Elysium of Santa Barbara

There are genuinely no words to describe how utterly fantastic Elysium is. Now I do have to admit that I briefly went to school with Kirsten Ely, one half of the Elysium Ely duo, but that didn’t make my expectations of service any lower. I asked Kirsten to be my «day of» coordinator for my wedding in Malibu. But day of is not really a fair description as she really helped me with details all along the way. I have to confess that while I was really excited to be getting married to the love of my life, planning the wedding was not my top priority. I am a busy attorney at a large law firm in Chicago and just didn’t have the time to think about everything wedding. Kirsten forced me to stay on the ball and make final decisions in a way that didn’t feel like a bother at all. She just gently nudged me when I hadn’t gotten her some information or made a decision about some detail.
Kirsten found my makeup and hair people for me and the chair/​table rental company, which were both great. The week before the wedding she contacted all of my vendors to confirm their arrival time, which I really appreciated as I was working like a maniac trying to prepare for my days off. She came and visited the site of the wedding the day before (quite a haul from Santa Barbara to Malibu for 20 minute visit!) as that was the first time I was in town from Chicago and able to show her our venue (a private estate). On the day of the wedding she was at the estate bright and early putting everything together including a beautiful aisle of rose petals for us. She also did all our flowers, and even with the little direction I gave her they turned out to be exquisite. Her taste is impeccable, so I was never really worried.
We had hired a bus to take our guests from the ceremony location to the reception and when they were late (which frankly I hadn’t even noticed), she jumped right on top of it. Other than that everything went perfectly smoothly because she had planned it that way.
Besides that fact that Kirsten is an amazing planner with abundant creativity (seriously — check out her blog at
), she is a joy to be around. There is absolutely no way she will not brighten up your day every time you talk to her. I will admit that I can get a little type A sometimes, but it was important to me to remain calm and enjoy the whole experience and Kirsten was an absolutely essential part of making that happen. Thank you Kirsten!!!