5 out of 5 stars and 61 reviews Best of Weddings (4x).
5
(61)Durham, NC, Chapel Hill and the Triangle Region
About this vendor
Events by Emily is a boutique event planning and design company serving clients throughout the East Coast. We offer full service wedding planning and creative direction, as well as partial wedding planning and event management services. Our fresh, layered approach to wedding planning yields celebrations that reflect our clients' unique personalities and style.
Details
Business Attributes
- Woman-owned Business
Destination Weddings
- Destination Wedding Planning
Planning
- A la Carte Wedding Planning
- Budgeting
- Day-Of Coordination
- Destination Wedding Planning
- Full Service Wedding Planning
- RSVP Tracking
Wedding Activities
- Getting Engaged
- Engagement Party
- Rehearsals & Parties
- After Party
- Engagement Party
- Rehearsal Dinner
Awards and Affiliations
Reviews
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5
out of 5.061 reviews
Review photos
Showing slide number 1 out of 9
It’s hard to put into words how perfect our wedding was and what an amazing job Emily and her team did in executing for us and our guests. Our wedding was at the end of an intense ...
year for both of us at work. We hired Emily as our full-service planner soon after getting engaged and she truly exceeded all expectations. She did an amazing job accommodating our schedules and (gently) keeping us on track throughout the planning process. Her excellent taste and network in the Triangle area made each vendor and design decision so much easier too: she immediately understood our vision for the day, and we felt comfortable delegating decisions to her from the jump.
Where Emily and her team really REALLY shined was the day of the wedding. We had decided the night before to go to our rain plan because there a 50% chance of rain at the time of the ceremony. But the weather was beautiful the next morning—there was still a chance of scattered storms in the afternoon, but it was clear any bad weather would be short-lived and pass in a matter of minutes. We hated the idea of having the wedding inside while looking out the window at blue skies. It was a gamble, but Emily agreed, and worked with the venue and all of our vendors to pivot back to an outdoor ceremony. Sure enough, a quick but intense storm came through just minutes after the guest shuttles arrived and less than 15 minutes before the ceremony time. Emily somehow made it feel like that was all part of the plan: guests enjoyed drinks in the covered cocktail hour area, we watched the rain pass with our families in our respective suites, and less than 10 minutes after our scheduled ceremony time, we walked down the aisle with blue skies overhead. It was absolute serendipity and could not have happened without Emily and her team advocating for us and coordinating with the venue and our vendors. The most incredible part is that throughout all of this uncertainty, we felt relaxed, happy, and confident that the day would be beautiful no matter what happened.
All this being said—if you want an absolutely beautiful and joyful wedding day, and a relaxed wedding planning experience, HIRE EMILY. She is an absolute no brainer if you’re getting married in NC, but would be an amazing choice for an out-of-state wedding too—she has an incredible, national vendor network and an amazing eye for aesthetics and design in any setting.
A huge, forever thanks to Events by Emily for the best day of our lives 💛
Our biggest goal for wedding planning was to not be stressed out – a nearly impossible goal, but one that we succeeded at because of Events by Emily. As our full wedding planner, E...
mily was there to help us navigate everything from choosing a venue to making sure everything ran smoothly the day of. She worked with us to build a vision of what we wanted our wedding day to look like and then helped us make that vision become a reality.
Our favorite parts of having Emily as our wedding planner:
- Her and her associate Rebecca would provide us with a couple options of vendors for each part of our wedding (i.e. venues, florals, lighting, hair and makeup, officiants, etc.). These recommendations were based on our vision for the day, but significantly narrowed down the sheer number of vendors out there to a list that was a LOT more manageable than just searching on the Knot. They were also based on positive experiences that Emily has had with these vendors in the past, which is incredibly important (can you imagine your hair and makeup person not showing up on your wedding day? Not on Emily’s watch). If we didn’t like any of the options or wanted more options, Emily and her associate Rebecca were happy to provide more options.
- Emily went with us to the majority of the vendor meetings and asked questions that we wouldn’t have even considered asking.
- When we had a question or wanted to add something, all we had to do was email Emily. No tracking down each individual vendor, having to follow up by phone, etc. Emily was our go-to person.
- On the day-of, we were able to just enjoy our wedding day and not worry about logistics or who was going to set up the centerpieces or whether all the vendors knew where to go to set up. It never crossed my mind to worry about anything other than getting married to my best friend because I trusted Emily completely to make our vision come true – and she did!
The Events by Emily team was there for us every step of the way, making wedding planning not the stereotypical stressful nightmare but instead a fun process leading up to the best day of our lives. Emily was kind, responsive, supportive of our vision (always making sure that our voices were heard above all others), and on top of everything the whole way through. We are so happy we chose to hire Emily as our full-service wedding planner and highly recommend Events by Emily to anyone considering doing the same!
(Photography by Laura Memory Photography)
We had the most fantastic wedding experience working with Events by Emily. Emily and her team helped us plan our Bridgerton/English garden inspired wedding this past June at the Du...
ke Chapel and Hope Valley Country Club as well as rehearsal dinner and Sunday brunch at the WaDuke. One of the reasons we chose to work with Emily was because of her experience with floral design and indeed, her ideas along with Bowerbird Flower’s made for the most enchanted wedding. We appreciated that Events by Emily was always quick to respond to our questions, were respectful of our budget, and alleviated so much wedding stress. On the day of, it was really helpful to have the Events by Emily team checking in on us frequently We truly think our wedding was carried out flawlessly and was the perfect celebration of our love story. B & T
We used the full service package and I can confidently say that choosing Emily & Rebecca was the best decision we made during the entire wedding planning process. From beginning t...
o end, they listened to all my worries, answered my endless questions, and kept me calm and focused. We live out of state, so their help was invaluable in identifying venues and vendors and basically planning everything while we weren't there. They know the BEST vendors, and it's clear how much the vendors love them and love working with them which makes me whole planning process and day of feel so much easier and seamless. While planning, I felt like I was never able to fully verbalize or even visualize what I wanted, but Emily took my endless ramblings and created the wedding of my dreams. She knew exactly the look and vibe I wanted even though I was often indecisive and bounced around from idea to idea. Aside from the incredible job both Emily and Rebecca did, they're both just really nice and fun to be around. I am sure the day of our wedding was stressful for them, but you would have never known. They were both such calming and steady presences for us throughout the day. Everything went off without a hitch and it's truly all thanks to them. They gave us one of the best days of our lives and I could not recommend them more. Hire them!
We used Emily's full service package for our wedding and it could not have been a better experience. I live out of state and work busy hours, and she was always flexible to either ...
meet with me over Zoom or work with my parents in the area. Emily is extremely organized and always kept me on track. She was able to connect us with amazing vendor options and gave us her honest opinions. I came with a rough idea of what I wanted my wedding to be, and Emily was able to turn that into a full-fledged reality. She seemed to know what I really wanted even if I didn't say it! Everything went so smoothly the days leading up to and the day of; if there was anything that went wrong I certainly didn't know it!
Events by Emily was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding! To say that it was the best day of our lives is an understatement, and we owe so much of the weekend to Emily...
and her team. From day 1 Emily and her team went above and beyond to make the process of wedding planning as easy as possible for us, and having someone who is both willing to make your dreams a reality and also guide you in the right direction during every point of the decision process is an amazing thing, and we couldn’t be happier with our choice to go with Emily and her team for our wedding. 10/10 recommend!!
We honestly can't say enough good things about Events by Emily and are so grateful to Emily and Rebecca for making our wedding so easy, fun, beautiful, and memorable. Emily listene...
d to our hopes/dreams/concerns and manifested a wedding my [wedding-shy] husband called "the most fun contiguous 6 hours ever." She has amazing taste, is extremely organized, has connections with all the best vendors, and is super easy to get along with. I was a largely absentee bride during the planning process because of my work schedule and Emily did basically everything for me - I completely trusted her to get everything just right, and she did. She navigated all the usual last-minute additions and family personalities with total aplomb and made the wedding experience absolutely delightful for our (many) out of town guests. 15/10 would recommend and if we had to do it all over, we would do it with Events by Emily every single time.
When deciding on our vendors for our wedding, our day of wedding coordinator was at the top of our list. I immediately knew that Events by Emily would be the best option. We worked...
with Rebecca for a lot of the crucial aspects, and she was great at communicating with our vendors for us. Rebecca was very familiar with the Cookery so that also helped immensely. It was so reassuring to have someone who was so kind, positive, thorough, and responsive as Rebecca. We knew we were in great hands, and I did not have any worries on the day of the wedding itself. I would highly recommend Events by Emily, and especially Rebecca to help plan your event!
We chose the Events Management package and worked with Rebecca for coordination of our wedding at The Cookery. From our very first consult meeting, Rebecca was incredibly reassurin...
g that the Events Management package was right for us, even though we were planning from states away. She was always prompt to respond and willing to accommodate meeting with us either virtually or in-person when we traveled into town. When we had our first 6-week out planning meeting, she had already familiarized herself with our vendors, and promptly started coordinating arrival/drop-off times with them to get our wedding day timeline started. She ensured that everything matched our vision, and that our day went off without a hitch. Rebecca's organization and attention to detail took away so much anxiety leading up to our big day, allowing us to enjoy time with one another and all of our friends and family. We would recommend Rebecca and the Events by Emily team to anyone looking for high quality wedding coordination and a team that's a joy to work with!
We used Emily's full service planning package, and it was absolutely the right call for us. My husband and I were working crazy hours in the year leading up to our wedding, and we ...
could not have pulled together such a fun and gorgeous event without her. We were so lucky to have her guidance, emotional support, and meticulous attention to detail from start to finish. Emily found beautiful venue options we'd never heard of, helped us develop a cohesive vision and style, and identified amazing vendors from photos to food and more. And her dry humor, responsiveness, and impeccable taste made the whole process smooth and fun. We're so lucky to have met and worked with Emily and can't thank her and her team enough for all of their work and support!!!
Emily and Rebecca are incredible at what they do and as an added bonus, are fun to be around. Our wedding went off without a single hitch, many thanks to their guidance and meticul...
ous organization. I never felt stressed the day of the wedding knowing I was in their very capable hands. We had an amazing time and LOVED working with Emily and Rebecca!
My husband and I hired Rebecca as our wedding coordinator and it was one of the best decisions we made in planning our wedding at Duke Gardens! We chose the event management packag...
e, and started working closely with Rebecca about six weeks before our wedding day. She quickly got up to speed with all our vendors, and worked with us to ensure that no detail was overlooked. Her calm, upbeat manner, professionalism, organization, and incredible attention to detail made her wonderful to work with. I fully expected to be very stressed out the week before our wedding day, but thanks to Rebecca I felt relaxed and could enjoy the anticipation knowing that everything was taken care of. On the day of our wedding she made sure everything was set up exactly how we planned it, and didn’t miss a single detail. She also did a beautiful job getting everyone in the wedding party to be where they needed to be and keeping everything on schedule. I can’t think of a single thing about our wedding that could have gone any better, and that is due in no small part to Rebecca and Events by Emily.
AMAZING team. We had such a great time, and Rebecca was such an integral part of making sure everything was on the rails. Great to work with, super professional and funny and suppo...
rtive. Would recommend to anyone!
We got to work with Rebecca for our downtown Raleigh wedding as a month-of coordinator. She made those last few (hectic!) weeks easy for us. Easy to work with, highly responsive, p...
rofessional, and truly loved being a part of our wedding! We would choose Events by Emily again if we had to do it all over.
Emily and her team were an invaluable asset throughout our wedding planning process and on the day of our big event. When initially evaluating wedding planners, we really appreciat...
ed the option for “partial wedding planning” that Events by Emily offered as we had already done some planning but still wanted support and coordination. It ended up being the perfect package for us! Emily provided exceptionally helpful suggestions at every step of the process – from vendors to design ideas, timelines, details, and more. She has great relationships with many of the vendors in the area which helped us put together a team that was aligned with our values and was able to beautifully execute our vision. Emily, Rebecca, and Erin seamlessly managed all of the moving pieces on the day of – including seemingly little things like making sure that we ate and that all our personal items made it out of the venue at the end of the night. Beyond that, Emily was truly a joy to work with. She quickly learned our style and aesthetic and helped us make decisions that aligned with those. She was incredibly organized and provided tools to keep us organized. She was a calming advisor as we navigated changes due to COVID-19 and eased our day-of jitters. She answered our endless questions and provided expertise from her many years in the industry. And, most importantly, she ensured we felt cared for and supported. We would absolutely recommend Emily and her team!
Bringing Emily and her team on board to plan our wedding kind of felt like cheating: wedding planning is supposed to create lots of stress and drama; Emily made it organized, chill...
, and fun. Like anything that is casually perfect, the simple, natural, low key elegant wedding we envisioned actually took great skill to execute. We don’t know the industry but imagine Emily is a bit of a unicorn: exceedingly organized, great taste, laid back, dry humor, and an uncanny ability to know what you need – materially, psychologically (!) – when you need it. It was the perfect wedding, and it wouldn’t have been possible without Emily.
Emily and her team were a delight to work with! We initially had planned our wedding for May 2020 and our plans were derailed significantly by the pandemic. Emily worked with us ti...
relessly to essentially plan two weddings, our original one and one modified to be as safe as possible for all guests attending. Neither my partner nor I knew anything about what goes into a wedding or what to expect, and she made the entire experience streamlined, easy, and fun. She was the voice of reason in all decisions, had the perfect suggestions for vendors and design elements that fit our style and budget, and was just a joy to be around as well. She has great insight into how to individualize every element of the wedding and was very thoughtful when it came to troubleshooting. She made the day of the wedding completely stress-free. We highly recommend Emily and her team!
Our venue required at least a day-of coordinator, and at first we begrudgingly hired one because we had to. However, after our wedding, there is absolutely no way we would ever con...
sider doing it without the help of Events by Emily!
For people looking to hire just a day-of coordinator, they truly went above and beyond. The reason we selected them is because they specifically stated that they view the day-of job as starting a month out, and that certainly rang true. We worked mostly with Rebecca, and not only was she extremely responsive, detail-oriented, and thoughtful, but we really feel like she was invested in the outcome of our wedding. Her and Emily have worked with so many Durham vendors, and so they both knew all the questions to ask to make sure we had planned everything, and took care of issues we hadn't even thought of. They made it so easy for us to focus on everything else.
Both Rebecca and Emily were such a delight to work with, and we felt like we were in capable and caring hands both leading up to the event and during it. Some of our guests have said how smoothly the wedding ran, and that is very much thanks to the professionalism and quality Events by Emily brought to the table. We would hire them again in a heartbeat, and we hope anyone getting married in the Durham area considers doing the same!
Hiring Emily was the most important decision I made while planning our October 2021 wedding. We starting working with her in early summer 2020 and quickly realized how essential sh...
e and her team is when planning an event. From carefully selecting vendors, who were all amazing to work with, to making sure we stayed within our budget, Emily made the whole process seamless. Her style is timeless. She and her team created the wedding we wanted without my fiance and I even knowing exactly what that was. From the beginning stages to the actual day of, I never felt stressed about details because I could trust Emily had it under control. Even my parents were able to relax and have a great time on the day of our wedding. I cannot emphasize enough how grateful I am to Emily and her team for creating the best day!
If you are looking for a wedding planner with sharp style, reliable organization, vast connections to excellent vendors, and unwavering commitment to her couples, all wrapped up in...
a comforting personality, then Emily is for you!
I began my wedding planning journey with Emily more than two years before my eventual wedding date. In the summer of 2019, she took me on as a full-service client. Little did we know a pandemic would push my wedding date out to 2021. While this unwelcome turn threw me for a loop, Emily seemed to take it in stride. She was flexible and quick on her feet, rapidly adjusting herself and ALL our vendors to our new timeline.
For better and for worse, Covid afforded us more time. On one hand, there was more time for Emily to do what she does best. She facilitated the execution of stunning floral arrangements, timely transportation, unique table numbers and menus, and a wonderfully delicious reception meal. She also took on the equally large task of planning our rehearsal dinner. Offering her keen eye to curate a perfectly funky event at The Durham Hotel. This only scratches the surface of all that she did for us.
On the other hand, more time also meant more opportunity for this already anxious and high-strung Covid bride to further loose her mind. Here is where the true magic of Emily shines. Beyond her strong professional façade, Emily is incredibly human. She approaches her clients with respect and care. As such, interactions with Emily do not feel transactional.
No doubt, along our 2+ year, Covid-plagued wedding planning experience, there were bumps; however, Emily was always understanding, gracious, and open to discussing topics on a very human level. It's this approach that makes working with Emily feel personal and special.
Simply put, Emily offers a killer combination of expertise and emotional IQ. It's this that allows her and her team to plan the most amazing and memorable events for her clients. I recommend her without hesitation.
Emily and colleague Rebecca are the dream team. They were super organized, knowledgeable about a variety of customs and traditions and - most of all - SO invested in all the work, ...
planning, and care to help make our day really special. Even when they had to remind us a time or 3 to knock out tasks here and there 😆
We’re told that it’s uncommon for the bride and groom to actually enjoy the whole wedding - well we wouldn’t know because everything went perfectly!
Emily is the single best wedding decision we made. She was seamlessly able to pivot when we needed to postpone our 100-person wedding in New York City due to Covid, and she magical...
ly transformed our creative vision into a perfect elopement in Durham instead. One year later, she organized a belated celebration with our family and friends at our favorite restaurant in Brooklyn. Our outdoor party coincided with what turned out to be the rainiest hour in New York City history. Once again, Emily improvised and executed the most joyful event we could have imagined. Both of our wedding celebrations were, in a word, spectacular - thanks to Emily’s insight, patience, thoughtfulness, and attention to detail.
We originally arranged to work with Emily/Wedding and Event Planning for our wedding in September 2020. Due to the pandemic, we had to postpone our celebration until August 2021. E...
mily was so accommodating with all the changes we were forced to make. Rebecca was an absolute pleasure to work with when planning the reception. Her kindness, flexibility, and positive attitude made the experience wonderful. 10/10 would recommend! Thanks for everything!
I cannot articulate how thankful I am to have had Emily as our wedding planner for our September wedding. She is kind, patient, attentive, and just a brilliant person to work with....
Having her through this process made me feel so relaxed and confident that everything would run seamlessly, which it did. She's truly the best of the best and we can't thank her enough.
We hired Events by Emily for "Full Service Wedding Planning" services and it was the best decision we made in the whole wedding process!! One of the reasons I wanted to work with E...
mily (and Rebecca) was because on her website, it looked like each of the weddings she did were unique and personalized to each couple, no cookie-cutters. Now that our wedding (07/24/21) has come to pass, I can attest to just how true that is. Emily helped us through each step of the process to make sure that we were planning a wedding that best fit us as a couple. She helped us navigate obstacles with grace - such as planning during the pandemic and us living in a different city during most of the planning phase. She also has phenomenal relationships with so many local vendors which was hugely helpful. She truly made the whole planning process fun, but most importantly, she delivered -- our wedding was beyond perfect!! It was unbelievable to see all of the elements come together and I am so grateful to her artistic vision and logistic wizardry that made it possible. It was such a gift to just enjoy the day and not have to worry about any logistic details (for myself and my loved ones). Emily and Rebecca are the most kind, comforting, supportive, fun, professional and talented wedding team out there. Don't wait another second -- reach out to them before they are booked!!!
My daughter and son-in-law’s vision of a beautiful farm wedding was brought to life, thanks to the remarkable Emily Izakowitz. Despite a postponement due to COVID, Emily made sure ...
that the lovely venue, and talented florist, photographer, caterer and band chosen by the bride and groom were all available – one year later. The wedding was reduced in size for safety, but it couldn’t have been any more joyful. As mother of the bride, I appreciated Emily’s calm and easy manner; her smooth problem-solving skills; and her off-the-charts attention to detail. But what I most admired was her ability to listen deeply, so that this most special day reflected the bride and groom’s vision, making it, in a word, perfect.
We hired Emily (and Rebecca!) for the month-of package and honestly don’t think we could have pulled off our wedding day without them. Our day was perfect and exactly what we had h...
oped for, all thanks to Emily and Rebecca’s attention to detail, thoughtfulness, foresight, and experience. Our wedding was non-traditional and Emily and Rebecca were so supportive in rolling with us to help us bring our creative vision to life. On our wedding day, we were able to relax and fully enjoy ourselves, knowing that every detail was attended to. Highly recommend!
If you are newly engaged and considering whether it is worth it to spend money on a wedding coordinator, stop thinking about it and do it! Better yet, book Events by Emily. Upon fi...
rst meeting Emily, I immediately connected with her and knew that she would work tirelessly to make our wedding perfect. I was struck by her calming and relaxed nature. These personality traits carried through the COVID pandemic. She was always a phone call or text away to help me navigate the planning process. When the month of coordination actually started, she and her assistant Rebecca seamlessly picked up where I left off and brought our dreams into reality. I cannot adequately express what she and Rebecca mean to me. They are both so incredibly organized and structured. They ensured that we did everything we needed to do to make sure the wedding day went smoothly. This means a lot when planning a wedding during a global pandemic. Emily thought of everything to the last detail. She is truly the best in the area and invaluable. I cannot recommend her enough!
Working with Emily was a dream. We contacted Emily about 2 months ahead of our 15-person wedding and feel incredibly grateful to have had her help with planning and day-of coordina...
tion. She kept us on track without being pushy, was on top of every detail and made our day flawless and stress-free. All vendors who Emily recommended over-delivered. We whole-heartedly recommend Emily's planning and coordination services. She is a top-notch professional and genuinely kind person.
We contacted Emily about her month-of coordination services for our intimate wedding and could not be more thrilled with her work! Besides being professional (as others have menti...
oned), she is warm, funny, and relaxed…basically everything you would want in a coordinator.
Planning a wedding from afar can certainly be stressful, especially during COVID, but Emily was amazing and truly helped alleviate that stress. We ended up having to postpone our original date and Emily was more than accommodating; she helped us contact all of the vendors and sort out a new date (for two months later) within 48 hours. Her attention to detail was fantastic—she asked us questions about various ceremony and reception elements that we had never even considered. We also really valued her organization skills, particularly with timelines, sharing design/reception setup ideas, and keeping us updated with the latest North Carolina restrictions on small gatherings. Additionally, it was comforting to know that she was in frequent communication with our vendors; we didn’t have to worry about anything “falling through the cracks”. Emily worked to ensure that our wedding was truly representative of us—nothing about it felt forced or unnatural in any way. Our families are still talking about how beautiful and seamless everything was, and we can’t stop reliving the day through photos! Lastly, we appreciated how much thought she put into the safety of us, our guests, and the vendors, including bringing extra masks, wipes, and creating the most elegant, socially-distanced reception setup. Thank you, Emily!
The best wedding decision we made, besides getting married, was hiring Emily as our full-service wedding planner. Full stop.
We were planning a wedding in Durham, NC from a dista...
nce away and making vendor meetings was problematic. Emily designed an event that felt like us, without infinite vendor meetings. She is patient, detail-oriented, and an incredible resource. Emily pulled off a huge, fun and fancy, but unstuffy party. It's hard to walk the line between fancy and un-stuffy but Emily pulled it off! After a year of planning, the day-of was perfect, if there were any mishaps, we don't know them. We were able to sleep well every night, knowing Emily was in our corner.
We had an extremely positive experience working with Emily. We hired Emily through her partial wedding planning service and felt incredibly supported by her throughout the process....
Partial planning was a great option for us. We knew we wanted to take a more active role with vendors, but we were able to save many hours of research with her recommendations and timelines. We were able to be (relatively) relaxed since we knew Emily would not let any detail slip through the cracks. Emily is a professional project manager that is both detail oriented and careful to make sure that the wedding matched our shared vision and personality. Her tailored vendor recommendations, meetings, budget management tools, day-of coordination, checklists, and timelines took what felt like an overwhelming task and broke it into manageable parts. She saved us potentially hundreds of hours of research and gathering of quotes from vendors. Also, vendors love working with her. I would strongly recommend Emily for any event planning but I think she is especially skilled at planning weddings. She knows that planning weddings requires extra attention to managing relationships with family and certain details that make the day feel truly special and one of a kind. The other thing to point out about Emily is that she in addition to being professional, detail-oriented, and highly capable, she is also a wonderful, cool, and funny person. It's a little bit strange to admit, but now that we're married, we miss our meetings with Emily. Partly because they were always productive and it was exciting to see the pieces come together, but also because she's a great energy to be around. I can't recommend her highly enough. Do yourself a favor and hire Emily to plan your wedding or next event.
Emily is so wonderful that I wish I had another upcoming event so I could work with her again! Our wedding ended up exactly how I wanted, and it would have been impossible without ...
Emily's help from the start. We hired Emily as a full-service planner. My (now) husband and I live in California but wanted to have our wedding in North Carolina, where our family still lives and where we grew up. Emily made it possible for us to plan the wedding from across the country, with minimal visits to NC. She worked around our busy schedules and walked us through the process from beginning to end, helping us create the vibe and event that felt authentic to us. She has fantastic taste, knows incredible vendors (who respect the bejeezus out of her which helps), and understands her job can often include family/relationship management alongside planning.
Emily somehow makes you feel like you're her only client. She is always ready to ease fears through a text or a phone call and takes any question seriously, no matter the size. Emily made everything so seamless we hired her to help coordinate an afterparty AND our brunch the next day. If you're considering getting help to plan your other events, I highly recommend it. Having Emily help with the entire weekend ensured everything was a success and created a consistent experience for our guests and us.
Thanks, Emily for making our day so special!
I don't even know where to begin. We hired Emily as our day of coordinator and she was, start to finish, a literal dream to work with. Not only was she calm, cool and collected whi...
le I struggled to wrap up my last details, she made everything easier. Everything that needed to be completed, she was one step ahead of me guiding the way. She has impeccable taste, provided guidance when I needed it, and proved to be someone I could go to with any question I had. If I could hire her for literally any life event, I would. I don't know what we would have done without Emily & Erin on the day of. They took the pieces of what we had planned and pulled it all together flawlessly. All in all, she's kind, organized and an incredibly lovely person. Just book her already, honestly.
Emily was our "day-of" planner and she did a fabulous job! She is a perfect mix of sweetness and business and knows how to handle all kinds of people and situations. We are a same-...
sex couple, so she had double bride duty for our event!
Emily went into action a few weeks before our wedding date and made sure all the vendors and details were in order. She scheduled meetings and calls with us beforehand to go over everything, including the littlest details and was so patient and reassuring. She coordinated our rehearsal and was able to wrangle our very large and diverse group without a single drop of sweat!
Our wedding day was seamless and perfect. I've never felt more taken care of. We were blissfully unaware of any kinks or issues. She handled every step, ran interference when necessary, brought us drinks and dinner and perfectly oversaw the entire timeline. She managed to do all of this while simultaneously being inconspicuous, unassuming and non-intrusive.
We can't recommend Emily enough. She's a solid, detail-oriented professional with an empathic and artistic side. In addition, she is completely accepting and LGBTQIA inclusive. She definitely should be at the top of your list of vendors for your event!
Working with Emily was absolutely wonderful. We worked with Emily for our month of planning, and it eliminated so much stress leading up to the big day. Right away when we met, I f...
elt like Emily understood our vision, and was very helpful in nailing down our last couple of vendors. The day of our wedding, Emily and her assistant were a huge help to not only us, but both of our families and bridal party too. She brought a calm, cool, collected, and thoughtful attitude to every conversation. Don't skip out on hiring an experienced planner! They just think of things that don't even cross your mind as a couple.
Thanks for helping us pull it all off, Emily!
If you are trolling these reviews in an attempt to find the perfect wedding planner, look no further!
All the work that Emily put in as our month-of planner made the wedding and pl...
anning process go so smoothly. Leading up to the wedding, Emily did such a great job coordinating with all of the vendors. It was really great that, if I had a question or needed something adjusted, I could just reach out to Emily and she would take care of it. She made everything leading up to the wedding so uncomplicated for me and my in-laws.
As a bride, something no one tells you is that on your wedding day, if you don't have a planner, all of the questions from vendors come directly to you and your family members. With Emily and her assistant Erin, my loved ones and I were able to relax and have a nice morning, uninterrupted by vendors. They stuck around until the end of the reception and made sure that my husband and I had the best day possible. They relieved all of our stress and conducted our wedding in a way that was professional, helpful, and made us feel very special.
My husband and I often joke about getting divorced so that we can get married again and have another big fun wedding. The only thing we would do differently is hire Emily sooner.
After our wedding, people asked me what our money was best spent on. Our wedding was pretty awesome so there were a few things and one of those was Emily! She was my day of coord...
inator, but she really was more like my month of coordinator. She helped walk us through things in the weeks leading up to the wedding that would have made me crazy if we had to do them alone. She was helpful in any way you could imagine and more. The wedding day was nothing less than perfect as well. I literally just showed up and she kept me on schedule along with my vendors. I didn't have to think about anything besides getting married and it was amazing! I would recommend Emily, and her wonderful assistant Erin, without hesitation. I promise it will be money well spent!
We hired Emily as our day-of coordinator and can say she truly provides a rarity in the wedding industry: value-added service. Her "day-of" package is really a month-of service tha...
t takes the stress off just when you need it most. Our Duke Gardens wedding went off without a hitch! I didn't worry about a thing all day. Because she handled the final vendor confirmations, approved and floor plans and the timeline, I had full confidence that she understood every detail of our vision. Do yourself a favor and book her!
THE BEST EVER! Emily is exceptional. She gets to know her clients and will make sure their vision is executed. She's got an excellent demeanor and attention to detail - two qualiti...
es critical for successful wedding planners! Thank you, Emily!
I'm not sure my husband and I could've pulled our wedding off without Emily! First, she has an amazing network of vendors; some of which we coincidentally already booked, and othe...
rs were booked on her recommendation. This made planning so easy knowing not only did she have confidence in our other vendors, but they had confidence in her. Solidified every decision we made along the way & creating a wonderful team to execute our wedding. This became incredibly important because little did we know, 2 months before our wedding we'd be moving to Chicago! Not only were we not there to do walk throughs, but we did a fair amount of DIY. Having about 3 weeks prior to moving meant getting those pieces to family in driving distance, and never having a full plan for decor. Emily handled it like a champ. All of the final details with vendors. All of our decor. Flawless. Emily is also incredibly easy to work with. She has a very laid back personality, but is a BA boss lady and could easily direct a room full of our loud/crazy family & friends with grace. Many of our wedding party members, family, guest and the officiant made a point to let my husband and I know how amazing they thought she was. Best decision we made was to hire Emily!
It’s really hard to put into words how helpful and wonderful Emily was as our wedding planner. We hired on Emily as a full-service planner almost two years before the actual day of...
our wedding, and to say we couldn’t have done it without her is a huge understatement. Emily is careful, thoughtful, kind, (extremely) patient, and her attention to detail is remarkable. We live in NYC but wanted to have our wedding in Durham, and we knew we’d need full-service help. But even if you’re local, and think you've got everything under control, you should seriously consider Emily for full-service wedding planning. She navigated vendors, kept us on track in terms of budget and timeline, and really understands the joys (and stresses) of planning a wedding. Our 110 person wedding, held at the lovely Cookery in downtown Durham, was given life, felt unique and "extremely us," and was an absolute blast all thanks to her guidance. She immediately got our vibe, understood what we wanted for our day, and worked tirelessly with all of our (equally wonderful) vendors to make it beyond perfect. Bringing her on board was the best decision we made for our wedding, and we couldn’t imagine anyone else helping us have the perfect day. Thanks, Emily, for everything!
I can't speak highly enough about Emily and her skills as a wedding planner! Hiring her was one of the best decisions we made. We got engaged and were married 6 months to the day a...
fterwards and had a wedding for ~100 people. Within that 6 months we bought a house, both moved and had several other life events happen. Needless to say it was stressful but honestly I rarely had wedding stress. I was ridiculously happy planning it and I credit most of that to Emily. After the initial meeting she helped us nail down our vision and then she would give me 2 - 3 options for vendors that matched our style and were within our budget. It saved us so much time combing the internet and worrying about the caliber of those we were hiring. I know she had many meetings with vendors and the venue without me even knowing which is exactly what I wanted!
The actual wedding day was perfect! Everything (went off perfectly despite weather moving us inside and if there was a hiccup she and her assistant took care of it without me knowing.
She is personable but also no non-sense which fit well with my personality.
I never worried about missing a detail, not meeting a timeline, or anything on the wedding day. I highly recommend Emily to help plan your wedding!
Hiring Emily was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding. I started off thinking I could plan our 250 person wedding out-of-state (with the help of my in-state parents), ...
but I realized how stressed I was getting and how much I needed help making decisions. As soon as I spoke to Emily, I knew we needed and wanted her. By the time we hired her as our partial planner, we had booked most of our vendors, but Emily helped us get to the finish line. She was with us as we met with potential vendors for invitations, with our florist, the Temple, everything. She even facetimed me as she was walking through the warehouse deciding on different accessories we may or may not want for the reception. We relied on her way more than we initially expected, and it was amazing.
To sum it up, Emily is EXCELLENT at her job. She understood the look we were going for and was able to communicate with all of our vendors to help make all of the final design decisions and coordinate all day-of details. She anticipated all of our needs before we even knew we needed them and was in constant communication with us and our vendors. She reminded us when we needed to make decisions or purchases, and was always there for support! Emily will get the job done, get it done quickly, and get it done right. It took an incredible amount of pressure off of our shoulders.
We had zero worries day-of and Emily handled everything perfectly! We were able to step back and enjoy the day and we knew she would take care of anything that came up!
We enjoyed every minute of working with her and are so appreciative of all of the time and effort she put into our wedding! Hire Events by Emily and you won't be disappointed!
I was initially hesitant about hiring a wedding planner, but I can’t imagine how we would have pulled off our wedding without Emily. From providing spot on vendor recommendations t...
o advising us on choosing table linens to helping coordinate our ceremony in a treehouse in the woods, Emily was beyond helpful at every stage of our wedding planning process. She was highly responsive—even when she herself got married about a month before we did—and helped keep us on track throughout the long planning process. We appreciated her pragmatism, honesty, and deep knowledge of seemingly every detail of the wedding industry. We also just enjoyed getting to know her as a person! She’s friendly, funny, no-nonsense, and a pleasure to work with. I can’t tell you how often my now-husband and I would turn to each other after a vendor meeting or some other planning discussion and say, “Thank goodness we have Emily!” Can’t recommend her highly enough.
This rating is long overdo as my husband and I got married almost a year ago, but that speaks for how busy that time of our life was! My husband was finishing up medical school and...
I was also working and in graduate school. I could NOT have done it without Emily and hiring her was the best decision I made. Leading up to the wedding were coffee dates, phone calls, and walk-throughs to discuss our vision and go over all of the wedding details. Emily would ask me questions about things I would have never even thought about that helped make everything run so smoothly! She handled it all - vendors, layout, timeline, etc. Knowing I had her gave me a sense of ease both leading up to and on my wedding day. And when it started raining, she helped make the game time decision to move the ceremony inside and she handled all of the details to make that happen. Meanwhile, my mom and I were relaxing getting our hair done and sipping a mimosa! I didn't have to think about anything on my wedding day besides enjoying the time with my family, friends, and new husband! She is a wonderful person and friend and I couldn't recommend her enough!
The best decision that we made in planning our daughter's wedding was hiring Emily!! Our only regret is that we did not hire her to help from the very first day of our planning. ...
She is SO knowledgable, experienced, efficient, kind, thoughtful, joyful, calming, a great listener and truly wanted to help give us all the happiest day ever. Our family is ever so grateful for the gift of a perfect wedding that she helped to give our family!!!
My husband, Stephen, and I began the wedding planning process during a rather hectic time in our lives. We’d recently moved across the country from NC, & we were still adjusting to...
his grueling medical residency schedule, the SF bay area cost of living, & simply being in a new place! We briefly wondered if perhaps we should wait until a more “stable” time to plan our wedding. But we didn’t entertain that possibility for long: we were ready! And we knew we wanted to tie the knot back in NC, where we met & fell in love.
Neither of us knowing much about the planning process, we were embarrassingly naive. After a few crazy months of attempting to do it on our own, we finally admitted the obvious: we needed help!
We found Emily on Google, & her words felt immediately reassuring. Her vibe was down-to-earth & authentic. It felt like she already knew the essence of the wedding we wanted to create. She also just seemed like someone we'd be friends with!
Our first meeting (via Skype) confirmed this initial impression. She was validating & kind, but also assertive & professional. She told us that she enjoyed working weddings of all budgets, & when we threw out our crazy ideas (like having a bike race the morning of our wedding) she didn’t bat an eyelash, though she did bust out a smile! She clearly explained her services & didn’t pressure us into choosing a particular package. But, after the call, it didn’t take long for us to sign on for her full service option.
As the months ticked on, Emily continued to impress us. She was super communicative, meticulously organized, & helped us anticipate countless aspects of wedding planning we would have never realized ourselves until the final hour. Though she has a list of trusted vendors, she was willing & open to working with the friends & family who pitched in for many aspects of our wedding. We understand now that this was no small task -- she worked very hard to communicate & coordinate with people she had never met.
My husband wasn’t able to attend most of the wedding-related planning trips, so Emily accompanied me on tasting appointments, venue walk-throughs, & coffee-dates. Because she was planning her own wedding at the same time, we bonded over the disorienting double-standards put upon brides by society. She calmed me down, she validated me, & she was only ever a text or email away. To this day, when I hear “Emily”, I feel a little rush of calm & relief!
As the wedding approached, knowing that Emily was taking care of so many logistical things allowed us to focus on the personal touches that were important to us. I was able to spend time doing fun crafting projects with friends (& planning the bike race, of course!) Our memories of wedding planning tasks are mostly ones that are enormously meaningful and personal, so much so that they still bring us to happy-tears months later. This would not have been possible without Emily.
The week of the wedding, we were thrown a few curveballs, but Emily was focused and assured. I felt calm knowing that she was there, no matter what.
Our wedding day was PERFECT. And as a lifelong perfectionist, I don’t use that word lightly. It was utterly and completely the best day of our lives. Thanks to Emily, we were fully present in every moment.
If you’re considering hiring Emily as your wedding planner, stop considering. Just do it. The best day of your life will follow, and you'll join us in the luxury of a lifetime remembering how beautiful it was.
Emily was a wonderful event planner, I am so glad we hired her! I was a very hesitant bride, I wasn't even sure that I wanted to have a wedding. But Emily was a great leader in the...
wedding planning and she helped us find the type of wedding that suited us. She was keen to my concerns and fears about the wedding able to assure me that it would all be wonderful and sure enough, it was! She is also very well organized and proactive. Emily stays on top of the ball with planning and her presence day of was absolutely invaluable.
Hiring Emily Izakowitz as our month-of wedding planner for my youngest daughter’s wedding was the best decision I made in the entire, year-long process of preparing for the big day...
. Emily has a rare gift for closely listening to and intuiting her clients’ vision, and then helping them to realize that vision at every level, from the utterly practical to the over-the-moon romantic. She is as resilient, flexible, and good-natured as she is organized, decisive, firm, and reliable. With an understated elegance all her own, she helped to orchestrate a complex nexus of florists, caterers, clergy, drivers, photographers, musicians, wedding party members, and guests with inspirational calm. She never once made the event about her, and yet we absolutely could not have had the wonderful experience we had without her guidance and help at every important turn. In retrospect, I wish I’d hired her for the entire planning period. She’s a marvel.
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1406 Green Street, Durham, NC | Durham, NC, Chapel Hill and the Triangle Region
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