carnival chic wedding at salvage one

Francine + Dan were married in December at Salvage One and partied with their friends and family at their carnival chic reception. We had the pleasure of coordinating and styling their day and we brought out the big guns at this, our last wedding of the year.wedding day of coordinatorREAD MORE

meet me! i’m a chicago wedding and event planner!

I had the amazing opportunity to invite some wonderful ladies over one Saturday morning to chat about me and all of the various things I am working on as a chicago wedding and event planner. (I’m terrible at talking about myself and my work, I think, so it’s one of my goals in 2014 to get better at it!)

Kate and Alysse founded and run People with Panche, which is a blog that celebrates women with panache. They define panache as: flamboyant confidence of style or manner; reckless courage.  Which I love.  Totally love.  Reckless courage is my new favorite thing ever.  From their blog: “We believe in women, dreams and hard work.  We believe in sharing stories, finding inspiration all over the place and having fun like it’s our job.  We’re Alysse and Kate, and every Tuesday morning we’ll bring you new stories of young Midwestern women making their dreams come true.  These ladies are bringing their passions to life as their jobs, side projects and after-work hobbies.  We hope you find inspiration here and choose to do the same.”

We drank some coffee, I showed them around my apartment and we talked about all they jobs I have and why I am so happy having all of them.  And of course, Walter did a little growling made the photos a million times cuter.

people with panacheRead the whole article at People with Panache!

city wedding at art institute of chicago + park hyatt

Pam and Ed were married in June at Art Institute of Chicago and had their reception at Chicago Park Hyatt.  I remember getting off the phone with Pam after our initial call and saying out loud “I want this wedding.”  Fifty-somethings, neither of whom had ever been married and then they flipping found each other.  How inspiring is that?  I loved it so hard and really was so, so happy to be a part of their day.  It was also completely hilarious that Pam kept saying it was the best day of her mom’s life because she was finally getting married. HA. Pam, you slay me.day of coordination READ MORE

DIY thanksgiving party ideas

The holidays were no less than insane for Anticipation Events.  Between holidays parties to plan, a couple of winter weddings to coordinate and some pretty exciting press we received I also threw together my favorite DIY Thanksgiving party ideas for you in Marie Claire.  My first full page article and my first byline in all capital letters.  It was a good way to wrap up a great year.  Read the whole article here.

november article