I can’t recommend Michelle highly enough. She’ll save your sanity, make your wedding gorgeous, and help you use your budget in the savviest ways.

I hired Michelle because I was slammed at work, and worrying about the wedding was ruining my engagement. We planned a beautiful wedding for that summer. Then Covid hit, and everything changed. But Michelle seamlessly helped me plan and re-plan as the guidance changed. She was endlessly patient in making calls, reworking plans, and listening to my sadness about Covid-enforced changes. I got married in August of 2020. And though the number of guests was much, much smaller than expected, and I had to wear a mask down the aisle, both the ceremony and reception were beautiful and unforgettable. Best of all, nobody got sick. I had a moment before the wedding where I felt silly that I had hired a wedding planner for such a tiny wedding, and my sister replied, “Are you kidding? Michelle is the one making this wedding happen. You would already have gone crazy without her. . . or the wedding would be chintzy.” She was right.

1) Style. One of Michelle’s gifts is an ability to immerse herself in your style (whatever that is). She’ll make your wedding beautiful by making it the best version of your style – not by imposing her own aesthetic on you. You won’t ever feel that you’re getting generic “wedding” décor. She’ll really HEAR you when you tell her what you love and what you hate, and she’ll help you realize your vision.

2) Sanity. Whether you’re hiring Michelle for the month before the wedding, week of coordination, or the full planning process, she’s a lifesaver for your sanity. She has such a reserve of calm warmth and an extensive knowledge of the field. She’ll keep her cool and handle emergencies and last-minute issues so that you won’t even have to think about them (much less stress about them). No matter how well you’ve planned, errands and issues will crop up like dandelions in the weeks and days before the wedding. With Michelle at your side, these are no problem.

3) Organization. There are endless free lists and planning tools on this site. But even used effectively, they leave a weight on your mind of tasks left undone and anxiety about completion. Michelle will remove all that because you’ll know that she’s on it and won’t let anything slip through the cracks.

4) Budget. I know you’re thinking of ways to cut down on costs, and it may seem counterintuitive to hire a wedding planner. But Michelle will make your budget go further. Her advice is invaluable on what things will cost for the specific wedding you desire, where you’re inflating your budget through your choices, how you can save, and how to direct your budget most effectively for the biggest impact (and it’s much better than generic information you’ll find online). She’s worth it (even if you’re 90% planned).

5) The Oprah Factor. I couldn’t think what to call this because it’s an obvious but nebulous part of choosing a wedding planner. You really, really, really need to like your wedding planner. Otherwise, the process will be a drain. You will like Michelle, I promise. By your wedding, she’ll be a friend you’re glad to have present.

Hiring Michelle as our “Day-of-Coordinator” was one of the best wedding-related decisions my husband and I made (besides marrying each other, of course)! I don’t think it’s possible for me to say enough good things about our experience. Michelle is not only incredibly kind, sweet, and patient, but she is also a true professional who absolutely excels at her job. Just like her website says, even though she was technically our “day-of” coordinator, she got in touch with us about a month before our wedding and helped us throughout the entire process. She was always available to answer questions or provide us some advice, particularly since our wedding involved a lot of moving parts, such as a shuttle bus for guests and several stops for our limo. She was so helpful with our vendors as well, knowing exactly what questions to ask and how to get things done. She was even in contact with my mom, and helped calm her nerves, which is not an easy task! All of the little behind-the-scenes details, from our table settings and favors, to our timeline and where exactly my change of shoes were at the hall, were handled seamlessly by Michelle. I swear, she’s magic. Some people have said that although it’s fun, your wedding day is also the most stressful day of your life, but that couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Because of Michelle, my husband and I were truly able to enjoy and celebrate our wedding day, without worrying at all! 10/10, would most definitely recommend!

I was introduced to Michelle Rowland Events through a friend’s wedding. My friend’s wedding was not only beautiful but everything ran so smoothly! Michelle was able to handle all the vendors as well as a rowdy bridal party with ease and no hurt feelings. I even heard one of the bartenders say she was the nicest wedding planner he had ever encountered. I knew then I was going to use her services for my upcoming wedding.

I’ve booked full planning with Michelle and I’m so happy I have. I’ve had a two year engagement and my wedding will be in a year so needless to say I’ve had time to come up with 1000 different ideas and multiple visions of my wedding. Michelle has been great at taking my ideas and creating a cohesive design for my wedding and helping me commit to decisions (hence the therapist part). I can’t recommend Michelle enough especially if you’re struggling with all the decisions before the day but as well as for day of coordination!

When we first began to plan our wedding, we didn’t think we would need a day-of coordinator. Work friends suggested that it was necessary and we are SO glad we had Michelle there for our rehearsal dinner, ceremony, and reception. We literally didn’t have to worry about anything. Michelle was amazing. She helped us finalize our planning, was in contact with all vendors in the weeks leading to the wedding, and was flexible in meeting with us (both in time and place) since my husband and I have opposite work schedules. Our wedding was at a hotel, and Michelle was there all day as we got ready. She was all over the place helping with family, guests, checking in on us as we got ready to give us updates, working with the hotel staff and vendors to ensure everything was perfect. The day would have been so stressful if she hadn’t been there. I recommend Michelle’s services 100%. She is professional, kind & tactful, organized, and supportive!

Edit to review:
After this review, Michelle reached out apologizing for the situation and refunding us a portion. It was greatly appreciated and the refund was not at all what we were aiming for in the review. But her sincerity and professionalism with that gesture is why I changing my review. I'm hoping my encounter was just a one off, as Michelle is very personable, but it was unfortunately not a good fit the day of with the errors we ran into.

My husband and I hired Michelle to do day of coordination for our wedding. She was pretty affordable & she works in Chicago. We hired her well in advance for day of coordination, just about 2 months prior. Our first initial conversation was great, as was our second in person meeting. It seemed like she really heard everything my husband and I wanted to focus on for that day. Our third meeting was to do a final walk through of our venue with her and the venue coordinator. When we got there, Michelle didn’t really ask any questions or say much. So it was very awkward to have had our venue coordinator take time to meet us there. But it seemed as though she had a good understanding of the space, etc. so I wasn’t extremely concerned. Now leading up to the wedding Michelle’s communication was less than stellar unfortunately. I had taken a ton of time to map out my vendor contacts, and had to follow up with her numerous times to make sure she had reached out. I honestly wouldn’t have asked her to but my vendors all reached out to me separately several times that they hadn’t been contacted by her. She also left my MUA and hair stylist in a complete lurch as they were waiting to be given direction /connected by her. This was extremely upsetting as we were way behind on both makeup & hair, which gave us little to no time to do any bridal party photos. However she did create an overall timeline, which was helpful, but she made spelling errors within and put my wrong wedding date. She also was in my bridal suite for quite a bit of time, unclear of what she was doing, when I think her time could have been better spent at the venue. When I got to the venue, I was hearing complaints that no one knew where to enter. This was coming to me, the bride, and the ceremony hadn’t started. I asked Michele if the Welcome sign was out front, and she said no. Then once the ceremony transitioned to the reception I noticed basically all the signs and décor were just placed in careless places. I had glow sticks that were supposed to go out, with a sign, and they weren’t even out. So I just did it myself, on my own wedding day. In foresight Michelle’s coordination seemed like a good idea, but in hindsight there were several major details missed that made us question our decision.