We contracted Angela Santoro as our "day-of" wedding coordinator for our wedding at the Allerton…read moreHotel (Chicago, Illinois) in August 2012. We were very pleased with her service and felt that she was very professional, experienced, organized, and knowledgeable. We provided her with our day-of itinerary and she ensured that the wedding stuck with the timeline. Additionally, she offered helpful hints based on her industry experience and willing to attend our rehearsal. She was easy to work with and we would recommend her to anyone looking for a "day-of" wedding planner

There aren't nearly enough superlatives to explain how incredibly amazing Swiss Dot Weddings was to…read morework with, Alexis is a rock star Day of Coordinator!! She was great at keeping us on track with our planning along the way and made it super easy to share our notes and information with her to take over a few weeks before the wedding. She seamlessly managed all of our vendors (and family at times-bless her patience!) to ensure that my husband and I were able to enjoy our day to the fullest! She went above and beyond to make sure that we had everything we needed or wanted at every moment of our special day and we are eternally grateful for how she helped us to pull off one of the biggest parties we'll ever host!! Alexis was there for me by phone, text, email at all times of the day leading up to the wedding and always knew just what to do to save the day! I would highly recommend booking with Alexis the moment you have a wedding date determined, she was definitely one of our very best vendors for our big day!

Alexis helped us with our June wedding in Chicago. She was amazing! She was our "day-of" planner,…read morebut went above and beyond that. We met a few times before the big day to chat about the wedding, expectations, duties etc. She gave me recommendations on vendors, communicated with each of our vendors on her own and sent them all their own schedule for the big day. She was very well organized, which I needed, being as OCD as I am. I reached out to her for many things and she took on the responsibilities with open arms. She took a lot of stress off of my shoulders, months, weeks and especially the day of the wedding. She was one of the best investments for our wedding.

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

Lisa is fun, organized, creative, timely and generally so easy to work with. We loved her vender…read moresuggestions and she kept us on track with the budget. She made my daughter's wedding vision come true. Our day was so smooth and I was comfortable just having a good time, not at all worried that things wouldn't get done. We had our event at the reopened Chicago Athletic Association ( now a boutique hotel) on August 6, 2016.

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!

From day one, I had complete confidence in HBIC. Diane immediately made us feel like our wedding…read morevision actually mattered, and when we were paired with Heidi, everything came together even better than I imagined. Heidi was a rockstar: detail oriented, calm, and unbelievably efficient. Whenever something popped up, she handled it instantly without us even realizing there had been an issue. Friends and family kept pulling me aside to say how impressed they were with how organized and professional she was. The planning tools HBIC gave us made life so much easier too, from guest list trackers to layouts to checklists. Instead of stressing, we actually found ourselves enjoying the process. On the big day, my wife and I were able to live in every single moment without worrying about logistics. For me as the groom, that was priceless. HBIC gave us the gift of being fully present, and I'll recommend them to anyone who wants their wedding handled by true pros.

From our very first meeting with Diane, we knew HBIC was the planning service for us. Their focus…read morewas on making our wedding feel authentic to who we are while taking every bit of the behind-the-scenes logistics off our plate -- exactly what we were looking for. We were paired with Heidi as our planner, and we truly could not have asked for anyone more perfect. She was attentive, professional, warm, and incredibly efficient. If an issue or change came up, Heidi handled it seamlessly and with complete grace. So many of our family members and bridal party even commented on how organized and on top of things she was -- she made the entire day run flawlessly. Leading up to the big day, HBIC provided us with easy-to-use planning tools that kept everything organized and (dare I say) even fun! From guest list management to designing the room layout to checklists that made sure no to-do was forgotten, everything was simple and stress-free. Thanks to HBIC, we were able to be fully present on our wedding day -- soaking in every moment with each other, our family, and our friends -- without worrying about a single detail. We are endlessly grateful and would recommend HBIC to absolutely everyone!

I was initially unsure if I needed/wanted to hire a day-of coordinator, as I am organized and…read morepretty Type A. My sister (and MOH) is a day-of coordinator herself, as is a close friend from college, and both of them strongly suggested I do it - they made the point that most venue coordinators only really care about their operations and place of business, and their main focus is not your details. I am SO GLAD I took their advice, and so glad I came across Abryanna. At the point I hired her, she had done just a few weddings, but from her professionalism and sunny demeanor, it was obvious she was meant for this. She provided great insight and advice throughout the process, and I appreciate her work for my new husband and I. Her biggest value truly came the wedding day, though. She kept everything running smoothly, finalized venue setup while we were all in hair/makeup, and headed up the team effort to put out a rather large fire just before the ceremony, and kept the flames at bay during the reception. That last part was invaluable to me, as it was a worry throughout the planning year that came true, even though no one believed me it would. I had expressed this concern to Abryanna, and she was prepared. I HIGHLY recommend her services as a coordinator, and if you aren't organized and "with -it," she offers full planning as well!

Abryanna was incredible for my wedding. Her and her assistant made the day feel flawless. She was…read moreable to organize our crazy families and myself. I feel so blessed to have had her on my wedding day!

Rev. Joette Waters was amazing. Her voice is so wonderful and the words that she speaks are just…read moremagical. We wanted a very non-traditional ceremony and Joette gave us just that. It was unforgettable and absolutely lovely. Her professionalism and love for what she does clearly shows. I would recommend her time and time again. Thank you so much Joette for everything that you did for us. Love, Claudia & Rob

We are more spiritual people than religious. We got married outside and wanted to have some…read morereligious overtones for some of the parents and grandparents without going overboard. Joette was perfect. When we met with her, right away we new that she was right for us. She listed to what our needs were, made some suggestions when we didn't know what to do all the while treating us as though we were her own children. The ceremony itself could not have been better! I would recommend her to a friend.

ANOTHER UPDATE... 7/2/08…read more So lucky me... I did receive my wedding album last week (3 weeks before my one year anniversary). And I do have to say the album turned out wonderful. But I didn't receive the free portrait that was included in the package I purchased. I do admit that when I first emailed the order I forgot to include which picture we chose. I did write it on the order that I mailed in with our money (that they never got). So I realize that they didn't know which picture we chose, but were they planning on asking? It's called customer service... I shouldn't have to micromanage them. The worst part was that I paid them already in cash. Since I was giving them the money when they dropped off the pictures at my work, they requested cash... just in case they gave us the pictures and we gave them a bad check. It's ironic that it turned out the other way around... I paid them in good faith that I was receiving everything that was suppose to be included in my order. I was hoping that I was done dealing with them... but I guess not.

I got stuck using Whispers. I had originally booked the a place called Footprints at the same…read morelocation in Addison. We gave the deposit and set the dates and they told me we didn't need to do anything until about 1-2 months before the wedding and they would call me to finalize details then. Call with any questions. Time goes by it is now a month before my wedding and I haven't heard from them. I called and noticed the voicemail now said Whispers! I left a very concerned message. What happened to the company I booked with and paid a nice deposit to, do they still have my wedding on their calendar, am I going to have a photographer at all??? I was terrified! A few days go by and no one has called me back. I demanded to get a call back that day. Someone called me back. My first question was where was Footprints and why wasn't I notified there had been a change? I felt I had a right to meet with a new company and see what they were like. The man didn't answer my question. He just kept saying oh we are the same if not better. I asked about the photographer we had reserved and paid extra for, I was told he wasn't there anymore, but they too had someone even better. I asked if I could get my money back that we spend to request the other gentleman. No. They said I had to pay the remaining portion of the contract as soon as possible. I said I wanted to see a new contract listing out everything that was on the original contract. I was told it would be mailed that day. I said I will pay when I get the new contract. Waited a few days no contract. Called and left several messages. I finally got the contract 2 weeks before my wedding. It all looked good so I signed it and send it back with a check. By this time I had looked everywhere for a new photographer and there was nothing. I asked about the place cards that were part of the package. We got them 3 days before the wedding and they were so ugly! It was supposed to have our picture on the front. It didn't. Finally the wedding day arrives and the photographer gets lost coming to the house, even though I had given them directions when I picked up the place cards. He was only 20 minutes late, but still. Everything at the house goes smoothly The church went fine. After the ceremony we did the standard wedding party and various parts of the family. I told him that was all I wanted for posed pictures, except one large picture of my family at the receptions. The reception went well except for the hour I spent in the hallway doing all kinds of posed family portraits. When I said we were done he said no I had all night to dance. I reminded him that we agreed no more posed pictures. We wanted more candid shots of people dancing and being part of the reception. There were 2 songs worth of candid shots. We are told the proofs will be up in 3-5 days. Two and a half weeks later they were up, but they looked terrible. I called and asked why they seemed blurry or wide angled? I was told they would fix it. They did. We had said we wanted the more photo-journalistic style and that was why we were paying more for a specific photographer. Nope didn't happen. No one could order on line yet so I collected all the orders and turned them in. I asked when we could do our order for our digital album (that we paid extra for) and was told to get all the other orders in first. I had to organize the entire album myself. I am not creative. I paid you to do this. No one told me how it could be done. This is months later after all the orders are in turned in to them and the money they called me and said something about needing my album order ASAP or we wouldn't get an album. By this point my husband and I moved out of state and we had to do this in person. It was right before Thanksgiving. I told them we wounld't be home until Christmas. They didn't care. So my mom went it with my drawings of how I wanted the pictures laid out. And what I wanted in the backgrounds. I asked them to call me to go over it with me via phone. They didn't. They weren't even there the day my mom went to drop it off. So finally I go in over Christmas to finalize everything for our album. There were lots of changed to be made. The only thing they did right was use the pictures I put it. The page order was wrong and the backgrounds were terrible. Our album got ordered, but none of the pictures family had ordered had come in yet. I started called again; I got a voicemail saying they were out of the country!! They left a number to call in case of emergency. I called it the next week figuring everyone gets a vacation. Well that person never called me back. After 5-6 calls to that number I stated the next call would be from my attorney. We got our album 3 days before our first anniversary.