Rebecca is AMAZING! We hired her for our wedding as a coordinator to help us plan our GR wedding from Arizona. I cannot recommend her enough. She made everything run flawlessly. We had a fairly large wedding and I can be a little Type-A personality but she made my wedding a dream come true. It was such a relief to a control freak me to not have to worry about a single detail the day of my wedding. Our families, bridal party and guests all commented about how amazing she was. She was also the only person who could figure out how to bustle my 12-button bustle dress.
(photo credit- Abbey Moore photography)

My goal: enjoy the journey.
My challenge: major indecisiveness ... and a tendency to sweat the small stuff ... and a bit of procrastination to boot.
My solution: hire a wedding planner.
You hear it all the time ... enjoy being engaged before you get to planning. There’s a good reason for that, and it’s because planning a wedding is stressful! Unfortunately, for me, “overwhelmed” kicked in almost immediately. Just googling for a venue yielded a billion results (!!!).
The moment I spoke with Rebecca, I knew Ideal Events & Design was the right fit for us. Her bright personality, methodical approach to planning, and serious connections within the wedding circuit were everything we were looking for and more. The feeling of certainty was such a relief!
There’s no secret; hiring a wedding planner is a financial investment. And if you are reading this, you’re likely considering if it’s worth it or not. I promise you, it is. Rebecca presented us with only the-best-of-the-best options (all within budget!), and she made the point to really get to know us. We trusted in her so much that we put the entire vision of our dream wedding in her hands.
She scheduled a special reception sneak-peek just for us, before guests arrived ... as she greeted us as the elevator - I couldn't help but burst into tears, the space was truly spectacular… She had heard every wish, thought of every detail, and made the entire day such a beautiful moment in time. Honestly, Rebecca met every challenge with a solution, every meltdown with a calming response, every last-minute switch-up with ease, every boozy groomsman with a bit of stern love, and every ridiculous joke my husband told with joyous laughter.
There is a grace to Rebecca, both in how she works and in the relationships she maintains. I can tell you with confidence that brides who work with Rebecca have the feeling that they are her only. Planning with Rebecca was a special experience and one I hope you experience as well.
xo k+m

My husband and I hired Ideal Events & Designs for full planning services for our late September wedding this year. Immediately upon meeting Rebecca, I had the sense that I could trust her with the vision, style, and execution of our special day, and man, was I right! We chose Grand Rapids for a destination wedding, and therefore needed assistance with figuring out basically every detail of our wedding. Rebecca is connected to (and helped to build, it seems) a community of event and design vendors who collaborated effortlessly and coordinated services for our multi-venue wedding. She suggested vendors who we could trust and who knew how to deliver with our style in mind. She helped to keep us on track which is no easy feat, considering my husband and I work in the disaster response industry and are regularly deployed. Because of the devastating hurricane season this year, not only were we deployed until a few days before the wedding, we also hemorrhaged guests who are work colleagues. This made our numbers topsy turvy, but you’d never know that from Rebecca! She exudes an “I’ve got this” attitude that is believable.. and true! In addition to being extraordinarily capable, Rebecca is warm, joyful, and thoughtful. She sent little gifts throughout the planning process like a relaxation kit, and was genuinely interested in us as people. My brother got divorced 7 months into being engaged and Rebecca didn’t even ask about how that might affect the wedding (it did, of course); she asked about how I felt and how they were doing. Knowing that my husband and I have demanding careers, she regularly checked in just to see how we were doing and thank us for our service. She also regularly gave great restaurant recommendations when we’d come into town for planning weekends! Bottom line - If you’re a busy bride not knowing where to start and you’re reading this, hire Ideal Events and Design. Shave your flowers or liquor budgets, and make room for this investment in YOURSELF.

When I first told my parents that I would be spending a small portion of our wedding budget on a wedding coordinator, my mom was skeptical. By the time the Monday of wedding week rolled around and the answer to all of the "who takes care of XYZ..?" questions was "Rebecca" she quickly changed her mind and told me she felt the money we spent for Rebecca's help was the best investment of the entire wedding. I used Rebecca and her team for the "Week Of" Coordination package and it was absolutely the best decision I made about the wedding. Although she was hired for the week of, she was available to me by email for all of my design questions, vendor suggestions, etc. for the year+ that we spent planning our best day ever. After working closely enough with Rebecca that I can now call her a friend, it was so easy to leave things to her and her team. I spoke with many event coordinators before ultimately choosing Ideal Events & Design because our initial phone conversation felt more like I was gushing about my wedding vision to a good friend than a total stranger. She was just as excited as me about my wedding ideas and often gave me the push I needed to follow through on some of the more difficult-to-carry-out ones, promising to help see them through on the day. I loved working with Rebecca and I'll be recommending her to all my friends getting married in the area!

Rebecca and her team were amazing! She gave us so many great resources for our wedding and was such a life saver! We put together a wedding in 2 months and she made it flawless! We didn't have to worry about a thing before, during, or after the wedding. We would recommend her to anyone!

My husband and I could not have been happier to have hired Rebecca as our week of Wedding Coordinator. It was an incredible relief to know that someone else had our vision of the day and was there to make everything happen. Rebecca is not only an incredible wedding planner, but an awesome person too! She's warm and understanding and got me excited about all of my ideas for our fun outdoor Camp Wedding! Even though she was only our week of coordinator, she kept in touch through the months leading up to the wedding to make sure we had all the vendors and ideas we needed. She even recommended the perfect vendor for my half diy / half designed flowers I wanted! The week of the wedding she got in contact with all of our vendors and I was able to step away from the constant calls/emails I had leading up to the wedding. She ran our rehearsal Friday night, which was definitely more than we could have handled. On the day of the wedding I actually felt I could step away and not leave my cabin while I got ready (which is a big deal because I'm normally right on top of implementing all of my ideas). When she arrived Saturday morning my husband excitedly said "you're here!" and was able to step away from stressing over set up. Throughout our entire wedding day we started to laugh every time we saw Rebecca heading our way with her clip board because we knew she was going to "gently" lead us into the next part of the day. We were able to be present in every part of our day without worrying about the schedule or the next steps because we had complete faith in Rebecca. At the end of the night her team did an awesome job cleaning everything up, so that all we had to do was pack up our cars in the morning. Bonus - I think she has powers that can control the weather!! 70 and partly sunny for our outdoor September wedding, when all week it was supposed to rain.

Having Rebecca and her team as our day of coordinator was the best decision ever! Leading up to our day, she was so helpful and reassuring. She checked in every so often making sure we were on track, lending advice, and giving us great recommendations for other vendors. She always made time to talk and reassure me that the day was going to be perfect. On the actual day of, I was so incredibly calm and stress free and I think it truly is all because of Rebecca. She diffused every possible issue, kept us at our timeline and made sure that everything went exactly how we wanted it to go! Her calm and kind demeanor truly put me, my husband and our mothers at ease. Thank you Rebecca!

Rebecca is wonderful. We used her services to coordinate our wedding day, and are so glad we did. Everything was perfect, I highly recommend her!

Like everyone else, hiring Rebecca was the best decision we made. My husband and I hired Rebecca for day of coordination for our wedding. She was SO on top of it! I didn't have to think the day of my wedding, which is what I wanted - I just wanted to enjoy every minute and I was able to do that with Rebecca managing all the details. Additionally, she provided suggestions, vendor recommendations and thoughtful coordination leading up to the big day. Both families agreed it was the best money spent during the wedding. If you're on the fence, do yourself a favor and hire Rebecca. My only regret was to not have her as my full time planner! She made the day so enjoyable.

Hiring Rebecca as our wedding planner was the best decision we made in our wedding planning! With a short engagement of only 4 months, and living a state away from where the wedding was taking place, having Rebecca was such a blessing! She helped us with every detail, from vendor management, to making our day-of timeline, to finding and ordering us the perfect root beer favors. Her idea of creating a boxwood backdrop draped with a floral garland from our florist Spring Sweet was the hit of the reception!
As someone who gets stressed out and nervous very easily, I was of course worried about the execution of my wedding day. But knowing Rebecca was there all day to field any questions and deal with any last minute issues, I was able to relax and completely enjoy the day with my family, friends, and husband. Ideal Events & Design made my wedding day as seamless as possible and I cannot be more thankful to Rebecca and her team!!