The best money we spent on our entire wedding. Seriously. They would have been worth it at twice the price. Our lead contact Emily R. was prepared, thoughtful, patient, creative, responsive, informed, generous with her time, and thoroughly professional. And everyone else on the team we interacted with was just the same. These folks love what they do and clearly care about their clients. Their emotional investment in their work shows in every interaction.

As for the fees and duties – they catered a package for exactly the services we needed, and didn’t try to push us on services we didn’t. Then they proceeded to go above and beyond on the limited scope of their contract anyway. They gave much more of their time than the contract stipulated. And as for their fee, they probably paid for themselves with the deals they were able to help us negotiate with various vendors. Plus most importantly, they provided us with invaluable counsel. Their recommendations were informed by deep familiarity with the entire Chicago wedding industry, from vendors to venues to transportation logistics to you-name-it. And they weren’t afraid to tell us what we didn’t want to hear. Most of the time they figured out a way to make our preferences a reality. But on more than one occasion, they talked us out of something we wanted to do – and each time, they turned out to be right. It takes confidence and credibility to provide this kind of honest counsel, rather than just agreeing to everything your client says.

On the day of, we were completely protected from any and all drama. We were able to float happily through our day, unburdened by logistics, problem-solving, money, vendor conversations, relative-wrangling, etc. This was very much due to Emily’s diligence and competence, as well as our confidence in her. We really did have the perfect day that we wanted. And the two of us were perhaps the only ones who knew how much of that was due to Emily and FGE. Because somehow she managed to keep the whole circus clipping along while remaining pretty much invisible to the average guest.

I should also add that right in the middle of the busiest preparation crunch-time weeks, Emily had to deal with a serious personal matter that could have very reasonably taken her out of work and off the project completely. It would have been absolutely understandable. But not only did she remain in contact with us, still providing critical and helpful counsel, but Joan and the rest of the team stepped in to cover her in a seamless manner. This is the level of personal investment and care that made us so grateful. They really do treat their clients like family. We felt like our day was personally meaningful to them, and it showed in their work.

Hire these people. Tell everyone you know to hire these people.

Five stars. Six, ten stars. Eleventy-billion stars. All the stars.

Read more of our amazing Yelp reviews here.

Kelly and her team at Five Grain Events were indispensable to us leading up to and through our wedding day. Seeing that they had worked with many couples at our venue, we reached out. After the initial consultation, I already had two or three pages of advice, suggestions and tips, and felt like a load had been lifted off my shoulders. Though we only got month-of planning, the team provided great recommendation lists and other tips as we needed them prior to their work officially starting with us. I counted down the days until Kelly stepped in two months ahead of the wedding, and as soon as we’d had our official meeting, I was stress-free (or as stress-free as a bride could be!) Kelly and her team were a joy to be around on our wedding day, helped smooth out any small fiascos (like getting a tomato stain out of the front of my dress!), helped set up and tear our personal items beautifully (see the name plate table!) and went out of their way to not only take care of us, but our family and guests in ways both big and small. If you’re questioning whether a coordinator is worth it, my husband and I would emphatically say yes – and all the more so with a professional, well-connected and well-experienced team like Five Grain Events!  (Beautiful photography by Angela Renee Photography)