An Event Less Ordinary
Categories: Event Planning & Services Wedding Planning Event Planning & Services Party & Event Planning Wedding Planning, Party & Event Planning [Edit]
Chicago, IL 60640Serving Chicago and surrounding area
(312) 339-4968
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
8 reviews for An Event Less Ordinary
8 reviews in English
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Review from Christine C.
Evanston, IL
5/23/2012
LOVE AELO! We had them as our day of planners for our wedding in April 2012. I had the best wedding day because of them; I didn't worry about a thing. They created a great timeline and made sure every vender was on the same page. Anytime I had a question they where very quick to respond. If you are looking to enjoy your day please go with AELO they are so sweet and wonderful to work with. Thank you Amy and Carolyn for helping make our wedding so amazing!
~Mike & Christine -
Review from Matt T.
8/26/2011
Amy and Carolyn did a fantastic job as our day-of planners/coordinators. Without them, our wedding day would not have been as much of a success and surely would have added to the stress my wife and I had in the weeks leading up to our big day.
Because of our budget we could only do the day-of planning but Amy and Carolyn were available to answer our questions by phone or email and also help reassure my wife when she was worried about our caterer or other planning issues she was not sure of what to do.
AELO's guidance along the way and especially in the last few weeks before our wedding really helped put us at ease and feel confident that they had everything under control.
Less than a week before our wedding my wife and I sat down with Amy and Carolyn and went through everything, from our vendors and their contact info and our entire timeline. After going through every detail (which we apprecaited) and asking all the right questions my wife and I felt great about the wedding and that the coordination was in good hands. We were having some major issues with our caterer and Amy and Carolyn not only took over communication with them weeks before the wedding but AELO was firm with them about what was going to happen and how and to leave my wife and I alone before the wedding. Our caterers were obnoxious in so many ways but AELO really helped take control of the situation and tell us how things will proceed with them.
During the last week we had a lot of communication with AELO and all of our questions were answered. Carolyn ran our rehearsal with ease and my wife and I gave all of the things we wanted to be set up for the wedding (boxes and boxes of stuff, wishing tree, gift box, centerpieces, candles, table #s, etc) to Carolyn after the rehearsal and the next day everything (including the flowers we had delivered to the hotel) was set up beautifully in the ceremony space.
The actual wedding day could not have been more of a success. The ceremony and reception were beautiful and went extremely well. Amy and Carolyn took control of the logistics, set up/breakdown, and everything was in order and went off without a hitch. It was such a whirlwind day it was nice to know we had a great team that was behind us the whole day. Once of the main worries my wife and I had was how will everything look when we arrive at the reception? Will everything we communicated be where it should be? One of the best moments of the day was walking into the reception site from the shuttle and peeking into the room and seeing how magnificent everything looked and how everything was exactly how we wanted or even better!
The only couple really small complaints we had were that we felt during the family pictures after the ceremony it was a little chaotic trying to get everyone we needed for each picture. AELO didn't have the list of the order of pics and who is in each pic so I had to get it from the photographer and yell out people's names myself along with my wife. I wish AELO would have taken control and yelled out the names and got everyone together quickly as this pics took longer than expected. The other thing was that there was clearly a sound issue with the mic in the reception space and we were hoping AELO would talk to the DJ to figure out the problem before the speeches started. However, they might not have noticed being busy with other logistics and the DJ was more responsible for fixing this issue himself.
All in all AELO may be new and still gaining experience but they proved to be a fun, reliable, knowledgeable and take charge coordinating business that gets the job done for a great price. Amy and Carolyn took so much of the weight off our shoulders in the last few weeks through the day-of and helped make our wedding day unforgettable! -
Review from Julia D.
Minneapolis, MN
12/13/2010
Amy & Carolyn were wonderful Day-of Coordinators for our wedding on December 4, 2010. When I met them for our initial chat I had a good feeling about them because they asked the right questions and share a genuine enthusiasm for weddings and helping people have wonderfully sane wedding days.
Our wedding involved a number of logistics that could have been tricky - working with a caterer that is really a restaurant but was catering our wedding as a favor to me, rentals coming in from the suburbs on a snowy day, an angry and stubborn ring bearer, flipping the same space from ceremony set-up to reception set-up - but they handled everything with grace and aplomb and I'm sure put out tons of fires on that day that I don't know about nor ever have to! They hooked us up with a lovely jazz pianist to play during dinner and helped us out with last minute sound needs. And maybe best of all, as we came storming down the aisle triumphantly and headed to a little room for a moment alone after our ceremony they had glasses of sparkling rose waiting for us and had the maid of honor guard the door.
These ladies have been in the business for a year or so, but that shouldn't deter you from hiring them - it's a good thing because they're fresh & not at all jaded by the wedding industry. They truly love working with their couples and want your wedding to be absolutely lovely. They have their act together and will help you execute the wedding you want.
If you want more info or a recommendation about AELO message me on Yelp.
Thanks Carolyn & Amy for everything you two did for us. Our wedding was wonderful and AELO is worth their weight in gold, platinum and diamonds. -
Review from Amanda J.
New York, NY
11/27/2011
I'm absolutely thrilled with the day of coordination that Amy & Carolyn did for my wedding on 10/22/11. I worked very hard to be organized and have stuff taken care of in advance, so I can't emphasize enough how nice it was to just hand over my day of 'to do' list. I knew that Amy & Carolyn were two people who I could 100% rely on to keep the day moving along smoothly -- and they did!
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Review from Meredith T.
Chicago, IL
7/14/2011
Our wedding day could not have been a success without An Event Less Ordinary. On June 25th Carolyn and an intern were our Day-of Coordinators, as Amy had another wedding she was handling. Carolyn impressively ran our rehearsal, transported box after box of our décor, arranged it beautifully, and had it packed up in my parents' car by the night's end. She also worked EXTREMELY well under the tight set-up/tear down times of our venue. Her coordination with the other vendors kept our wedding on schedule. She was even able to corral my boisterous little brother after he snuck behind the bar and tried to play bartender. She also hooked us up with a last minute videographer. Carolyn is a hardworking lady with a great can-do attitude. I know if there were any snafus she found a way to fix them. I can't say enough great things. Thank you so much for making our wedding day so special!
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Review from Kristin C.
Chicago, IL
11/17/2011
I was so happy that I had Amy & Carolyn there on my wedding day to make sure everything ran smoothly! As a planner myself, a good day of coordinator was very high on my priority list, because I know how much goes into making sure every little detail is perfect. They did a flawless job setting everything up and ensuring the day was as I had envisioned. I didn't have to worry about a single thing and that piece of mind I had is just priceless, especially being a control freak-planner. I had one stress on the day of the wedding due to a really important item being left on the trolley (my own fault). They got it back for me within the hour! I can't imagine having to deal with that myself and was so happy they were there to take care of it so I could continue enjoying my day. It is clear that both Amy & Carolyn love weddings and being a part of people's big days, and their work shines because of it. They are kind, professional and just flat out fun to be around :-) I'd recommend them to anyone!
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Review from Andrea D.
Chicago, IL
5/1/2011
Amy and Carolyn are the best day of coordinators a girl could hire. They are these fabulous wedding ninjas who take your vision of what you want and transform your space into this super awesome magical looking place. They make sure everything goes off without a hitch. I literally left them with a cart full of decor and said one thing "The two larger floral displays flank the aisle." When I walked into the room with our wedding it was beautiful and elegant and everything I wanted. And I don't think it would have looked like that without their expertise and help.
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Review from Amanda L.
Chicago, IL
3/16/2010
Where to start with how much I love and adore Amy & Carolyn from AELO? Let's start back in December of 2008, when my wonderful fiancee proposed to me at 7pm on a snowy day. By 8pm I had lined up meetings for locations, and by 9pm I thought, "Oh, this is easy, I can plan a wedding no problem-o!" Fast forward to November of 2009, where the panic starts to set in as my wedding date of less than 3 months away looms over me like a black Chicago rain cloud. Yeah, I had pretty much ordered everything but...who was going to control everything for my rehearsal and wedding day?
So I take to trolling Craigslist for wedding coordinators, perhaps some that will do it for free as I'm flat-a** broke from this wedding. While they aren't free, AELO is LITERALLY the best decision I made with regards to my wedding. They saved me. They are awesome. I don't know how many more adjectives I can come up with, but seriously. They were extremely reasonably priced, and so so SO energetic and organized. They put together all of my centerpieces (31 to be exact) exactly the way I envisioned them, I got so many compliments on them it was crazy! They laid out my ceremony decorations beautifully, they organized our crazy bridal party during both the rehearsal and actual wedding, they even drove me and my inebriated husband back to our hotel after the wedding was over (I don't think that's part of their package, I'm pretty sure there were no cabs and they felt sorry for me).
However, my favorite story is still the glue pen. I had a photo booth at my wedding, and the strips of pics were going into our guest book for people to sign next to. The photo booth guy comes up to me at some point and says he ran out of glue sticks (I mean, come on dude!). So I run up to either Amy or Carolyn and squeak out something in a mildly bridezilla-ish manner...they must have heard something about glue, because before I know it, they go into their magical-mystery wedding bag on wheels and pull out a zip lock bag chock-full of every kind of glue you could ever want. It was a beautiful thing, and it saved my wedding book. And that magic wedding bag? Holy batman. It was like Mary Poppins bag, but covered in pink polka dots and had things in there I've never even heard of. Awesomeness.
What else? They are so friendly and nice, yet so incredibly capable of getting everybody to do what they want them to do. It's a form of art, really, the way they handled everybody from me, to my crazy martini-swilling mother, to all my other vendors swirling around the wedding in some capacity or another. I turn around one minute, and there's Amy holding up my lipstick saying "you should refresh" and then I turn around another minute looking for a drink and there's Carolyn holding up my champagne glass saying "only clear liquids for you, my dear, you don't want red wine on that dress."
Everybody, please, take my advice and hire AELO. If not for coordinating your entire wedding (which I would have done had they been in business when I got engaged!)..then for sure at least for day-of wedding coordination. I cannot recommend them enough, and I cannot begin to tell every bride that she needs a professional team like AELO on the day of their wedding to handle everything. I enjoyed my wedding because of them, and had zero worries the entire day (except how drunk my husband was getting by the end of the night).
I've never smiled so much while signing and handing over a check, as I did with AELO..because it was so totally worth it. And they rock. I love you guys!
