We had an amazing experience with Laura. Guidance was the most important thing since we were the couple that didn't really know what we wanted but we needed it on a budget and she delivered! Helped to right the wrongs I had done hah! and steer me in the right direction with the small stuff. Helped us quickly and efficiently answer the debatable items which kept me and my fiancé calmer than we would have been. She has a great (and reliable) network in the wedding industry. Saved me hours upon hours searching for the right vendors. She always had a calming demeanor which kept me calm, because weddings shouldn't be these huge stressors and having Laura definitely kept it that way. read more

I am so excited to be the first to review Laura and her wonderful business, The Ideal Day! It was such a joy to have her help while planning my wedding - I never thought anyone could be as excited as the bride about every little detail! I hired Laura as a DOC (day of coordinator), but she really did SO MUCH more than that. She helped with vendor recommendations, she made timelines, and especially in the weeks leading up to the wedding, she really made sure everything was in order. When I was in the early planning stages, I wasn't 100% positive I really needed a day of coordinator, but I decided to at least see what they had to offer. What sealed the deal for me is when Laura showed up to our first meeting with a sample binder she'd put together for another bride's wedding. A binder! With organized tabs and labels and everything! A woman after my own heart! Sold! Laura helped me get the ball moving with lots of vendor recommendations. She even offered to come to our meetings with vendors or to provide us with some questions in advance to ask when interviewing vendors. Then once we had most everything in place (venue, dj, florist, photographer, caterer, etc. etc.), there were only a few emails exchanged between me and Laura until about 4-6 weeks before the wedding. During that time, I mostly emailed her with "wedding etiquette" questions, which she is very knowledgeable about! Then, about 4-6 weeks before the wedding, Laura asked me to send her ALL of our vendor contracts. It was actually pretty hard to gather them all up since some were saved on the computer as PDFs and others we had as hard copies. But I eventually scanned all the hard copies and emailed Laura PDFs of ALL of my contracts. Because I was so busy with work, I didn't really have time to explain to her what everything was when I sent the email, but lucky for me, Laura set up a time for us to meet and go over everything. And then... she brings it... the glorious binder! Filled with all of our vendor contracts and a detailed day of timeline she's put together simply by reviewing the contracts! I didn't have to explain a thing - she read through all the contracts herself and put the binder and timeline together on her own! It was beautiful. A work of art, really. From then on, Laura and I spoke much more frequently. She made sure we were on top of final payments. She offered to come with us to all the final meetings with our vendors. She circulated the day of timeline with all our vendors in advance and served as the main point of contact so I didn't have to be bothered with all the little questions. It was so incredibly comforting to know I could rely on her to handle everything. I trusted her completely. She had it under control. Then about 5 days before the wedding, I gave Laura all of the "day of" items she would be in charge of (programs, bubbles, card box, cake serving set, toasting flutes, cake topper, escort cards, table numbers, guestbook, etc.). I never for a second worried about any of it - it was all in good hands! The wedding went off without a hitch! Maybe that's bad luck, but I'm really not going to complain. Everything was flawless, and I have Laura to thank for that. I never had to question or double check anything on my wedding day - I got to enjoy every moment of it with my new husband, knowing Laura had everything under control. It was amazing. Thank you so much, Laura!! Oh, and when we got back from the honeymoon, everything we'd given Laura before the wedding was sitting in our living room waiting for us, along with all of our gifts. We'd given Laura a key to our place in advance so she could bring everything back there for us after the wedding. It was perfect. Laura was simply phenomenal from that first meeting through to the very end. I don't hesitate in recommending her to anyone! read more

Keeping things simple and brief: Laura was hands-on from the get-go and helped drive our progress forward while managing my own type-A organization style. Long before the "day-of" she helped us organize and negotiate transportation, make vendor recommendations, budget for tipping, and remind us of a few must-haves we thought we could neglect. We had a lot of "DIY" stuff that required manual set-up for the reception. Laura took care of all of it while also making sure all of our other vendors were set up a needed and getting our out-of-town guests on shuttles and to the church. In terms of timelines - Laura kept us rolling the entire night - from walk-arounds, to toasts, to quirky scheduling things we insisted on, Laura was always there letting us know the next steps. Many of our vendors let us know how great Laura was to work with and how helpful she was in coordinating all parties. In sum - I knew we were in good hands and didn't worry about a thing. From confirming with and directing vendors, to telling us we needed to hustle up our chatting because the crowd was getting restless, to getting getting red wine out of my dress, Laura was tops. read more

We cannot say enough good things about our experience working with The Ideal Day! Laura is everything you could want in a planner. She was able to answer every question and address every issue (real and imagined). We were so thankful to have Laura's guidance in selecting our amazing vendors. She took care to recommend vendors that fit with our vision and personalities. She knows how to assist in assembling an amazing team! Laura was constantly checking in with us and available to communicate in person, on the phone and via email. Every meeting and conversation was productive and gave us the reassurance that we were working with a true professional. She provided us with organized timelines for our wedding day for ourselves, our vendors and our wedding party. If anything went wrong on our wedding day we will never know, Laura handled every detail and her execution was impeccable. read more

We're so glad we had Laura as our coordinator! She, and her assistant Bridget, are so nice and professional. They really made our day go so well, despite a torrential downpour that started 20 minutes before our ceremony (which until then was supposed to happen outdoors). Laura worked closely with us in the lead-up to the wedding, even though we were planning from a distance and had only one in-person meeting before the rehearsal. She had great suggestions for vendors and decor, incorporated our sometimes oddball suggestions and requests in her very helpful timeline, and was much more than a day-of coordinator. She worked marvelously with our other vendors and was just so ON IT on the wedding day itself. Everything looked fantastic. We would not hesitate to recommend Laura to anyone else getting married in the Chicago area. read more

One of the biggest challenges of planning a wedding is dealing with all the stress that builds up as the big day approaches. Well, that's not something you need to worry about if Laura is helping you plan your wedding. She takes all that weight off your shoulders - and truly helps deliver the day of your dreams. She was extremely responsive, organized, and fun during the process. For the things that were important to us, she took extra care to make sure they were perfect. And on the parts that weren't important, she used her wealth of experience to offer up perfect suggestions. We had all of our wedding "stuff" out in the suburbs at my parents house and she even made the drive out there to pick everything up a few days before the wedding so we did not need to worry about it. Her and Bridget also brought everything back to our suites after the wedding ended so we could enjoy our night. I can say with confidence that if Laura is planning your wedding, you don't really need to worry about anything going wrong on your day. And if does, you probably won't know about it because Laura just handles it. She had a way of delivering not-so-good news in a calming manner and by that point, she had already solved the problem without us knowing. Laura & Bridget are AMAZING and will truly make your wedding day everything you want and more! :) read more

When I got engaged, the first thing I did was call the venue I knew I wanted, and the second thing I did was ask for recommendations from the contact person there regarding wedding planners. After doing some online reviews of the people suggested to me, I met with Laura and one other planner, and the connection I felt with Laura was instantaneous - she is warm, caring, and knows exactly what needs to happen to make a wedding the 'ideal day' that every woman dreams of. I was originally planning just to work with her as a day-of coordinator, but I quickly became overwhelmed by all of the various vendor options out there in the great city of Chicago, and opted instead for her full-planning help. I'm so incredibly glad that I did - because Laura was on the case, I was able to focus on the fun parts of wedding planning (my dress, colors, flowers, cake tasting, etc...), while she focused my vendor meetings to people who she knew could give me what I wanted within my budget, kept the timeline moving forward, and handled all of the millions of behind-the-scenes tasks that I never would've even thought of. There is no doubt in my mind that my wedding day wouldn't have been nearly as beautiful and effortless (and certainly not so much fun to plan) without her, and now that it's over I'm happy to count her amongst my friends! read more

until about six months before my wedding, i thought that i didn't want or need a day-of-coordinator for the big day... boy, was i wrong. as the "to do" items for the day began to add up, we realized we definitely needed someone to handle things at our wedding. after contacting a few day-of-coordinators, my husband and i decided on laura and the ideal day... she was prompt to respond and extremely personable (even through email, which i found not to be the case with many people). laura does so much more than just "day-of" coordination. she really helps you organize everything and creates an extremely detailed timeline for the wedding rehearsal through the last dance. since our wedding was the first among my group of friends, i had about a million questions for laura -- all of which she answered quickly, professionally and kindly (no matter how silly). when my makeup artist bailed on my two weeks before my wedding, laura was ready with a recommendation who turned out to be even better than my first artist. after every conversation/email/phone call with laura, i felt more and more relief about our wedding... the stress had been lifted and all thanks to her!! i have told all of my friends/family in chicago that whenever they get married, they are forbidden from using anyone besides laura for their wedding - she is truly the best and will totally put your minds at ease before and during your wedding. oh yea - my husband's favorite thing about laura: the first time we met, she offered him a beer. now that's a girl that knows the way to a chicago man's heart. read more

Working with Laura was a great experience. We hired her as a day-of coordinator, and she was very helpful during the week leading up to the day as well. When we met with her as the date approached, she covered a lot of territory with us, asking questions about everything from our vendors to ceremony to timelines...if we forgot to cover any bases, she was on top of bringing it up and dealing with it. A key asset Laura has is her familiarity with many major Chicago vendors. She knew the ropes with our caterer, venue, musicians, photo booth and more. She often knew the specific individuals with whom we were working, making it easy to hand off vendor communication during the final days. She picked up all the things that had to go to various vendors from me at my house and made sure they got to where they needed to be; she picked up my bridesmaid dresses the morning of the wedding, and brought them along with our lunch to the hotel. When it came time to walk down the aisle, she was right there with my dad and me, making sure my dress went out OK once we began, and all throughout the night she was working her magic behind the scenes. Whenever I needed anything, she was there to ask, and when the groom and I didn't get a chance to eat, she made sure some food got packed up for us and was ready at our hotel when we got back. Lastly, she took care of getting all gifts, leftover cake, whatever, back to the hotel. We didn't worry about any of that stuff! If you are relatively organized and plan to spend sufficient time BEFORE you get to the 6 week mark, then hiring Laura for day-of is perfect. Her experience and contacts made it easy to rely on her for coordination of vendor timelines, rehearsal dinner, transportation, photography, ceremony, and reception details. read more

My husband and I can't recommend Laura highly enough. I knew early on that we'd want a day-of-coordinator, and I felt an immediate ease when speaking to Laura on the phone. We met with her for the first time over a beer. Not only did she strike me as impeccable, but my husband felt she was the first planner we'd met with who wasn't out to nickel-and-dime us. She offers unlimited email and phone advice/recommendations, which we took advantage of. Not only was her advice useful, but her responses were always prompt. As the wedding approached, Laura gathered all of our contracts, picked up all wedding related items that weren't being delivered directly to the venue by a contractor, and created a detailed day-of timeline. During the final week, she coordinated with the DJ, photographer, linen rentals, etc. She and her assistant made the entire venue look fantastic on our wedding day. I didn't worry about any of it, and knew I was in good hands. In the end, our wedding went exactly as we'd hoped. Make your wedding easy: hire The Ideal Day! read more

Laura is THE BEST! I went overboard when wedding planning and met with about 8 different day-of coordinators before settling on The Ideal Day - Laura immediately "got it" and she was so genuine, not to mention her fee was totally reasonable! While we were planning, Laura was really detailed and available for ALL my questions. She created a timeline for us right away, and gave great advice and recommendations throughout (ceremony pianist, florist, bar service). We had a fusion Indian/American wedding, it did not phase her at all! All of that being said, she is certainly not a "day of," as she was totally available much before our wedding weekend! Laura was perfectly able to organize our large wedding party for the rehearsal (commanding but pleasant), and she was unbelievably helpful in getting everything to and from the venue to set everything up (our venue was in the suburbs, mind you)! On the day of the wedding, more of the same "get things done and on time attitude" while still a pleasure to be around. She even brought us champagne for the bus ride up to the venue :) There was a bit of drama regarding our bar service, and we did not know a thing about it until the day after the wedding when Laura brought anything left at the venue over. I would not for a moment hesitate to recommend Laura and The Ideal Day!! read more

Laura is an absolute gem in the wedding industry. We found her about halfway through our wedding planning process, when I had already found all of our other vendors and needed help with day-of coordination. I knew as soon as I met her that she would do a fantastic job helping us with the flow of our wedding at the Chicago History Museum. After providing her with some information about our wedding day, she came up with a detailed timeline of how the day should flow. I could tell early on that she had extensive industry knowledge and that I could trust her to handle everything perfectly. Laura is everything you want in a wedding coordinator: highly organized, knowledgeable, calm under fire, and simply fun to be around. With her help, I didn't have to worry about any of the wedding preparations behind the scenes - she worked with the caterer, florist, DJ, string quartet, baker, etc. to make sure everyone was where they were supposed to be, and on time. She and her assistant also did a wonderful job setting up all of our place cards and favors. Our wedding was perfectly smooth without feeling overly orchestrated, which I credit to Laura. I should also add that the price of Laura's services are, in my opinion, a great value. Hire her! read more

Hiring Laura for the day of coordination was the BEST decision we made. It was so amazing having someone to bounce ideas off of and have excellent vendor recommendations. She communicated flawlessly before our wedding day and organized all of our vendors. We had a threat of rain for the entire wedding day and had an ourdoor ceremony planned. Then 1 hour before the ceremony it started pouring rain. Laura handled the transition to the indoor version of the ceremony and even tried to preserve some of the flowers that we already had outside. We were completely unburdened by the change of venue and it was still a beautiful ceremony. She trouble shot every potential issue and handled it before it became a problem. She worked great with the vendors and made sure everyone was where they were supposed to be. I can't say enough good things about Laura. She was pleasant yet organized and executed our wedding day flawlessly, allowing us to sit back and enjoy! I would highly recommend using Laura for your day of coordination. read more

The company's name "Ideal Day" aptly describes the offering Laura Patterson provides. From the early stages of planning, to the continued ongoing support, the suggestions, the reminders, the counsel - Laura truly made a difference in what was the "ideal day". Never to be forgotten is the way Laura handled a mother-of-the-bride's worst nightmare when the zipper on a formal gown breaks 2 hours before the ceremony. Laura's grace-under-fire at that time meant a lot to our entire family. The best compliment we can give is the confidence we felt on the wedding day, knowing that Laura was in charge and that we could enjoy this most important day in our lives. Never did we feel that it was necessary to inject ourselves into the details of the day; rather, that our role was to participate and enjoy in the many special moments. Thank you so much Laura!! read more

The Ideal Day - Party & Event Planning Near Me

I hired Laura as a day-of coordinator for my wedding. I really enjoyed working with her before the wedding itself. But, then she had a baby the day before my wedding. Yay for her! So-so for me. She found a replacement coordinator, Tiffany, and tried to take care of the transition. But Tiffany was not so great. She pretty much missed the whole rehearsal (without calling in advance), and was hard to find on the day of the wedding when stuff came up. She messed a few other things up too. Basically I think I wasted a thousand bucks. Maybe she averted some crisis behind the scenes that I don't know about, but to the best of my knowledge I could have done just as well without Tiffany. The officiant had his own assistant who helped us during the ceremony, and the caterer had the reception set-up well under hand. read more

Laura planned both of my sister-in-laws weddings and now she has planned mine. Three out of three perfect wedding days. When you meet Laura you get the feeling that she just gets it. On your wedding day you want to hire vendors that are professional. You want vendors that understand things that you can't anticipate and you want to feel like you're in good hands. I was hesitant to hire a day of coordinator thinking I could handle the details myself, and thank God I didn't. Laura was prompt, smart, interested, funny, professional, cool, calm, collected and her presence is reassuring. Hire the best! read more

Bridget and Laura are the BEST. We changed (okay, fired) our not-so-great wedding coordinator halfway through the planning process and they came to the rescue as sane, competent and all-around awesome people who helped us with every last detail (and there were lots). They were patient with our many questions and the many lists/spreadsheets we sent their way. They coordinated pickup/drop-off of our decor the week of and took care of the details, like dropping off gift bags at our hotels. On the day of, Bridget was totally calm and collected and helped with my dress when it needed to be re-pinned, as well as took all the extra "stuff" back to our apartment so we didn't have to worry about it that night. We were SO happy to have their help and so glad we could focus on enjoying our day because of them. I highly recommend using them as your "day of" planner! read more

Everything seemed great from the beginning, easy to contact and Laura seemed to genuinely care about my attention to detail. As it came closer, contact was much harder and a lot more short. Meet ups were canceled and rescheduled. Multiple emails never answered. Finally when the day came, things sufficed. Of the supplies I gave them, fully labeled with directions (a 5 yr old could have done it), half of them were used. Only a quarter of the directions were followed. I spent HOURS making it super easy for them to follow and they did what they wanted anyway. When I told my family where to meet Laura for items they needed to get from her for the ceremony, she was no where to be found. The groom was calling ME freaking out cuz he couldn't find her. When they did find her she was "too chill". I get that you need to be chill in certain situations but sometimes you need to hustle and do things right, especially when I'm paying you a lot of money. Although, through the headaches, our guests didn't know how things were supposed to go versus how they went. I wouldn't recommend this company if you like detail, because ours were greatly missed. "Ideal" doesn't quite mean what you think. This actual definition seems more fitting: "existing only in the imagination; desirable or perfect but not likely to become a reality." read more

AMAZING! Seriously, Laura is flat out amazing! We hired Laura as our day of wedding coordinator, but I honestly feel that is not an appropriate description for all that she did for us, she did SO much more that! To start from the beginning, I met with Laura about 7 months before our wedding and knew right away I'd be in good hands with her on our wedding day. From the start she got me thinking about things I hadn't thought of yet, and had example time lines for me to look at, so I knew what to expect on our wedding day. Like I said, I only hired her as our day of coordinator, but right away she was helping me along. She gave me great reccomendations for alterations, for hair and make-up, etc. She was always willing to help with whatever came up, no matter where I was in the planning process. She always welcomed my ideas and made me feel like whatever I had in mind, she could help execute. She would hear my idea, and then help me figure out how we were going to make it work. Laura even came to our rehearsal! Trust me, when you are one day away from your wedding day.... seeing her at your rehearsal will ease so much stress. She went over a few things with me and my groom, our wedding party, our parents, and then she just told me not to worry, that everything was going to be great... and to enjoy it! It was so great to just hand everything over to her (very organized) hands, and be able to enjoy being surrounded by our family and friends and NOT have to worry about a single thing. For our wedding, we had mostly out of town guests, so I had this grand idea to have ALL 180 of our guests ride in a trolley for a little tour of downtown. Sounds easy enough right? Not when you have to think about how people are going to know what trolley to get on (there were 6), or when they'll go to the bathroom, or where it will go, etc. Laura helped me execute this, and she made it look easy. I'm sure that all weddings have lots of moving pieces to coordinate (hence why you'd need a day of coordinator), but I feel like Laura really went above and beyond! She never once said, "that's not possible, or that's not in my job description". I felt like she wanted me to have the wedding of my dreams, and would do whatever she could to make that happen. Somehow, in the midst of setting everything up, and executing everything, she was always there to give me updates, to calm me down, and to make sure I was having fun! She literally was 10 places at once, I swear! If I can give one piece of advice to future brides out there.... it's hire Laura! Seriously, I feel like as a bride you can have 1,000 great, fun, creative, and unique ideas... but you need someone to help see those through. You need someone who can be seeing that your ideas are brought to life smoothly, so you can simply enjoy your day. Laura has this skill perfected, and she manages to do it with the sweetest smile! She's amazing.... have I said that yet?? read more

Laura & Bridget were wonderful! I'm very organized and intended to coordinate our wedding myself, but was having serious 'wake up in the middle of the night' anxiety six weeks before the wedding. At our initial meeting, Laura asked questions and follow-up points I hadn't even considered. I could tell she was already thinking through our event & not just trying to fit us into a cookie-cutter agenda. After speaking with other companies, I chose The Ideal Day because of this focus, their down-to-earth personalities, and fair cost. The planning and communication before the event was with Laura. She was responsive, helpful, handled all the vendor coordination, & managed timelines so that we were DONE days before the wedding as promised! Bridget was the lead for the actual Day Of, assisted by Christine. I know they must have worked so hard behind the scenes because everything was seamless. I won't be surprised if my parents try to adopt Bridget; everyone loved her! Hubby & I agree that hiring The Ideal Day was one of our best wedding decisions. Definitely recommend. read more

Laura Patterson was outstanding as our day-of wedding coordinator. She provided excellent recommendations throughout the planning process (we found our stationery shop and band through her). She was very responsive to emails and phone calls. She provided good recommendations for our wedding timeline but was also flexible when my husband & I felt strongly about doing something our way. She is particularly knowledgable about Jewish weddings and helped us figure out details like the ketubah and other rituals. She was present for our venue walk-through and although it wasn't ideal that our caterer couldn't be there that day, Laura communicated all the details to her afterwards and we didn't have to worry about a thing. On the wedding day, she was on top of everything so that we could just enjoy ourselves. She was calm under pressure and promptly dealt with any small issues that arose. She did several huge favors for us-- dropping off our guest welcome bags at the hotel and organizing an off-site rehearsal when our venue wasn't available the day before. She was highly professional and fun to work with. read more