We knew when we met Krys that we wanted to work with her to plan our wedding at the Woman's Club of…read moreEvanston. She had a creative and energetic vibe and we instantly felt like she understood our vision and would help bring it to life. She really delivered - and was a pleasure to work with. Having her made all the difference in knowing that our event would run smoothly. It did of course, thanks to her, but along the way she provided so many great resources and suggestions, emotional support, and even items for the event (like table number holders). She's just a great, warm person who is fantastic at her job and cares about making your event special. She's an excellent day of planner, but she was so much more for us - helping us every step of the way. I can't recommend her highly enough!

It only took one meeting to know I wanted to work with NLED. After providing them with a brief…read moredescription of the building opening I was working on, Cory and Cathy came prepared with research and creative ideas so we could hit the ground running. The leadership of my institution had a large stake in this event and it meant a lot to me knowing NLED was completely invested in its success. We faced many last minute changes leading up to and even on the day of the event, but they seamlessly made everything fall into place as if we'd planned it that way all along. In addition to Cory and Cathy's great work, their team of onsite professionals put everyone at ease and were very well prepared to take on the challenges of the day. I know this speaks volumes to the organization and level of detail that goes into the events they work on. And the cherry on top is they made the entire process so enjoyable that no matter how hard everyone was working, we were always having a good time.

We hired Be My Guest to cater our wedding this past May at Garfield Park Conservatory and I was…read moreleft with mixed feelings. First of all, let me just say that the the food was great, which is what really matters for a caterer. Susann is the main gal who you do all of your pre-planning with, but I felt like she should have been more of a presence during the wedding because she was in the back the entire time. She had someone assigned to the front of the house who approached me a few times asking for final details, such as the order the tables would eat (information I had given to Susann well before the wedding day). When I sent my husband to find out what was going on, the list I had given to Susann materialized (whew, because I definitely didn't have that memorized). The part that really made me mad was when this same worker asked me why people were assigned to table18 because there were only supposed to be 17 tables. I guess they didn't bring the most up to date floor plan to the event either. They did whip up another table pretty fast, but I'm still embarrassed that those guests were just standing there for awhile and it definitely could have been avoided. Also, it seemed like we had to tell Susann our preferences over and over before the event. Maybe that's good that she is quadruple checking, but it decreased my confidence that she knew what was going on. Initially, Susann discouraged us from hiring a coordinator or a planner to help on the day of the event. She reassured us that she would be able to handle extra things like the guest book, favors and place settings and she stated that an extra person would just get in the way. As the event neared, I was becoming less and less confident that she could handle extra things, so I regretted not hiring a coordinator for the day. I ended up assigning friends to extra tasks which I am glad that I did. In the end the price was right and people were happy with the food, so that is definitely important! I would highly recommend having a friend or coordinator handle the non-food related items and to make sure everything runs smoothly with the caterer as well, so that you aren't bombarded with ridiculous last minute questions.

We hired Be My Guest for our Aug 2008 wedding at the Garfield Park Conservatory and had a very…read moresimilar experience to Sara B.'s The food was very good and the staff was courteous. However, there were significant headaches that I was left to deal with on my own that day, so I would recommend BMG only if you also have an experienced wedding coordinator. Susann repeatedly discouraged me from hiring a coordinator, saying she'd be handling all those little details. Not so. The seating plan I had labored over for a month got mixed up by a staff member which put my mother's elderly friends right next to the DJs speakers and across the room from all the people they know. And relatives we wanted to keep a distance between were seated practically next to each other. Huge bummer. I found out too late that my photographers had had nothing to eat even though I'd paid for them and the DJ to have meals. I also took Susann's advice about not offering coffee service at the tables and regretted that because they set up the coffee at the opposite end of the hall near the bar so people had to get up and walk across the whole space just to get a cup of coffee when cake/dessert was served. I trusted Susann's abilities, and appreciated the double and triple checking of the details, but lost all confidence when I arrived at the Conservatory on the afternoon of the wedding and walked up to her to check in....she didn't recognize me! She just took the decorations I'd brought from me and walked away. I'd met with her in person at least 4 times and I WAS THE BRIDE!!! She didn't recognize my husband either because he was helping our musicians set up in the conservatory and she scolded him about where they should set up. Pretty unprofessional and unfortunately left a bad taste in my mouth. I guess it all boils down to this bit of advice to all brides to be: hire a coordinator who can manage your vendors, including your caterer. And think twice about a caterer who isn't keen on being managed.

Frank Andonoplas, of Frank Event Design, is a wedding planner extraordinaire. Two weeks from our…read moredaughter's wedding day, we had to replace our wedding planner who was holy unprofessional and provided us with little assurance that the wedding would be all we had hoped and planned it to be. Frank came highly recommended and the stars were aligned that he was available. He immediately took the reins and began reviewing all of the vendor contracts, reworked the poorly designed day of timeline, coordinating with the venue, meeting with our daughter and future son in law, and making himself available to us via email, text, or phone everyday. He is a dedicated professional who takes pride in giving each couple the day they dreamed of. The wedding day was seamless. Frank was on site handling the reception space, the flower delivery, band/ staging, all while checking on the bridal party throughout the day. The outdoor ceremony started on time and flowed right into the cocktail hour. The room reveal for the reception was a wow. As we partied and were fully immersed in the celebration, Frank was behind the scenes collecting gifts, gathering personal items to place securely in the bridal suite, and handled gratuities so we could stay in the moment. We would enthusiastically recommend Frank for your special day... he will exceed your expectations. Susan and David V. Pomeranz

I just had Frank do my Star Wars themed wedding. It was perfect…read more Anyone who wants to work with the best of the best, should seek Frank out, because I could not imagine my wedding having been anywhere near as fantastic as it was without his help. My then fiancee, now wife, and I were both attending graduate school while planning our wedding. She was finishing up her JD in Baltimore while I was completing a MA in Seattle while planning our wedding at the Morton Arboretum in Northern Illinois. We did all the initial planning with Frank over the phone. He started by setting up a time for us all to talk so that he could get to know us, understand our vision, and provide some initial suggestions to set us on the right path. He made the entire process extremely easy so that we were able to just review our e-mails at the end of the week, choose from the pre-vetted options that he gave us, and then let him take care of the details. I was perhaps more of a "Groom-zilla" than my wife was in terms of being very detail-oriented. The day of the wedding there seemed to be a million small things that could have gone wrong, and Frank was somehow on top of all of them. The people at the venue had originally set up the tables in a mirrored version of how they were supposed to be, and Frank was able to get it all fixed during cocktail hour without our guests being any the wiser. Our cake vendor had also made a mistake, changing the iconic "I love you." "I know." from Star Wars to "I love you and I know you." Which is not the same at all, and sounds... odd. Frank hand-scraped the offending words from the cake and then covered it up artistically with flowers that he had on hand. No one even knew there was a mistake. He also found some one to make me an Ewok groom's cake. The one review on this page who accuses Frank of being a snob certainly does not know what she is talking about. Frank was genuinely one of the most caring, earnest and hardworking people I've ever had the pleasure to work with. He cares a great deal about delivering only the best to his clients, and he is upfront with you about whether or not your style and his will combine. If you are a match, you are in for a real treat working with this man. He and his team are simply the best.

I usually don't do reviews but after using Dolce Nuvo services I had to. The professionalism this…read moreteam showed was amazing! They were prompt and did their job. The first time I contacted Dolce Nuvo was for my sisters baby shower then the second time literally 6 months later I contacted Karmen for my fathers 50th birthday. When I say the staff was phenomenal, I'm not lying. The speciality drinks for both occasions were to die for!Trust me When I say I'll continue to call on Dolce Nuvo for any and every event I host ! Thanks Dolce Nuvo!

Karman is an absolute gem. She exudes class and exhibits superb professionalism in her events. I…read morewould hire or work with her 1000 times over. Dolce Nuvo is definitely a next break out business.

My experience with A/V Chicago has been extraordinary. Image Zone creates and produces corporate…read moreevents worldwide. Perhaps nothing is more important than staging. For many years A/V Chicago has been our staging partner. They are true team players with the best equipment, the most professional technical support staff and the management & supervision to deliver flawless on site execution for each and every Image Zone production. It starts with direct access to their key decision makers in the planning, equipment spec and labor required. Pricing is key and having the flexibility to deliver within our budgets and still exceed our staging expectations is why Image Zone has been working with the A/V Chicago for 10+ years!

Stop searching; AV Chicago is the sound. light, etc. vendor that you need! Quality equipment. They…read moreunderstand your needs and never oversell. Complete pros. Their onsite people are always enthusiastic and willing to lend an extra hand, even outside of their contracted duties. Hire Them!!!!

Bravo to the staff at Access Consultants for hosting our biggest client event of the year! It was…read morea tremendous success. Our clients loved it, the suite was in the perfect location and everything went off as planned. Mike & Meghan are great and managed all of the details so we could focus on entertaining our key guests.

Having to plan a party while traveling was very difficult so we contacted Chicago Bar Parties. Nick…read moreresponded back within the next day, and was super helpful throughout the booking process. We had some specific requests and preferences but all were met and confirmed by the establishment through Nick. Thank you again for all your help! Would recommend them for planning your next event!

I was looking for a good bar with a wristband package in Chicago to spend my 21st birthday. I've…read morebeen away at College for the last few years so I was completely clueless about which bar/club to go to that would be the best for my birthday. So I did a google search and found this website. At first I thought it was pretty sketch since the website claimed to offer a free service, but I was desperate so I filled out the information request any way. Literally that same day Jimmy reached out to me with a personalized and detailed pdf about all the bars he would recommend. I literally couldn't believe how helpful he was, he even offered to set up a phone call meeting to go over the options. I ended up choosing LA Social since I was looking for a college town, lively, fun feel (with a reasonable bar package ofcourse). But I'm still so amazed at how helpful Jimmy was, he was super quick to respond and it really showed how much he cared to help me. I DEFINITELY 100% recommend reaching out to Jimmy for your party planning, like.. I created a yelp account JUST to show my gratitude lol.