Thanks to Carolyn, we had the most amazing wedding at the Bridgeport Art Center in Chicago this…read moreAugust. She planned the day for us in advance and helped us create the perfect timeline. She made creative suggestions and recommendations I would never have thought of in a million years and made the day absolutely perfect. She flawlessly executed our rehearsal dinner and our wedding day from start to finish. The best part was that I was able to relax and enjoy myself the whole time because I knew Carolyn had everything under control. I just had to look to her for my cue, which meant I didn't have to worry about the timeline or order of events and I could focus on having fun and dancing! Both the DJ and the caterer later told me that they absolutely loved working with Carolyn and were thankful I had an awesome event planner. I highly recommend Carolyn!

I recently worked with CL Events for a wedding in Chicago as an out of town vendor and it was a…read morecomplete pleasure. Carolyn is attentive and helpful and has a wonderful eye; the entire wedding was beautiful. Definitely a solid choice to help you through the big day!

We selected Lion Hearted Events as our Day of Coordinator and they were great! We specifically got…read morealigned to Grace, the owner, and she executed everything to perfection! She was very responsive to all our questions, concerns, and clarifications before the big day! She helped completely transform our venue to exactly how I envisioned it on our wedding day by helping with the setup and placement of all the DIY decor and personal items. She assisted with ensuring we were staying on track with our timeline and made sure we were able to take in every moment in real time. I didn't worry about a thing! 11/10 experience with Grace and her company!

We worked with Lionhearted Events for our wedding this year on October 19th and we could not be…read morethankful enough for how smoothly the day went thanks to Haylie! We reached out to Lionhearted to understand wedding coordinator services and Grace was awesome at laying out our options as well as walking us through what it would look like if we did Month of Coordination. Once it was time to begin working with our coordinator, Grace introduced us to Haylie and she immediately got on a call with us to introduce herself as well as ask us some key questions about the wedding. She worked incredibly well with all of our vendors, made sure everyone was kept in the loop, had up to date schedules and knew what to expect. Haylie helped collect all our personal items to help with set up the day of, attended the rehearsal dinner at Bad Apple to do a quick walkthrough of the ceremony and timeline and then made sure the day of the wedding went perfectly. Even after the wedding wrapped up, she offered to reach out to the Limo company about a refund for us for an issue we had with the trolley they rented us. This allowed us to enjoy our honeymoon without having to stress about contacting the company. If you are looking to ensure you can have a stress free wedding day, look no further than Lionhearted Events. Thank you again Grace and Haylie for making our wedding absolutely perfect!

Jane is the best. You won't find a better person to handle your special day. We were blessed to…read morehave Jane on our team. We continue to hear from quest 2 years after "Best wedding ever"

We could not be more thankful for Jane and her support in planning our wedding! She truly would not…read morestand for anything less than our day being more than we could've ever hoped for. She knew when to press on a point that we didn't even think was worth pressing on, and when to trust our own intuitions. On the day of, she was in her element, hidden from attention yet ensuring not a detail was missed. At the end of the day, Jane cares deeply about this work, and it made all the difference. Thank you again, Jane!

Brigette did an absolutely fantastic job photographing my wedding this summer!…read more My husband picked her, and I was slightly skeptical since her prices were a bit higher than others I'd seen. That is until I saw her gallery...at which point I was FLOORED! Each photo is truly a gorgeous work of art. Brigette works hard long after your event to make all the colors and composition perfect. She will make you, all your guests, and your setting look totally amazing. Her specialty is really capturing the spirit of an offbeat wedding, from group shots to small inanimate details. And she's especially good at food porn! I added a couple of my favorite shots she did for us here. (Pics 17, 18) Furthermore, she is an all-around awesome wedding guest herself, and all of our friends loved her. She and my Mom almost adopted each other. Pick Brigette for your wedding too! Outer Focus is worth every penny!

My fiancee and I hired Outer Focus (Brigette Sullivan) to shoot our engagement session in October…read more2010. The session was fun - although I remember thinking at the time that it was I who was coming up with the creative shots (heart-shadow, our dogs in the background/us in the foreground), I mean isn't the photographer the creative one? Anyway... It was an hour later that we realized we were being duped. Let me explain. We completed the session, I handed over my (comparatively speaking) high payment in cash, and as I asked when I could expect a disc with the digital images, Brigette declared that we don't get any photos. We were floored. I'll say it again: We didn't get ANY photos. You would think for the amount we paid, we would get the digital images, but no. What we "got" was an option to BUY prints, complete with the Outer Focus watermark! So for $300, we came away with nothing. No photos, no digital images, nothing. Sure, Brigette's time and equipment has value and it's not a question of paying for it, it's the fact that we received nothing in return. We immediately regretted our experience with Outer Focus. We also immediately thought it was shrewd of Brigette to inform us of her "policy" only AFTER we paid. Had we known that we would not get any digital images we never would have worked with Brigette. To make things worse, attempts to work things out with Brigette and discuss our concerns have been ignored. In the months that followed, we spoke with nearly a dozen professional photographers and not a single one withholds the digital images from their customer. If you are looking for a photographer with sub-par creativity, high rates, inept customer service, and deceptive policies, than Brigette is your girl. I wouldn't recommend Outer Focus and Brigette Sullivan to anyone.

Our daughter's wedding was May 27th, 2012 at the University Club in Chicago. It was the most…read morewonderful day for all of us, largely due to the efforts of Lisa & her team. She is amazing! I was introduced to her through a college friend (thanks MB) and after just one phone call I knew she was a perfect fit. She has great experience, a wide range of contacts in everything from bands, venues, photographers and florists to ceremony ideas, invitation design specialists, welcome bag and gift options, hair & makeup options .....and everything inbetween. After meeting with us, she had a great sense of the wedding vision we had and her suggestions & ideas were spot on. She was always available, even as a busy, working mom mom of 4 kids!! And most importantly, I always felt that out wedding was her number 1 priority, even though I knew she had another wedding the same weekend as ours! That is a great skill! We had some unique challenges along the way.... with our date, which she helped us through....with our ceremony details, which she helped us through....and with the day of details, which she again helped us through. Lisa is always cool, calm and collected which is unbelievable considering the potential stresses of planning and organizing a large wedding. I myself am really happy I have just one daughter and 2 sons!!! That being said, Courtney & I would like to thank Lisa & Ryan for their work in creating a most wonderful wedding day...It was Perfect! PS Lisa, My husband Mark, says it was the most beautiful wedding he has ever been to...Big compliment from the man who was not into the details!!! Love Mary & Courtney

For all you new Mother of the brides, May I please recommend isa Bascomb of Parties, etc. Chicago…read more Lisa was a delight to work with and a Godsend. She is knowledgeable and fun and extremely organized, the consummate professional. Thanks to Lisa, Catherine and I were completely able to enjoy the week before and day of the wedding. No detail was left behind. Lisa handled everything from the moment she came on board. I only wish we had started the whole process with Lisa. Fortunately, we hired Lisa in time to make everything go smoothly. We truly had a wonderful time thanks to Lisa.

Marcy and her team went way above and beyond our expectations for our 4/9 wedding at Salvage One…read more Highly recommend! Thanks again, Marcy, you made our day so unbelievably special. I'm happy to share our wedding experience with anyone looking for a recommendation, just private message me.

My review of HCTP is soooo long overdue! I contacted several coordinators before deciding to go…read morewith Marcy and HCTP, and I picked them because I had a gut feeling they were the right ones for me and because they charge a fraction of what other places do for the same services. Marcy was completely accommodating of my schedule and always came to where I was. The majority of her vendor recommendations were excellent! As for the two that caused a little more stress - the one I had fair warning about and Marcy totally stayed on her to get the results we wanted. The other she had worked with before succesfully, but I doubt she'll recommend him ever again, so not to worry. HCTP searched high and low for a fabulous photographer that fell within our budget and found us the best team ever - they worked hard to make me happy! I'm not the kind of person who has been envisioning my wedding since the day I could walk so it was really important for me to have Marcy and her team helping me figure out what we wanted. I'm also not a details person, and they made it so easy for me to manage what details I needed to deal with. My family and friends who were around the weekend of really enjoyed Marcy and her team which was important. I am a budget-conscious person, and I appreciated that HCTP kept track of where we were with our budget and had great recommendations for vendors who would give us the most bang for our buck or little ways to cut corners. Every penny we spent was totally worth it, and it makes me suspicious that other places charge triple what she does! I suppose the wedding could have still happened without HCTP, but the event certainly would not have. I highly recommend Marcy and her team for your wedding or event, even if you don't think you need a planner.

This review is long overdue, but necessary to note how amazing Lindsay is!…read more Lindsay Green was the single best wedding vendor we hired for our wedding weekend. From the moment I met with Lindsay, I felt like she was the "one"! She knew her stuff and went above and beyond. Lindsay brought a special expertise to our wedding planning, with fun new ideas we could bring to life on our big day, being super detail oriented, and with her connections to other wedding vendors in the city. She took all stress off of us the week of, and made our wedding day absolutely perfect. From the morning getting ready with my bridesmaids, to the evening at the venue, it was such a delight to be around Lindsay and hang out with her. She is so nice and friendly and was the perfect person to be next to you on your biggest day. She took care of so many things behind the scenes and I'll forever be grateful! Above all, it's clear Lindsay cares so much about making you happy and about making wedding day the couple's best day ever - she left us a beautiful note in our hotel room and boxed up deserts from our wedding that we didn't even get to eat for when we came back. She cares that much. We can not recommend Lindsay enough!

My husband and I hired Lindsay for day-of/month-of services for our wedding, and we feel that it…read morewas the best money spent on our whole wedding. Lindsay went above and beyond, not only did she ensure that our wedding was executed to perfection, but she also went out of her way to make it as stress-free as possible for both us and for our parents. For instance, she coordinated for our dog to meet us during photos after the ceremony. She also completely fixed issues caused by other vendors - incorrect floral deliveries and mixed up late night food - and we had absolutely no idea that these things happened until a few days after the wedding. She also had tons of creative ideas to add - for example, she helped think up and coordinate a grand exit photo that is our favorite shot from the wedding. Several of my bridesmaids who recently got married couldn't stop talking about how great she was and how they wished they had used her. Overall we had the best day and our guests had so many positive things to say, we are so grateful for her help.

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!