Anita is one of the best people you can trust to speak on your big day! She went above and beyond…read moreto get to know us both as a couple and as individuals. She is very communicative throughout the process and will accommodate you in any way in terms of how you can make your ceremony truly special. It felt like a family friend was up there at the altar with us. Can't recommend her enough.

Anita officiated our wedding in June, and we could not have been happier with her. My husband and…read moreI were both raised Catholic, but since my husband had been previously married, and neither of us are very active in the church, we knew we wanted to find a non-denominational officiant. One of my coworkers was married by Anita and suggested her. We received so many compliments from our guests on how unique and personal our ceremony was. Anita had us both fill out questionnaires about each other which helped her write the ceremony. It was perfect for us, and we are glad we worked with her. (I have attached a photo from the end of our ceremony - Anita even asked what our colors were ahead of time and coordinated her scarf to match!)

Words cannot express how thankful I am for finding Patty at Fairy Godmothers Inc! Patty is…read moreabsolutely wonderful and so incredibly talented. I didn't have much of a floral vision, so I needed all the help I could get. After meeting with Patty and discussing different ideas, she asked if we had a theme for our wedding. At the time, we also didn't have much of a theme, other than wanting to highlight the city of Chicago through the skyline. So, I showed Patty our wedding invitation and she immediately had an idea for our centerpieces. She showed me a large clear vase (and floating candle) with a cut-out of the skyline that wrapped around the vase and I immediately fell in love with the idea! She then added flowers and greenery around the vase to complete the look. It was the perfect look for our big day, and the centerpieces looked so amazing at our venue! On the day of the wedding, Patty arrived on time with the bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages. All the flowers looked so fresh and elegant. I could not have asked for a more perfect look! She also added a small charm to my bouquet in memory of my grandmother and it was beautiful. Patty even stopped by our church to ensure everything was perfect, even though this was not a part of our contract. She truly went above and beyond and I am forever thankful for talent and kindness. Patty also offers other services such as day of coordination, and other wedding details. Although I didn't need to use those services, I am sure she is as exceptional with those services as she is with the florals. Patty is a true gem. She is kind, knowledgeable, creative, and passionate about helping to make your wedding day truly the best day of your life. Thank you Patty!!!

Patty truly is a fairy godmother. She just handled my wedding this past weekend and of all of the…read moreelements of my wedding, the flowers and decor was the star of the show. I was having a smaller wedding and honestly, my goal was to spend as little money as possible on flowers because I didn't feel like they would make much of a difference in a wedding as small as mine. Patty set me straight and showed me how much these things can make a difference especially in a wedding like mine. I spent more than I had originally intended, but I will tell you that the end result was worth every penny. Patty had some great ideas and is extremely creative. I met with her to plan everything and gave her some basic ideas such as colors and themes and she turned that into the most beautiful wedding I could ever imagine. So many of our guests complimented us on the decor and flowers and we gave away the centerpieces because we hated to see them go to waste. Everything was just perfect the day of too. I had to worry about nothing and all of the other vendors commented on how great she was to work with. I would definitely recommend Patty and use her again. She was a pleasure to work with and she is not only florist, but really an event designer who will make yours shine. One note is that they do not take credit cards, but they were very flexible with payment scheduling.

Nouvelle Events are everything you can hope for in a wedding planning team. Misha Newgren is…read moreincredible and helped us every step of the way in our process. She kept us on schedule during the planning and on the day of our event and made the entire thing seamless. We cannot recommend Nouvelle enough.

Misha and her team at Nouvelle Events are truly the best. We got married at the Field Museum this…read morespring and I can't imagine planning our wedding without them! My sister had worked with Misha for her wedding a few years ago, and she was the first person we called when starting to plan my own. Misha is incredibly organized and makes sure that the many loose ends in the planning process come together. She also knows everyone in the industry, and was able to make recommendations for any type of vendor (photo, video, transportation, you name it). Most importantly, Misha is simply a joy to work with - she takes time to understand what's important to you and your family, and her number 1 goal is to make your wedding day fun, special, and totally stress free. I can't recommend Nouvelle Events enough!

5/5 Stars - Incredible officiant for a custom, heartfelt wedding!…read more Rev. Anne with the Rev for Whatev is hands down the best wedding officiant you could ask for! She made our ceremony feel like it was being delivered by a lifelong friend. She was amazing at incorporating all our special details--from including our two dogs in the ceremony to guiding our niece and nephews through our unity planting. It was warm, emotional, and perfectly paced. We highly recommend Rev. Anne to anyone getting married in the Chicago area!

Reverend Anne officiated our wedding a couple months ago, and we couldn't have been happier! The…read morething that set her apart from the other officiants I was looking at was her website - it contains so much information, including faqs, services, sample ceremonies, and pricing. She had all the answers to my questions already! We picked the partially customized ceremony for our secular ceremony, and she drafted a couple versions for us to review. It was so easy communicating with her. We mostly emailed, but we scheduled an in person meeting when we were in town to meet up with our wedding vendors. She is extremely nice, organized, and professional. She took care of the paperwork after the wedding, so it is one less thing to stress about! Stop looking around because she will take care of you. We highly recommend her for any ministerial needs.

Hiring Dean was the smartest decision we made during our wedding. We weren't sure if we would need…read morea planner/coordinator, because I was an event planner myself, but we really did! She coached us through the entire process, bringing up all kinds of details that we just hadn't thought of. She was so thorough, making sure every little thing was the way it should be. She allowed us to relax at our wedding, and the week before and after, which was invaluable. The thing that is a lot different about Dean than other wedding planners I've experienced is that even though she is meticulous and totally on top of everything, she is ALSO laid back! She is fun to be around, and ends up being a charming asset at your event, all the while ensuring that absolutely everything is exactly on schedule. She is really good with all kinds of people, so if you have difficult guests, she will handle it all like magic. She's open to all types of events and weddings and is very creative and fun. Dean has skills in a lot of areas (she's incredible with interior design as well as fashion) so you get a lot more than just a coordinator--you get a creative helper/advisor. I just can't say enough good things about her. If you think wedding coordinators are too much effort or stuffy or weird, Dean's going to blow your mind and probably become your new best friend. She will coach you through the whole thing and take so much of the pressure off. Hiring her is a really great investment!

I cannot say enough good things about Dean. She was our wedding planner last fall. It was an…read moreincredible, special, and beautiful day. I can honestly say that I was able to relax and not feel stressed out on our wedding day, and I owe that mostly to Dean. She is organized, reliable, super creative, and extremely talented. Did I feel stressed out at all during the wedding planning? Of course. Did Dean feel like a life saver at various points during the process? Absolutely. She is very calm and collected, and constantly provided me with the reassurance necessary; every time after I talked with her (which was often), I immediately felt at ease and my stress levels lowered. Knowing that she was on top of everything alleviated a lot of pressure for me, allowing me to enjoy the engagement more. She is also really crafty and able to work within a budget. She has great ideas for how to get things done on a dime - and she makes everything look really amazing. She truly knows style and fashion, which proved to be extremely helpful. I felt like our wedding was us; she took the time to learn what we were looking for, and then created an event that matched our personalities perfectly, in a BEAUTIFUL way. If you're in the market for someone to plan your wedding or any other event, I would strongly recommend Dean. Trust me - you will be so glad you went with her.

Derrick and team were an absolute pleasure to work with. Derrick made the floral selection process…read moreso fun and so easy for us. Derrick was able to create exactly what we had envisioned for our wedding without any hesitation or uncertainty. Not only did he provide us with guidance and his expertise on our floral arrangements, he personally connected us with numerous vendors to ensure we had an experienced, trustworthy, and high quality group of professionals involved in our wedding day. Derrick is an extremely well-established and respected event planner in Chicago and beyond, and we were extremely grateful for his hard work and the laughs he brought us throughout the wedding planning process.

We cannot thank Taylor & Co enough for the absolutely stunning job they did decorating our…read moredaughter's wedding, the transformation of the space was breathtaking. From the moment we walked into the room we were blown away, I actually started shaking. It was like stepping into a dream; every detail was flawless, elegant, and perfectly captured the kid's vision. You could feel the love and care that went into every choice. So many of our guests commented on how magical the atmosphere felt, and it's all thanks to Derrick's incredible talent and his love for weddings. He exceeded all our expectations and made what could be a stressful time so fun. Derrick is truly one of a kind; his creativity, care, attention to detail and willingness to go above and beyond is unmatched. To top it off, he embodies a mix of genuine warmth, humor and kindness which shines through in everything he does. He is a joy to work with and if you want your event to be unforgettable, this is the person to trust. We are beyond grateful and would recommend Taylor & Co to anyone who wants their wedding to feel truly extraordinary.

I read somewhere that premarital counseling is positively correlated to successful marriages. My…read moreown opinion of marriage was dubious after witnessing seemingly unhappy marriages and happy divorces all around me. I surveyed many married people about the secrets to their success and always cringed when they responded in a sarcastic manner indicating that their relationship was no longer as glowing as it once was and it was merely a habitual status quo of ennui. I wanted none of that for myself! Finding a premarital counselor proved harder than expected. I asked the Unitarian Temple in Oak Park and the Congregational Church across the street. Neither of them provided the services I sought nor did they offer up any referrals. I found a non-religious organization online that offered something like five sessions and a workbook outlining specific lessons; however, they never returned my calls. That's when I found Celebrate Love Chicago and Jeffrey. Jeffrey and I played a fine game of phone tag that resulted in our first contact being way too exuberant and familiar on my part than his want. I definitely caught him off guard and he seemed skeptical of me. We scheduled our first consultation. I learned from his website that his first consultation was free and also that he had a premarital counseling deal that's $450 for five sessions. We told him we wanted to take advantage of that deal and he agreed. At our second meeting I was disappointed that he sprang on us that our first meeting (the consultation) was included in those five sessions. I quickly learned that Celebrate Love Chicago is a small operation. Although it definitely has it's charm being in Andersonville, having free drinks, samples, and literature in the waiting area, and a therapy dog... Well. I think that Jeffrey runs it all by himself which explains all the phone tag, occasional lost emails, and no formal billing process. It's a lot to handle and I am pretty sympathetic about it all even though I was initially annoyed. We learned a lot about how to format the framework of our relationship from Jeffrey. I won't disclose the points that he taught us but I will say that sometimes our tempers flared when he poked into certain problems. Our relationship is rosy and our disagreements are small. We didn't like it when we would dwell on one of our hiccups when we already considered it resolved. Now we understand Jeffrey's method and we know he was simply using those problem points as an example for his framework. We have found his framework to be extremely helpful and now we observe other couples and think that they need a little Jeffrey in their lives too. Fortunately he gave us plenty of cards to distribute and I've already handed out four!

So, the fiance and I hired Jeffrey Sumber to be our officiant and part of the costs require three…read morepre-marital sessions. Since we wanted ours to be non-religious/secular, Jeffrey had asked us to come in so he could get to know us better and help us shape our ceremony to be befitting of us - what a great concept! Our first intro session was FREE (yes, some things in life are free which is very very nice, especially if you're paying for a wedding anyway) and then, he also gave us a 50% discount after four pre-marital sessions with him - we've found his pre-marital sessions are extremely helpful - it's nice to have things laid out in a different manner. He's helping us see past the present and really help us lay out the foundation for our 'culture' together and for our lives together as one. He's also helping overcome little obstacles and something as silly as "why we fight over the center of the bed" - we're very confident in his abilities and look forward to having a beautiful ceremony that is catered to our personalities and our relationship. I highly recommend him as an officiant (if you're going the non-religious route) and a counselor. Plus his office is right next door to Hopleaf and La Donna - another bonus right there, too! With less than three weeks away for the wedding, we're very pleased with the outline of the ceremony and how it's turning out exactly what we could have imagined - it's very personalized to the two of our personality and relationship. I'll edit this after the wedding. EDIT: Our ceremony was fabulous and Jeffrey definitely added quite a bit of personalization and flair to our wedding. He even made a little slipup which was actually really endearing because you could tell that he's spent quite a bit of time with us! Thank you again, Jeffrey!!

She has done so many of my events and has blown me away every single time. I can't recommend her…read moreenough. You will definitely be satisfied. She did my engagement party, my Bachelorette party, and several other events. Try her and you won't regret.