White Willow Events truly made our wedding day more magical and perfect then we ever dreamed it…read morecould be! I was able to work with Molly Farrell as my planner and she CRUSHED it! Molly is so good at her job and I really didn't have any worries on my wedding day. She made my day a dream. The whole team is absolutely fantastic to work with. Unfortunately, we had a crazy time planning the wedding during COVID-19, but working with White Willow saved my day. I cannot thank them enough for all that they did to help us make it the best day ever!

My overall experience when dealing with white willow was disappointing and unsatisfactory. For…read morecouples with large wedding budgets, I am sure white willow events does a sufficient job. For couples with a smaller budget, I would strongly recommend talking to a different decorators/planners. Since I was paying for the entire wedding out of my own pocket without help from either of our parents, I would say I had a much smaller budget that other brides who hire white willow. When looking back through the emails and reflecting on my wedding day, I feel like I was never made a priority because of my smaller wedding budget. In the days prior to my wedding, I felt that my opinion and concerns became looked over or "pushed under the rug". Taylor's responses to my emails were very curt and short. I tried to set up a meeting to discuss my concerns in the week prior to my wedding, and she said she was too busy. Being told that she was "too busy" in the week prior to the wedding showed that I was not a priority to her. To conclude it all, there was extensive confusion about the tear down of the venue afterwards. Some of her staff was incredibly rude to the wedding party, who was only trying to help because there was no one in the wedding party knew we did not need to tear down the decorations (would have been nice to have that meeting the week prior to discuss details like this...). My sister-in-law found one of the white willow workers throwing decorations we had provided into the trash and then pouring the water and wax over them from floating candles.

We hired a Special Event DJ for our wedding this July, and it was worth every penny. This is a…read morewell-run business. They fit you with a DJ that will work best for your wedding and your vibe. Communication was great. Tim, the owner, answered all of my questions (there was a lot, he actually complimented me on them) in the beginning, and was very professional. Their online portal is a little confusing and I would have preferred to get the forms and download them and fill them out that way, but I found out a little too late. Anyway, they did sound for both our ceremony and reception. Huge shout out and props to CODY, our DJ, who I would recommend to ANYONE and EVERYONE! I swear he was more than a DJ - it felt like he was our night of event coordinator and thank God because my ADHD brain was NOT going to get anything done in the moment (too happy? Too much wine...). Cody was really fantastic. I didn't know we needed a pre-party phone call because I'm pretty laid back, but it ended up being such a great choice! We got to know Cody (who you'll just want to be friends with after your wedding), but he also got some things cleared up and made sure he knew what songs to play when, how to say our weird family names, and what kind of vibe we were going for. Night of - I underestimated some of our guests. I thought it was going to be very low key, but thankfully Cody and a few of our more extroverted friends got people on the dance floor. Thanks Cody, for not making too much fun of us slow dancing the chicken dance to "Groovy Kind of Love." It's a New Girl reference. We're obnoxious super-fans.... Not the kind that has t-shirts and wall decor, but who just spends half the day speaking to one another in New Girl quotes. Anyway, I could go on and on, but in short - hire them for your wedding.

We hired ASE DJ to run sound for a birthday party that we were performing…read more Prior to the event I specified through email several times that the group would need 3 cordless microphones to perform. This was a big deal because each member sings and choreography is also involved in our show. He reassured me that he would have 3 cordless microphones along with the other necessary equipment for the show. He also provided a form for me to check off on the items needed and I certainly checked the 3 cordless mics along with the other items needed. When we arrived for our agreed soundcheck time, Tim was nowhere to be found until about 20 minutes later. He then hands me only 2 microphones! When I reminded him we needed another mic he looked surprised as if he forgot. He said he would go and get it BUT in the same breath asked about receiving payment! Sound check went ok with the 2 microphones we had but when the show started one of the microphones wasn't working and when I looked behind us to get Tim's attention, he was not at his post! In fact he was off chatting with someone at the party. In a panic I had to leave the stage area to get his attention about the microphone not working. He checks it and then argues that it was working when it clearly had no sound coming out of it! He then raised the volume on the dead mic but it still wasn't producing enough sound. So we had to keep swapping microphones during our performance. It was very stressful. As a sound person, your main job is to make sure the SOUND is up to par and that obviously wasn't Tim's concern. Overall his demeanor was cavalier and he didn't seem to care at all about what we needed from him. To top it off he was paid generously for the job he didn't do so well. I have never experienced such unprofessionalism from a sound person/DJ in all my life!

Chelsea is an amazing photographer! She's a small businesswoman, and she owns this business…read moreherself, so it really makes me happy to support someone who's just following their passion. The session was super easy to book, and though we had to reschedule a couple times due to awful Iowa weather, we ended up finding a great date that worked for both of us. The session itself was awesome. She allows unlimited outfit changes and whatnot as long as you stay within the time limit boundaries (about 2 hours, but you may end up finishing early purely because you want to. It's difficult to model for 2 hours straight!) She does natural light photography, so you can pick anywhere in the Ames or Des Moines-ish area, and you'll be doing your photos outside. She's really friendly and makes it easy to relax. She's very laid-back, and I found myself laughing quite a bit. At the same time, she knows exactly how to pose you, so she'll politely suggest minor changes like tilting your head or body to make sure that you look as awesome as possible in your final photos. She's great about experimenting with locations and backgrounds, and honestly, some of the great locations she picked ended up making the photos I had look even more fantastic! I was hoping for an urban look, so we did some photos around main street, but she also suggested a nearby forest-y park, and I love the photos that turned out there too. After the session (you can pay a deposit or the full amount after your shoot with either cash or check), you'll wait for her to finish editing the photos. For me, it took about a week which is an insanely fast turnaround. She then lets you know that the photos are done, and she'll uploaded all of your photos to a CD for you. This CD includes a copyright release that lets you print and copy the photos to your heart's content, so you make a canvas print or whatever! The amazing thing? Her prices are fantastic! She really seems to do this because she has a passion for photography, so her prices are extremely fair and reasonable and something that most people can afford. She particularly seems to love photographing pets, so she offers discounts on sessions involving pets. Final thoughts: Amazing photographer with really fair prices. My shoot was so relaxing, and as this is the 5th or 6th photographer I've tried, I can fairly say that she was the best at directing and getting great poses. The only downside is that she doesn't have her own studio, so all shots are going to be done outside, but you can get some pretty amazing outdoor shots done, so that's not much of a downside. I'll definitely be a return customer. (And she even offers a discount for return customers!)

We attended a wedding here during the summer and had an absolute blast. If you are looking for a…read morevenue for a smaller, casual wedding, I recommend checking this place out. The setting is really beautiful and Dave and Angela really know how to help your day go well. They can arrange everything from a photographer to the bar and catering. The space is pretty easy to decorate, and its next to a park so if you want to be outside you can. It's hard to find venues that are a good fit for parties or weddings of this size. There aren't many places in Adel, either. It's only about 20 mins from the highway and 35 mins from downtown. I was really surprised that they also have a really cool retail space next door. The Mercantile changes up all the time, and it is fun to walk around and hunt for things for your home. If you are into antiques or fun shopping experiences check it out.

We booked Access Yourself Services for my granddaughters third birthday. The birthday party was on…read moreMother's Day. We were blessed to have La Shaya come. She made multiple different animal balloons and also swords, etc. She also painted the children's faces. La Shaya is prompt, kind and caring. You can tell she truly enjoys her job. If you're looking for entertainment for ANY type of party I highly recommend Access Yourself Services! This is our second booking with them and we'll continue to use them in the future.

We booked a Christmas Light tour for our family and were so excited to have all 16 together in one…read morevehicle to see the lights. When asked about the ride, we were given two options between an older bus and a newer one. So we chose the newer one. When the driver arrived, before we took off, I asked if we could play Christmas music and the driver told me I could Bluetooth to the stereo which would have been perfect. We could not Bluetooth- the driver did not know how to do it, and couldn't add a device so we listened to the radio Christmas channel and all the ads and commercials. When I came time to look at lights, all of the windows were fogged over. The driver gave us a towel to wipe down our windows but as soon as you would wipe, they were covered in condensation again. There was one towel for all the windows- which after Wiping down the first two large windows, was soaked- and didn't do much for the rest of the windows on the bus. In 2.5 hours we made three stops to look at lights. We love the beaverdale area, but the driver only went down one street instead of both. The rest of the time we were driving the whole time on the interstate or down back roads through neighborhoods that did not have lights. We were very disappointed- we wanted to play fun songs to get the kids excited between stops, and expected more lights/stops. For the money spent (not at all cheap) we all walked away feeling very disappointed and looking for a different way to do this next year. I would never spend the money again with this company for the Christmas Lights Tour.

I needed an extremely early (4:30 am) pickup in Johnston to get to DSM in time for a 5:45 flight…read more Oh - and this pickup was in just about 24 hours. So no advanced notice. Luxxor was able to give me a decent price, and the driver Joe was excellent. He was early, had the car nice and pre-heated for me (an important thing to do on a cold Iowa morning!), offered to stop and get me coffee and got me to the airport with plenty of time to spare. The car was clean, well maintained and he had water waiting, as well. I appreciate the easy process to request the quote on line and the ability to accommodate such an early last minute pickup time.

Stuart and team are amazing! I have been working with Stuart for YEARS and he always goes above…read moreand beyond!

Brilliant designer. Creating a whole new level of event productions.read more

BEST DECISION EVER! Jason was amazing from the time I booked him forward! He is incredibly…read moreprofessional but still so much fun to work with- he made everyone so comfortable even while trying to crowd control our crazy families and rowdy bridal party! He made sure to get any shots we requested and spent the entire day with us, even making suggestions about non-photo related things! He was so calm and so collected-- it helped all of us stay mellow! If you're looking for the wedding photog of your dreams... HIRE JASON!

We do not even have the words to express our appreciation for Jason. Literally, look no further for…read moreyour perfect wedding photographer. His pictures are amazing, but it does not stop there. Jason made it his job to run interference between me and anyone that would stress me out on my wedding day-he had the answer to every question and kept me laughing all day long. We could not be more grateful to have had him to capture every moment of our day.