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Weddings

About

The Creative Planners are a team of professional wedding coordinators that takes your vision and adds our creative style to enhance that to create a day that goes above and beyond for our clients. From decor and vision to finding the best vendors, we are hear to bring joy into the planning process while creating a day that goes above and beyond for our clients. They aim to emphasize the originality that every couple's love story possesses through an imaginative and creative approach. With the help of their dedicated and passionate team, your dream wedding can become a reality.

Experience

Stephanie Cook founded The Creative Planners in 2012. Since then she has put together a team of exceptionally talented and professional event specialists. Her colleagues, like herself, have a Labor of Love for planning and working with clients and vendors, by creating weddings that truly reflects their clients. Their impressive work has seen their events featured in a range of publications across the country and has brought them positive acclaim.

Services Offered

Full Planning, let us joyfully plan, manage and coordinate all aspects of your wedding from selecting a venue and great vendors to overseeing the day of the wedding.

Partial Wedding Planning, if you can do some of the details we focus on the decor and vision, overseeing all of the vendors and bringing all the final details together so you can enjoy the moments.

Month Of Wedding Planning, let us help you bring all vendors together, last month details and oversee the day of the wedding.

  • Woman-owned
illustration popular

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Frequently asked questions

What is the starting price for day-of wedding coordination?

$3,000

What is the starting price for partial wedding planning?

$7,000

What is the starting price for full wedding planning?

$10,000

Do you offer an hourly rate?

Yes

What is the hourly rate?

$150

What wedding events do you provide services for?

Ceremony
Reception
Rehearsal Dinner

What wedding planning services do you offer?

Day-of Coordination
Full Planning
Partial Planning

What weddings do you have experience planning?

Civil
Cultural
Destination
Eco-Friendly
Non-Religious
Religious

Reviews of The Creative Planners

This AI-generated summary gives you a snapshot of the overall ratings and feedback from the reviews this vendor has received.

Review summary

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The Creative Planners are widely praised for making weddings seamless and stress-free. Reviewers emphasize the team's organization, attention to detail, strong vendor relationships, flexibility, and calm professionalism throughout planning and on the day. Couples report flawless, magical events and highly recommend their services.

Review summary

Powered by AI
This AI-generated summary gives you a snapshot of the overall ratings and feedback from the reviews this vendor has received.

The Creative Planners are widely praised for making weddings seamless and stress-free. Reviewers emphasize the team's organization, attention to detail, strong vendor relationships, flexibility, and calm professionalism throughout planning and on the day. Couples report flawless, magical events and highly recommend their services.

K
K Helme Sent on 05/22/2026
5 out of 5 rating

Professional, Creative, Happy

Susan was invaluable with all of her assistance and ideas leading up to the wedding. Her help with being EVERYWHERE wedding weekend was invaluable! She brought calmness and efficiency to the wedding event the entire time...and she is fun and happy to work with!
J
Julie Sent on 11/05/2024
5 out of 5 rating

A magical garden wedding!

Loved working with Creative Planners. Alexa was the perfect planner for my daughter’s wedding — organized, thoughtful and kind. Our family would highly recommend working with them!
Jean
Jean Sent on 10/20/2024
5 out of 5 rating

I highly recommend Holli at The Creative Planners!

Holli helped my daughter and her husband create the most magical wedding celebration we have ever seen. She was open to their ideas and helped guide them to vendors that made their vision a reality. It never felt like a cookie-cutter wedding. Holli was very flexible with their Zoom meetings in a different time zone and around their hectic work schedules. She was attentive and responsive to us, parents of the bride, whenever we had questions. Her attention to detail and logistic planning was incredible. The entire wedding day was flawless due to Holli's hard work. I wish I had another daughter and could do it all over again!
S
Samantha Sent on 09/10/2024
5 out of 5 rating

Hire Holli!!

Holli was the absolute best. I couldn’t recommend her enough. We hired her for day of coordination and she started helping 6 months out and then again 1 month out. Her ability to remain organized for our 187 person wedding was unbelievable and something we needed! She stayed in touch with our families and best man and MOH to keep the day flowing. Her communication with our vendors was incredibly helpful. Holli has great taste and a vision, so we leaned on her to help us make last minute decisions. We love her so much!!
W
Wendy Sent on 07/09/2024
5 out of 5 rating

10 out of 5 Stars!

If I could give Alexa and Stephanie 10 out of 5 stars, I would! They helped us find the perfect venue,band, florist, photographer, etc., which made wedding planning infinitely more fun and less stressful. They were mindful of our budget and helped us make decisions to get the greatest impact on the things that mattered most to us. Alexa was with us every step of the way and was such a welcome addition to my daughter's wedding day- calm, friendly, focused, energetic and extremely professional ( as was her assistant, Rachel). Alexa was available for us throughout the entire wedding process, which was about 18 months. She was also very aware of deadlines, which helped keep everything running smoothly. Alexa's attention to detail while keeping the big picture in mind, was incredible. And, in addition to liking Alexa and Stephanie personally, I truly felt that Alexa was excited for our daughter's wedding and was proud of how it turned out. Alexa and The Creative Planners get our highest recommendation and most heartfelt thanks.
G
Grace Sent on 07/08/2024
5 out of 5 rating

Grace & Matt Wedding - University Club of Chicago

I truly have no words to describe how fantastic Stephanie and Alexa are. My husband and I just got married this June at the University Club of Chicago and it far exceeded our expectations and our guests. If I could only give one recommendation for the rest of my life, it would be to work with them! The wedding planning process can be very daunting especially at the onset of an engagement and Alexa and Stephanie from day one made a huge effort to get to know us and understand our vision. For the first half of our engagement, we were still living in NYC and Alexa and Stephanie could not have been more accommodating. They have THE best vendor relationships and that can really make or break the event. They are incredibly prompt, communicative and exceptionally creative and innovative. Alexa has impressive attention to detail and is fantastic at her craft. Something I had never thought about until going through this process, was just how much time you spend with your planner. By the time we had our wedding, The Creative Planners felt like family and Matt and I feel so fortunate to have worked with them. Thank you for everything!!
Michaela
Michaela Sent on 06/29/2024
5 out of 5 rating

Worth every penny! Alexa is the best decision we made about our wedding!

You truly cannot go wrong with choosing The Creative Planners! Alexa is absolutely outstanding and cannot recommend her enough. She is the most detail oriented person I know. My husband and I were engaged for 20 months so there were a lot of changes to the overall vision/timeline/details and Alexa remembered every little detail that I mentioned over our engagement. For instance, I would say I liked one aspect of a flower arrangement years ago and then I would change my mind to something else and Alexa would remind me what I originally had in mind (which I quite frankly did not remember since everything is coming at you so fast) and I LOVED it since it would give me some perspective on my decisions over time.

Speaking of decisions, she encourages you to make your own decisions about your wedding while giving you advice on past weddings and vendors she’s worked with. We truly would’ve been lost without her knowledge and expertise.

On our wedding day, she was calm and collected. She kept everything and everyone on time even if a vendor wanted to spend more time elsewhere. She has an impeccable ability to respectfully handle a situation at a moments notice without any hiccups for the bride, groom and guests.

On behalf of my family, my husband’s family, and my husband and I, we cannot recommend The Creative Planners (especially Alexa) enough. You can sit back and relax and let them plan your perfect day! They are without a doubt the best decision we made about our wedding.
K
Kim C. Sent on 06/29/2024
5 out of 5 rating

Magical wedding with The Creative Planners

We are still reveling in our daughter's magical wedding celebration at The Chicago Botanic Garden 2 weeks ago, today. A big thank you to Alexa Karkazis with The Creative Planners for helping to make that happen, by making sure every single detail was covered and the entire day flowed smoothly. The absolute best part about working with Alexa besides her professionalism, creativity and positive demeanor, was the calm we felt during the entire 18 month period leading up to the wedding.
Priceless!! Thank you, thank you, Alexa!

C
Carolyn Sent on 11/03/2023
5 out of 5 rating

Best Wedding Decision You Can Make

If I could give them 500 stars I would. The amount this team does in the year leading up to the wedding but specifically the week of is incredible. Stephanie made me and my family so relaxed and we were able to enjoy the process and the wedding day. I did not feel any level of concern or stress and I attribute that to how comfortable and how much I trusted Stephanie and her team. Stephanie takes the time to understand your vision, help guide you when needed and suggest amazing vendors. Thank you for making our day so perfect
W
Wendy Sent on 10/29/2023
5 out of 5 rating

Perfect experience with the Creative Planners

We had used Stephanie and her team for my other daughters wedding, so when my youngest got engaged it was only natural to contact the Creative Planners. Stephanie is so professional in her approach to organizing what vendors we could use, the day of timeline down to the minute and asking the bride and groom all the right questions before the big day. Everything went smoothly on wedding day and we couldn’t have been any more happy with the final results. CP knocked it out of the park again!
We're all about trust. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.

Awards

87
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2025 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2024 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2023 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2022 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2021 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2020 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2019 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2018 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2017 Winner

Professional Network & Endorsements

3 Endorsements
Artquest Artquest Wedding Florists

Stephanie is one of the easiest people to work with that we've encountered in all our years working in the flower business (a lot of years!). She is always professional and on point, making sure we all do our absolute best to make our clients' day perfect, but also personable and a pleasure to pass time with!

Anthony Gowder Designs Anthony Gowder Designs Wedding Florists

Stephanie Cook is one of my favorite planners! Energetic and detailed...It's always a pleasure working with her!

Charlie Hilbrant Films Charlie Hilbrant Films Wedding Videographers

I've had the pleasure of working with Stephanie and the Creative Planners multiple times. These events are meticulously executed and each detail is obviously so thoughtfully implemented. You'd think such high-pressure events would be stressful, however, Stephanie maintains her loving and approachable attitude during the entire event. As a fellow vendor, it is incredibly reassuring to know that Stephanie and her team are always open to helping, answering questions, and being present when they could easily ignore you. Thank you, Stephanie, for always being a team-player and making each event we work together on more magical than the last.

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