Words cannot describe how much my partner and I appreciate Christena. We truly do not think we would have come away from the planning and execution of the best day of our lives with as much sanity as we did without her. We opted for the "day of coordination" package and it was PERFECT for us. We were pretty confident we could handle the beginning and higher level stages of planning such as vendor selection and broad design/style, but knew we would need a lot of help when the rubber hit the road in the last few months before the big day.

Christena was there for us every step of the way to offer advice and assistance along our initial planning phase, includING contract review which was KEY, but really became life saving when it got down to the nitty gritty later on. Christena is a magician when it comes to vendor management and timeline creation, and was super up front with us when we got overwhelmed with different vendors handing us different timelines by letting us know that that her timeline would be the one others would work off of, so we could start to ignore that other noise from other vendors. Being able to email her with one-off questions for advice, having the giant checklist of all the little things you would never think of, and her monthly checkins were incredibly valuable to us as well.

The month leading up to our big day when we started to transition things over to Christena, was definitely overwhelming. Without her support throughout the month helping sanity check us, we definitely would've been committed.

The day of, Christena was a master at managing family members, different vendor arrivals, and all the behind the scenes that helped our day be perfect. I can honestly say my partner and I had ZERO concerns that everything would be taken care of and were able to enjoy our day so much more because of it. It also helped that Christena has such good relationships with Chicago vendors in general, even texting our venue manager when we expressed concern we hadn't heard from him about our DJ yet (that he was providing). Within 10 minutes he texted her back and we had a DJ. That is the magic of Christena! Could not recommend her or her team more, and couldn't imagine our day without her!

I am so glad we had Christena and her team with us on the big day. I spoke with quite a few planning companies and I immediately clicked with Christena and her pricing was super reasonable. We did "day-of" planning, but she really was there every step of the way. She was very responsive and professional throughout the entire process. She was just as excited as I was to create our dream wedding. I was planning the wedding in Chicago from a distance and she was so helpful in finding vendors to fit our vision and budget. It is incredible how many things you need to remember and Christena and her planning tool made the day go so smoothly. I LOVED the itinerary we prepared. I heard some people feel like planners take over the process and brides don't get a say, but I definitely didn't feel that way with Christena and the team. The team helped the day go incredibly smoothly, my family couldn't believe how easy and enjoyable the day was and I know it was because of Elegant and Sophisticated Affairs. Thank you ladies for making our wedding the best day ever!

My now husband and I interviewed multiple wedding planners, and sifted through dozens of online reviews until we came across Christena. She was EXCEPTIONAL. Thorough, organized, thoughtful, funny and kind. I was dreading wedding planning before meeting her. She had a timeline that adjusted to our schedule, and connections with vendors/industry insiders. She gave tips and things to look out for that of thing I would not have known if planning on my own. She understood our wedding vision, and brought us ideas/options that aligned, which made wedding planning simple. And she is incredibly affordable. I would not have gone through with a 200+ person wedding had she not been on our team. And on the day of my wedding, I had no single thing to worry about or coordinate - she handled everything, and my husband and I were able to fully enjoy, laugh and let loose the whole day. Our guests were so impressed. She and her team were one of the best parts of the wedding experience!