Our Nov. 2005 wedding was in suburban Chicago, but my husband and I live and work in Central Illinois. Furthermore, in the time leading up to our wedding, my husband graduated from law school, took the bar exam, and we bought our first house. So, we required a consultant who could effortlessly help us plan our wedding while we were also preparing for our lives together. Mary was the perfect person.
In a nutshell, Mary is a project manager, and a wedding is a project, not just picking the details and vendors, but also managing family and friends’ expectations and wishes. Mary guided us through all of the details big and small that are required in any wedding. She created tables for our convenience comparing each vendor for each service. She also set up our appointments with the vendors in one weekend, keeping our travel to Chicago at a minimum. She kindly reminded us to make decisions when we got behind. She never EVER imposed her opinion on what we should do, but only helped us see the pros and cons to each choice and agreed with whatever decision we made. Mary was an amazing resource on etiquette and was beyond helpful on the best way to handle the crazy family issues that only occur around a wedding. She was happy to be a buffer for Lou and I, before and during the wedding from family and friends, which allowed for us to truly enjoy our wedding day, instead of managing all of the small issues that came up. Running up to the wedding date, she was always available for every mundane question, and maintained a list of all of the little things that we had to get for the wedding (I kept forgetting about that silly guestbook).
On the day of the wedding, she kindly but firmly made sure all of the wedding party were in their proper place at the correct time, and did not allow any outside influences to impact the timing of the wedding. She also, amazingly, made sure that in the excitement of the day Lou and I looked at all of the details as they came together so that we could remember them, instead of them being a blur, which can happen to couples. For instance, before all of our guests entered, Mary took us into the hall and showed us our cake, the centerpieces, and the place settings. Because of her hard work before and during our wedding, our guests and in particular our family, were able to enjoy the celebration without having to worry about any responsibilities. Mary’s attention to detail, and care and concern for her clients, allowed for our wedding to be a very happy, relaxed and special day. We still talk about it.

Absolutely incredible. Mary took care of EVERY detail, making our wedding day flawless. She is a consummate professional and her vendor resources saved us a lot of time, money and aggravation. She has a great eye for design and worked closely with the linen company, florist and venue management to create a beautiful, sophisticated event.