Reviews of Soirée Wedding Planning (Event Planner)

Andy Small

Emily was recommended to me by my friend who got married in Iowa City. Her reviews of Emily were fantastic, but we live in Chicago, where we were also getting married...so we were somewhat hesitant to have our event coordinator that far away from us. However, after talking with Emily on the phone one time, her passion, confidence, experience, and easy to get along with vibes won me over and we immediately hired her as our full service wedding planner. Even though we were 200 miles away from one another, Emily was on top of everything. She drove to Chicago multiple times to meet with us to go over plans for the day, meet with vendors, talk through stresses, etc. Having her throughout the entire process is something I wouldn’t change, because it was such a relief knowing I could text or email her with questions or concerns and I knew she would have the answers. She contacted multiple vendors, took care of the hotel block (which I always imagined to be one of the biggest nightmares of planning), recommended Zephyr Weddings for stationary (who were also amazing, btw), laid out a clear cut timeline, rented out amazing decor to add to what we had, helped me tie together some loose ends that came about literally the Monday before our wedding, and so so so much more. When it came to the day of our wedding, I truly can’t imagine that day going smoothly without Emily. I’ve attended weddings that tend to drag out a bit, and you can tell the timeline is a little off - understandably so, as you are taken into a whirlwind of the day and it’s hard to stay focused - and Emily kept us on track and always made sure everything was in the right place at the right time, so the night flowed smoothly not just for us, but for all of our guests as well. I’m sure there were things that went wrong during our day and night, but I honestly don’t even know what those things were thanks to her! Thank you Emily, for accommodating to our city and making our wedding amazing!

Megan Johnson-Gott

I can't recommend Emily and her team enough for planning. Her attention to detail is impeccable and is probably one of the sweetest people I have ever met. As another business owner we love working with her because we know the event will be top notch. People often don't think they need a wedding planner but I promise it is a game changer. You should be able to enjoy your day instead of stressing about the details. Emily is the best of the best!

Lora Ridgway

Emily was such a lifesaver throughout my wedding planning process and especially the weekend of our big day. She provided excellent recommendations for vendors to use. She was available to me by text day or night in the year leading up to my wedding. On wedding weekend, she calmed my nerves and helped me focus on having fun and enjoying time with my new husband and our family and friends. Our wedding was beautiful and exactly what we had envisioned and I know that Emily helped make that dream a reality. She is so professional, fun, and easy to work with, and I'm so thankful to have had her by my side throughout the wedding planning process.

Lynette Grimm

I worked alongside Emily as Soiree's intern for eight months and I can easily say it was the best and most worthwhile experience I have had. Being only 21, I learned how to work closely with clients, contact vendors, and successfully execute weddings and other events in a diligent manner. Emily is extremely passionate and driven in every event and with each family she works with and it shows throughout. She taught me more in eight months than most people can learn their whole lives, and it wasn't just about planning events. I matured and discovered my passion of planning events by looking up to Emily, and that is something I will cherish for the rest of my years in the event planning industry and as a person. I got to see first hand just how hard Emily works and how much thought she puts into each client she works with. Interning with Soiree was the most rewarding experience I've had, and it was because of Emily's dedication and passion!

Center Stage Productions

It is always a pleasure working with the Soiree Wedding Planning Group. They are very detailed and easy to communicate with. We would definitely recommend.

lindsay goedken

Matt and I are so grateful that we hired Soiree Wedding Planning to help with our big day. Shortly after we got engaged, we met with Emily and hired her to do weekend of coordination. After we moved out of state, we realized we needed more help and added on design. THEN a pandemic happened and Emily helped us figure out whether or not to move forward with our wedding and how to communicate our decision with our guests. THEN a derecho hit Iowa during the week of our wedding and we had to deal with our venue not having power until the day before our wedding. Needless to say, Emily not only kept us sane throughout the entire wedding planning process, she also was instrumental in helping coordinate our wedding week. Despite the derecho she was in touch with every single one of our vendors by our final meeting and helped us develop a plan to move forward with our wedding. She encouraged us (Nicole, specifically) on numerous occasions to just enjoy our wedding week and let her take care of the details. Our rehearsal and entire wedding day was PERFECTION. We wouldn't have changed one single thing. Because Emily and her team was there, we didn't have to stress about a single detail - they worried about everything and we just got to enjoy. After the stress of planning a wedding during a pandemic and then a natural disaster, Emily and her team ensured that our wedding day was a perfect success. It was everything I dreamed and more (the venue was STUNNING and many people told us it was one of the prettiest weddings they've attended). Needless to say, I initially thought I was spending a lot of money when we first hired Emily and now I know it was the best investment of my life. HIRE A WEDDING COORDINATOR, HIRE EMILY, JUST DO IT. You won't regret it!!! -Nicole & Matt Fleege

Susan Frye

We’ve had the pleasure of working with Emily on the vendor side and she’s a class act and makes what would typically be a lot decision to be made while in the moment simply be about the moment. Keep up the good work!

Emma Sherlock

Our experience was nothing but positive. Thank you, Emily, for everything you did for our daughter's wedding.

Kayla Hesseltine

Emily is the definition of calm/ cool and collective. Seriously was like my right hand wing woman throughout the ENTIRE engagement- we booked her two years ago and she was so great from day one! My family couldn't stop talking about how on her game she was because she had everything we needed from A-Z if we forgot something, she had a solution immediately! Highly recommend!

William McBride

Where do I even start? We met with Emily pre-pandemic and she was one of the second professionals we hired. She is absolutely amazing. You need her as your wedding coordinator no doubt! She has been so organized and has guided us through a pandemic. Do I need to say more? She thinks of absolutely everything and is the most knowledgeable. (Ripped pants, she can stitch it back together. Someone stressing you? She’s the best at redirecting their attention. Details on photography, she’s got you. Giving you a silent moment to take it all in, done) She works and knows just about everyone and is the best in the industry. She is always staying on top industry standards. She is absolutely magical and we would have been so stressed on our big day without her. She was the best vendor and I cannot tell you how much her expertise, cool, calm, collected, organized and kindness meant to me on my big day. She was there with me every step, she’s a beautiful human and I’m so beyond grateful.

Elyssa Zajeski

Emily was terrific to work with! She was very helpful with the wedding planning process! She also made our wedding weekend run very smoothly! I would highly recommend hiring Emily to help with your wedding planning!

Emily Crall

Emily is worth the investment and is AMAZING to work alongside! I have had the pleasure to work with Emily both professionally and personally and every time I am still in awe of her outstanding work ethic and passion. Emily was the first person I reached out to after getting engaged to make sure I had her expertise on hand during this exciting time and process. Emily will go above and beyond for her clients making sure the vision of the wedding comes to life. You are in the best hands when you hire Emily!

Alisha Calow

I am so grateful that we had Emily helping to plan and organize my daughter's wedding. She is so organized, knowledgeable, experienced, reliable, helpful, calm and competent. Emily helped to keep the entire process on track and enjoyable. I am recommending her to everyone I know.

Laura Johnson Miller

Absolutely love working with Emily! She is a true professional and amazing at what she does. I love recommending her to my clients.

Lisa Graham

Sara Lemke at Soirée was a LIFESAVER at our wedding and was instrumental in making the day run smoothly. From checking in on the vendors at the start of the day, to getting the wedding party to our photo spot on time, to making sure our reception events (speeches, meal, live music) were in sync, she allowed us to enjoy our big day and socialize with our guests without feeling like we had to orchestrate all of the moving parts. Sara was flexible, responsive, and extremely professional, and everyone who worked with her said she made their lives easier! She even helped organize an umbrella system in the *pouring* rain to get my bridesmaids and me to our pre-ceremony photo shoot — and we all stayed dry! Sara asked great questions and provided her expert advice while also listening to my opinions and vision for the day. If you’re looking for someone who’s easy to get along with to make your wedding day as stress-free as possible and keep you sane, you’ve found the right gal!

Kate Peterson

As a vendor, I have had a chance to work with Emily and her staff on a few occasions and she is hands down the best you can get! I know heading into an event that is using Soirée that things will be smooth sailing. I have never met someone so on top of things! Emily has a sixth sense for potential hangups and is able to take care of it before it becomes a noticeable problem. She doesn't miss a thing! Emily and her staff are always upbeat and PROACTIVE. If you want peace of mind leading up to and the day of your wedding Soirée Wedding Planning is the way to go!

Matthew Fleege

Emily is amazing! She helped us with almost every detail of our wedding including choosing invitations, negotiating with vendors and coordinating with our ceremony and reception venues. She was also always available to answer emails or meet to discuss any problems that came up during the planning process. The day of the wedding she managed every detail, from making sure vendors were in place to working on the decor at the reception venue. I would highly recommend working with her, she really put all of her energy into making sure our wedding was everything we hoped for.

Ella Espinoza

Emily was amazing. If you are stressing about who to choose for your planner, don't. Soiree is what you need. My wife and I met/talked with Emily multiple times and she really took the time to get to know us and what we wanted for our big day. She is friendly, nice, fun, professional and great at her job. Our wedding was fairly complex - it took place on a family farm using multiple vendors for food/dessert and our family provided some other items to use i.e. chairs/tables/utensils etc. There was a great deal going on, but Emily and her team took care of EVERYTHING. She coordinated times, directed employees, and who knows what else, because I didn't hear about any issues. My wife, her family (the hosts), and I did not stress one bit. And when the day came, everything was perfect. We couldn't have been happier and we are so happy we chose to go with Soiree. Emily will make your day perfect. Check out her website and then give her a call.

3 Guys & A Bus

Emily and her crew from Soiree exceeded our expectations for their wedding planning services! From the very start of our journey and through the pandemic, they were there for us without exception. I consider myself a planner, but I've got not nothing on Emily! Not only did their services help us have a better wedding than we imagined, they helped us find ways to save money and connect with vendors we would not have found on our own. Emily and her team are professional, responsive, caring, fun, and above all else - amazing people!

Allison Krivachek

Emily is passionate about making an event suit each client's needs and wants perfectly. I watched a wedding unfold this weekend seamlessly for a couple from Beiging, China. She put the couple at ease many times because she had a good rapport with them. There was never a rushed moment which allowed the couple to be present during every event. My two thumbs are up for this planner!

Jessica Welburn Paige

Emily will take such great care of you and make sure nothing is missed throughout your wedding planning process! Not only does she help eliminate the stress of planning, she continually reminds you that everything is going to be okay and to remember the most important thing, that in the end you will be married to the love of your life. She is very laid back which helps a stressed out bride feel way less stressed knowing that she isn't. I don't know how she does it but she is able to accomplish so many things in the timeliest of manners and keeps everything so organized between all that she has going on, making sure everything about you and your wedding is priority! I highly recommend hiring Emily as your wedding planner. I promise you won't have to worry about a thing and you'll come out of it having a great forever friend in her:)

Brittany Sefton

Without question, the best decision we made during my daughter’s wedding planning process was to hire Emily at Soiree Wedding Planning. Emily was there throughout the process to guide us in the right direction with the many decisions we needed to make from the menu to the entertainment. Emily’s knowledge of the details and her relationships with local vendors were invaluable assets. On the wedding day, Emily made sure everything went as planned. It truly was a stress-free day which allowed everyone including my daughter and me to thoroughly enjoy the experience. I give Emily the absolute highest recommendation without reservation. Even more, she was a joy to work with and kept us positive throughout the months of preparation.

Stephen Koenig

Emily with Soirée makes my job as a photographer, effortless! We absolutely love working with her at Ivory+Bliss! She is kind, proactive, always there to lend a helping hand all while handling the day with ease! We highly recommend her to all of brides!

Sieverpro

Emily was my day of coordinator for my wedding and I can’t recommend her enough! She enabled me to be truly present and experience my wedding day with minimal stress. She was supportive, detail-oriented, fun, and just damn good at her job. If you’re on the fence about a day of coordinator, DO IT and chose Soiree!

tina tootle

Emily and her staff are not only sweet, but they are incredibly organized! Having worked with Emily as a fellow wedding vendor, I can see from the backside of the event how well she coordinates with not just the couple, their parents, and the bridal party, but with fellow vendors as well. I always know that if she is doing the planning/coordination, her couples will be well taken care of (with minimal stress!) and so will the rest of the vendors working the event!

Emily Trevino

I have no words for Emily and her team. They did absolutely amazing for our wedding. We planned for 2+ years and Emily stuck by my side the whole time when I had ideas or wanted to change something. The weekend of our wedding went perfectly and even if there was a hiccup, they took care of it and we didn't have to worry about anything. She had people carrying my bouquet for me to different locations to take pictures, letting us know what we had going on next during the day, and even going and getting us our food and drinks whenever we needed something. I can't recommend her and her team enough! If you are planning your special day, book with Emily!!!!

Caterina Scordato

I highly recommend Emily and her team at Soiree. When I was a little girl, I never pictured my wedding, I always pictured the perfect person to marry. So needless to say when I did find my other half, my person, (which up until that point I thought I was going to be a crazy dog lady since I am horribly allergic to cats), I needed some serious help. Due to certain circumstances my parents could not help me plan my wedding. I knew I wanted a wedding both of our families would love, that was well done, and also mixed two different cultures (I am from a very small town in Iowa and my husband is a first generation Mexican born and raised in Southern California/ LA.) I needed help. I couldn’t even pick out colors for my wedding without feeling incredibly overwhelmed. There are wedding traditions in Mexico my husband’s family wanted to incorporate. I did not have the slightest idea of how to go about buying these things let alone how to get the Catholic Church in this area to ok the use of them during the wedding mass. Thank God I found Emily. Not only is she one of the most talented, organized, and professional people I have ever met, she is also one of the most patient and kind. She broke things down to do for the wedding so simply and easily over the year of planning I had no worries. There are things with planning a wedding that I honestly never thought of let alone how to handle them all! Emily allowed me to enjoy my entire wedding week! She had a timeline for everything, and it made everything SO MUCH LESS STRESSFUL. Throughout the wedding process there were major, life changing events that happened. My father had a stroke, COVID turned our world upside down decreasing the size of my wedding by roughly 73%. (Just because I am crazy enough to continue with wedding planning and getting married during COVID doesn’t mean I except others to be as crazy as me). Most of my husbands extended family live in Mexico and due to the travel band could not come. I had people that played major roles in our wedding that due to COVID, could not attend. I also am in the high-risk group of dying from COVID due to some other health issues so additional safety precautions had to be taken. (Social distancing tables at the reception, wearing masks during the wedding ceremony, social distancing and wearing masks during the wedding mass, cleaning a crazy amount all the time, ect). I also have other serious health issues that threaten my life on a daily bias that require the help of my service dog (and fill in bridesmaid) Logan. Emily started dealing with a bilingual, bicultural wedding with a bride that can literally die from food allergies at any wrongly prepared meal, to that same wedding challenges on top of the storm that is COVID 19. Emily was a God sent! She made the impossible possible. I thought with COVID there was no way I could have a beautiful, classy, wedding. However, she made it happen. I literally had no stress the day of my wedding due to Emily. My husband and I were able to be in a happy wedding bliss fog the entire day. Emily handled everything with the venders, setting up the venue, taking down the venue, finding INCREDIBLE VENDORS to do my wedding all within my wedding budget. I could not be happier or recommend a better person to plan anyone’s big life events. Her connections to businesses that really know what they are doing in invaluable. You cannot go wrong with Emily’s expertise and recommendations. I highly encourage anyone planning any event to contact Emily. With her, know your event will be a memory you will treasure and will actually be able to enjoy.

kaitlin white

Emily is truly amazing! She listened to what we wanted for our wedding and made it happen. She provided great vendor contacts and we loved every one of them. Our wedding was the simple, elegant celebration we wanted it to be. We didn’t have to worry about anything except getting married that day! So even if you are a type A control freak - like me- you can rest assured Emily will give you the wedding of your dreams and do it all with a smile.

Shelby Therme

Emily is a life saver! We had no idea where to start and how to plan our wedding in just 4 months. Emily didn't miss a beat. She made the process stress free and super simple. She kept us on track and did so many of the planning details for us. On the day of our wedding Emily took care of any and ALL things that popped up throughout the day. We didn't have to worry about anything! If you are back and forth on what to spend money on for your wedding, don't skip the wedding planner! She was the number one resource that we couldn't live without for the big day. We love you Emily!

Rosemary Peters

Emily and her assistant did an amazing job with our wedding. We hired Soiree Events for the weekend of wedding coordinator. She was top notch at responding to text and phone calls the month of the wedding! The day of she did an awesome job rounding up our crew to where they needed to be, being at the reception venue to let in our vendors and taking care of any mishaps through out the day. Our day would not have been the same without her! She was worth EVERY penny!

Michelle Burson

Emily and her team did an amazing job making sure that everything was taken care of on our special day. Whether it was sending invites before our big day or making sure I had everything I needed on the day of, they did it all. Dacey was our day of gal and she was simply AMAZING. She was running non stop to make sure things were moved between ceremony and reception, assisting the other vendors, making sure Mitch and I had what we needed and so much more. Highly recommend Soiree to make your life less stressful in this important time in your life! Thanks agian, Emily, Dacey, and Hailey, you were AMAZING!