Today we’d like to introduce you to Lia Adams.
Hi Lia, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started working in hospitality fresh out of high school, and my introduction to weddings came through a coworker who connected me with Heidi Sebok of Coastside Couture. Heidi had been a food and beverage manager at a local venue and was ready to launch her own wedding planning company. She brought me along as her right-hand woman, and we got to work.
We canvassed what we called “wedding row”—Carmel Valley Road—and made our way from San Francisco down to Big Sur, handing out brochures, introducing ourselves, and building relationships. It was very old-school, boots-on-the-ground business building. We also immersed ourselves in learning, attending conferences, mixers, and anything wedding-related we could get into. By our second year, we had a full calendar of luxury weddings.
I stayed by Heidi’s side for five years. When she moved to Carmel, I stayed in Santa Cruz and followed a growing passion for cooking and private chef work. Heidi remains a friend and mentor to this day, and I’m so grateful for everything I learned from her. Those early years gave me a foundation that I still draw on in my work.
My interest in cooking led me into catering management, so I remained very much in the event world, just on the food side. In 2010, I moved to Nashville for a short time. That experience changed my understanding of hospitality. There was a warmth and generosity in how people welcomed and cared for others that really stayed with me. I brought that home to Santa Cruz knowing I wanted it to be part of whatever I did next.
The years that followed weren’t a straight line. I continued taking weddings through word of mouth, worked part-time in a restaurant, and pursued cooking and events while helping raise my nephew and caring for my father, who needed significant support after brain tumor surgery. In 2011, I also briefly ran a catering business called Together We Eat. I loved it, but running the business required so much planning that I had less time for the cooking that had drawn me to it in the first place.
In 2016, I founded Lia Adams Events. Initially, the business focused on event staffing, providing extra support to caterers, planners, and couples while I continued building my own planning clientele. Slowly, the planning side grew until I was able to make it my full focus.
Today, I lead a boutique wedding planning and design company rooted in all of those experiences. I understand weddings from several angles: the planning, the kitchen, the service, and the people working behind the scenes. I love creating a beautiful celebration, but I care just as much about how people feel throughout it—welcomed, cared for, and able to enjoy themselves.
It has taken years of hard work and a few detours to get here, but each chapter has shaped the planner I am today.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t been a straight or entirely smooth road. There were years when growing a business had to fit around what my family needed from me. I was helping raise my nephew and caring for my father after a catastrophic surgical accident, while working part-time in a restaurant and taking cooking and event work on the side. There wasn’t always room to pursue every opportunity, and the business grew gradually.
Another part of the process was figuring out where I wanted to put my energy. I loved cooking, catering, and weddings, and I explored all of those directions. When I briefly ran my own catering business, Together We Eat, I found that so much of my time went into planning and running the business that I had less time for the cooking itself. Loving something and building a business around it can be two very different experiences.
Lia Adams Events also evolved over time. I started with event staffing, supporting other caterers and planners while continuing to build my own planning clientele through word of mouth. Moving fully into wedding planning happened slowly, through years of work and relationships, rather than one big leap.
As the business grew, one of the harder experiences was feeling betrayed by someone I trusted within it. When you’ve spent years building relationships and putting your name behind your work, that kind of disappointment feels personal as well as professional. It made me think much more carefully about boundaries, expectations, and protecting what I had worked so hard to build. I still want to be generous with opportunities and supportive of the people I work with. Learning how to do that while also looking out for myself and my business has been a difficult but important part of becoming a business owner.
Looking back, each chapter taught me something different—about caring for people, knowing where to put my energy, and trusting my own judgment. I’m proud of what I’ve built, especially knowing everything that happened along the way.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a business owner, a wedding planner, and a creative, and my work draws on all three every day. Through Lia Adams Events, I help couples bring together the design, logistics, and hospitality that make a wedding feel personal and thoughtfully planned.
The creative side is about getting to know people and translating what matters to them into a celebration. That includes the visual details, but also the atmosphere, the flow of the day, and how they want their guests to feel. I want each wedding to reflect the people getting married—their taste, their relationships, and their idea of a really good time.
The planning side gives those ideas a practical foundation. Behind every beautiful setup are budgets, timelines, vendor conversations, and hundreds of small decisions. My background in catering, service, and event staffing helps me understand what each team needs to do its best work and how those pieces fit together.
Then there’s the human side, which is a huge part of what I do. Planning a wedding can bring a lot of opinions, expectations, and unfamiliar decisions. I bring clear guidance, honest conversations, and a calm presence so couples feel supported and can actually enjoy the process.
What I’m most proud of is building a business where creativity and care carry equal weight. I want our weddings to be beautiful, absolutely, but I also want the couple to feel like themselves, their families to feel looked after, and the vendor team to feel respected. To me, that’s what makes an event successful.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I would say being able to read people and anticipate what they need. So much of hospitality comes down to paying attention—listening closely, noticing when someone feels overwhelmed, and knowing when to offer guidance or simply give them room to think.
In wedding planning, that helps me understand what matters most to a couple and where they need support. Sometimes they need a creative idea, sometimes they need an honest opinion, and sometimes they just need someone to say, “I’ve got this,” and follow through.
My years in food, service, and events taught me to look beyond my own task list and notice the whole room. That awareness helps me care for my clients while also supporting the people working alongside me. A wedding takes a team, and how you treat that team matters.
Ultimately, I think my success comes from making people feel cared for and backing that up with preparation and follow-through. Being trusted with such an important day means a lot to me, and I take that responsibility personally.
Pricing:
- We offer several levels of support, from wedding coordination to full-service planning and design. Pricing is tailored to the scope of the celebration, the planning support needed, and any additional events. We begin with a complimentary consultation to learn about your plans and recommend the right level of support. Visit liaadamsevents.com for current offerings and to connect with us.
- Signatue Planning starts at $7500
Contact Info:
- Website: https://liaadamsevents.com
- Instagram: @liaadamsevents
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liaadamsevents
