Outside of probably having children, getting married is arguably one of the most important/special day's of your life. If you are looking to hire someone to help make that day less stressful - I would NOT hire Misse Daniel. She may be organized, but her overall demeanor and delivery throughout the whole wedding planning process - including the DAY OF wedding - was unacceptable. From family to vendors to guests - I was given negative feedback, mostly around how rude she was. I don't care how much experience you have, you should never treat people like that. Not to mention, when our trolley broke down after the ceremony in front of the church, she nor her assistant was there to assist with a solution, so luckily one of my bridesmaids (who is a wedding planner) stepping in. Hiring Misse for our wedding was a huge mistake, so sharing my feedback so others don't do the same! read more

This wedding wouldn't have happened without Misse. There were so many moving parts and she handled it like a champ. My husband and I had families with big personalities and they were all corralled by the Honey Bee team. read more

People thought I was crazy when I said I was looking into wedding planners. I wasn't working, so sure I had the time and availability to scour the internet and meet with hundreds of vendors, but knowing that this is a one shot deal - if this wedding isn't everything I want it to be, I'm not going to have a chance to do it all over again. Maybe I was putting too much pressure on myself, for my wedding to meet a certain standard of perfection. But regardless I am one woman, I couldn't clone myself to bounce off ideas and my wedding party bless their hearts just aren't as particular about the details. I needed a details kind of person, and Misse was it! Misse found the following vendors for my wedding: florist (4/5 stars), make-up artist (5/5 ), hair stylist (5/5 ), wedding cake (5/5), invitations (5/5), DJ (5/5), transportation (5/5) When I was freaking out because Cake Girls burnt down about 6wks before my wedding, Misse was the one that calmed me down and put everything into perspective. Then found a wedding cake vendor that I never heard of, out in Oak Park that I would have never found/considered on my own. And the cake was phenomenal! When I really wanted letter press invitations, as outrageously expensive as they are, she found a vendor that was more reasonably priced. I already found the reception venue before we met, but without skipping a beat Misse completely took the reins with the venue. There are several examples that I can give you (i.e. the hotel got some type of residue on my wedding dress the morning of the wedding!!) that Misse just handled. Having her there to spare me from freaking out over all the little hiccups or just stuff that needed to get done that my controlling self wouldn't insure to anyone, she was there. So Yay! I'm a fan. read more

Worth every single penny! Rebecca from Honey Bee Weddings was the BEST decision we made for our May 2017 wedding. Let's be honest, weddings are stressful and there are a million details involved. My husband and I consider ourselves good planners and were on the fence about a wedding coordinator. After living through it all, we can honestly say we are forever grateful for Rebecca (like I would give her one of my kidneys if she needs it). We had a 200 person wedding with 75% traveling from out of town. We needed someone we could trust. She kept us on task in the months/weeks leading up to our wedding, built a timeline for our day and handled all of the day-of details which allowed us to truly enjoy our day. My father-in-law had a grand idea to surprise us with a visit by our three-legged pup during his speech. She made it happen flawlessly! read more

Honeybee Weddings was a nightmare to work with. As another reviewer wrote- if your wedding has 50 people and hotel staff handles all the work, she is probably fine. Our wedding was huge and had a ton of moving parts, which is why we found Honeybee and paid nearly TWICE the usual rate. However, the experience was far from acceptable. We made a long list of all the things that she did wrong or didn't do at all. However, it was the fact that so many vendors called us (bride AND groom) to express that either Shelly hadn't been in touch with them or that she was rude to them. Even my family...my mom, two cousins, and little sister asked us why we chose her because she didn't know what she was doing and also was rude to them. If I had the time and energy, I would write a 5 page review of how bad this company was for us, but alas...I do not. Shelly seems to approach day-of coordination as someone who holds a task list and then checks things off one at a time, IF nothing gets in the way. As most should know, weddings are never that simple. A coordinator needs to think on her/his feet and think about how to handle moving parts. Shelly wasn't able to do this and also seemed very frustrated with her own inability to handle things. Perhaps this is why I received so many complaints about her being rude and maybe that is why several vendors called us to say that they were confused about what was going on. Shelly had difficulty coordinating simple things like lining up guests and forgot so many things that we had to make a list to capture them all. At no point did Honey Bee apologize to us or even acknowledge any mistakes. That was just as frustrating as the actual poor job they did. We can never get our wedding day back and so we will forever remember that some of our most important guests were insulted by her and that things fell apart because the coordinator was not competent. That said, this company is awful and I would never recommend them to anyone. Considering that there are so many other people out there who do strong coordination and are polite to your family and friends, I regret going with them. read more

Misse was a life saver, in so many ways. 1. I had very challenging family dynamics, 2 sets of divorced parents, some high maintenance family members, etc. 2. Our bridal party is all VERY outgoing, loud and at times obnoxious, love them to death but it's the truth. They were hard to keep in line at times. 3. Like I said before I had minimal communication with my contact at The James. She kept things 100% calm, on time and stress free, she was in the suite ordering up champagne glasses, cleaning the suite for when the photog got there, doing just about everything you would need. It helps that she is so fun to be around it is almost like she blends in to the party itself. She is INSANELY organized, her timeline was flawless and put me so much at ease. She even helped me get out of my dress to pee. She put certain family members "in place" who really needed to be, if you know what I mean and for that I am truly grateful. She put the left over candles from our cocktail hour all over our suite and had a bottle of champagne chilling in the fridge with a little note. NO DETAIL ESCAPES HER!! Everything was executed EXACTLY how I envisioned it and there were so many issues I found out about after the day that I had NO CLUE of on the day off. Seriously she was probably the best wedding investment we made. Over all I got to sit back and relax and have fun knowing that she was in control and would make sure everything went off great! read more

Slightly delayed, but still heartfelt!! We used Rebecca from Honeybee Weddings for our July wedding in Chicago last year. We were hesitant about using a planner, thinking we could handle it all. We were SO wrong. Rebecca was the best thing we could've done. She got our vision right away, handled our sense of humor and silly Mother of the Bride demands like a champ! We didn't worry about a single thing on our day of or even leading up to the wedding. I would highly recommend Rebecca and Honeybee Weddings to anyone. Thanks for an amazing experience!!! read more

I worked with Shelly from Honey Bee Weddings for our recent October wedding. When I started the wedding planning process, I wasn't really sure what a DOC would do - or if I really needed one. Wow, was I wrong. Hiring Shelly was the best decision I made. Picking a DOC was a tough decision for me, as I am detail oriented and I didn't want to work with "just anyone." Shelly was truely a joy to work with. For brides out there, I would agree that hiring a DOC for your wedding is one of the best decisions you could make. Worth every penny. Never overbearing but ALWAYS organized, Shelly had my back! When I received her timeline, I knew I was in good hands. The week of our wedding, I was so busy and stressed and knowing that Shelly was helping me out was very comforting. Shelly was always responsive to e-mails and/or calls and she also provided input on things I was unsure how to handle. On the day of, she was so helpful. She just made sure everything was taken care of and that things were moving along. I couldn't have done it without her. Shelly worked with all of my vendors to make everything work. I honestly do not know how she does it, but she does!!! Thank you Shelly and Honey Bee Weddings for making our day enjoyable, for making it run smoothly, and for the best service a bride could ask for! read more

We used Misse at Honey Bee as our Day-of Coordinator (DOC) for our recent wedding, and I can say without a doubt that this was the most valuable service we invested in for our wedding. If you are on the fence about whether or not you want a DOC, get off now! From my first meeting with Misse at a Starbucks in Wicker Park, I could tell she was sharp as a tack--this girl knows her business! She is thoroughly professional and her vast knowledge of all things wedding combined with her attention to detail were incredible assets, especially since I was planning from out of town. Working with Honey Bee made my planning a stress-free experience, as Misse was always ready with a spreadsheet and timeline to keep me on track. She always responded to my emails immediately--I think I even heard from her once while she was vacationing in INDIA for goodness' sakes! She took care of a myriad of day-of duties as advertised: timeline development, itineraries, distribution of out of town gift bags, etc. She was also always ready with a recommendation or advice when asked--her input helped me crystallize my thoughts on a few items. And, she completely took over ALL vendor communication and coordination starting the Monday before the wedding--a service that I felt made Honey Bee more comprehensive (and a bigger value) than other day-of coordinators. At the venue walk-through, we were able to finalize the floorplan and florals, thanks to her expertise and direction (invaluable!). Just a few of the things she did on the wedding day: picked up our cakes and rentals, put in my veil, got the groomsmen into their boutonnieres, wrangled the (headstrong) bridal party, made sure we left for photos on time, oversaw the set up of the reception (making some on-the-spot decisions with the venue manager and florist to improve the flow), set two DIY decor tables (one a memorial candle display and another and advice jar). She bustled my dress, delivered our gifts and envelopes to our suite and literally appeared out of thin air within moments of someone spilling tomato soup on my dress and attended to the stain. I could go on and on about the seemingly endless list of items Misse attended to during our wedding, but I think you get the very organized, efficient and top-notch picture of the coordination offered here, right? I must say that I am a very organized person and a pretty skilled planner on my own. But I did not want the stress of handling little details or wrangling vendors on my wedding day, nor did I want my friends and family to be "on the job." Throughout the wedding weekend, everyone--friends, family...even the hotel bellman--kept stopping me and telling me how calm and relaxed I looked. They couldn't believe this collected, chill chick was THE BRIDE! But I guess that's what Honey Bee brides look like. :) Bottom line, it was essential that my husband and I be able to focus on each other and the important moments of our wedding day. Hiring Honey Bee made this desire a reality--we attended our wedding and reception as guests. Knowing that everything was in Misse's capable hands, we were able to enjoy every second of it. And that is truly priceless. read more

The best thing you can do for yourself on your wedding day is hire a day-of coordinator. And if you hire a DOC, you must turn to Shelly at Honey Bee Weddings! I did not really understand the value of a DOC initially; I hired one mainly because all my married friends insisted that it was worth it and I thought it would be useful to have someone who could make calls if a vendor was late. Little did I know that a DOC is worth her weight in gold! They do that and SO much more. A few months before my wedding, Shelly started putting together my wedding timeline (which was incredibly detailed and organized). Her advice and suggestions on timing and flow were invaluable. She also attended multiple walkthroughs of the venue with me and my vendors to make sure the flow worked and that everyone was on the same page, with no detail was overlooked. She also talked to all my vendors multiple times in the weeks leading up to the wedding and again on the day-of to make sure everything was in order. She went above and beyond so many times - for example, she found out that my cake baker wanted the icing to match my linens perfectly and picked up a swatch from the caterer and dropped it off at the baker so that the cake color was perfect. On the day of my wedding, Shelly did so many things to make sure the day was perfect. I had a 250 guest Indian wedding with lots of moving pieces (groom's procession, ceremony and reception in the same room, requiring a turnover during cocktail hour, etc). Shelly was on top of everything at all times and made sure all proceeded smoothly. She was calm and collected at all times, too - a true professional who is a pleasure to work with. I'm a very organized person, but Shelly was two steps ahead of me every step of the way throughout the process. My wedding day was perfect - no detail was overlooked, everything ran on schedule, and I had a very stress-free, amazing day. All of this was in large part due to Shelly. For a perfect day, put your hands in Shelly and you can't go wrong! read more

We hired Shelly as our day of wedding coordinator for our wedding in August. I must say, she stole us from the first time we met on our consultation. We are VERY picky with all the details for our wedding and she, by far, exceded all expectations! Shelly contacted our wedding party individually weeks prior to the wedding date to get to know their personalities so they will be at ease when they meet on the day of. Our wedding was a HUGE success thanks to all her help. She made sure all our vendors were at their proper locations at the time they were contracted to be. She set up all our place cards (which is very detailed and consisted of 3 articles that had to be placed accordingly) for us at the hotel reception. It looked fantastic! One moment she was at our hotel in the morning making sure everything was ok, then she was at the church pinning our boutonnieres. She was like super woman. Shelly was just everywhere! We did not worry about anything from the morning until the time she left at the reception. Our vendors even told us that Shelly was one of the best, if not, THE BEST, wedding coordinator they have ever worked with. Extremely organized. Very professional. The bridal party thought she was AMAZING, as well as our parents and guests. Yes, the guests do pay attention to the lady holding the folder following you around everywhere. Shelly is also incredibly easy to work with and she always had a great smile on her face. We strongly recommend hiring a day-of wedding planner. We URGE you to ask for Shelly! Trust us...if she can satisfy our very detail oriented personalities, she can satisfy you. Worth every penny! Thank you Shelly once again for making our day run as smooth as smooth can be and a day that we will never forget! -Mr and Mrs Carlos read more

My husband and I could not have asked for a better day-of wedding coordinator. Shelly from Honey Bee weddings was absolutely fantastic. Thanks to Shelly, our day was seamless, and contrary to the warnings I got from many friends and family before our big day, everything went perfectly! If you are a bride-to-be I definitely recommend hiring a day-of coordinator - it takes all of the potential stress out of the day (especially if you have someone like Shelly at your side). Honey Bee Weddings was great to work with from the start, and I knew from the moment that I met Shelly that I was in good hands! Shelly started by gathering details about our event about a month before the big day. Throughout the month leading up to our wedding, Shelly was in contact with us to coordinate timelines and other information. The week of the wedding she did all of the follow up with vendors and reviewed my final contracts. At the rehearsal dinner Shelly took over the show. The day of the wedding Shelly was there from start to finish making sure every detail was taken care of. Shelly let us enjoy our day and take in all of the memories. Shelly's help was incredible and our wedding was amazing because of her help. Shelly, and Honey Bee weddings, was the most valuable vendor we hired for our wedding day - I highly recommend Honey Bee Weddings (Shelly in particular) for day-of wedding coordination. read more

My new husband and I hired Shelly to be our DOC for our October 1st Wedding. This was hands down, the best money we spent at our wedding. We are incredibly organized people. We are both type A and live in excel documents. Had a question on something? We had a detailed document on that. We planned everything to the very last detail, but I still don't know what I would have done without Shelly. Shelly was awesome. The month, and couple of weeks leading up to the wedding get crazy. Details pop up that you hadn't thought of, etc. The week before the wedding I did NOTHING. I didn't have to follow up with any of the vendors which to me, was so helpful. I normally double and triple check everything and didn't have to worry about doing that. I had complete confidence that Shelly would take care of everything for us and she did. I had SEVERAL special/unique items for the reception and Shelly came to our place the Wednesday before to review each of them in detail, taking thorough notes. She took everything off my plate so I didn't have to worry about it. Everything she did or considered doing was to make my life easier. She also went above and beyond her job description. The week leading up to the wedding she secretly conspired with our best man to make his speech EXTRA special (helping coordinate the drop off and delivery of AV equipment and testing it with him at 7am in the morning!). This was the absolute HIGHLIGHT of our wedding (think embarrassing photos and videos of the groom - hilarious) and it absolutely would not have been possible without Shelly's help. If you want to enjoy your wedding day and not worry about anything, hire Honey Bee - specifically Shelly if you can. I promise - it'll be worth every penny. read more

Finally getting around to writing a review...I went cold turkey post wedding. I think Misse did a great job of keeping things in line at my wedding so I didn't have to think about any of the details. And that is exactly what I wanted--to not have to think at all on my wedding day. She is super organized and on top of things both pre-wedding and on the day of. All in all, a great investment. read more

I cannot recommend Misse Daniel and HoneyBee Weddings as a day-of coordinator highly enough. Being a completely type A personality and having planned the wedding myself, it was a struggle for me to turn the reins over to someone else in the days leading up to the wedding. And I can only wish I'd let go sooner! The minute Misse stepped in, she had everything under control. She knew just how to keep the day calm and helped us make the right advance decisions so that everything that could be controlled was taken care of. The morning of our snowy winter wedding, we lost a few additional guests and Misse accommodated all of the adjustments it necessitated without batting an eye. The best part is, I'm guessing there were plenty of other perfectly typical mishaps that were handled beautifully without me ever knowing. Which is exactly how you want it. Misse was hands down one of the best investments we made in the entire process. You will be so happy (and grateful) to have her. read more

I loved working with Misse and her team and can't be thankful enough we worked with her. We got married at the end of September 2014 and booked her about a year in advance, we had a two year engagement. Even though we had her for the 'day of' she worked with us the entire year and helped with recommendations, schedules, vendor communication etc. Before the wedding I was already happy we chose her, but when it came down to the week of it's priceless! She's great at what she does and a lot of help in putting her foot down with the wedding party and guests when you don't want to have to be the one worrying about everyone the day of! Unfortunately, I got food poisoning the day before the wedding and I really don't know what we would have done without Misse. While my (now) husband was a big part of the planning, he wasn't in the know of every detail so the day before especially Misse was a huge help. Not only was she trying to schedule someone to go to the house to do our nails, but she stood in for me at the rehearsal and the day of queued everyone up so there was no worry or thinking on our part at all. She's friendly, organized and a wealth of knowledge and experience. I can't thank Misse enough for a flawless day! read more

We used Misse from Honey Bee for our June wedding. She was absolutely fantastic. From the first meeting on, Misse was incredibly professional, but also warm, friendly, and personable. She was actually the one and only DOC my husband and I interviewed, because after she mentioned her excel spreadsheets, we knew it was a match. (We are both excel freaks, and that level of organization just warms my heart :)). Misse is very responsive and incredibly helpful all through the planning process. You are getting so much more than just a DAY of coordinator with her (which is incredibly fantastic, if like me, you are on a tight budget)! And of course (like all the other reviewers) our wedding day went off without a hitch. She handles crisis after crisis with ease, so much so, that as the Bride you dont even know a crisis is happening. Misse and her assistant Sam did everything from picking up flowers from my husbands father's house, to setting up reception decor, to carting me to the church, to cleaning up after the reception (and so much more in between). And my favorite - when i was finally ready to take off my fabulous 5 inch Badgley & Mishka heels, Sam came running over with my slippers before i could even sit down. Awesome! Do yourself a favor - pick up the phone now and give Misse a call. You wont be sorry! read more

I loved my DOC, Misse! Planning a wedding can be a daunting experience and as the months passed by I realized all of my ideas and creativity couldn't be executed by me on the day of our wedding! So, I researched several wedding coordinators and chose Misse for many reasons. I loved her attention to details and her willingness to make it it the best day ever for the bride. She understood what it takes, as a DOC, to make the bride happy and make the day go smoothly. Her attentiveness reminded me a bit of myself and pushed me to hire her because of how detail oriented I am, I wanted to feel assured someone could execute the day to how I wanted it to look. I felt other DOC's limited themselves and there were stipulations where Misse was very open and when I expressed my concerns, she was so pleasant about everything and had no problems with any of my requests! The way Misse runs her business is very smart, taking over one week before the actual day is brilliant, whereas others just execute the day of. It really lets the bride be a bride leading up to the best day ever. I was worried, prior to the wedding, on the overwhelming amount of DIY I had and during our walk through two weeks prior, Misse made me feel so confident in her ability to execute! She made it seem so effortless and easy with all the crazy stuff and decor I had going on! I walked away so carefree and confident During the rehearsal, she was such great support! As long as the church is willing! The rehearsal can be exciting and overwhelming but Misse remained in control and evenkeeled, what any bride needs! I was too busy meeting, greeting, listening to the church coordinator and Misse had all the details ready to go when needed! On the wedding day, Misse was amazing! She had everything planned out and was my rock and total support throughout the day! As a bride, it's such a whirlwind and Misse kept everything running smoothly and on time! She checked up on everything, she made sure the hairstylist was at the hotel, the flowers came, when to get dressed, etc. things that slip your mind as a bride, Misse was there thinking for you! At the venue, she executed all the decor to perfection! When we got there during cocktail hour, she walked us through and I was incredibly happy with the results. She worked very well with all the vendors and kept me in the loop all night. She kept me on track with the timelines, checked up to make sure I was o.k., and made sure we were happy! Overall, it was absolutely AMAZING!!!!! Our day turned out beautiful and perfect! Misse was a driving force behind it all to help us enjoy and revel in our wedded bliss! She was the best choice ever and we couldn't be happier with how our day turned out! She is wonderful, smart, kind, and professional! The perfect choice for any bride looking to have a perfect, relaxing, fun day! read more

Misse is magical! she knows her wedding paraphanelia allot! Her brides are diverse and her prices are top notch! read more

There aren't enough words to express how grateful I am to have had Misse as my day of coordinator (doc)!! She was absolutely sensational from our first meeting to the end of our wedding day. In our first meeting (before we had booked her) she took detailed notes and asked a lot of in-depth questions. She made me feel like my day was as important to her as it was to me. Her dedication continued through the next nine months of planning that we had to go. She was so quick to answer all emails and always provided an honest yet tactful answer to any question I had. As we got down to the last month, she handled all the final confirmations and details of all of my vendors and choreographed our timeline of the day. It was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders because those last few weeks are a bit chaotic and it was a relief knowing Misse was taking care of everything. I was even more impressed that Misse was so involved the week before our wedding as her mother was in the hospital. Her work ethic is flawless. She was at our rehearsal and made sure everyone knew where they had to be. She was professional and patient with our at times rowdy bridal party-mostly the rowdiness came from the groomsmen:) I only had to think about what I was going to be doing and not what everyone else was. On the day of the wedding Misse was at our hotel with my girls and I making sure we were all ready for our hair and make-up. She went on a Starbucks run and ordered our lunch too. I loved that I was able to enjoy the process of getting ready without a single worry. She was on top of the schedule of the guys too (and they can always use a little nudge in the right direction!) She made sure the photographers and bus driver were at the hotel at the right times that we were departing for the church on time. After the ceremony started Misse went to our reception location and fine tuned all the details from the placecards and candles to our pictures, guest book and card box. When we arrived after taking pictures Misse was there making sure we were adhearing to the schedule and even bustled my dress in the elevator and removed my veil. When I saw the final product of the ballroom, it took my breath away-every detail had been done just right!! Once we were introduced and dinner began, Misse was still going strong. She pinned the flowers in my hair and kept us on track for speeches and dances. I didn't worry at all, pure enjoyment and happiness were the only emotions I felt.After the reception concluded and my new husband and I returned to our suite, all of our belongings were neatly placed in our room and Misse had left a note of anything we may need to be aware of. My wedding day was perfection! It would have been a great day no matter what but there is no way it would have flowed as smoothly without Misse there to guide it along. I could not believe all the details that go into a wedding until I was planning my own and on your wedding day you don't want to have to think about things you just want to enjoy. Hiring Misse was one of the best wedding decisions I made and I would whole-heartedly recommend her services to any bride getting ready to take the plunge! read more

It took me a long time but I am finally writing a review. Let me start by saying. MARVELOUS!! Misse did a marvelous job with helping us keep the wedding planning in order. And I have to give her 500 stars just for dealing with a crazy vendor! Boy I am not sure how that would have gone without her stepping in to help me save the day. We met Misse in Humboldt Perk for coffee. My husband and I had a great time talking to her and liked her a lot. As soon as she left we looked and each other and said YEP she is the one. We had interviewed other people and they did not seem as organized or enthusiastic about our wedding as she did. She was very on top of all of us for hair. Where some people said they felt rushed I felt like that is why I paid for. Someone to RUSH me along and make sure everything was on schedule. Because on that day I had a whole nother set of things on my mind besides a timeline. At the end of the day people were saying thank god she rushed us because we would have been late. I would and have recommended her to anyone and everyone who is getting married that needs that extra help as things get closer. Because while I am a control freak as the day gets closer you start to wonder what is it that I am forgetting and she will be there to let you know. Thanks so much for helping us plan a wonderful wedding! Angie and Edgar read more

If I could recommend one thing when planning a wedding, it would be to hire Misse Daniel and her team! My husband I got married on 6/14/14, and because of her it went along seamlessly. She came highly recommended from our venue for a Day of Coordinator. Lifesaver! Not only is she concise, detail oriented, and professional she's a joy to be around. Here are some of the items she did for us: Recommended vendors Put together timeline Looked over our contracts Found inconsistencies in contracts Told us when to walk down the aisle Point of contact for vendors (huge!) Didn't show us anything that went wrong day of the big day Kept me on schedule...! Facilitated the rehearsal Instructed people when to do speeches Bustled my dress Handed out the tips Got all of our gifts back to our hotel room so when we got there at the end of the night, didn't do anything Put out the place cards Handled all the give aways, card boxes, ceremony items, etc Made sure vendors were there on time Told me when to cut the cake, etc I love her. Misse Daniel, honeybee weddings=a seamless wedding. If I can recommend something, anything, this would be it. Call her! And let me add one more thing.... My mother, sister and myself all have VERY strong personalities... Very alpha and we got along with her great!!! read more

Honey Bee Weddings - Wedding Planning Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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My (now) husband and I had the pleasure of meeting Misse a little over a year before our wedding day. We had already selected our church and venue at that point but both decided we were in over our heads when it came to planning everything else. Misse and Honey Bee Weddings were recommended by a fellow bride, and when my husband and I met Misse, we instantly knew she was the right woman for the job. We moved forward with a partial planning and day of package. Misse is incredibly organized, knowledgable and resourceful. Working with Misse was a very accommodating process as my husband and I had a specific budget for what we wanted to spend with a planner, and Misse helped us tailor a package that met our needs. I am a project manager by profession and consider myself a good planner, but Misse brought it to another level that my husband and I were so grateful for and led to the most perfect day of our lives. When working with Misse, you'll find her proactive and very responsive. I also need to mention her fabulous sense of style which made planning the decor and our paper suite especially enjoyable! For the day of the wedding, and among a countless number of tasks, Misse created several timelines targeted towards our bridal party and vendors to keep everyone organized and on track - nothing was ahead or behind schedule more than 10 minutes that day! Our wedding would not have been so well coordinated if not for her. My husband and I would stop several times the months leading up to the big day and during our wedding day itself to say, "What would we have done without Misse?" We absolutely loved working with Misse and her team, and Honey Bee Weddings is HIGHLY recommended for any wedding planning needs. Thank you Misse for everything you did to make our wedding day and the planning process so perfect and memorable! read more

Horrible, really horrible. Of all the different vendors and people that we worked with for our wedding, I can honestly say the only one that I would NOT recommend is Misse and her company, Honey Bee Weddings. I found her on Yelp after reading many good reviews for the company, and used her as a Day of Coordinator. Just now when I went to write this I was still shocked by how many "5 star" reviews there are...then I realized all of her bad reviews are filtered, so they are not shown. Also interesting: Misse wrote a review of herself and gave her company 5 stars, shocking, Misse! Anyway, I could go on and on about how awful our experience was, but will try to keep it to several key points: 1) Misse was the snottiest person I had to deal with in all of our wedding planning process. I thought about firing her the week of the wedding, because of her horrible attitute and rudeness...however, decided to keep her since I thought she would keep the event organized. She did not, let me just say that. The next day, at our brunch, we had nothing but compliments on our wedding, except for the "rude wedding planner". Yes, that would be Misse. She was about 8 months pregnant at our wedding, but I don't think that was the entire cause of her rude attitude. Myself, my husband, my entire family are extremely kind, easy going people, who speak to eachother with respect, something that Misse needs to learn if she wants to continue in this business. SO many examples, so I will just give one...during out entree at the reception, Misse (or her intern, since Misse claims it wasn't her) had the nerve to approach a table of guests and rudely and loudly state "someone is here that isn't supposed to be here" . OMG how embarrasing when you are the bride, that someone YOU hired would be so rude to your guests (who thought he RSVPd for 2 but only did for 1). I know I said I would just give 1 example, but she also snapped at my step-father for coming into the reception area before the wedding (after he had already been there well before her, helping to set up). Everyone in the bridal party was shocked by how she talked to them, to me (the bride!) and my husband (the groom!) all day. 2) We did a lot of the decor for the wedding ourselves, and Misse knew this from the beginning, which is why I thought it would be benefitial to have a DOC. She was more of a stress than anything in the entire process. She was so worried about "taking over vendor communication" the week before the wedding, which is a little difficult when a lot of the things we did involved family, ourselves, etc. However, when she "took over" I asked to be kept on the emails...which she did not do. So the wedding day comes, and one example...our band leader did not even have the list of everyone he was supposed to announce! This was something I had given to Misse well in adavance, and she failed to give the info to him, so he was scribbling down names during the reception. Ridiculous. 3) If you don't mind people with rude attitudes, and if you are having a cookie-cutter ballroom type wedding, which does not involve anything "outside the box", then maybe Misse is right for you. However, everyone that had to deal with her at our wedding had nothing but bad remarks (including my grandparents, who are the sweetest people ever!). I could go on and on with examples, if you would like to hear any more just let me know, I will be glad to share! We LOVED every other person we worked with for our wedding, so this is clearly not a case of me being a bridezilla, Misse was really just horrible. And we let her know in a super long, detailed email. read more

My sister hired Honey Bee to coordinate her wedding earlier this summer, working with Shelly. As the only brother, I had a lot of responsibilities and interacted with Shelly a good amount on the weekend of the wedding. I have never worked with a wedding planner before but based on just this experience I do not understand what they are paid for. Shelly (and by association, Honey Bee) seemed to be completely lost with how to handle various (many relatively simple) wedding tasks or react in real time, unable to cope with the stress of a wedding day, and unable to maintain what I view as professionalism, including courtesy and a positive attitude. I would never recommend Honey Bee and I assure you that my sister feels the same but much more strongly -- it was her day that was tainted forever by many things which could have been avoided by working with a competent wedding coordinator. Here are some examples illustrating the behavior described above: 1. Instructing the wedding party on how to enter and line up for the wedding ceremony: What could be simpler than this?? This is something that is done at every wedding and therefore a wedding planner should be able to handle this in a cinch, right? Wrong. I stood there, along with the rest of the wedding party, completely flabbergasted as Shelly seemed utterly confused and unable to effectively communicate to us what the entrance order was or identify who was who (she didn't even know who the bride and groom's parents were). This was only resolved through the pro-activity of various members of the party. Truly unbelievable. 2. Going MIA during the reception, and general rudeness: As the emcee of the reception, I was responsible for bringing up the person who would be delivering the champagne toast. Before doing that, I of course wanted to ensure that the champagne had been poured for all guests. To do this, I went to find Shelly to make sure that she had confirmed this with the event staff. A simple question. The only problem was, I couldn't find Shelly. After asking several people, I was able to track her down to a locked room within the office of the reception hall coordinator. After being let in, I asked her about the champagne and she reacted as if I had interrupted her during a sacred moment, retorting back rudely and storming out to check with the wait staff. It turned out the champagne had been poured and all was OK, which was great...this would have been a non-issue if I was able to locate Shelly without leaving the reception for 15 minutes to track her down and if she had reacted with professionalism and a friendly face. I also experienced the same rude, annoyed demeanor earlier in the day when I had asked her a question. On a day that is supposed to be the ultimate celebration, I could not understand why Shelly carried such an air of negativity. 3. Appearing unprepared and needing to be told details multiple times: I was asked by my sister to touch base with Shelly to ensure several things related to one of the ceremonies were in place. I met with her several hours before the ceremony and we went through the items. I watched as she flipped through several pages of scribbled notes to find the details which needed to be discussed. Now, these notes MAY have been 100% organized in her own system, but they certainly gave the appearance of lack of preparation and confusion. Later, as the ceremony drew closer, I touched base with Shelly again and was unnerved to have to provide her with several details a second time (what would have happened if i did not stop by again?). Not the impression one would hope to get from the person who is being paid to, supposedly, take the stress out of a hectic but priceless day. In sum, unless you are looking for someone to UNcoordinate your wedding and add stress and negativity to your celebration, don't hire Honey Bee. read more

I wish when I had contemplated hiring Misse that I would have considered the two bad reviews as a possibility as opposed to two disgruntled customers. Boy was I wrong! Those people nailed exactly how Misse treats her clients and her overall blasé attitude toward a wedding. This blasé attitude led to the bride (myself) taking an uber to the church as opposed to Misse figuring it out, which is why she was hired. But let me start at the beginning....Misse was hired about 3.5 weeks before our wedding as my mom really wanted someone there to make decisions, etc on the day of so we could just enjoy. Upon meeting her, I told her how almost everything was complete and since we knew all of our vendors besides the limo company that it was the main area we were concerned with not going wrong. She assured me she would take care of transportation and that the week up to my wedding would be relaxing and peaceful as she was "in charge" then. If I could only go back and not have hired her based on her cheaper rate of $2,000 compared to the other day-of planners that I had looked into. As she started having me fill in google docs, I remember wondering if she had remembered anything we had spoken multiple times about. Well she hadn't. Multiple times her suggestions (by suggestions I mean a condescending tone in her voice) would have cost hundreds or thousands of dollars more by having our photographer come hours earlier than necessary. For example, she treated our vendors like garbage. She was rude and condescending toward them and me. The last two weeks before my wedding were miserable when it came to this portion of it, because of Misse. She was rude and never took into consideration that she was trying to help me create my vision for the perfect day, not hers. When we disagreed, she would remind me that her wedding had done that so I was an idiot if I didn't do that same. During the rehearsal she told my bridesmaid the wrong information about hair and was condescending while doing it. When it came to the day of, she showed up around 12:30 and at that point already knew there was a transportation issue since she told the person handling the flowers. Instead of working on this, she let one limo sit there for 15 minutes not leaving the hotel so that there was no way it would return in time to pick me up and take me back to the church. As I was waiting for the limo to return we tried numerous times to get a hold of her. She finally called me back around 2:30pm and told me to wait for the limo (our ceremony was at 3). At 2:40pm my photographer suggested we get an uber and we got there right at 3pm. The limo didn't get back to "pick me up" until 3pm. If we would have waited we would have been at least 30 minutes late for my ceremony. When I got back from my honeymoon and emailed her about this, she never apologized or took any accountability for this, as another Yelp reviewer previously mentioned. This was literally the ONE, MAIN reason she was hired!!!! After the ceremony, we were hoping she would help us corral all of the different family members for photos, but she had already left to go the hotel. Luckily our photographers were amazing! The rest of the night, I'm honestly not sure what she was doing . She tried to have one of the photographers talk my dad out of wanting to speak in front of a podium because she didn't want to track one down. Other than that, I don't know. She definitely made out like a bandit at our wedding. She pulled in $2,000 and treated everyone like crap! I apologize for the length of this but I was hoping to accurately portray this terrible experience. Our July 2016 wedding was perfect but it would have been so much more enjoyable, especially the weeks leading up without Misse. Save yourself the money and more importantly the annoyance and look elsewhere. read more

Weddings can be stressful... and a planner shouldn't make the process more stressful! After reaching out to Honey Bee Weddings, and setting up a meeting with Misse my fiancé and I were passed to Laura for our consultation, as Misse entered into a verbal agreement with another couple for the same wedding date. Totally understandable. We met with Laura and hit it off well. She told us that our date would be held in her calendar for two weeks while we made our final decision. She also restated this in an email to me the next day. Later that week, we followed up with her to get a contract moving forward (this was on Friday). She sent the contract that day. Then, on Monday (while I was traveling for work - something that we had previously discussed during our meeting, and didn't have access to my email) she sent a note saying that I had 24 hours to get her the contract or she was going with another couple. This came out of nowhere, was not followed up with a phone call or any other attempts to contact us... and was less than a week into our promised "two week" decision period. When I reached out to her, the next day just 20 minutes after her "24 deadline" (as soon as I read the email) she told me that she had already committed with the other couple. I fully understand that there are limited days in the year and planners to fill those days, but this was just poor business etiquette in my opinion. Why put a two-week window out there if you don't plan to honor it? A little more effort would have been nice. I am glad that we realized how unprofessional the company was now, before we got too far into our wedding planning with them! My advice, stay away, there are far too many good wedding planners out there to waste your time working through the growing pains of this one. Good luck! read more

Okay, so I've been going back and forth with whether or not to write a review on Honey Bee's services but after serious consideration, I really do not want any other brides to go through what I went through on their special day. I was definitely a very calm and organized bride-to-be and decided to hire a DOC mainly so that I could truly enjoy my day without worrying or even thinking about the many components of the ceremony/reception. If I had only known pre-wedding that working with Honey Bee would cause more stress and worrying than not even hiring a DOC, I would have been much better off. Misse called me one week prior to my big day to tell me that she wasn't going to make it to the wedding. WTF!! Now I'm a very compassionate person and after she told me she needed to have emergency surgery, I actually felt bad and worried for her, and didn't even think about my situation. Misse told me to have no fear because Marilyn was going to take over as my coordinator, and that she would be great. I was not too concerned because I really didn't have a choice in such short notice and I ASSUMED Misse would completely download Marilyn on every single detail of my big day so that all would run smoothely. Well apparently Misse did not give Marilyn any of my wedding details, which left me scrambling to review as much info as I could with Marilyn, who by the way, had a terrible attitude. Although I was nothing but nice to her, she seemed annoyed with me from day 1 and showed zero enthusiasm/excitment about the big day. I'm sorry, but if this is what you do for a living, you can at least pretend that you're excited for the bride. The day of the wedding, Marilyn acted completely helpless. I think she was confused every step of the way. She didn't seem to understand the timeline of events, she had a bad attitude and even had trouble doing the most menial tasks such as ordering lunch for the bridal party. It was like the 30 spreadsheets of information that I had sent over through the months were suddenly lost! Thank God I was surrounded by a bunch competent people, including an amazing catering manager, who were all more helpful than Marilyn. To top things off, Misse was not even courteous enough to follow up with me after the wedding to see how everything went and find out if I was happy with Marilyn's services. It was like she knew she screwed me and didn't even want to deal with the aftermath. I was shocked! Honestly, I could go on and on, but I just have to say that I am not hard to please and I was pretty much in love with every vendor I chose, but if I could do anything differently, I would NEVER have picked Honey Bee Weddings for my DOC. They were not worth the money or the stress and certainly were not reliable. read more

Ok, so i've admitted I'm a huge control freak, and I was really nervous about having a DOC that I didn't have a ton of contact with--I travel a lot for my job, and Marilyn (our FABULOUS Honeybee DOC) also has a full time job (how DOES she do it?? well, she is also incredibly organized). However, she was great about answering all my questions regarding etiquette (we had a traditional Jewish wedding, and although she is not Jewish, she did her research and knew all the ins-and-outs), was a good people-wrangler, and really made sure our day went off without a hitch. I did a ton of research before I booked a DOC and I have to say that Marilyn is a BARGAIN. She's really poised, smart and gets it done. I am not an extreme wedding person, and I felt like a lot of coordinators used baby talk with me and were snobby, bitchy and over priced, but not the girls at Honeybee. They are way more comfortable, friendly and real than any of the people I talked to and I am SO glad we worked with Marilyn. Just a side note--people always say things will go wrong on your wedding day. On ours, we (according to our caterer) went through alcohol at "an astonishing, alarming rate" and Marilyn saved the day by running out and finding enough bottles of our esoteric, boutique liquors to get us through the night. I love her for that alone! If you're pretty organized, know what you want, and know you want someone professional, knowledgeable and down to earth, go with Honeybee. read more

Absolutely look elsewhere for a wedding planner! She seems sweet and competent, but beware. Her rudeness was inexcusable, and she did not follow through with important pieces of the wedding, that she was hired for. A complete waste of money! read more

I would give 10 stars if I could to Honey Bee Weddings and Misse Daniel. I used Misse as a partial (including day of) planner for my wedding in downtown Chicago on 9/24/11 and she far exceeded my expectations! From our first meeting almost a year and a half before my wedding, I knew she would be awesome! She was very knowledgeable and it was apparent that she had a lot of experience. Misse kept us on track through every step in the planning process. She was just a partial planner, but even provided some high level guidance on the vendors she wasn't contracted to assist with. Her vendor recommendations were spot on and she made an effort to understand what we wanted from our wedding before making her recommendations. The week of the wedding Misse managed every detail and all communication with my vendors. She was very organized. On the day of the wedding Misse was awesome! She was so prepared, right down to having an umbrella that matched our wedding colors in case it rained. Two minutes before I walked down the aisle I snagged my dress and Misse was right there to fix it. I don't know what I would've done without her! My bustle came out a few times at the reception and Misse was there with pins. I even had a bridesmaid comment on how attentive she was and how she was able to immediately fix any problem that came up. I could go on and on... If you are thinking about a wedding planner, I STRONGLY recommend it, and HBW. Their customer service exceeded my expectations. The day of my wedding was stress free for my husband and I, and I know it was because Misse managed every detail and fixed any problem before I even knew about it. HBW far exceeded our expectations and looking back we would've paid a lot more for the service we got!! Even if you are on a tight budget, I highly recommend hiring a planner and especially Honey Bee Weddings! read more

We are soo glad to have found Sam. She is incredible, our wedding day was fantastic, so much better than I ever anticipated. Sam is extremely reliable, professional, sharp, and has such positive energy. The week prior to our wedding was crazy (as it always is) and she responded to everything logically and worked with us and our venue to make sure it ran smoothly. We can't thank her enough. HB Weddings was also a great company to work with, they responded to emails immediately, and had fantastic recommendations for services. read more

My husband and I hired Misse for the full planning of our wedding and we couldn't be happier. She helped us with everything from searching for a venue to the colors of the linens. We as a couple had three things we cared about when we started planning our wedding: free booze, great venue, and a great photographer. We had a pretty low budget by Chicago standards and Misse helped us find vendors in our price range. We had family coming in from out of town and Misse helped us manage that easily by making all the accommodations at the hotels and everything for us. We work on cruise ships, so were gone for the better part of the planning process and Misse helped us make all our important decisions before we left, set us up with google docs of budget, invitations, and was quick to get back to us about questions or issues we had which made the entire process stress free. On the day of, she helped everything run very smoothly, I didn't have anyone asking me what came next, Misse had it all under control so my husband and I could enjoy our own wedding and our guests. The vendors she recommended were FANTASTIC and within our budget and provided plenty of everything for the party we threw. She managed the contracts for us so there was no stress that we might miss something with the vendors, or forget a payment or anything. Start to finish, I don't know what we would have done without Misse, she was a joy to work with. At the end of the night, my husband and I sat in our hotel suite and recounted the entire night and could not think of one thing we would have changed. read more

If I could give her zero stars I would (this review is for Misse). Other wedding vendors do not like working with her, and after signing a contract and paying her half the cost, I came to realize that she's very unresponsive and does not follow through on what she promises. Also she wanted to charge me extra to speak over the phone - email is all you get, and she won't even respond to you for at least 2 days, and sometimes just didn't respond at all. She made me feel more stress and anxiety and that just isn't right when I hired her to make things easier for me. Please avoid losing your money - and go elsewhere! Side note - have heard from others that she can act very rude to guests at the wedding, so I terminated our relationship because it was too much of a risk. read more

This is delayed but I'm glad I'm finally writing this review because Misse and Honey Bee Weddings are FABULOUS. I contacted Misse about 6-8 months before my September wedding. I realized the wedding was slowly taking over my life and I needed help... but at the same time, the control freak in me didn't want to give up the reigns to my Big Day. In came Misse, the world's most organized and awesome DOC. Her spreadsheets and reminder emails kept me on track. She had fabulous referrals and ideas. The day of my rehearsal, she came in and invoked the fears of what I referred to as "the Wedding Planning Gods" in my bridal party. Everybody kept on track for the world's most efficient rehearsal, because she was able to reel everybody in which I certainly wasn't capable of or wanting to do myself. She handles the dirty work! The day of my wedding? I didn't have a care in the world - and it showed. All of my family and friends complimented me on how much I looked like I was enjoying my wedding day... I tell them it was because I knew everything was in the very capable hands of Misse. She handled everything with poise and professionalism, and even refrained from slapping my 21 year old brother when he repeatedly asked if he could take her home/ dance with her/ who knows what else. I'm pretty sure nobody would have blamed her but I swear she is unflinching in her wedding coordinating duties ;-) In all seriousness, I can't tell you how pleased you will be if you hire Misse or a member of her staff - I am forever grateful for her services and you will feel the same way if you go to Honey Bee Weddings for your DOC needs. read more

Marilyn was our Day-Of-Coordinator, and I was so glad that she was there to help with everything. I was a really organized and detail oriented bride, but towards the end I was nervous because my Russian family didn't really understand the detailed ins and outs of American weddings, so it was great to have Marilyn's experienced eye review everything. She provided a very detailed file to track everything, and as things changed we sent it back and forth to make sure we always had the latest details. A few days before the wedding, she contacted all the vendors and found a few gaps that I had missed. I was so relieved that she caught everything before the wedding, because the little mishaps would have put a damper on my day. The Friday before the wedding she was at the rehearsal to direct the processional and to make sure that everyone was doing what they were supposed to be doing. The day of the wedding, she met me after we got our hair and makeup done at the hotel. She was with me to make sure that the florist delivered what she should have to the right place, and so many other little details. Once we were good to go, she went to the church to make sure that everything was set up the way I wanted, and that everyone was where they needed to be at the right time. She distributed all tips and checks, and let my husband and I feel like guests at our own wedding. The reception felt like a party that we were attending, not throwing because Marilyn was on top of everything and told us where we had to be when. At the end of the reception she brought all my belongings, guest book, cake knife, toasting flutes and other items to my suite. I didn't have to lift a finger looking for anything because she thought of everything in advance. My day was absolutely spectacular. Everyone told me that something would go wrong...as far as I know; nothing went wrong because Marilyn was there to save the day. All in all, Marilyn's services were well worth it and a great price. If you're looking for a no nonsense DOC that won't patronize you, but will make sure that your day is executed just the way you want, then Marilyn is your girl. read more

My husband and I were married in the fall of 2013. Misse Daniel was our "day of" wedding event coordinator, and she was amazing. Indeed, she did much more than just "day of" services. We started the planning process from California, but in the middle of the wedding planning moved to Chicago. While that helped the planning, it was still an overwhelming amount of work and difficult to piece everything together. We were married at the Joffrey Ballet studio, which, while absolutely gorgeous, required a lot of vision, as it is an empty space in the middle of the city. While we knew it would be gorgeous to have the city lights coming in, it was difficult to imagine exactly how to set everything up, and how we would make it look romantic and "weddingy." This is where Misse came in. While she was only our "day-of" wedding coordinator, she helped us with SO much more. She provided us with a ton of tips about what types of decor to get (or, when I had a freakout and thought we needed much more, she talked me off the ledge), what lighting to use, etc. She also provided us with templates that we could use for the menu, program, etc. More than anything, she kept us on track in the months leading up to the wedding. While that may not sound like a daunting task - it is! Trying to keep track of the various payments due, what still needs to happen, etc. is no easy task, but Misse kept us in line. And that was all BEFORE the actual day of. On the actual day of the event, Misse was a superstar. Everything was perfect, and she kept everyone calm. She got the trolley coordinated (very helpful, as my husband and his side of the bridal party got ready at a different location); made sure the photographer knew where to go (and what pictures she wanted to be sure to have!); kept all of the groomsmen in order (as best anyone could!); and made sure that the event space was PERFECT. And it was. When my husband and I walked in to the reception area for the first time, we were floored. All of the planning in the world could not have prepared us for how beautiful the room looked, which was largely thanks to Misse's vision for how to make the room come together. She also helped ensure that everything was where we wanted it to be (i.e., the DJ in the corner, not in the middle of the floor), despite certain vendors having other preferences. Then, we got back to the hotel where everything was cleaned up, all gifts were stored, and where my husband and I did not have to worry about a thing. I could not recommend Misse enough. It was the best day of my life, and made so much easier by her help. read more

An amazing job! I was recently married on March 24, 2012 and was very impressed with the level of services provided by Honey Bee Weddings. My husband is in the military and we were long distance throughout our entire engagement. Planning a wedding here in Chicago while he was in Virginia on a deployment for most of the planning months left me nervous and in need of guidance and support. I met with Misse about 10 months prior to our wedding and hired her for partial, day of coordination services. I am an organized person but found myself working two jobs which brought me to 60 hours of work a week. Add on to the fact that I was preparing for an upcoming move across the country and you have one stressed out bride. Misse helped me to devise a sensible budget and provided lots of ideas an feedback. She was friendly, professional and thorough. I am shocked with a few responses who found Misse to be rude, I feel that Misse is a direct communicator and is anything but rude. Misse offered suggestions for transportation and coordinated that perfectly. We had several vendors with whom Misse was not familiar with. She still maintained excellent communication with them, making sure everyone was on the same page. I feel that if you are looking into hiring a day of coordinator you should highly consider Honey Bee Weddings. From the personal attention, vendor suggestions, assistance with program wording, contracts and theme planning to impeccable vendor communication and timeline development you will see that every dollar spent is well worth it. read more

Having this be my first (and hopefully only!) wedding, we were a bit confused about the entire process. However, I can't stress enough that hiring Laura as our DOC was probably the best thing we ever did in planning our wedding. She was always friendly during our exchanges and helped keep us on track of what we needed to do. On the day of the wedding, she was fantastic. Her ability to coordinate "the circus" let us actually enjoy our wedding. She took care of every detail we asked her to and several that we should have asked her to, if we had thought of it. If you're getting married, this is the place. read more

I've known these ladies for a long time and they do a fantastic job taking care of all of your wedding coordination needs. Save yourself some stress and let them just "take over" so you and yours can just enjoy the special day! It's so worth the money. I wish they had been in business when I got married many years ago. I recommend them to all my friends and they never disappoint! read more