LOLA Event Productions

If you are looking for a the fairy godmother of wedding planning who can grant all of your wishes, look no further - Lauren of LOLA is hands down the best!! Our wedding was a dream come true - literally. When we first met with Lauren, we told her our budget (below median for a Chicago wedding) and that we wanted a downtown affair with all of the trimmings and she didn't laugh in our face like other planners we met. She told us that she would make it work, and boy did she keep her promise! Lauren transformed our shoe string budget into a beautiful affair on the Chicago River and our guests have sent US thank you cards for inviting them to such a great event! And there is more - I remember our wedding day like a fairytale because Lauren took care of EVERYTHING! I didn't have one worry in my head about anything, it all got done without me knowing and I was left to just enjoyed me day as a bride - priceless and so necessary. Now I must say that before I signed the contract, I was a bit skeptical because I am a type A attorney and very detail-oriented so I thought that I would have to spend most of my time pointing out the details. Boy was I WRONG! Lauren is not only detail-oriented, but she will think of all of the things that you could never imagine! Trust me, unless you've been married before, you have no idea how those small details will turn your life upside before the wedding (i.e. jr. groomsmaids instead of jr. bridemaids to keep the numbers even on each side), and Lauren saved us every time - which is what you need! She also has tons of connections in the industry and after meeting you can put you in touch with the right vendors who fit your personality. She recommended our cake vendor, photographer, etc and all of them turned out perfectly and worked well with my overbearing personality, lol. She knows her stuff too! She is very smart and knows the industry like the back of her hand which is what I wanted - she is like a priceless book of wedding information and no website or DIY book can EVER compare to her services. And she is professional and nice too. Like ulta professional and really nice. Like so nice that my husband and I still talk about how much we miss her two months after the wedding. My husband complained about the cost of everything (typical groom) but to this day he always says this, "Lauren was the best investment we ever made, if I had to do it all over again, hiring her would be the first thing I do!" I wholeheartedly agree. So take it from a picky, type A attorney who is very hard to please - there is no wedding planner greater than Lauren from LOLA!

Our wedding (August 20, 2011) was AMAZING thanks to Lori and her staff at LOLA. I actually found our venue first (Hotel Allegro), and the event manager at the hotel recommended Lori to me when I mentioned we wanted to use a wedding coordinator. I am so glad we went with Lori!! I had a general idea of things I wanted and am pretty decisive, but I never would have put together the whole concept Lori helped us create. She really got to know us and made sure we had exactly what we wanted at our wedding. She also has a huge list of top-notch vendors she works with, which made it so easy to book a band, decor/flowers, invitations, photographer, everything! Every vendor she recommended produced beautiful work, was really reliable and fit our personalities. And the BEST thing about Lori... she handled my control crazy mother wonderfully!!!

A little more about our experience: We did the "Little Bit of LOLA" package, which included 5-6 meetings with Lori, super helpful planning resources/documents, all of her connections to vendors, unlimited email contact, and day-of-services. During our initial meeting, we talked about my vision for the wedding and things that were a priority (band, decor), and then worked on budget that would allocate our money to those priorities. This was so helpful as I had no idea what wedding things actually cost, and I didn't realize how many options you can play around with to maximize your budget. After our meeting, she sent me planning documents and a timeline that were instrumental in keeping us on budget and on time. I never felt stressed during the planning process because Lori broke everything down into manageable tasks we would tackle each month. Every time I emailed her a question, she responded quickly, and was particularly helpful when we needed to talk to vendors and make sure we were getting what we wanted. We even got to do "show and tells" with 2 decor companies to see how they would set up our flowers, centerpieces, linen, etc, and then choose between the 2. Lori was always prepared and super organized for our meetings, which immediately made me trust that everything would be taken care of on our wedding day. On the wedding day, I never had to worry once because I knew she was handling the church, the vendors, flowers, transportation, the band, even details I didn't know needed to be taken care of. Our wedding was absolutely gorgeous, and SO many of our guests commented that it was the best wedding they had ever been to! I would definitely recommend LOLA, particularly Lori, if you are looking for a professional, reliable and fun wedding coordinator.

I am shocked to read DC Monki's review of Lauren Carter. So much so that I feel that I must leave another review from our wedding in July. Usually, I wouldn't wait five months to post a review of a service... Even though our wedding was on an extremely tight budget, Lauren's design and decor won us the Style Me Pretty July Chicago award. Her taste is impeccable. Her suggestions, floral advice, and timing put together the most memorable evening. Lauren was reliable, efficient, and met with me over the course of several months to help me plan. She suggested incredible and reliable vendors that provided us with a classic feel. She accompanied us to all of the vendor meetings, helping us feel comfortable. She suggested new ideas in front and with the vendors, showing us that she cares about the design and feel of a space, while making sure we stayed within our budget. Lauren found us a DJ, a string trio, a florist, transportation, a caterer (Ken at Blue Plate is AMAZING), and an event designer that made Cafe Brauer feel even more beautiful than it already is. The pictures below speak for themselves. Her connections with the best (and reasonable) vendors speak to her professionalism and character.Lauren Carter is a tremendous wedding planner. I am so proud of our wedding and Lauren helped us achieve a perfect day. http://www.stylemepretty.com/illinois-weddings/2011/08/22/cafe-brauer-wedding-by-alaina-bos-photography-lola-event-productions/

Where do I begin? Tara, you are awesome. We went and met about 4 other wedding planners before we were recommended to Tara at Lola Events. At the first meeting we liked her immediately. She really listened to what we wanted to do (even though we kinda didn't have a lot of direction yet), and got us going in the right direction....with a very pleasant personality. She wasn't pushy, and set us up with great vendors. She really made great fits for us, and was very conscientious of staying on budget. We did a contemporary Indian style wedding and recpetion at the Ritz-Carlton in September 2010. She was always meeting with us at many of the vendors, and when she wasn't able to join us, she set everything up and got us up to speed for those meetings....very, very on top of things. Over the course of the 3 months we gave ourselves to put this all together, we really became friends with Tara, and had a lot of fun through the process. Yes, we were stressed, but she was always reassuring that we would get it done. Even though she had a wedding already scheduled the day before ours, she was still there for the day of, and really did a gret job coordinating everything. We would not have been able to keep our heads screwed on straight the day of, if it weren't for Tara.......she even escorted my 83 yr old father to and from his seat to make his speech......she realy did a phenomenal job with our event......Thank you so much for all your help Tara! BAM!

We worked with Lori on our wedding in September 2010. We had a different experience than most working with Lori because we had already selected a venue, caterer, wedding dress, photographer and had a clear idea of the style and decor we wanted for the wedding. We met a few times and talked about how we wanted the wedding to look and feel and then got down to work. Lori always gave us options for each additional choice we needed to make (Floral, Makeup, ect). She was very good at letting me feel like I was driving the car and she was navigating - which is exactly what I wanted. She handled all the interactions with the Vendors leading up to the wedding - confirming with them and getting me a payment worksheet so I could keep all the checks straight.

On the actual wedding day itself she was flawless. She picked up my programs from the printer, she got everyone organized and in the right spots. When I called that morning and asked if she could print our vows onto cards for us it was a "no problem!" and of course the vows came printed and mounted on paper that matched our invites. There was a problem with our ceremony room just prior to the ceremony which Lori solved quickly and I never even knew until after the wedding was over (which is EXACTLY how it should be).

I think the last thing I would mention is that Lori is easy to work with and has a great heart. It is easy to feel comfortable with her and she takes great care of her brides. She is supportive (and God knows ladies that is going to be important trust me) and you can call her during those "everything is going wrong" moments and she will talk you down off that ledge.

Thanks Lori for a wonderful wedding - your the best!

Tara really made our wedding day possible. Without her, I can't even imagine all the stressful events that I might have had to face! She was so professional and was able to handle parental drama and to keep everyone happy and blissfully oblivious of any mishaps. I would recommend Lola Events Productions hands down!

Lori Stephenson from LOLA was a godsend in the planning of my daughter's wedding. My daughter is very artistic and wanted to do many tasks herself. Lori was great with giving her specific timelines. The day of could not have been more perfect in great part from vendor recommendations, organization, and implementation from Lori.

Absolutely great! We highly recommend Lori at LOLA Event Productions! She took away all the stress and no detail gets passed her. She truly made our wedding one of a kind!

After intervewing 3 wedding planners, we knew Lori Stevenson at Lola Event Productions would be the one to pull off the wedding WE wanted. She is willing to break the rules. She listened to our requests, and figured out great, practical and reasonable ways to make everything happen. I felt like a guest at my daughter's wedding. Every detail was attended to by Lori, and I only wish the night could have gone on forever. Laurie Glenner

Originally I did not think I needed a DOC. I am a Type-A personality and was pretty on top of all the wedding details. But after my Mom spoke with many recent brides she thought we should look into it. Lauren at LOLA was recommended by both our venue and a close friend. She was FABULOUS and was definitely worth every penny we spent on her. I do not regret the decision in least and I can not imagine the day without her. Her day-of package is really more like a week-of package. She put together our entire timeline, connected with all the vendors prior to the day and helped run the rehearsal. She kept me calm throughout the day and allowed my family and I to sit back and relax and enjoy the party.

Lori from LOLA was just plain awesome! We planned our wedding from out of town and with crazy work schedules as physicians. She was always available for us- day or night, by phone or email. All of our meetings with Lori were very well-organized, thought-out, and planned. She also has tons of experience working in Chicago- It gave us such peace of mind that she had worked with just about everyone in Chicago; we knew we could trust her recommendations. She was also very creative in offering cost-saving techniques to keep our final cost down. For example, she created several types of centerpieces so that we saved even more money on flowers without sacrificing the overall look of our reception. The end result was absolutely beautiful- our guests thought that we had no budget on our wedding because of how wonderful everything looked!

Lori as an individual to work with is just plain awesome! She was always very well-prepared to our meetings while being incredibly up-beat, fun, and positive. We also loved meeting with her- she made stressful wedding planning fun! Lori always had our best interests in mind.

We are happy to report that our wedding was truly a dream come true. Lori helped design and organize every aspect of the day. On our wedding day, we looked around at our reception and couldn’t believe that this was our wedding day- it was straight out of a wedding magazine! Everything was breathtakingly beautiful. Our entire wedding day was run so smoothly and stress-free. Lori gave us a weekend that we will always cherish.

When my husband and I got engaged, there was no question that we would get married in Chicago….it was the place we met and fell in love. Simple enough, right? First problem, we live in Colorado. Second problem, I was going into my final year of law school. I knew that I would need help and fate smiled on me when I found Lori from Lola Event Productions. Lori helped us create the perfect day! She found the venue, helped us choose vendors, kept us on track with our wedding timeline and tasks, untangled our homemade mobiles, and created the most beautiful flower arrangements I have ever seen. Lori is organized, thoughtful, honest, enthusiastic, creative, so easy and fun to work with, and infinitely talented. Because we had Lori and the Lola team, our day was flawless (and even if it wasn’t I didn’t know it, because Lori was there to handle everything); I was able to enjoy my wedding and simply be in the moment; I had no worries and instead have the most treasured memories. When we got our pictures back from the photographer I truly understood how lucky we were…as I went through the photos I realized that I actually had a memory of each moment. I could certainly go on and on, but there really aren’t enough words to say how highly we recommend working with Lori and Lola.

Lori from LOLA was incredible. My husband & I would recommend LOLA to anyone and everyone. We picked the week of wedding package. Throughout our whole wedding planning process, Lori was always available and very responsive when we needed to bounce ideas off of someone. I did not stress out at any single moment on the day of our wedding. We were able to enjoy the day for everything it was and not worry about a single vendor or what needed to happen next during the day. Lori did all the floral from our bouquets to all the centerpieces at the reception. My bouquet was one of a kind and so elegant. Our floral was tasteful, beautiful and she gave us great tips on saving money without skimping on appearance. We can't thank Lori enough for helping our day go off without a hitch.

Lori from Lola is fantastic! Lori was our day-of coordinator as well as our florist, and she was amazing at both jobs. We had a limited floral budget, and Lori used her creativity to make simply stunning arrangements. I still daydream about my bouquet :) Also, she took care of everything on the day of the wedding--working with the caterer and site coordinator, giving directions to delivery guys, setting up the centerpieces--so I didn't have to worry about a thing. She even superglued a broken champagne flute back together in time for dinner. Lori made our wedding stress-free, which is all most brides can ask for!

Lori from LOLA was just plain awesome! We planned our wedding from out of town and with crazy work schedules as physicians. She was always available for us- day or night, by phone or email. All of our meetings with Lori were very well-organized, thought-out, and planned. She also has tons of experience working in Chicago- It gave us such peace of mind that she had worked with just about everyone in Chicago; we knew we could trust her recommendations. She was also very creative in offering cost-saving techniques to keep our final cost down. For example, she created several types of centerpieces so that we saved even more money on flowers without sacrificing the overall look of our reception. The end result was absolutely beautiful- our guests thought that we had no budget on our wedding because of how wonderful everything looked! Lori as an individual to work with is just plain awesome! She was always very well-prepared to our meetings while being incredibly up-beat, fun, and positive. We also loved meeting with her- she made stressful wedding planning fun! Lori always had our best interests in mind. We are happy to report that our wedding was truly a dream come true. Lori helped design and organize every aspect of the day. On our wedding day, we looked around at our reception and couldn’t believe that this was our wedding day- it was straight out of a wedding magazine! Everything was breathtakingly beautiful. Our entire wedding day was run so smoothly and stress-free. Lori gave us a weekend that we will always cherish.

Lori was the wedding planner for my wedding and she did a PHENOMENAL job. She was great about keeping important things moving along while not letting anyone go crazy and was very open to all points of view. She is completely confident about what should be done and at the same time does not impose anything on your wedding or planning.

Our wedding (August 20, 2011) was AMAZING thanks to Lori and her staff at LOLA. I actually found our venue first (Hotel Allegro), and the event manager at the hotel recommended Lori to me when I mentioned we wanted to use a wedding coordinator. I am so glad we went with Lori!! I had a general idea of things I wanted and am pretty decisive, but I never would have put together the whole concept Lori helped us create. She really got to know us and made sure we had exactly what we wanted at our wedding. She also has a huge list of top-notch vendors she works with, which made it so easy to book a band, decor/flowers, invitations, photographer, everything! Every vendor she recommended produced beautiful work, was really reliable and fit our personalities. And the BEST thing about Lori... she handled my control crazy mother wonderfully!!! A little more about our experience: We did the "Little Bit of LOLA" package, which included 5-6 meetings with Lori, super helpful planning resources/documents, all of her connections to vendors, unlimited email contact, and day-of-services. During our initial meeting, we talked about my vision for the wedding and things that were a priority (band, decor), and then worked on budget that would allocate our money to those priorities. This was so helpful as I had no idea what wedding things actually cost, and I didn't realize how many options you can play around with to maximize your budget. After our meeting, she sent me planning documents and a timeline that were instrumental in keeping us on budget and on time. I never felt stressed during the planning process because Lori broke everything down into manageable tasks we would tackle each month. Every time I emailed her a question, she responded quickly, and was particularly helpful when we needed to talk to vendors and make sure we were getting what we wanted. We even got to do "show and tells" with 2 decor companies to see how they would set up our flowers, centerpieces, linen, etc, and then choose between the 2. Lori was always prepared and super organized for our meetings, which immediately made me trust that everything would be taken care of on our wedding day. On the wedding day, I never had to worry once because I knew she was handling the church, the vendors, flowers, transportation, the band, even details I didn't know needed to be taken care of. Our wedding was absolutely gorgeous, and SO many of our guests commented that it was the best wedding they had ever been to! I would definitely recommend LOLA, particularly Lori, if you are looking for a professional, reliable and fun wedding coordinator.

We worked with Lori on our wedding in September 2010. We had a different experience than most working with Lori because we had already selected a venue, caterer, wedding dress, photographer and had a clear idea of the style and decor we wanted for the wedding. We met a few times and talked about how we wanted the wedding to look and feel and then got down to work. Lori always gave us options for each additional choice we needed to make (Floral, Makeup, ect). She was very good at letting me feel like I was driving the car and she was navigating - which is exactly what I wanted. She handled all the interactions with the Vendors leading up to the wedding - confirming with them and getting me a payment worksheet so I could keep all the checks straight. On the actual wedding day itself she was flawless. She picked up my programs from the printer, she got everyone organized and in the right spots. When I called that morning and asked if she could print our vows onto cards for us it was a "no problem!" and of course the vows came printed and mounted on paper that matched our invites. There was a problem with our ceremony room just prior to the ceremony which Lori solved quickly and I never even knew until after the wedding was over (which is EXACTLY how it should be). I think the last thing I would mention is that Lori is easy to work with and has a great heart. It is easy to feel comfortable with her and she takes great care of her brides. She is supportive (and God knows ladies that is going to be important trust me) and you can call her during those "everything is going wrong" moments and she will talk you down off that ledge.Thanks Lori for a wonderful wedding - your the best!

I cannot say enough good things to say about Lauren and her staff at Lola Productions. Lauren helped my daughter and her fiancee plan their wedding to perfection. We highly recommend considering hiring Lola Productions for your wedding or event. It was well worth the investment for their wedding day!Thank you Lauren for making the day run so smoothly. You are delight to work with.

This is a hard decision for me to write, but I decided that I didn’t want other brides to go through the amount of frustration and disappointed that I experienced with my wedding planner, Lauren Carter. We hired her as our full wedding planner for our July 16th wedding at the Palmer House Hilton. Lauren is a very sweet and nice person and sounds like she knows what she is doing, but she is terrible as a wedding planner. My husband and I are both consultants and wanted a wedding planner to find our vendors and coordinate things to make our life easier, hiring Lauren resulted in the opposite. She is very unresponsive to calls and emails, even up to the wedding date (she was even late to our rehearsal!). We thought she would have a wealth of contacts, but we ended up finding a lot of vendors ourselves (e.g., officiant since she didn’t know any male ones available, florists because she didn’t know any retail florist, invitations, band, etc.). We spent more time trying to manage Lauren to get things done than if we were to do it ourselves. Hiring Lauren was sadly our biggest mistake, but luckily our only mistake. Our day went well, but I think it had more to due with the fact that the hotel supplied an event coordinator and we had a great florist who managed the décor vs. Lauren being on top of things. If you are to go with Lola, it looks like from the reviews that the other wedding planners may be a better bet. Lauren is charismatic but keep in mind, you are hiring a wedding planner for experience and help, not to be your unreliable friend. Do yourself a favor and save yourself a lot of grief and pick somebody different.

Lori with Lola Event Productions is a hard-working organizational machine with a pure heart of gold. Capturing an event orchestrated by lola is like stepping into a photographers dream. Capturing the joy in bride’s eyes when her reception is unveiled is priceless. Thank you for making every event an incredible array of style, elegance and class.

LOLA is awesome! If you want a beautiful, unique wedding that's stress-free, these wonderful ladies will make it happen. We only wish more of our clients hired them!

Lori is one of the most creative, fun people I have ever met. I have hed the pleasure of working on many events with her over the past 10 years and can say that she is aq true professional.

Lori and Laura at LOLA Event Productions are true professionals in every sense of the word. We work with many different planners, and these two have the distinct ability to walk the fine line of getting everything done just right and on time without being the overbearing dictator type that we so often, unfortunately, encounter in this business. They're hip and fun too!!!JimUnderwater People

The ladies of LOLA Events create one of a kind events, packed with personal detail. They are always fun and creative and a breeze to work with.

Lori and Lauren are great to work with. Creative, organized and always lots of fun! You're in good hands.

You can't beat having someone involved in your wedding day that takes all the stress away! Lola is easy to work with and on top of every moment. They have a chic style and it shows!

Lori & Lauren are truly the cream of the crop in wedding planning. Every event runs smoothly, is incredibly beautiful, and TONS of fun. Cannot recommend them enough!

The perfect mix of organization, creativity & fun - we {heart} LOLA!

I love weddings with Lola! They are super fun to work with and put together some amazingly fun and beautiful weddings.

Lori Rocks

The Ladies at LOLA Event Productions will pull all the pieces together for you along with a heavy dose of creativity. Don't stress, hire a wedding planner from the LOLA team!

The LOLA team are simply delightful and attentive to all your needs. They smoothly coordinate your day for a flawless experience.

Lori with lola events is a hard-working organizational machine with a pure heart of gold. Capturing an event orchestrated by lola is like stepping into a photographers dream. Capturing the joy in bride’s eyes when her reception is unveiled is priceless. Thank you for making every event an incredible array of style, elegance and class.

I have worked with Lori several times in the last couple of years and she has been kind enough to refer couples to me. It is a great joy working with her. I think she has the prefect blend of being highly organized and detail oriented but also relaxed and easy to work with. If you are looking for help with your wedding you can't go wrong with LOLA Event Productions.

Lori from LOLA Events is amazing. She keeps things on track and brings her creative flare to each and every event. I love photographing at weddings that Lori is coordinating!

Lori and Lauren at LOLA Event Productions are absolutely fabulous! They make my life easier with flawless planning and gorgeous visuals.