Ryan Alexander Events

Lauren was the day of planner for my daughter’s wedding this May. At first meeting my daughter and I were impressed with her organization and experience and that initial impression was right on. Lauren is an absolute pro and made the wedding weekend a true pleasure. After spending a year planning the wedding both the bride and I were overwhelmed by the amount of detail and vendor interaction that would have to take place over the wedding weekend. Lauren began working with us a couple of months prior to the wedding and transitioned all those details and relationships effortlessly so that on the day of the wedding all the bride, groom and parents had to do was enjoy the day knowing Lauren had everything under control! Her very reasonable fee was money well spent I can assure you! The best part was that during the wedding weekend Lauren handled everything and everyone with such a fun and pleasant demeanor that everyone had a great time and felt totally comfortable. At the end of the night when I turned to her and asked her if we should start loading the décor items that we had brought into our car and she told me everything was already in our hotel room I almost kissed her. As I look over the budget for the wedding I truly think that this was the best value for the money of the entire experience. I would highly recommend using Lauren for your wedding planning needs– her experience, attention to detail and great personality cannot be beat.

Lauren was our weekend-​of coordinator for our wedding in October. She was absolutely amazing and everything we could have ever asked for. We met two months prior to our wedding day to start transitioning over information, contracts, etc. Lauren took it over from there — cross referencing everyone’s contracts for info like timing, payments, etc. From then on, she really took the lead and ran with it, connecting with every vendor to finalize a seamless timeline.
The thing about Lauren is that she does so much that you’re not even aware of, or things you can’t even predict. For instance, she was on the ground sewing my finace’s pants which had a tear in them in the middle of the day… She’s literally the Olivia Pope of weddings.
All throughout our honeymoon, we couldn’t stop saying «I don’t know what we would have done without Lauren.» You won’t regret working with her!

Now that our wedding has come and gone, I now fully appreciate Lauren’s service as our day of wedding coordinator. We hired Lauren as our day of coordinator given my wife and I had already selected our venue and vendors prior to meeting her. Though we only paid for day of wedding services, she worked beyond our expectations. Lauren guided us with her experience, equipped us with her very thorough checklist, emailed vendors meeting agendas and kept us accountable on next steps and open tasks. Because she is meticulous, Lauren’s leadership delivered the perfect wedding experience. Thank you Lauren, because of you, we never had a distraction. Kelli and I were able to enjoy every second of our wedding day.
BTW: When we notified our venue and vendors that Lauren was our DOC, many of them had positive responses. The fact that vendors respect and enjoy working with Lauren really validates her abilities. Lauren has earned her reputation and deserves to be your wedding planner, in any capacity.

Lauren is SO good at what she does! My husband and I are so happy with our choice to have picked her as our wedding coordinator. She was our «day-​of» coordinator and also provided some lists of vendors for us to research and reach out to. She was able to customize her package to meet our needs, since we actually had another event planner for our wedding in Italy, so she was really trying to make it work for us since we were doing double wedding duty. We got married in Italy this past July but then we had our cocktail party/​reception in Chicago at Sofitel in September, so you can imagine the stress of planning two huge events in 7 months, especially as the events drew closer. Lauren went above and beyond her «day-​of» services. She answered all of our questions throughout the process and offered helpful tips. Lauren was efficient and a great problem solver. She literally thought of everything the night of our reception. From grabbing our shoes at the end of the night, to picking up the lunch for the bridesmaids, to making sure we had dinner waiting in our hotel room, to making sure the ballroom looked exactly like we wanted, to keeping our bridal party of almost 30 people in line– she was always running around making sure the entire event ran smoothly. I’m sure there are a million things Lauren did that we didn’t even see to make sure everything worked out perfectly. Lauren was always professional, always had good solutions to issues, and I always felt less stressed after talking with her. The reason we picked her was her energy and personality right off the bat. I had met and talked over the phone with a few other wedding planners, but Lauren stuck out to us. She was friendly, made us feel comfortable, and when she started talking about planning the reception, it was very apparent that she knew what she was doing and she would be very good at handling our unique party. All of the vendors she recommended to us were amazing. Our reception at Sofitel was gorgeous and the most fun party ever (according to our guests)! I would definitely recommend Lauren as a wedding planner to anyone looking for a planner who really cares about your wedding, who is fun to work with, and who is surely going to help you throw a wonderful party that is unique to your own style.

Three months out from my wedding I frantically searched Google for «Chicago Day-​of Wedding Coordinators.» I hadn’t booked a florist, had a million of logistical questions buzzing in my head and couldn’t (as hard as I tried) visualize my big day coming together. There were too many unknowns, a lot of «what if’s» and an unrelenting feeling of being overwhelmed in what to do next. I clicked to Ryan Alexander Events, entered in my basic information (name, email, wedding date, guest count, etc) and prepared myself to play the waiting game. In less than an hour Lauren called me and the rest is history.
Through the phone you can feel Lauren’s enthusiasm, smile and her confidence that your wedding WILL be the best day of your life. I was immediately put to ease knowing I was in good, capable hands. Lauren works efficiently (and keeps you updated on progress via Google docs), communicates clearly (in person and via email) and advocates for your experience when talking with vendors, venues and other third parties. The best part about her: she always has an answer. I consistently found myself in awe of her, every time I had a question — she had an answer. Never an «I don’t know» or a «Hmm, good question.» Always an answer, a next step and a final directive.
On my wedding day she truly ran the show and never once appeared to be anything but calm and collected. Not only did she manage the flow of the day from a venue and vendor perspective (from start to finish), she managed our family pictures before the ceremony in about a half hour flat, which I found to be incredibly valuable. My nerves were at a peak and she made sure there was no waiting around or any family member saying, «So, where do I go?» As the night progressed she had a knack for popping up right when I needed her. My feet were KILLING me, she had my flats. My lipstick was fading, she was there to re-​apply. My hair was falling out of place, she had a Bobbi pin.
I could go on and on, but let’s get to the point. She’s the best and every bride-​to-​be should know it! You will not be disappointed, that is for sure.
(Not to mention completely affordable compared to other coordinators in Chicago!)

Lauren was so great. I hired her for day-​of coordination for my June 6 wedding and am so glad that I made the investment — having her there meant that myself, my groom, and my family/​friends just got to enjoy the day and not worry about anything.
By the time Lauren and I started working together, I had already booked all the vendors. We met twice to go over the plans and details, and then once for a walk through with the caterer at my venue. Lauren was always available via phone, text, and email. She did all the coordination with my vendors for the day of, meaning I didn’t even have to think about it, which was awesome. She had tons of experience and industry knowledge to bring to the table, consistently bringing up things that I wouldn’t have even thought about. I am so grateful for her! I just knew things were getting done and I didn’t have to micromanage her or anyone else about it. I trusted her and everything went unbelievably smooth on my wedding day.
Also — Lauren is just cool. Her personality really grooved well with my groom and I and our wedding party. My parents loved her, too. She is fun but will be directive when needed. We had lots of laughs together. I hope all my friends hire her for their weddings!

My name is Roberto Monastero and I own Monastero Entertainment. I have 20+ years experience in the Chicago wedding industry. Lauren Housely takes care of her responsibilities seamlessly and with the right attitude. I have had the pleasure of working with her company and I’ve seen nothing but happy & content clients.
She treats everyone respectfully, bringing a wealth of knowledge to the table. I also have wonderful working relationships with other reputable Chicago planners and understand what is involved to create/​execute a successful event.
I would vouch for Lauren and have the utmost respect for the work she delivers.

My name is Kenny Kim and Lauren from Ryan Alexander Events was the Planner for our wedding reception in Chicago on January 20, 2013. My wife and I had just gotten back from our destination wedding in Italy on January 3, 2013 and we still had to plan our Chicago reception, which was going to take place in less than 3 weeks.
As a wedding photographer, I have seen and documented many weddings. When it came to our own wedding reception, I thought we could take care of all the logistics on our own because I had seen it all and knew what to do. Little did I realize that once we started to actually plan the event, we were immediately overwhelmed by the number of things that had to be done.
Then Lauren came to the rescue. In such a short amount of time, she helped us plan the 100+ guest reception using all her resources and vendors to put together a beautiful winter reception at Room 1520 in Chicago.
We just celebrated our 2 year anniversary and we reminisce often about how unforgettable that night was and we can’t thank Lauren enough for helping to make that possible.

I hired Lauren as my wedding planner and she made a million promises of things she would do and things she was in charge of during the process, but then when it came down to it she tried to get out of performing tasks which were her responsibility. For one example (and there are many), she said she would deliver the out of town bags to the hotels where my guests were staying and then at the last minute tried to force my mother in law or myself to drop the bags off instead which was rather rude and ridiculous. Every time she actually delivered on a promise she had made earlier (which took a lot of begging her to actually do it) she made it seem like i was putting her out. I don’t think that after paying someone thousands of dollars to be a wedding planner that they should act this way. Whereas she was in charge of coordinating all the vendors for the final 2 months of planning and making a timeline for the day of the wedding, i did that stuff for her. What a joke! I want my $ 2000 back.
Also please beware that the majority of her Unilocal reviews are written by her friends and not her clients.

I was MOH at my friend’s wedding and her planner was rude and unaccommodating at best. First, she was MIA for the 3 weeks leading up to the wedding and missed several key moments. In addition, 2 individuals in the bridal party, myself included have disabilities. The planner’s original idea was to have the party walk up a staircase and stand on a stage for «effect.» After both the bride and groom explained to her that this was not possible, as the staircase didn’t have railings, she proceeded to ignore them. At the rehearsal, the planner kept discussing where these stairs would be and we kept pleading with her to understand that we did not and could not do this. Finally, she came up with another solution… or so we thought.
The day of the wedding, the bride found the planner searching through the bride’s belongings without permission «looking for jewelry.» When the bride went to put on her earrings, one was missing and the planner «found it» in a completely different bag. When the bride asked her about what happened, the planner got an attitude. It was so awkward and stressed out the bride beyond belief.
When it was time for the ceremony to begin, the doors opened and guess what was there– the stairs. I was forced to stand on the side of the bottom on the stage by myself and the flower girl had to hold the bride’s flowers, because I couldn’t make it up the stairs. It was mortifying and my friend, the bride, spent the first few seconds of the ceremony focused on if I was going to fall. I felt so bad. When I confronted the planner, she said she made the last minute decision because it was better for pictures and didn’t think to tell us. Really!!! To add insult to injury, the bride had asked the planner to save the broken glass from the ceremony as a memento, which is very common in Jewish weddings. The planner threw it out!
Not only is Ryan Alexander events more expensive than other services, the planner is unprofessional and lacks any sense of compassion.

I hired Lauren for our wedding July 5, which happened to fall on her birthday! She was wonderful. I had a very vivid vision of what I wanted, so most of the details I handled myself, but to have the confidence that everything was going to go as planned came from Lauren! She runs a tight ship and makes sure everything runs smoothly. It was also so nice having her take care of everything after the reception so we could go enjoy ourselves! RAE is definitely a must if you are planning a wedding!

My wife and I hired Lauren to handle the 3 months leading up to our wedding as well as the day of our wedding logistics. We could not have been happier with her work and can’t imagine doing it all ourselves. Lauren did a great job of getting with all of the vendors we had already contracted with as well as provided suggestions for some vendors for services that we had not yet settled on. We had a wonderful day, thanks to Lauren! We would not hesitate to recommend her service

Just hire Lauren and do everything she tells you to do!
I originally wanted to run away to a beach when I got engaged, and my fiancé wanted a huge wedding. We landed somewhere in the middle, and Lauren managed all of our hopes for the wedding so brilliantly!
Initially, I was planning to interview 3 planners. My first chat was with Lauren, and I stopped the process and begged her to be my planner! She has such a calming and well-​informed way about her, but it’s disguised in such a fun, enthusiastic, hilariously sarcastic package!
Her recommendations in vendors are incredible, and the thought she puts into making your wedding match you is like nothing I’ve ever experienced! It’s been a month since my wedding and I’m still hearing from guests about some of the behind-​the-​scenes things she did!
I will be forever grateful to Lauren for making my special day even more special than I could have imagined — she’s just the absolute best.

Lauren was recommended to us by our wedding florist and we couldn’t be happier with the great recommendation.
My now husband and I originally met with Lauren Housley in October 2012. Her enthusiasm, friendliness, honesty, professionalism, organization and positivity really impressed us off the bat and continued through the entire planning process.
During the months leading up to the big day, Lauren was in contact with us listening to our ideas, dealing with our craziness and offering her professional and creative ideas/​suggestions.
It’s been three weeks now since our wedding and we continue to get rave reviews from our families, especially our parents, on how wonderful Lauren was.
On the big day Lauren was with us from the getting ready process in the morning and she was the last person to walk out of the reception venue. We really felt like we could truly enjoy the day and not worry about ANYTHING. Something went wrong, Lauren was to the rescue. There were even things that went wrong on the wedding day that I didn’t even know happened until days later because Lauren handled it. Our big day couldn’t have gone more perfect for us and we truly owe it to Lauren for her incredible work.
Lauren Housley & Ryan Alexander Events are truly amazing and we could never thank her and her team enough for helping make our dream wedding a reality.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Lauren & Ryan Alexander Events to coordinate your wedding or next big event… you won’t regret it!

I have worked with Lauren for several years and cannot say enough wonderful things about her and her team! I work in the wedding industry and have had the privilege of working with Lauren on several weddings. Lauren is always incredibly organized, well put together, and does whatever it takes to make the event go as smoothly as possible and make sure her clients are pleased (and trust me, I see what goes on behind the scenes that the guests and/​or bride and groom don’t always know about. That’s the beauty of having a good planner. Things go wrong and you never even know!).
That being said I introduced my sister to Lauren and they are working together on her upcoming wedding. I am so relieved that with our crazy family (and there is some drama, trust me!) that we have an unrelated 3^rd party to help manage things and ensure they go smoothly. I am confident, after years of working with Lauren, that she will keep my sister calm and make sure everything is perfect on her big day.
I would not hesitate to recommend Lauren or anyone else from the Ryan Alexander Events team for your big day or special event!

Lauren to the Rescue!
I can’t say enough about Lauren Housely and Ryan Alexander Events Inc. We had an unfortunate experience with a previous wedding planner that took our money and didn’t deliver on any services promised. With less than 2 months until the wedding date we were forced to fire our wedding planner and find someone new. We found Lauren on Unilocal and were impressed with the positive reviews. After an hour long conversation over the phone — we knew we were in good hands. Lauren literally had to start from scratch in the planning of our wedding as the previous wedding planner had not secured any vendors. In less than a week Lauren had contacted all of our previous vendors and secured several with contracts, she then introduced us to additional vendors, scheduled all remaining appointments, sent us a full schedule for the remaining two months, and had the invites printed on a rush timeline. Even though we were Lauren’s first gay wedding with two grooms she made us feel welcome and at ease. Being two grooms we didn’t have any idea of what a wedding entailed nor a vision for the wedding itself. Lauren jumped right in — taking in the style of our home and wardrobe to suggest the look a feel. The wedding was a spectacular 160 guest, six figure event that required immense orchestration. Lauren was able to orchestrate 4 music «acts» with unconventional non-​wedding artists, passed hors d’oeuvres and custom drinks for cocktail hour, a served 3 course dinner, and individual custom ordered deserts, all with impeccable execution. With every «bump» in the road along the way during planning — Lauren had a solution and resolved it before either of us were able to notice. She handled our event with the utmost professionalism — yet treated us as long time friends. They say that everything happens for a reason… I can honestly say that it was a blessing that our first planner fell through and Lauren came to our rescue. Our day couldn’t have been more perfect and we owe it all to Lauren.
I would highly recommend Lauren — she is incredible.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you are in the process of planning a wedding you need to hand over the reins to Lauren! She is amazing at what she does and I can assure you your event will be that much more amazing if Lauren is your planner. As a wedding vendor myself I have had the pleasure of working with her and you will not be disappointed with her planning expertise! Professional and positive, someone you truly want around on your big day.

Lauren was wonderful to work with right from the start. She is so full of energy and life, but she also is a take charge kind of lady!
We were planning a wedding long-​distance so Lauren helped tie up any loose ends for us. She was also very flexible in meeting with us as we had tight schedules when we were in town.
She took the time to meet with us and understand our style and ideas so that she could get on the same page. She presented different ideas (many I never would have thought of!), explained pros and cons or each, and let us make the best decision based on what we felt.
Lauren has many connections within the wedding industry and she helped us with some of the vendors we were still trying to find when we started working with her. (Transportation, Hair, Makeup) They were all fantastic and Lauren has worked with them many times so we knew they were reliable. Lauren even created and printed our programs and menu cards!
Lauren created a fantastic time line that helped keep all vendors and wedding participants on track. All the vendors were blown away by her details. They loved the time line.
Most importantly, Lauren did an AMAZING job the night of our wedding. She was 50 steps ahead of everyone! She took charge when we needed her to, she was available for our questions, and she ensured the whole evening ran according to plan. It is wonderful to hand over the reins of such a big event to someone so competent.
We were so glad to have Lauren throughout this process!

Our daughter was married on August 25, 2012. Lauren (Ryan Alexander Events) was the wedding planner. She was beyond awesome. Our daughter does not live in Illinois so planning all the details was via email and phone. Lauren truly help to identify a number of areas and issues that we never thought of — she is a true pro. Most importantly, she truly listened to our daughter and son-​in-​law regarding the type of wedding they wanted. She met with them to in person, via phone and email. She talked to them about the types of pictures that they wanted, she took them to Cantigney (Wheaton) to see if this site was a possibility. They loved it and they cannot wait for the pictures. She designed an exquisite program for the church service. She provided us with excellent references for hair make-​up and transportation. She worked so well with our daughter.
She created a wedding day timeline for our daughter, which helped so much. On the day of the wedding, she was everywhere including our house in helping to keep all of us moving. She worked so well with vendors. My husband and I truly enjoyed the reception, we were able to spend time with the guests – if Lauren was not there, we would not have enjoyed the day as much. She took the time and effort to make sure that the wedding couple’s gifts were delivered to our hotel room. As parents of the bride, she was always responsive to our questions and concerns. A number of our guests commented to us what a remarkable woman she was.
We never thought we would have used a wedding planner; now we cannot imagine planning a wedding without Lauren.

I’m a wedding photographer in Chicago and had initially decided against a professional wedding planner b/​c my then-​fiancé and I wanted to do much of the wedding planning and coordinating ourselves!
hahaha…eh…
So that lasted a few months until the details began to be more than a ‘little’ overwhelming for me and that’s when Lauren from Ryan Alexander Events came into our lives!
First impressions: Such a positive person and full of enthusiasm! Big plus! And MOST IMPORTANTLY: I knew my wife would be able to talk honestly and candidly with Lauren — and I know Lauren would listen to her thoughts and ideas.
She was great at emailing all the different vendors… she was EVERYWHERE on the day of! She thought of all the bazillion little things that we didn’t think of and didn’t want to think of on our wedding day!
She’s also one of the most resourceful people I know… she knows so much about so many things! She helped us with song choices for the DJ, decorating ideas, picking up food, drawing layouts, and creating little unique pieces for our wedding! =)
So yea… bottom line: Lauren helped make our wedding day so much more enjoyable and I would highly recommend meeting with her and you’ll see for yourself how great she is!