add your destination wedding to my story!
fully prepared to make your moments effortless
I officially celebrated 1 year as a Biz owner! It wasn't easy but the rewards have been unlike anything I have ever experienced. This business has taken me all over California to plan amazing intimate weddings.
Hometown Gatherings was created with the sole intent of helping those out of the box lovers, the risk takers and couples who thrive on authentically bringing their wildest and most daring wedding dreams to life.
1 YEAR IN BUSINESS
& BECAME A MRS, IM ENGAGED!
I still remember the day I decided to make this life a reality. I was 30,000 ft above sea level (obviously traveling!) & headed out on my next adventure. It was on that airplane that I felt the overwhelming amount of confidence I needed to make my own dreams come true.
While doing what I love most the concept behind HOMETOWN GATHERINGS was created. This was in March of 2020 & a few short months later, the business was a done deal!
CREATED HOMETOWN GATHERINGS
After finding my strengths running events, I moved to Napa, CA to work as an event operations manager. I spent almost 1 year in this position before covid hit and I lost my job. During my 'covid vacation' I experienced A LOT of personal loss, and knew I had to reevaluate my life and more specifically, my career. I can remember sitting down making a list of MUST haves & items I wouldn't compromise on when moving forward in my life. It sounded simple but I knew finding this 'magical' position would take time.