I was looking for a day-of wedding planner for my daughter’s wedding in November 2024. The planning was a bit complicated because neither the bride or groom nor I live in Illinois, but Zakiya thought of every detail and made the day seamless.
I interviewed several wedding planners and found most spent time telling me how the wedding should look, a cookie cutter version of weddings they’d done in the past. Not Zakiya! She asked what my daughter’s vision was and then discussed how we could make that happen. My daughter’s vision involved over 500 candles, and Zakiya didn’t bat an eye. Set up 300 candles before the ceremony? No problem! Set up and light another 200 candles during the cocktail hour? No problem!
Zakiya also established the timeline, worked with our vendors, and kept the day running smoothly. We were on schedule all day but never felt rushed. She thought of every detail, and was actively involved with rounding up people for pictures, encouraging people to sign the guest book and leave a message on the audio guest book. Zakiya worked hard to make sure all the guests had rescue slippers, dance floor props, bubbles and bubble guns for the bride and groom’s grand exit. We encouraged the guests to take as many candles home with them as they wanted, Zakiya was right there with boxes for people to use to carry their candles home at the end of the night.
We had many wonderful individual vendors and a stunning venue, but the day only worked because Zakiya pulled it all together and got them all perfectly synchronized. And her efforts did not go unnoticed! In fact, I’ve had several family and friends comment specifically on Zakiya’s hard work, organization, and professionalism.
Best of all, Zakiya is easy and fun to work with. Having her as our day-of coordinator was one of the best decisions we made!
Laura S. (MOB) November 2024

We are so thankful we worked with Zakiya to help plan and coordinate our wedding! Zakiya is very detail oriented and ensured that everything went smoothly on our big day. There were literally zero issues on our wedding day, all thanks to her! In the months leading up to our wedding, she provided us with clear “to dos” to ensure we were on track and she was very communicative throughout the whole process. I cannot thank her enough for the hard work she put in to make our wedding perfect, highly recommend!

I loved working with Z on an intimate but detail-filled wedding at The Grove Redfield Estate. Z worked her tail off to make sure that every detail was in place so that when the guests arrived, everything was calm and lovely. There really were a lot of details on this wedding and although I saw how hard she and her team were working, the guests and couple never would have known it. And that is the key to a successful wedding day! Good coordination and planning can make zen out of chaos and Z has got the talent.

She was also super fun to work with and as a vendor, a good and fun team makes what is often a hard and stressful day way more manageable and enjoyable.

Thanks, Z for taking such good care of your clients and your team!

Julie Mikos | Photographer
www.juliemikos.com
IG: @juliemikosphotographer