Anthony Gowder Designs

ful so we couldn’t be happier with the flower arrangements for our wedding and rehearsal dinner. Thank you, Stephanie for making sure everything looked beautiful and our flowers were delivered on time and were of high quality.

his past year. Coordination - Cassandra (our month of coordinator) & the Gowder team were on top of every last detail, down to where my dress was being taken after I changed for the reception. Any and all issues were diverted to them and my husband and I could truly focus on our big day. Flowers/Rentals - The Gowder team went above and beyond to showcase our flowers on how they would be presented the day of during a "trial" viewing. Based on any and all feedback given, they made on the spot changes to ensure our satisfaction for the table pieces. I had honestly never heard of a company providing that level of service! The table cloths we were interested in renting were all on the tables with the centerpieces so we could see in "real life" how the table would look. Overall - I would recommend the Anthony Gowder team/Casandra to anyone who asked. They are a wealth of information, go above and beyond for their clients, and have the highest level of expertise/professionalism I have seen with vendors. They were not just interested in the "sale" we could provide but making our vision come true!

working with Cassie, who is as amazing at her job as she is as a person. She invested SO much time in working through our vision with us. From in-person meetings, to emails, to a final flower showing, Cassie is the reason our aesthetic came to life on our special day. She understood our vision and brought it fully to fruition. She has an amazing eye and would make suggestions and recommendations that she truly felt would add value to our decor, which was so appreciated. She and the rest of the Anthony Gowder team made everything look beyond beautiful on the day of our wedding. It was truly more than anything we could have dreamt of and this was all because of Cassie. We still feel so lucky to have worked with her and would absolutely recommend working with Cassie and the rest of the Anthony Gowder team to anyone!!

her team created the fairytale wedding we had envisioned. The chuppah and branched archway were exactly what we described for the ceremony and the reception decor was a dream. Stephanie listened and executed our vision. We could not have been happier with our choice of florists. I fully recommend Anthony Gowder Designs!!!

heir use of light was fantastic; it subtly and wonderfully complimented their beautiful work and brought life to the evening. Thanks so very much, Lisa and Rob

nts to complete our day and exceeded our expectations!

es I was given them to me in 10 seconds like magic. I also want to call out that, although it is very much my personality to take over/control certain situations (like the rehearsal) they had constantly told me to sit down and enjoy, and that they had it. That was super reassuring and I just want you to know I noticed it and it made the weekend completely carefree. I am so so grateful. And for the decor, the flowers, mood lighting, etc were just perfect. They went above and beyond!

lighting, and everything were all so exquisite. Stephanie is such a pleasure to work with. She is patient, creative, knowledgable, flexible, and talented in her designs. Her personality overflows with warmth. Stephanie met with us several times, and produced a setting that was exactly what our daughter envisioned. So many guests commented about how beautiful everything looked. Stephanie also provided centerpieces for our prenuptial dinner. We decided to have a different look than for the wedding, and she created absolutely stunning floral arrangements, which further demonstrates her versatility and talents to suit every occasion. The highest rating is 5, but she deserves a 10++!

ion to life. The flowers were gorgeous, perfect for the venue and looked beautiful through the farewell brunch the following day. Thank you for making the couple's day so beautiful and special. And shout out for the amazing bridesmaids' straw purse bouquets...uniquely amazing!

ngements were exactly as we wanted them, and then took over a month before the wedding to coordinate with all our vendors. She was always available to answer any questions we had, and took so much stress out of the process for us. Thanks to Cassandra and her assistant, we and our families were able to truly enjoy the day and be guests at our own wedding. And we got so many compliments on the gorgeous florals!

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ests, and helped fill in the gaps with amazing suggestions when we weren’t totally sure what we wanted. She really brought our vision to life, and our day was more beautiful than I could have imagined!

your basic flowers, these were truly a work of art! One of our most complimented features even after the wedding! Thank you Anthony Gowder Designs!

ossible. Except Cassandra, her only goal was to make sure that we had an amazing wedding. She charges "no minimum" fee and the flowers are the TOP of the line. Before, we booked her, Cassandra met with us in-person at their gorgeous shop in Humboldt Park. Right after we talked, she followed up with a gorgeous proposal complete with sample photos and colors of all the flowers we requested. On the day of, I am not joking when I say that the flowers were ten times nicer than any other florist that we looked at, but for less than 75% of the cost. Plus, all the flowers were hand delivered on the day of. Stop thinking and just book Anthony Gowder, any other florist is a mistake.

at how amazing everything turned out! We were equally, if not more, overwhelmed by how beautiful the rooms looked and the professionalism Cassandra portrayed throughout this whole process! Cassandra, was truly a joy to work with throughout this whole process and I would do it all again with her 100x over. There is certainly a lot to orchestrate when planning these events and she made it all come together so smoothly (at least that’s how it looked on our end). The compliments keep coming from our guests saying what a wonderful evening and what a beautiful venue! The flowers were stunning - AGD captured exactly what we were looking for along with the moodiness and glow of the room that provided the atmosphere for our guests! Again, we couldn’t be happier with our day, the flowers were stunning and month of coordination provided a day that went off without a hitch thanks to all the work/questions that Cassandra asked along the way. Cassandra's sense of humor and straight forward personality eased our stress and provided much needed calmness leading up to the big day!

see a mock centerpiece design, which was so important to help give us an idea of how it'd look on the day (and helped me decide to switch some flowers out). Amy really went above and beyond to make sure that we got exactly what we wanted! Can't recommend Anthony Gowder enough!

r, and reception, and everything looked perfect on the big day!

wer was perfectly placed and cared for. Above all, Stephanie is incredibly warm and welcoming, listens carefully, and is so reliable. I am so thrilled with my decision to use AGD for my wedding!

ouquet, to the bridesmaids bouquets, center pieces and the chuppah, they delivered above and beyond what I could have ever expected. Everything was stunning and they put that extra touch and attention to detail in everything they do. Thank you Stephanie and the Anthony Gowder team for what you do!

dvice. I also appreciated her responsiveness and attention to detail. In addition to floral arrangements, we used the greenery walls for placecards and had a band surround wall with greenery on top and it looked perfect! I highly recommend hiring Anthony Gowder for your wedding.

erfect representation of Mary's style. At the consultation Cassandra was patient and went through everything with Mary to make sure she had a handle on Mary's vision and she nailed it. Mary also used Cassandra for her day -of-coordinator and we couldn't have been happier with her. We had so many questions and unusual circumstances happening and Cassandra dealt with them all with professionalism and competence. And not only that - but her sense of humor and being able to change a negative into a positive was a particular attribute that is so necessary and so appreciated! We will definitely be recommending AGD and Cassandra to all our friends! Thank you for making Mary's day special!

pulled together a floral proposal that perfectly captured what I was looking for. When we walked through the doors to our cocktail hour and reception, we were blown away by the beauty surrounding us all thanks to Cassandra’s floral and decor design. I could not have asked for a better experience and would highly recommend working with Cassandra if you can, including the coordination package. My wedding day ran so incredibly smoothly and was worry free thanks to her!

ements. They were beautiful! Her ideas and designs were impressive and the finished arrangements absolutely gorgeous. This year, a week ago, was the second time and my daughter's bouquet was full and vibrant and the bridesmaids flowers were so pretty. When we walked into the reception room for the first time the flowers stole the show. It was lovely and stunning, absolutely stunning! I'm so glad we had added the pin spot lights on the centerpieces to highlight them and really show them off. We were thrilled and I received so many compliments and comments on the flowers. Stephanie is a pleasure to work with, patient and professional, and listens to what you want and then brings it to life. I won't hesitate to recommend them and highly suggest if you want perfection you hire them. Kudos to you Stephanie and everyone at Gowder Design for your outstanding work. Thank you!

n House and they recommended AGD considering they work together often. I did not hire a wedding planner or coordinator at first, but after talking with Cassandra initially, I hired her and her assistant right away. I live in Florida now so I made a couple trips to Chicago and met with her to discuss my floral & design ideas. Our meetings were productive and she was extremely helpful with everything. She’s fun, energetic, and knows exactly what she’s doing! She was amazing the month of the wedding and helped create our day-of timeline, coordinated with my vendors, etc. The floral we’re absolutely STUNNING. They created a beautiful floral arch for the focal point of my ceremony / reception that guests were raving about. I would hire them over & over again! Xo

her at least 100 times throughout the course of wedding planning. She is absolutely wonderful, and the floral and decor for our wedding was nothing short of stunning (many of our guests said so). She listened to what we wanted and was quick to adjust based on last minute changes. It made something that was honestly a bit daunting for me at first turn into one of the smoothest vendor interactions of the entire event. I cannot say enough about how great they are - also their storefront is the CUTEST, I will be back to buy some home decor!

studio above. During our first meeting we knew right away that we wanted to work with them. They are some of the nicest people you will ever meet and have an incredible eye for design. They are detail oriented, creative and strive to make their clients visions a reality. With Anthony Gowder Designs the sky is the limit! They can pull together all aspects of design for your event from florals to chandeliers! They were flexible and willing to try new things to create our dream floral arrangements. Their professionalism and extensive industry experience provided us the confidence we needed to trust them for our wedding day. When we saw the final product on our wedding day we were absolutely blown away. Anthony Gowder Designs truly transformed our ballroom venue into the modern and romantic garden wedding of our dreams! We feel so lucky to have had the privilege to work with them for our event! We look forward to continuing to be customers at their gorgeous floral shop.

Their prices are reasonable, staff is friendly and helpful as well as quick to respond to emails, and the flowers were beautiful!

r wedding! Bright, colorful, whimsical, romantic and FUN! The quality and colors of the flowers blew away all expectations (the largest, most beautiful roses I’ve ever seen!!!!!) - not to mention all of the little details and extra touches they included to make everything, even the smallest of arrangements, look spectacular. Many people said our flowers were the prettiest they have ever seen at a wedding!! Also - prices were reasonable and not marked up compared to other high end florists!! Besides for the quality & beauty of the arrangements and bouquet - working with Stephanie Gowder from beginning to end was nothing short of incredible. She is the nicest person and was extremely patient as I went back and forth between different color options. It was such a pleasurable experience working with her!!! Thank you to Stephanie, Anthony and the entire AGD team for making our wedding memorable and beautiful!!!!!

expectations. My bouquet was absolutely breathtaking. I would recommend them to ANY bride! The process was so simple, flowers showed up on time and lasted almost 2 weeks after the wedding!

nded the most beautiful flowers for my bouquet. Her team was able to deliver flowers timely during civil unrest in Chicago and that meant a lot to us we were so nervous but, in the end, everything turned out as planned. I would recommend Cassandra and her team to anyone hosting any type of special event.

ing, educating me on the various elements included. She led the Gowder Team through the many changes that were needed along the way, with their flexibility in developing and delivering (absolutely key) at this time. We had a 2 small events- 1) wedding & 2) cocktail party reception the following week. The varying decor for both, from flowers, to backdrops, to candelabras were truly GORGEOUS. Stephanie is just so easy and fun to work with, like an old friend ;) Can we do it again?! No doubt about it, I will absolutely go with AGD for future events!

accommodating and helpful throughout the process! She provided excellent insight, advice, and suggestions and was able to truly bring my vision to life and make my smaller wedding exactly like how I originally pictured it! I can't thank her and the AGD team enough for their beautiful work!

sandra made our vision come to life with the colors, flowers and overall wedding vibe we were going for. And she was an absolute rock star with our month of coordination - she made sure everything ran smoothly, kept us calm and organized and provided such great energy throughout the day. Thank you AGD team!!

e Palmer House and the other at InterContinental Chicago Magnificent Mile. Both weddings were challenging in their own way... the each had large parties, fun personalities, different languages, different faiths, and in the case of the Palmer House wedding... a lot of alcohol. Cassandra was wonderfully kind, enjoyably professional, helpful, organized, and appropriately assertive when necessary. In short, she was the epitome of grace under pressure. Everything went off seemingly effortlessly and without a hitch. There was nothing but laughter and tears, hugs and kisses, because of Cassandra's stellar work. I look forward to the opportunity to work with Cassandra again toward another flawless wedding! -Rev. Brad, LoveStoryWeddings.org

nly is Stephanie very professional and well-educated on all things floral, but she is super easygoing and fun to work with! She knew our vision and made it come to life. Planning a wedding in a different city can be tough, however, Stephanie made the whole process very seamless. Everything from the bouquets, to flowers on the cake to boutonnieres, to the centerpieces were absolutely stunning! Walking into the reception for the first time was a magical experience, seeing how Stephanie brought our vision to life. We could not have been more pleased with our partnership with Stephanie. She wanted to get to know us as a couple and work together. The flowers were absolutely beautiful and we were even able to use them the next day for our day-after brunch! Thank you, Stephanie for being a phenomenal partner! You exceeded all of our expectations and we could not be happier!

ng a wedding can be challenging, but they really made it easy and were helpful. In addition to their floral and decor, we used their day-of coordination services and I'm SO happy we did. Cassandra helped with the floral, and Stephanie and Amy were our coordinators. What a dream team! The team promised excellence in everything and they delivered! My husband and I are so happy we had Anthony Gowder design our wedding in June 2019. Without equivocation we would recommend Anthony Gowder Designs to anyone getting married in the Chicago area. Thank you for everything!

ly understood our "vision" at the initial meeting and was able to select the perfect flowers to meet our budget while fitting with the overall theme and style. The planning services are billed as “Day of Coordination,” but Cassandra and her team were available and helpful throughout the entire planning process and were instrumental in pulling off our perfect wedding. AG Designs are true professionals. They’re able to smoothly plan the entire week, and can easily handle any and all last-minute surprises, allowing us to relax and enjoy the day. Organization skills and professionalism are second to none – one of the best decisions we made for our wedding! Highly recommend!

) ), she also did an incredible job of coordinating the event day of. She and her staff made sure that our wedding party and families always had what we needed, that everyone was where they needed to be and on time, and that all vendors were running smoothly. It is because of my experience with Cassandra that I recommend all of my engaged friends get a day-of coordinator, and I specifically send the Chicagoans to Anthony Gowder. 10/10, A+, Blue Ribbon, Best Of FOR SURE.