Naturally Yours Events

When the planner provided by our venue turned out to be below par, my husband and I made the decision to look for a Day of Coordinator for our wedding. We were both unsure about spending money we weren’t already counting on spending, but once we met Carlene and her team we knew it would be more than worth it. Looking back — I would have spent double Carlene’s rate if I had to. That’s just how good she was and how intrical she was in pulling off our dream wedding.
As a Day-​of client, I assumed we would have minimal contact until right before the wedding. I was wrong about that. Carlene worked with us frequently for almost 2 months leading up to the big day. When our wedding came I knew everything would be taken care of and all I had to do was enjoy the day. It was priceless to be able to enjoy the day and know that someone else has got it covered.
If you’re on the fence about hiring a DOC, just go for it. It will be the best money you ever spent. Go with Carlene and Naturally Yours Events and you will be golden.

Absolutely worth it!!! Amazing!
My fiancé and I were in need of a day of planner and with a suggestion from a friend, decided to meet with Carlene to see what their service entailed at Naturally Yours Events! We were sold, and were informed that her associate Jessie would be handling our event!
We love Jessie!!! So incredible! I cannot describe how invaluable her service is! She helped us get organized and on task for getting items completed on time and made the day of our wedding absolutely amazing and stress free! Let me say this again, completely stress free!!! Thank you Jessie and thank you Naturally Yours! Your day of package was amazing and every bride in Chicago should take advantage of what you have to offer!!!

I’m writing this review as a wedding vendor, not as a client. I’m a classical guitarist and have performed for a couple hundred weddings around Chicago over the past ten years. Over that time I have worked with many fantastic wedding planners, but none as thoroughly organized and, more importantly, deeply committed to clear communication as Carlene Smith of Naturally Yours Events. Last night was my 6^th wedding working with Carlene, and I am so appreciative of her approach through the entire process. As a vendor she ensures that I am in direct communication with the clients without getting the way, and all decisions and timelines are provided for me, eliminating the vendor-​paranoia that my own notes were not the best. What compels me to write this review, though, is not merely her administrative skills. I love working with Carlene because she joyously and selflessly puts her soul into this work. She’s serious about it without being pretentious or precious, maintains cheerfulness dealing with absurd situations, and she brings a level of integrity that makes me proud to associate with Naturally Yours — and she’s truly a regional leader in environmentally-​conscious event planning. For those seeking a wedding planner in Chicago, Carlene Smith and Naturally Yours Events has my strongest recommendation.

If I have ever experienced an angel, Carlene Smith, the owner of Naturally Yours Events would be it! My husband and I hired Carlene as a full planner for our May 24^th wedding in Chicago this year. We were extremely impressed by Carlene’s kindness, honesty, patience, creativity and professionalism the first time we met her and throughout the twelve months that she planned our wedding. Prior to finding Naturally Yours Events, I interviewed several other planners, all of whom told me that I wouldn’t be able to plan a Chicago wedding within our budget. Carlene never made me feel badly about our budget and she executed her company’s mission to reduce, reuse and recycle whenever possible to stretch our dollars as much as possible!
Planning a wedding in Chicago can be extremely stressful as there are so many venues and vendors to choose from. If you find yourself overwhelmed by this process (or extremely busy like we were), hire Carlene and her team and they will make the experience extremely positive for you and your family! Naturally Yours Events doesn’t create cookie cutter weddings– they cultivate the style of each couple and the individualities that make them special. My husband and I had a lot of ideas as we planned with Carlene and she provided her experience to help us decide which ideas were feasible and which would be more of a headache. I am beyond grateful we had her guidance along the way– I’m pretty sure we would have said ‘to hell with it’ and gone to City Hall without her. Our family and friends are still raving about how beautiful our wedding was and this wouldn’t have been close to possible without Naturally Yours Events. I’m so happy we were able to create these memories and celebrate the start of our marriage with our loved ones with such a uniquely special event.
If you are like I was and love the photos you see on their website, or even the mission of Naturally Yours Events and the Green Wedding Alliance, hire Carlene and her team, NOW. You won’t regret it. Probably will be the best decision you and your future spouse make together as you plan your wedding. I know it was for us!

My husband and I hired Carlene Smith, from Naturally Yours, as our «day of planner» for our wedding this past May. We were impressed by her reviews online and her role in the Green Wedding Alliance. I will admit that the first time I met her I was not sure we vibed personality-​wise but I honestly thought that based on her professionalism, work-​ethic, and aesthetic she would be a good day of planner. I will say that the wedding turned out wonderfully and Carlene spent a lot of time coordinating with our vendors. I really think she tried her best, however, there were several issues with Carlene that were significant enough that I would not recommend her services. First, our venue canceled on us 18 days before our wedding. Quite a stressful situation — and when we called Carlene she was very supportive and said she would work over-​time without additional payment to help us find a new venue. We were so grateful for her help but then found out she had known the day before that the venue was canceling. We were shocked that she decided not to tell us immediately when she heard from the venue. A big red flag. Additionally, it was mainly our contact at our caterer who helped us transition to a new venue and acted more like a planner. Second, it turns out Carlene posted about our venue canceling on Facebook right after it happened without our permission. While I understand that having a venue cancel 18 days before a wedding is a shocking situation, I felt that it was unprofessional for her post that on Facebook, especially without informing us. When she realized we were taken aback she tried to remedy the situation by saying that she did not use our names in the post. Third, several people in our wedding party commented on the awkwardness at the rehearsal when Carlene tried to direct people. Perhaps if there was more lightheartedness or humor that would have helped. Fourth, during the set-​up for the wedding she let multiple details slide (i.e. organizing the pictures with the photographer, saving us dessert after she suggested that she should, etc). Personally, I think that being on top of the details is one of the important aspects of being a wedding planner. Fifth, her ability to relay information to us was lacking. Not only did she have a difference of opinion with our DJ and decided to tell us about it but right before we were going to make our entrance she also told us that some of our guests were upset. These are things that should never be relayed to the couple getting married. The role of the planner is to make things go smoothly — not to cause the couple getting married more stress. Overall, I would not recommend her and if I had to do it again I would consider not having a planner.

I met with both Kristen & Carlene. Carlene did my sister’s wedding which was absolutely flawless. Kristen did mine and I felt I was SOO at ease. When I met with Kristen to go over the details she was on top of the game. She knew exactly the things to ask and what to look for. Having her as my wedding planner my day when absolutely so smoothly. Everyone says that things will come up and not everything is perfect but Kristen truly made it perfect! My fiancé (who is not the best at wedding planning) said he really enjoyed the meetings with both Kristen and Carlene. It is SO worth it to have a wedding planner but FOR sure choose Naturally Yours. they are wonderful and will continue to recommend them to any future friends :-)

I’ve worked with Carlene at numerous events during my full time job as a wedding photographer. When it came time for me to get married, I knew we needed her in order to keep everything on track and our vision cohesive. She provided a number of items for us to use free of charge that went a long way in saving us both money but also time. Further more, she gave us recommendations for vendors that were professional, reliable, and amazing. On the day of, we pretty much worked Carlene to the bone! She had a ton of DIY to complete before the big day on location at the venue, and she came through in making everything absolutely perfect. We can’t thank her enough and would highly recommend her to anyone looking for someone to keep them on track!

I know exactly why you’re here. You’re planning your wedding and wondering if you really need a day-​of coordinator’s help. After all, you’re organized and you have plenty of people out there who are «willing to help»…
I’m here to tell you, yes, yes you do. I was just like you, trying to decide if a day of coordinator would really be worth it, and honestly, hiring Naturally Yours was probably the smartest money we spent on the wedding. Thanks to them I had the wedding of my dreams on 12÷13÷14. They were able to take a wedding that could have been absolute chaos (smaller venue holding both ceremony and reception in the winter) and turn it into a dream.
I originally met with Carlene and immediately liked her and the premise of Naturally Yours. Unfortunately she was already booked for a wedding on my day, but their up-​and-​coming planner Jessie was still available and thank god she was. Let me tell you, there are not enough superlatives out there for me to express how wonderful Jessie is. She is incredibly nice and friendly but will absolutely kick ass to get your wedding perfect for you. She wants to know exactly how you envision your day to be and will work her hardest to make sure that vision comes true.
I’m definitely what you would call a Type A personality, so at first I had a bit of trouble handing over the reigns. Once I got to know Jessie and realized how awesome she was at this whole wedding planning stuff, I had no problem trusting her to take care of all the details and she did such an amazing job. She set up our decorations beautifully — I actually gasped when I first walked into the venue, I was so shocked at how great it looked. Also, she took care of everything. I’m sure things went wrong that day because there were a ton of moving pieces, but I don’t know of a single one. Jessie just handled everything (even making sure my wine glass was adequately filled) so I was able to relax and actually enjoy all of my wedding.
I can’t recommend them enough. Stop whatever you’re doing right now and call /​email /​hire these women.

Our wedding was 10÷17÷14. My husband and I had been planing the wedding for about a month and signed Carlene on as our Day Of Coordinator (DOC) ten months before our wedding date. We found her from a few Green Wedding Alliance events that we attended and were very impressed with her down to earth approach to weddings. We are not your typical ‘wedding people’ and really were not looking forward at all to plan a wedding. We had been engaged for 5 years and it took a lot for us to take that step and finally make the event happen. Needless to say, Carlene played a huge part in allowing us to actually ‘enjoy the journey’ of wedding planning. We met with her early on and she shared a wedding planning tool with us that made our lives so much easier. I was able to run any question by her, even asking about things related to our gift registry and etiquette of who to invite to the wedding. I was not going to have any flowers because our event was being held in a vintage store, but at one of our last meetings Carlene suggested we think about a few strategically placed floral pieces to give a feminine feel to a masculine room. We talked about a budget of only $ 150.00 for the flowers and I told her if she could find someone good to deliver on that budget, we would go for it. She definitely found us an awesome florist (Becca Blue) and the flowers were perfect! We also found out early on after we had already put a deposit on our venue that the people who owned our venue (Brimfield) could be very difficult to work with. Carlene had previous experience with them and she discussed with us what could go wrong. It definitely made me nervous about having a terrible wedding day experience but Carlene calmed me down and we came up with a good plan on how to deal with the venue vendors. In the end, there were venue vendor road bumps on the day of our wedding, but Carlene handled things and we did not have to endure the stress on our special day. I really cannot thank her enough for everything, but that alone was more than worth having her as our DOC. Carlene is not only an amazing professional at what she does, but she’s a lovely, fun person. I enjoyed the time that we spent with her and never dreaded a meeting. She definitely made planning our wedding fun. If you have any questions at all about her, feel free to reach out. I will give you even more details about why you should work with her. Don’t waste your time with anyone else, sign on Naturally Yours Events.

Carlene was truly invaluable to us during our entire planning process. From recommendations to scheduling, budgeting and organization, we were kept on track and sane. She reminded us of numerous details that we would never have thought of on our own. She found us an amazing photographer and a wonderful DJ! One thing that was especially great was that Carlene was able to set up all of our initial venue visits for one day so that one of our moms (who is not local) could come in and be there with us. Also, our wedding day was seamless, I don’t think it could have gone any smoother! She was a joy to work with and made our wedding a complete success.

As a couple in our 50’s we didn’t want alot of traditional wedding rituals. I knew I loved Carlene when she said we could do whatever we want in her confident, calm, professional manner. Her advice, coordination and recommendations enabled us to have the most perfect wedding for 50 people with the ceremony outside and the reception in an open tent with a great view. The tables and flowers and attention to detail were even better than we imagined. Her vendor recommendations were outstanding and each one exceeded our expectations and were great to work with. There was not one moment of stress from when I met her 6 mos ago through our wedding on Sept. 6. If you aren’t sure if you need a wedding planner or who, I can tell you that I felt the same way and would recommend Carlene without any hesitation for whatever occasion. I will miss her and hope we can have another opportunity to work together soon.

I’m a local wedding & event DJ in Chicago (Gold Noise DJs) and I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside Carlene and Jessie many times. They always have so many cute, creative ideas! On top of that, they’re super professional and extremely well-​organized. Prior to each wedding they always send the other vendors copies of the timeline, venue layout map, etc., which makes everything run so smoothly on the day-​of.
Whenever we’re both working the same event, I can tell the brides and grooms are more relaxed, cos Naturally Yours Events takes the stress of planning a big event off their shoulders.
I’m not surprised they have a perfect 5 star rating so far. :-)

I hired Carlene a few months before our wedding because the wedding planner I originally hired was not staying within my budget. My husband and I met with Carlene and immediately hit it off. My husband liked her because she drinks craft beer and I liked her because she is much more organized than I and had a wonderful planning tool for organizing the important details of the wedding. I found her organizational tools invaluable. Most of my vendors were already found but she took over coordinating them and allowed me to be as much in control as I needed to be before the wedding, which was important because I am certainly a control freak. She met with me for several hours several times at a coffee shop to plan eventhough we technically only hired her for day of coordination. She suggested a great vendor for our candles. The day of our wedding was absolutely perfect. If there were any issues, I had no clue and anytime my mom asked me if something had been done, all I had to say was Carlene is taking care of it! She coordinated our wedding in the surburbs and was the only Chicago planner willing to meet with us in the suburbs. She packed everything up in our cars after the wedding which was terrific because we had to catch a plane the next day. She also minimized the contact I had to have with the hotel catering manager who I did not care for. She let us know about the wedding recyclery sale in the spring. My husband and I set up a booth and sold most of our wedding gear that was not sentimental and made about $ 300 back. I was thrilled that I hired Carlene. Hire her, you will be happy you did.

15. That was the number if people who took a moment to tell me specially they had not attended a wedding where the bride and groom we able to dance and celebrate with friends and family so much. This is because in large part by the work done by Carlene and her staff, she was flexible with our needs but meticulous with her planning. It allowed for the best night of our lives, I cannot thank you enough, however we will start by letting all of Unilocal know how awesome NYevents is!

There are really not enough words to describe just how perfect Carlene is as an event planner. I have attended a few events she has done over the past few years, and everything always turns out perfectly. The most recent event was a baby shower and I honestly gasped when I walked into the room once her and her team were finished decorating and organizing everything… it was over the top adorable! Carlene is as good as it gets for Wedding Planning. It is an art, and I would highly recommend her to anyone.

I can not thank Carlene and Naturally Your Events enough for their planning and organizing skills. When you are planning a wedding, you have a lot of things to consider; vendors, budget, style and endless other juggling. She truly worked wonders for months leading to the day of, and helped everything run virtually stress free.
If you are lucky enough to find that Carlene is available for your wedding date, I highly recommend you book her before someone else does!

Planning a wedding sucks. Seriously. Everything everyone else has ever told you is lies! Thankfully Carlene came into our lives, took a major portion of that stress away, and helped to make our wedding even more perfect than we ever could have imagined.
I decided to do a lot of DIY projects (because I’m apparently insane) and Carlene always had great suggestions about the best way to get things done. She helped us organize the 6 546 510 684 654 687 ideas that we had about our wedding into one, amazing, well put together event.
Carlene has a fantastic group of vendor friends, and she was able to suggest amazing and reasonably priced people to make up our wedding team, saving me hours and hours of research. She and her assistant, Jessie, made our wedding day a breeze. I didn’t have to worry about a thing from the moment I woke up until I went to bed on the day of our wedding. Carlene and Jessie went above and beyond to make sure everything ran on time and looked beautiful. If there were any issues, I never heard about or saw them– which is exactly the way it should go on your wedding day.
So if you’re even questioning if you should hire a wedding planner. Stop Now. Hire Carlene. If you don’t and your wedding sucks, all I have to say is I told you so.

We just used Carlene for the day of our wedding and she did an absolutely wonderful job. Just to give you a bit of background, we only hired her one week before our wedding and she was able to jump right in and make everything perfect for our special day. A few highlights.
–When we met with her a week prior to our wedding day, she came up with several great ideas to make things go smoothly.
–She was a real miracle worker on our actual wedding day and made sure she got everything exactly where it needed to be.
–When things did go wrong (because of us and not her), she was able to come up with several backup up ideas.
–She was absolutely fantastic with the clean up and made sure that we got everything back to our house.
We would both recommend Carlene to anyone who wants to make their big day a bit more special.

I attended a beautiful wedding last night that Carlene coordinated, and as a guest I can say it was beautiful and flawless. But what really stood out to me was something very kind that Carlene did, and does not fall under the category of «wedding coordinator.»
After calling 3 cabs and being dtiched by all of them, and not being able to find another one, Carlene could sense my pregnant frustration and exhaustion and had her assistant drive my husband and I back to our hotel. It was a gesture that speaks not only to how she runs her business, but to who she is as a person. If she went out of her way to make one random guest so happy, I can only imagine what she did for the bride. It’s not often that you find a business with so much integrity.

Update 11÷25÷12: I just wanted to add a quick addendum to my previous review. Four months after our wedding, we had an issue with our photographs. Not knowing exactly what to do, we decided to email Carlene to ask her professional opinion. Our wedding was months ago and Carlene was simply our DOC, not wedding planner, but she responded quickly and thoughtfully. Carlene had no hand in selecting this photographer and she certainly wasn’t obligated to help us months later. Her response, and genuine willingness to help, solidified our love of Carlene even more. Please don’t hesitate to choose Carlene and Naturally Yours Events for any of your wedding needs. You won’t be disappointed!
My husband and I were originally on the fence about hiring a day-​of coordinator, but we could not have been more thrilled in our decision to hire a DOC, and especially our decision to hire Carlene of Naturally Yours Events. Carlene was great to work with in the months leading up to our wedding, and she was always prompt to answer our questions. Additionally, Carlene was able to negotiate with one of our vendors to get additional time without additional cost, which is always a huge plus! We really feel that she went above and beyond, and, as a result, we literally didn’t worry about a thing on our wedding day. Carlene was on top of it all, and her calm and professional demeanor made me completely at ease. Even Carlene’s assistant was so nice, energetic, and professional. I want to have another wedding, just to work with Carlene and Naturally Yours Events one more time. I seriously cannot say enough about Carlene and her team — they were the BEST and as a result, my husband and I quite literally had a perfect wedding.