Highest praise for Anika Kai Events and the lovely Anika herself! I hired Anika for day-of wedding…read morecoordination and she did that and so much more. Anika helped me think through every nuance of the big day and, along with help from her staff, orchestrated the event flawlessly. Anika did not miss a single detail that we discussed and executed everything perfectly. She also came prepared with the most well-equipped "bridal emergency kit" ever and saved my bridal booty on several occasions with bandaids (those hot pink satin kate spades looked so innocent...), bobby pins, scissors, a brand new deodorant (whoops...).... the works! In addition to pulling off the wedding coordination with total perfection, Anika was also a pleasure to work with - for us and all of our vendors. Many thanks to the lovely Anika and all the folks at Anika Kai Events!!

We purchased the "Glitz and Glamour" package from AnikaKai Events for our November wedding. The…read morelovely Anika was our primary wedding planner and this package was worth every cent! Not only was every service provided, but AnikaKai Events went over and beyond to assure that our day was unique and flawless. Anika is thee "Event Coach", she provided clear direction and vision that was custom for my husband and I. When we hired Anika, all we had was a date and venue for our ceremony. We were overwhelmed with the choices of reception venues and all that comes along with the planning process. Anika gave us a game plan and we completed each phase within the given timeframe. Anika turned dreams into reality. Everything was more than we could have imagined. The standard of excellence wasn't applied solely to our wedding, but our engagement shoot was featured on media sites such as essence.com. The anticipation for my big day was the talk of the town because of her strategic marketing plans. Not only was the anticipation there, but no guest was disappointed by the day. The wedding day was nothing short of AMAZING! Anika orchestrated an amazing event down to the smallest detail. Every vendor she recommend was a pleasure to work with. The collaboration between her vision and the vendors talents, took our wedding to the next level. As we reflect on our wedding day almost a year later, we are extremely satisfied to have utilized the services of AnikaKai Events. Anika and her staff created a lasting memory for all in attendance. Our only regret is that we didn't hire her sooner.

Jenn Ganson saved my life! My daughter and I were planning her wedding together, then Covid arrived…read more(no further explanation needed...). I was working with BOKA Group and Viceroy Hotel-Chicago. At some point in 2020 the relationship between the 2 entities was severed. I was left with a very inexperienced manager(Viceroy)who was not capable of managing the details of our upcoming event. I retained Jenn(A Fresh Event)after a disastrous menu tasting along with countless questions unanswered. It was bad! Not a good experience at the venue. Jenn to the rescue! This fabulous person was able to take over the task of managing the hotel, coordinate all my vendors and create timelines to keep all on task. Jenn's communication style is beyond timely! She answers emails within minutes of hitting "send". I was always in awe of her responsiveness. My first encounter with Jenn was via telephone. I knew immediately she was the one. Jenn is one of the most detail oriented, responsive, self motivated, smart and creative person I have ever worked with. Jenn delivers on all her commitments and DOES WHAT SHE SAYS! Jenn's integrity is remarkable and admirable. NOT hiring A Fresh Event would be a mistake! Look no further, hire the best, A Fresh Event.

Hiring AFE was one of the most superior decisions my husband & I made for our wedding day. We…read moreplanned a pseudo destination wedding in Chicago this past spring, and we knew early on that we wanted a coordinator involved in our planning process. After reading such positive reviews (future couples, I hope this helps!) it was clear that AFE was our dream team. We were paired with Rachel as our main coordinator, and enjoyed our monthly calls and AFE's planning tools to really keep us on track. As the wedding inched closer, we unironically started calling Rachel our fairy godmother, because there really is no other way to describe how she helped us. There was not a single call, text, or 7th email of the day that Rachel so much as batted an eye at. I never knew that I would be SO calm on my wedding day, because I never imagined that every minute detail would truly be accounted for; Rachel made this our reality. As my friends continue to get engaged, my first advice is always to "find their Rachel". We will forever be Rachel & AFE's #1 fans!

I worked with Tiffany as my day of coordinator for my wedding on 4/6/13 and she was absolutely…read morePHENOMENAL. We started working with Tiffany about 6 weeks out, and looking back, I truly didn't realize just how much I needed her. Tiffany was the most amazing and heartfelt person to work with. Everything she did up to the day was incredible, and the day of... words do not describe. Our wedding was A LOT to deal with, coordinating a concert venue, caterer, two bands, a soloist, a DJ and all the other regular things: speeches, cake cutting and the like. Needless to say, I was needy. Tiffany was amazingly responsive, attentive and completely flexible. I cannot more highly recommend the services of Soiree. I fancy myself a coordinator and hesitated on hiring someone (budget and what not) but I am a BELIEVER. Every bride needs a Tiff. Our Concert Wedding = AWESOME & AMAZING Tiffany = AWESOME & AMAZING

My husband and I worked with Tiffany the past two years for my husband's annual work gala. After a…read moresub-par performance by another Chicago planner in 2012, he interviewed a number of planners and decided on Tiffany and her team due to her experience, energy, wealth of knowledge and creative ideas. After working with her for two events, we can honestly say that we have no hesitations in recommending her and her team. I could go on and on about all the things that make Soiree amazing, but I'll try to keep this short-ish and sweet. Tiffany has helped us plan two 300+ person events. And these people aren't the easiest to please--the majority are physicians, as these are hospital events. She has been instrumental in helping us pick venues, line up top-notch vendors, and coordinate everything to come together perfectly, all while working within our budget. She's always been very responsive to any emails and calls we've made to her. Any concerns we had were always addressed immediately. We enjoyed working with a few of her staff members at each of our events as well--most recently, Janelle did an amazing job the day of this year's gala. Just last weekend was the 2014 gala. Tiffany and her team were nothing less than stellar! Everything was absolutely beautiful, and my husband and I can't stop talking about what a wonderful event it was. While we loved our wedding 5 years ago, we can't help but comment on how if the gala was our wedding, we would have been absolutely pleased. The physicians have had nothing but rave reviews as well, many noting that it was one of the best galas they've been to in the 20+ years that the hospital has had them. Needless to say, Soiree will be our team again for 2015 and beyond. And the icing on the cake...Tiffany is truly a sweet, fun and caring person! 5 stars all the way from Raul and Kari!

I love Kerrie Gallagher. Kerrie was a fantastic wedding planner for our event this…read morepast September. She was cool, calm and collected throughout the entire process, even when I had my bride 'moments'. Kerrie has amazing intuition, she knows how to manage multiple vendors and help you get the outcome you are striving for, even when you are too frazzled to see the forest for the trees! She was always there whenever I called to help me think through my ideas and decide what would be the best way to approach details for my wedding. She has the patience of a saint, and a heart of gold. I highly recommend Kerrie for her energy, her love of what she does, and her contagious excitement for your big day!

One of the best pieces of advice we got for our wedding was to hire a day-of planner... We hit the…read morejack pot with Chi Chic Weddings! Mal's team was incredibly organized, professional, and helpful. Mal was on top of every little detail. When it came to the big day, we were so excited and able to enjoy because we knew that with Mal's support nothing would fall through the cracks. Hands down, working with Chi Chic Weddings was one of the best investments we made for our wedding. The person you choose as your day-of planner is SUPER important. Not only are they responsible for keeping you on top of the mountain of tasks that you have to accomplish leading up to the big day, but they spend the entire day with you. Their energy matters. You want someone who is upbeat, positive, who is making all the excitement you feel about your day even BIGGER than it already is. That is exactly what we got working with Mal and we could not have been happier! If you are looking for a planner, look no further!

My husband and I hired Mallory to help us with our June wedding at the Art Institute of Chicago and…read moreit was honestly the best decision we have ever made. I don't know how to put into words how incredibly talented, professional, organized hardworking and kind Mallory is (I could go on and on!!). We met with several different planners but the moment I met Mallory I knew she was our girl! Her high energy and positivity immediately took away my anxiety about planning such a special and important life event! My mom was pretty reluctant about hiring a wedding planner but within a few weeks of working with Mallory my mom couldn't stop talking about the fact that she has no idea how we would have planned the wedding without her. Our wedding was beyond our wildest dreams and we owe it all to Mallory's incredibly hard work. There are so many reasons that Mallory is such an incredible wedding planner but to name a few.... 1. She is incredibly knowledgeable - Mallory has so much experience in the industry and always had great recommendations and solutions to whatever roadblocks we ran into. She understands how all the players in the industry work together and helps to make sure that the planning process and day of will run as smoothly as possible. 2. She makes it stress free - She took all the hard work and stressful parts of wedding planning out of the equation for us so we could focus on fun stuff. From finding vendors and getting proposals to budgeting and making sure we were staying on track with vendor contracts and payments she was always SO on top of it all. We got all the vendors we wanted because Mallory made sure we were reaching out to them in a timely manner before they booked up. She is insanely organized and on top of things so we never had to worry about where we were at in the planning process or what we should be doing next. 3. She gets you - Mallory doesn't just find great vendors, she finds vendors that are going to be great for YOU. She takes such a careful and personal approach to finding vendors that are right for your vision and budget. She truly created the most epic vendor dream team for us because she really took the time to understand how we envisioned each piece of our big day. Every vendor we worked with was above and beyond our wildest dreams and that is because Mallory took the time help us hand select the right team of people to execute our wedding day. 4. She helps with the hard conversations & decisions - Your wedding planner may have to be part of some intimate and maybe even touchy family conversations so you want to hire someone who you feel comfortable including in those conversations and confiding in. Mallory not only made us feel comfortable discussing these things with her but she helped us work through solutions that would make everyone happy! 5. She is patient & resilient - We were definitely not the easiest client in the world but Mallory never made us feel like we were being difficult or making things hard on her. She was so patient with us and no matter what task/challenge we threw at her she got it done or figured it out for us. She is truly one of the hardest working people I have ever met. 6. You won't worry about a single thing the day of your wedding - My mom and I are both pretty anxious, type A people and everyone (including ourselves) were pretty shocked at how relaxed we both were the entire day. We owe that all to Mallory. My husband and I and our families had not a single worry in the world because Mallory handled absolutely every last detail of the day and we were able to enjoy every moment together. I could go on and on about how amazing Mallory is. I would hire here again and again in a heartbeat. I wish she could organize my everyday life the way she organized and executed our wedding so perfectly. On top of it all, Mallory became a good friend through the process because she was there as a sounding board and a person to vent to about literally EVERYTHING from silly little wedding details to non-wedding related stressors like my job! We love you SO much, Mallory! Thank you for making our day an absolute dream come true!

I met with Marcia from An Urban Affair about 6 weeks before my wedding. At this point I had…read moremajority of the planning completled. Or at least I knew what I wanted. I knew I needed somebody the day of my wedding to tell us where we had to be when and if I didn't this job would fall upon our parents, which we did not want. Upon my meeting with Marcia, she already had a tentative schedule set up. She asked about our family and really tried to understand us as a couple. While working with Marcia she took so much stress iff of my shoulders I began to enjoy the process. She was always available to answer questions no matter what time of night or day of the week. The week f the wedding she was there to coordinate all my vendors and make sure everything was running smoothly. She gave me checklists and made sure I did them so nothing would be forgotten and I didn't have a worry the day of. She comes with 4 people the day of. One with the groom, one with the bride, one at the venue(s) and then she floats. Her assistants were all so nice and helpful. Ellen was with me at my parents house and she had a solution to a problem before my bridesmaids could finish their sentences telling her what was wrong. They told my bridal party when to line up and what to do when. I didn't look at a clock all day. It was amazing. They made me feel at ease. It was pouring the day of, and they showed up with a trunk full of golf size umbrellas. I got mud on my dress, they pulled out chalk. They are unbelievable. So caring. The amount of hours, and time put in by An Urban Affair was worth every dollar. They are so reasonable. My husband and I were amazed at the quality service for the price. It's hard to describe what they really do until it's your wedding week. Every bride needs An Urban Affair.

Marcia at An Urban Affair is Awesome! She has a great attention to detail and makes sure you are…read morecomfortable and on task with all of your wedding plans. Her team for the day of service really makes you relax and gives brides a sense that everything is "taken care of." I am very happy with her work and I would recommend her time and time again.

Becca was an absolute dream to work with. From the very beginning she was so sweet, easygoing, and…read moremade us feel completely comfortable like we had known her forever. She went above and beyond, driving a long distance to our church without hesitation, and captured the most beautiful shots across multiple locations. Her work is truly stunning!We loved every single photo and are so glad we trusted her with the most important day of our lives. She was incredibly thoughtful and made sure every person who was important to us had special photos with us, which meant so much. Her energy was calm, kind, and effortless, and she truly made the day even better. We can't thank her enough and would love to work with her again in a heartbeat.

Becca was our wedding photographer, and she was absolutely incredible. She perfectly captured not…read moreonly our wedding day, but my partner and I's personality. We had touch-and-go weather throughout the day, but her patience and expertise made us feel so welcome. A kind photographer who knows what she is doing. Highly recommended!

Christina was our wedding videographer in September 2018 and she was so easy to work with! Our…read morephotography was handled by someone else and did not come out well, so Christina's video has been the primary memento from the wedding for all of our guests. The video really captures the chaotic fun of our wedding and manages to give everyone some screen time. We'd happily hire Christina again for any videography needs!

Christina was a joy to work with from start to finish. She went out of her way to provide a wedding…read morevideography package that accommodated our budget. In the end, she couldn't help but go above and beyond and give us something more than was agreed upon because she cares that much. It's clear she loves what she does and that her investment is not just a business one, it's a personal one. She poured her heart into our wedding video and told our story in such a meaningful, artistic, and cohesive way that my husband and I both cried when we watched it. I had thought about foregoing a wedding video until my grandma said it was a non-negotiable (this coming from a woman who made no secret of the fact she thought weddings are a waste of money). I'm so pleased we went for it and found Christina. She was a very special part of our wedding, and her work is outstanding.