I utilized Erica for my wedding this past weekend and I cannot say enough great things about her! As a DIY bride on a budget, I knew I needed a day of coordinator. Erica's services were reasonably priced and she exceeded my expectations and went above and beyond. Her professionalism and great personality helped us have the wedding we wanted. Erica was flexible and accessible. She contributed fresh ideas and was able to execute as promised. Erica made sure everything ran without any issues. Her friendly demeanor made her more of a guest than a vendor. Our wedding party enjoyed working with her and so did we! Working with Erica was the best decision we made! read more

My husband and I live in Chicago, but found the perfect wedding venue in Rockford. As professional designers and a relatively organized couple, we intended to take on the planning and coordinating ourselves, but came to realize how difficult that is to do remotely. A wedding coordinator is not an expense we initially accounted for, but once we met Erica, we knew we had to hire her. As a person, Erica is very sweet, clever, patient and grounded. As a professional wedding coordinator, she is very professional, experienced, accessible, communicative, helpful and reasonable. Even though we hired Erica as a day-of coordinator, she was responsive and helpful throughout the entire 10-month planning process. Any time I had a question, concern or was in need of a suggestion, Erica was there to respond to my late-night emails and last-minute phone calls. Because she has worked in the wedding industry for as long as she has, she knows so many talented and reasonably-priced vendors, which made her exceptionally resourceful to us. Erica was very flexible when it came to payments. We were able to schedule payment installations at our convenience, as well as pay with a credit card over the phone. Erica was especially devoted to us the week of our wedding, which we really appreciated. She willingly drove to our apartment in the city to pick up all of our decorations, which was incredibly helpful, considering we do not own a vehicle. And as for the day of our wedding: we couldn't have been more thrilled with what she did with everything we put so much love into making. Erica completely understood our vision from the start, and executed beautifully. She coordinated our large wedding parties seamlessly, and paced the entire day with little to no problem. We couldn't be more thankful for her help in making our wedding day the most memorable day of our lives. If you're in need of a day-of coordinator or wedding planner, Erica's your girl. read more

I hired Erica Dargene to plan my wedding for August. She had told my mother that she could work with any budget and that the Elite Pampering was for the busy bride who didn't have time to plan. She was ok at first. She got the ball rolling for venues (though she sent me just a set of links and some didn't work. I had to still navigate through the venues myself.) The photographers were the same. I actually ended up finding my photographer but she took credit for it. Then I felt she disappeared. When the time came for invites she came up to help and was completely unprepared. I ended up frustrated and having to go back to do it myself. When we first met I told her a list of things I wanted and got very few if any of them. She didn't check with the venue for the slideshow I wanted (which I only got because my Maid of Honor figured out a way to make it happen) my invites didn't have the wording I wanted. My MOH finally stepped up and confronted Erica and we had a meeting and she promised to be better. We had already paid her over half of price and I was hoping she would step up. She didn't. She sent me invoices she hadn't reviewed. She sent me an invoice for 76 guests when she had the total count of 91 which she knew. When it says she deals with contact with vendors it really means she forwards you emails instead of getting the information from you. I told her my schedule to meet with vendors but still got a ton of emails with dates and times that didn't work. I knew I needed help on the wedding day and thought she would get her act together. I was wrong. She was great at set up and take down but thats where it ends. She barely checked up on me during the day of. I had to keep her on the schedule we made. My MOH ran interference with her throughout the day when she wanted to call me because the guests were being restless and when the sign I bought for the venue wasn't working and she was going to abandon it (my MOH told her to figure it out). She sat down in her corner all night or was MIA. Whatever problems we had throughout the night we dealt with directly with the vendors. And when we were trying to call her on the way to the venue (before the wedding) she said she didn't have service/time but found time to post on FB twice. There was a problem with the florist and I called her directly to find out Erica had lied and she was the one who screwed up the order. I ran over my budget by $2-$3000 not through any fault of mine. Erica actually asked me at one point to raise my budget. She is a great BS'er. She blames others for her mistakes. I wish I could get a refund. My day was beautiful and great but very little was because of Erica. I would stay away or just get her smaller packages. She is lucky to have her assistant (who seemed nice and was helpful). I also encountered an email (she accidentally let me see) Erica told a vendor I went over budget on the invites (which I never gave a price for) and that the flowers needed to be cheaper. I confronted her about it and her forwarding my informal emails to vendors and never got an apology or anything for it. Be warned ladies and gentleman. I wasted money I will never get back don't be me. Don't take first impressions. You will regret it. read more