Kimberly Allera has orchestrated more than 200 weddings in her career. Allera, who lives in the Parker Gardens neighborhood, owns Olive & Rose Events, an event planning business that primarily caters to weddings.

“Probably 90 percent of what we do is weddings,” explained Allera. “though we’ve done birthday parties, anniversary parties, graduations, bar and bat mitzvahs.”

With a bachelor’s degree in fashion merchandising and a master’s in business administration, Allera worked full time in marketing and part time with local event planners before opening her own business eight years ago.

As Olive & Rose continues to grow, Allera hopes to expand her staff and the types of events they provide. “The bulk of what we do is weddings, [but] I’d love to get into more corporate, or parties, or different things that expand a little bit on what we do outside of the wedding world.”

Olive & Rose specializes in clean design, which means all the elements of a wedding from florals to signage are thought out and purposeful. No wedding is the same — they work with couples to create a unique, one-of-a-kind celebration.

For Paige Weiland, who lived in Mt. Lebanon at the time of her wedding, that meant a winter event with crisp white flowers, a ceremony in St. Paul’s Cathedral and reception at the Fairmont Hotel downtown. She first learned of Olive & Rose a few years prior when she was a graduate student looking for extra work. Weiland helped Allera as a day-of assistant for several weddings and knew that’s who she wanted to work with for her own big day.

“I’m a very Type A person and I like to have control of things — especially my wedding — so it speaks a lot to the fact that I let go of everything and I put it all in her hands, which is a rare thing for me to do,” Weiland said. “She knows what’s best and she does a really great job.”

At Olive & Rose, couples can choose from three levels of service: full service, partial planning or month-of coordination. Weiland chose month-of coordination. “Because I had previous experience with weddings, I knew that I could get us to a certain point. But very close to the event, I knew we would want someone dedicated who could take things over so that we could just enjoy it,” Weiland said.

Allera especially loves working with couples who have inspirations and ideas but are also open to trying new things. It’s all about “making their day one-of-a kind,” she said.

One unique wedding Allera planned in Mt. Lebanon took place in the backyard of a Sunset Hills home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ashley Snopko got engaged to Adam in 2019 and they planned their wedding at The Priory Hotel on the North Shore. The day the couple closed on their new Rock Springs Road home was the day lockdown started in Allegheny County, which meant holding their wedding at a venue in the county was no longer an option.

They reached out to event planners for a backup plan and connected with Allera. “She was just such a light in the dark time for us, and just such a positive force and very reassuring that we would be able to pull this off. It felt like a monumental undertaking,” said Snopko.

Before the pandemic, they planned to have a 250-person wedding. Once the venue shifted to their backyard, they pared down the guest list to 52. Allera coordinated the venue change, backyard tent, professional lighting, dance floor and vendors to transform Snopko’s backyard into a wedding space.

“Initially we were like ‘Well, we’ll just do this in our backyard and then once COVID is over we’ll throw a real wedding reception.’ But [Allera] and her team made it feel so intimate and special,” said Snopko. “It felt like a real wedding reception. It was just so dreamy, so magical, and we were so happy with it.”

For more information on Olive & Rose Events, visit oliveroseevents.com or check out their Instagram @oliveroseevents.