La Di Events

Hiring Michelle as our day-​of planner was one of the best decisions my husband and I made! Michelle was so much more than a day-​of planner. We had monthly phone conversations leading up to the wedding, met for two hours with my mom and two bridesmaids to discuss my laundry list of questions and met the week before the wedding to do a walk through of the venue. Michelle ran the rehearsal the night prior and her and her assistant were amazingly helpful on the day of the wedding.
The wedding day checklist and schedule were extremely helpful. Michelle was so organized that it put me at ease. When I showed up at the wedding venue for pictures I told her assistant that I forgot to put deodorant on and a few minutes later he walked up to me and said he put a stick in my purse!
The only negative thing I have to say is that Michelle is on the quieter side, so orchestrating pictures was not as organized as I would have liked it to be. I ended up being the only telling people whose turn it was for pictures and who should be in each shot.

There is absolutely NO WAY we would have been able to pull off this wedding without Amanda. It wasn’t particularly huge or elaborate, but there were just so many details we didn’t even know about that she helped us through! My new husband and I repeatedly left our meeting with her asking «How on earth were we going to do this without her!!!»
We got the «Day Of» coordination package, which included 3 meetings (including the initial consultation), rehearsal, wedding, and constant email contact. We could have had more phone meetings, but everything was handled perfectly via email, so I didn’t even need the phone meetings! She walked through every tiny detail and taught us a lot — even kept me calm during some our crazy moments! She wrangled the vendors, kept in touch (but not overwhelmingly so), and set up everything beautifully! We had an EXTREMELY detailed timeline for the entire wedding day, and she kept everyone calm and on track. Our families were incredibly appreciative, to say the least.
On the day of our wedding, we were both able to sit back and enjoy, which is absolutely priceless. I cannot recommend Amanda enough!

I hate to write this review because Amanda is such a nice person, but I was very disappointed in the services received from LaDi Events. I did not feel like I got much for my money. The few times my husband and I met with Amanda, we felt good about things and felt we could kind of justify why we were spending money on a wedding planner. However, in between the meetings, we had no support, little follow through, and overall did not get what we asked for. We often found ourselves saying «What is she doing for us again?» My biggest need for a wedding planner was to help with the overall vision of the reception since we were basically starting with a clean slate. I don’t have an eye for design so I was very clear about needing her to take charge and give me some ideas. Amanda provided none and only agreed with me when I suggested things. I feel like I mostly had to figure things out on my own. (I hired a coordinator to help me with this process). I will say that I appreciated her help with attending the tasting with the difficult caterer, but it was not worth over $ 2,000.
As soon as we started working together, we specified exactly what she was going to help with in the wedding process. One item was the DJ. My husband and I were the ones who did all the research, called around, obtained reviews, and ultimately found out great DJ. Budget planning was listed in our contract. We never even talked about our wedding budget… there was zero help with this. It was the same situation with transportation, caterers, florist, etc. I found ALL of our venders. I planned and coordinated everything, yet we still had to pay for all of those things listed.
One of the things that makes me the most upset was about finding a ceremony site. My husband and I were unsure about what we wanted, but we knew we needed space for over 200 people, and knew if we found an outdoor location, we needed a backup location in case of rain at the same space. Initially, we did not have this in the contract, but after I really struggled to find a place, I reached out to Amanda for help. She provided a few locations for me to look into. One only fit about 50 people and had no rain backup. Another place I had already told her I looked into and they wouldn’t allow us to just do a ceremony. And the others were far away or not at all what we were looking for. It was so frustrating so my husband and I just decided on our own place. Even with the «help» of that e-​mail that probably took five minutes of research (she only looked at places… didn’t call for pricing, didn’t call to see if they were available on our date, etc) she still charged us an extra $ 200!!! For nothing!
If I could do it over again, I would absolutely not have hired a wedding coordinator. I thought it would be helpful to have the help and support at the reception which she did provide some, but it was definitely not worth the money. One of her responsibilities was to pick up some limes and cut them up for the bars. We found the bag of limes the next day shoved in a drawer at the reception site. Another duty was to just make sure everything was going well and handle any problems. Well during cocktail hour, there was one bar open when there was supposed to be two. Guests were waiting forever to get a drink and there was very little room for them to move around. I was getting pictures taken at that time so I wasn’t there to take charge, but that’s why we hired someone. It was actually the guests who took control and said okay we need to open up the room and start up the second bar now. One of my GUESTS started bartending to help out. This situation was something that everyone else noticed immediately and should have been taken care of by Amanda and her assistant (the logistics, not the bartending). Overall, Amanda is a very pleasant person, she is kind and makes you feel like she can and will help you in your wedding planning process. However, looking back, I don’t feel like I received much direction, ideas, or support. I am disgusted that I paid over $ 2,000. It may have been more worthwhile to only hire her as a ‘day of’ coordinator because she was helpful for most of the wedding day, but definitely not throughout the process. I didn’t want to write a negative review, but I am very disappointed with the service and the extra $ 200 added on was the last straw.

We are working with Amanda to plan an upcoming reunion for several hundred people this summer and to this point she has been extraordinary. Amanda is a true professional who is easily accessible, a wonderful listener, and always has creative ideas to share.
Her connections with local vendors has helped to keep pricing down and her rapport with them has allowed for much more flexibility from them, as we won’t have an exact head count until right before the event. The vendors faith in her and desire to work with her is apparent.
While we are using her for an event in the western suburbs where she lives, I live in Chicago and I have seen her planning weddings in the city and on the morning talk shows as well. She seems to know the entire chicagoland area.
We had originally entertained the idea of planning this event on our own, but I am so glad that we connected with Amanda and La Di. The amount of time and effort she has saved us is wonderful.

From the moment I contracted La’Di events to do day of wedding coordination I felt confident that I was going to have a stress free wedding day. Amanda is truly the consummate professional; she is detail-​oriented, forward thinking and approachable. My husband and I were thrilled that we were able to 100% enjoy our wedding day without having to think of one single detail.

Amanda and her assistant were a wonderful help with my wedding. From day one she assisted with my ideas for décor, helped with a couple of projects I did, and was there to offer advice on the plans. When she sent me the timeline for the day, I told her she should charge $ 5k alone for that because it was so awesome! It was so detailed and had us on time for the entire day. We were never once late and she even ran intereference when my husband was outside taking pictures and I was about to arrive at the church. I told her so many little things throughout the week of the wedding and she remembered to check on everything. I was truly able to enjoy the day without worrying about the little details. She was always right there to handle anything. If anything went astray at my reception, I don’t even know about it!