Wedding planners in Chicago

Published fees in Chicago start at $1,000 with LOLA Event Productions, and 2 of the 10 planners listed here publish a price at all. Full-service planning in this market runs from $20,000 to $20,000 where firms state it. The tier decides the order of magnitude far more than the individual planner does, so establish whether you are buying full planning, partial planning or month-of coordination before you compare two numbers.

Twelve to eighteen months out for full-service planning in Chicago, and earlier if your date falls on a peak Saturday. Month-of coordination books far later, commonly three to six months out, and several planners here take work inside 90 days. The top-ranked listing on this page is currently booking 18–24 months out. The constraint is rarely the planner's diary on its own; it is that the good ones are booked around venue availability, so the venue usually has to come first.

They do different jobs, and the venue coordinator works for the venue. Their responsibility is that the building delivers what the building sold you: the room is set, the staff show up, the bar runs. A planner works for you and manages every vendor you hired, including the ones the venue has never met. The question that settles it is simple: who confirms my florist, band and photographer two weeks out, and is that written into the venue contract? It usually is not.

Full-service planning starts at the beginning and covers sourcing, design, budget and the day itself, typically over twelve to eighteen months. Month-of coordination starts four to six weeks out, takes a wedding you have already planned, confirms every vendor and runs the day. 7 of the 10 planners in Chicago sell month-of coordination. True day-of coordination does not really exist: nobody can absorb a year of decisions in eight hours, and what is sold under that name is almost always month-of.

Nationally the mean sits around $33,000 – $35,000 with a median of $20,000 – $25,000, and the median is the more useful number because a handful of very large weddings drag the mean upward. Chicago sits above the national figure. The season does the pricing.

LOLA Event Productions and Michigan Avenue Events publish a starting fee on their own website. That is 2 of 10 listings on this page. Published pricing is not a quality signal on its own, but it does tell you which firms are comfortable being compared, and it saves you a discovery call to find out you are out of range.

Yes. Chicago planners work the whole metro, which here includes Evanston, Oak Park, Lake Forest and Naperville. This site is organised by metro rather than by town for that reason: nobody picks a wedding planner by driving distance, and a page for every satellite town would list the same businesses over and over. If your venue sits outside the metro entirely, ask specifically about vendor travel charges, because that is where a nearby-looking venue quietly gets expensive.

Four things, in this order: what is the flat fee, when does your involvement actually start, how many weddings do you take in a year, and who will be on site on the day. The last one matters most and is asked least, because at several firms the person selling is not the person running your wedding. Track record is worth asking about too: Citygirl Events states 500 or more weddings delivered.

It is common at the top of the market and worth converting before you agree to it. At 12% to 15% of total spend, a $60,000 wedding carries a $7,200 to $9,000 planning fee for work that has not necessarily changed from a $40,000 wedding, and it ties the planner's income to every upsell they recommend. Several Chicago firms instead publish a minimum total wedding budget, from $400,000 upward, which tells you whether you are a fit before anyone quotes.

Off-peak and off-Saturday, and the saving is larger than most couples expect. Moving a wedding from a peak Saturday to a Friday or a Sunday, or out of the busy season entirely, cuts venue fees first and vendor rates second. Planning fees move less: published starting fees across Chicago range from $1,000 to $2,500, and that spread reflects scope rather than season. A planner who has worked the market a long time, like Big City Bride since 2003, will know which venues discount quietly and which never do.