4.9 out of 5 stars and 32 reviews
4.9
(32)Best of Weddings (1x).3801 Ingersoll Avenue, Des Moines, IA
About this vendor
White Willow Events is a full-service Wedding and Event Planning Company, specializing in unforgettable weddings and social events. Our one-on-one planning and design process is tailored to each client’s specific need creating a seamless, worry-free celebration.
Awards + Accolades :
Central Iowa Wedding Choice Awards: Best Event Decor Rental Company
Central Iowa Wedding Choice Awards: Best Day of Wedding Coordinator
Central Iowa Wedding Choice Awards: Best Wedding Planner
World Bride Magazine: Top Wedding Planner
http://worldbridemagazine.com/22485/the-cream-of-the-crop-picks-for-wedding-planning-in-des-moines-iowa/
Details
Planning
- Day-Of Coordination
- Full Service Wedding Planning
- Wedding Design
Wedding Activities
- Rehearsals & Parties
- Rehearsal Dinner
- Wedding
- Ceremony
- Cocktail Hour
- Day After Brunch
Awards and Affiliations
Reviews
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4.9
out of 5.032 reviews
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We hired White Willow for our daughter’s wedding. Working with Anna was a dream. All the details we were not skilled in she took over. And the end result was more than we could have hoped for. Her bouquet was beyond beautiful. Thank you for helping us make the day memorable and very stress free!
One of the best decisions I made was hiring White Willow for our wedding!
Working with Alex B. at White Willow made our wedding planning and wedding day process so smooth! Our WW team was incredibly organized and went above and beyond to answer our questions and handle all of the details on our big day. Additionally, the florals and the decor we rented through WW were absolutely stunning and we received so many compliments from our guests! I can’t recommend White Willow highly enough!
White Willow is amazing to work with and truly made our big day memorable and so special. All the flowers and decorations were exactly what we envisioned. We had sequin decorations sprinkled throughout the decorations and the veranda decorated with a chandelier and draping was like a dream come true! All of our guests keep telling us how beautiful the setup and decorations were! The White Willow staff truly care about making sure everything runs smoothly and went above and beyond to remove a church display on the alter in order to make the church look like we had always dreamt.
Tasha, our wedding coordinator, was also fantastic. She made sure all the vendors and wedding party were on time and nothing slipped through the cracks. Ahead of time, she contacted all of our vendors, created a detailed timeline, and made sure we didn’t have to worry or stress about anything. She also took time to answer any questions we had and helped me navigate issues I had with an unresponsive vendor. I can’t speak highly enough about Tasha and White Willow. They are the best of the best!
They are the best! They made my daughters dream wedding happen. They were on top of everything from planning to the day of. We walked into Glen Oaks CC and the setup was perfect! Every detail! I didn't do a thing. Tasha was our day of planner and was involved in everything.She handled every aspect before and during the wedding, down to moving a harvest display at the church the day of the wedding! She couldn't have been more helpful and professional. If you want the perfect wedding you need to hire White Willow!
We hired White Willow Events as our day-of/month-of coordinator for our wedding along with design and floral, and let me tell you it was the best decision we have ever made! Taylor is absolutely wonderful and fun to work with, she is so helpful answering questions and helping come up with the design to get the wedding of your dreams. She was so thoughtful with our budget and put in so much effort to make sure we still got everything we needed for our vision to come to life. I had a very specific idea in mind for my floral, and what she came up with from our talks turned out absolutely GORGEOUS and I had a thousand compliments on the arrangements!! Taylor even helped me find a place to steam my dress the day before the wedding when I called her in a panic Thursday night about my dress being wrinkled from traveling, and she chased down our limo bus with a bottle of champagne after the ceremony when we forgot one for pictures! There were several small problems that popped up the day of our wedding as is inevitable, but she had them all handled and I didn’t have to worry about a thing - she is all about making sure the couple enjoys their day and have as little stress as possible. She is worth absolutely every penny and I will recommend White Willow Events to anyone and everyone I know getting married!!!
I highly recommend White Willow Events! Both Taylor and Rachel were fantastic to work with and exceeded our expectations. Their design services were fantastic and they really helped me create exactly what I wanted (sometimes I didn't even know what I wanted lol but they offer many suggestions and ideas which was incredibly helpful to me since I can be very indecisive). All our guests commented on how gorgeous the flowers, table settings, and altar pieces were! And everyone absolutely LOVED the neon signs!! They offer rentals and having them set-up and tear-down was easily the best thing ever as my family and I could all relax on the day of and I feel like I didn't have to worry about a thing. Rachel was my Day of Coordinator and I honestly cannot imagine the day without her! She took care of literally everything and I had zero stress. From the timeline she created, coordination with my vendors, décor, keeping my wedding party in check 🙂, etc. everything was absolutely perfect! She also was easy to get in touch with and was always quick to respond to any text or email I would send her way. Our wedding was the best day ever and I cannot imagine our day without White Willow - Teddy and I cannot thank you guys enough for everything!!!
Without question, the best rental, florist and DoC in the Des Moines area. Taylor was willing to meet with me multiple times to ease my mind. She always made me feel comfortable and I trusted her with her sense of wedding style. Rachel was my DoC and she was FABULOUS! I can’t imagine the day without her. She was always by my side and no request was a silly request. I would highly recommend her as a DoC. Overall, I had a great experience with White Willow and would highly recommend them!
I HIGHLY recommend White Willow Events for wedding planning. Taylor was absolutely amazing to work with. Her creativity, expertise, and hardwork made planning my wedding feel like a breeze. I had so much trust in Taylor/the white willow team that my wedding day felt stress-free. They helped pull off a beautiful, fun, and meaningful wedding for my husband and I. 5/5 stars for sure!!!
I first discovered White Willow at a Bridal Show I attended months before my wedding here in Des Moines. I fell in love with the fresh, beautiful design display and decided to make an appointment with Taylor right away. Fast forward to June 2019, and I credit Taylor and her team with single-handedly pulling off our 305-guest wedding and reception without a hitch. I hired WW for full planning services, and they executed like seasoned professionals. I even had a few last-minute customizations I threw at them (Neon sign, Champagne bottle escort 'cards' on tiered shelves, etc.) that they made happen without blinking an eye. I am forever grateful to Taylor and WW for making our day so incredible
Taylor and her team at White Willow Events helped make my wedding in August of 2019 a flawless experience. To know that all aspects of the day are being handled by talented professionals is such an incredible feeling on one of the most special days in your life! Everything from the décor, personalized timeline, and coordination with vendors was absolute perfection. And the best part? My family and I could RELAX and enjoy spending time with friends and family without having to worry about a thing. I had the utmost trust in Taylor and her team and would absolutely recommend them to any future bride!
White Willow was recommended to me to use as a florist. When I contacted them, I soon realized I wanted to hire their planning services. I am very glad I did. Alex and Taylor knew how to bring all of the ideas together and create a beautiful day for my daughter, her husband and our families. Alex pulled everything together for the day of and was the steadying and calm presence we needed. Every detail was beyond beautiful and we received many nice compliments from our guests. They definitely rescued us with finding a DJ! I would highly recommend using White Willow.
One of the best decisions that we made when planning our wedding was using White Willow Events for their “day of” wedding coordination. Alex was wonderful! She helped our vision come together so well! From the timeline she created (which would have taken me hours and still would have not been correct), to visiting the venue with me the week of the wedding for a final walk through, to coordinating with all of our vendors, and handling all questions the day of the wedding. We had so many compliments on the itinerary she created for everyone in our wedding party. She helped everything come together. We even rented a few things from them that we were not able to find at other vendors like copper cups. Our wedding day was perfect and what made it even better is that we were not stressed about anything because Alex had it all under control! I highly recommend Alex and White Willow Events, I only wish I had booked them sooner in the wedding planning process.
My overall experience when dealing with white willow was disappointing and unsatisfactory. For couples with large wedding budgets, I am sure white willow events does a sufficient job. For couples with a smaller budget, I would strongly recommend talking to a different decorators/planners. Since I was paying for the entire wedding out of my own pocket without help from either of our parents, I would say I had a much smaller budget that other brides who hire white willow.
When looking back through the emails and reflecting on my wedding day, I feel like I was never made a priority because of my smaller wedding budget. In the days prior to my wedding, I felt that my opinion and concerns became looked over or "pushed under the rug". Taylor's responses to my emails were very curt and short. I tried to set up a meeting to discuss my concerns in the week prior to my wedding, and she said she was too busy. Being told that she was "too busy" in the week prior to the wedding showed that I was not a priority to her.
To conclude it all, there was extensive confusion about the tear down of the venue afterwards. Some of her staff was incredibly rude to the wedding party, who was only trying to help because there was no one in the wedding party knew we did not need to tear down the decorations (would have been nice to have that meeting the week prior to discuss details like this...). My sister-in-law found one of the white willow workers throwing decorations we had provided into the trash and then pouring the water and wax over them from floating candles.
Since we were planning our wedding from out of town I knew we were going to need some help. From the moment I met Taylor I knew that she was definitely who we would want for our special day. We could not have been more thrilled by everything that Taylor and her team did for us. The design and decor was just beautiful. Taylor understood everything we wanted even when we weren't the best at describing it. She thought of everything and made the day go so smoothly. We didn't have to stress about anything and just got to enjoy the day together. If you're wondering about getting a coordinator you absolutely should and you should hire White Willow! We have nothing but raving reviews for Taylor and this team. No hesitation we would hire her over again, we had the absolute best day and wedding thanks to Taylor and White Willow Events!
Taylor is the best wedding planner in Iowa, possibly the world.
My fiance and I live in New York but were planning our wedding in Iowa. When I interviewed planners, Taylor immediately stood out to me. She asked all of the right questions and understood my vision for the wedding. I am also very particular/detail oriented, so having a wedding planner that was equally neurotic (in a good way!) was key.
To make Taylor's job harder, we were planning a whole weekend worth of events and our guests were flying in from literally every corner of the US and world. She and her team handled every aspect of the weekend. We never had to deal with any logistics or guest questions/issues. Our guests were equally impressed with how responsive Taylor was.
In terms of planning and design, we wanted some rather unconventional things. I'll give you two examples to showcase how creative Taylor is.
Our venue (ISU Memorial Union) reminded me of the dining hall from Harry Potter (one of my favorite book series), but we didn't want a "themed" wedding. So, Taylor came up with a lighting idea that was a nod to the floating candles from the movies. But, the venue would not allow us to hang anything, so she ended up using 2000 LED candles placed one by one along a high ledge. It looked stunning. We also love disco balls but again, the venue wouldn't allow us to hang anything. So, Taylor came up with an designed a free standing disco ball backdrop to our band that had over 200 disco balls on it.
Taylor is also great under pressure. The weather was threatening rain the entire wedding weekend. Our welcome party was to be held on a farm, outside. The day of, Taylor made the decision to move into the farm's horse arena, but she knew I was not originally happy with the way the horse arena looked. In the couple of hours before the rain call was made, Taylor completely transformed it. She had asked a neighbor for his 18 wheeler flatbed, had it driven into the horse arena and had the band set up on it with all of their lights. It looked incredible, like an outdoor music festival.
Then, the day of the wedding, it rained again (after the team had put all of our chairs out), so Taylor had to again think quickly and re-arrange, and again everything looked like it had always been planned that way from the beginning.
Taylor also gave recommendations for all of our vendors and we could not have been happier with the team she put together. She has relationships with the best of the best in the wedding business in Iowa and I can tell you that they rival the talent you can find in New York or anywhere in the world. The only vendor we had sourced before we hired Taylor was the venue (ISU Memorial Union). We picked the MU because my fiance and my parents are ISU alums. And although the MU is beautiful and the wedding turned out spectacularly, there are soooo many hurdles and rules when getting married at a University. And of course, we wanted to break all of the rules. Taylor worked tirelessly with the venue to get us as much as she could. She also coordinated between the venue and our other vendors as they had requests the venue was not ok with. We actually didn't even know of some of these issues until months after the wedding when we recapped with some of our other vendors because Taylor took care of all of that without us even knowing.
So, I think you get the gist :). She is the best, you should definitely hire her!
Taylor at White Willow Events, was our coordinator and and florist. She caught on quickly to the look and feel we were trying to create and did not flood us with too many options. Taylor knew when to pipe up and make small decisions for us which allowed us to keep focused on the more important details. Taylor and her team are very organized and she really made our wedding look beautiful! Also, she made sure we had the right vendors in place to get everything we were looking for and more!
I would highly recommend her to anyone who is getting married, my mom and I don't know what we would have done without her through this whole process!
Taylor was fantastic to work with. I was that bride that had no idea what types of flowers are out there, what additional items would work with our setup, or really what colors would work. I had the basics picked out, and Taylor was comfortable filling in the rest. She was so helpful and had no problem communicating as needed through email. She never hesitated to continue to send adjusted invoices as I was changing my mind on certain venue and ceremony items. My husband decided to make the centerpieces for our wedding also, and Taylor gave us the dimensions for the flower boxes so we could make that work. I was able to drop them off to her the week of the wedding, and her team inserted all of the vases in without any problems! Taylor is so lovely, I would recommend any bride to work with her.
We hired White Willow as a month-of planner for our June wedding. They were AMAZING to work with, and we think that hiring them was one of the best choices we made!
We mainly worked with Tasha, and also met with/emailed with Taylor. The day of our wedding, Tasha had a couple interns helping out as well, and everyone was so nice and super helpful! Prior to the wedding, they made very detailed timelines so that everyone knew where they needed to be, and they contacted and coordinated with all of our vendors to make sure everyone had a timeline. The day of the wedding, they took care of anything we needed (fixed flowers, got us drinks, bustled by dress, etc.) I truly don't know how we would have gotten all the planning done without them!
Taylor at White Willow events and the whole White Willow team did an incredible job with the decor for our wedding! Taylor is so friendly, experienced, and professional. She was extremely easy to work with and truly brought our vision of what we wanted our wedding day to look like to life. From our first meeting with Taylor to our wedding day, our experience with White Willow has only been positive. The flowers, table settings, altar piece, absolutely everything was beautiful down to the tiniest details. Even at our first meeting with Taylor, we felt so secure and confident entrusting her with our wedding decor. She is so knowledgeable and has amazing decorating style so working with her was a dream.
During our first meeting, we had a big picture idea of what we wanted our decorations to look like but were unsure about a lot of the details. Taylor was very patient and guided us through everything, helping us make decisions while always ensuring that everything reflected us as a couple and our style. When we asked for a second meeting to make some changes, she was very accomdating and happy to go over things with us to make sure that our decorations were just what we wanted. She responds quickly to emails and is very easy to get in touch with, she is extremely professional and on top of things. Again, I cannot emphasize enough how GORGEOUS our wedding was and how happy we are that we chose White Willow for our wedding decor. We highly, highly recommend White Willow to any couple getting married in the Des Moines area!
Taylor Boesen is unbelievable! Taylor was an absolute joy to work with from beginning to end. Taylor helped with our day-of coordination as well as the design of our ceremony and reception venue. Taylor took our design ideas and helped make them a reality and exceeded expectations while doing so. She is nothing but amazing to work with... from her fun-loving attitude, her down-to-earth nature and her calm demeanor she is absolutely the person you want by your side on your big day. Do yourself a favor and hire her, you will NOT regret it. She is the best!
We worked with Taylor for our decor and floral arrangements through Boesen for our ceremony and reception. I will never forget the first time I walked into our reception space on wedding day. I was absolutely blown away by how stunning the centerpieces and tables were. Taylor did a PHENOMENAL job! Everything was so far above and beyond what we could have imagined - she didn't miss a single detail. Taylor was so easy to work with and took so much stress out of our planning process. She brought our wedding vision to life!
Taylor Boesen and her team at White Willow Events are a must for all busy brides! The year of my wedding, I finished my MBA, moved back to Des Moines, bought a home, and started a new job so I needed some major help with wedding planning. Taylor took a handful of ideas and a guest list and pulled together the most wonderful wedding and reception. She was able to turn my scattered thoughts into an amazing event. I also never had to worry about any detail being missed because Taylor is so experienced and ready to handle everything. I have 4 sisters, and I know that they will all be using Taylor and White Willow Events for their weddings. Couldn't of been happier!
Taylor is the BEST! She was wonderful at asking questions to understand what I was looking for and made it come to life. She provided my flowers, centerpieces, table numbers and linens. She was very detailed oriented and noticed that number of the tables were not the same as our original estimate (which I had totally forgotten to check) and was able to quickly get the correct linens. Her team did a beautiful job setting up and putting together my floral arrangements. She did a fantastic job!
I hired Taylor for month-to-month planning and for floral with Boesen The Florist. Taylor was incredible and worth every cent! She listened to every idea I had, every picture I showed her and turned it into reality! The day went so smoothly with her and her crew starting with setting up the ceremony and reception, helping us stick to the timeline she created throughout the day/night and ending with them cleaning everything up at the end of the night. I had the perfect day and she is a huge part of the reason why! She does not disappoint! Thank you Taylor for everything!
Taylor is amazing! We used her services for décor at our reception venue and we had SO MANY compliments!!! When initially meeting with her, I was unsure of exactly what I wanted. She listed to my ideas and brought it to life, plus some! She is truly amazing, wished I would have used her to coordinate as well ;)
My husband and I hired Taylor for the event design as well as set up/tear down for our wedding, however Taylor did so much more than we could have even hoped for! She flawlessly worked so hard to make my vision come alive. Her attention to detail, sense of style and high-level of sophistication was easily seen through the rentals she chose and how she stylized every tiny element. She was such a joy to work with! She answered all my emails promptly and willing gave me suggestions on how to make our wedding perfect. She coordinated with all our vendors to makes sure everything was delivered and set up on time. I literally have ZERO stress because of her and her amazing team! If I were to do it all over again, I would hire Taylor in a heartbeat!! I truly cannot express how grateful I was to have her as a wedding vendor.
I went with Taylor because of her sense of style, knowledge of flowers, and knowledge around weddings. She helped us find transportation for our guests as well as negotiate a room block evens though my wedding date was the day before a very large annual marathon that booked up hotels in the area a few weeks before my wedding and ended up closing multiple streets the day after. Her knowledge of the area and ability to work with hotels and transportation, allowed our guests to just come and enjoy our wedding without issue.
For the flowers and Decor - I am not sure I can write well enough to describe how wonderful they were. Taylor was flexible to work with and took the time to understand our style and incorporate that. We wanted Purple and orange for a subtle pop, classic decor but with unique twists and she more than provided that. I am currently try to dry and save as many of the flowers as I can because I loved them so much. I know without a doubt our ceremony and reception would not have looked as spectacular as it did without her.
We hired White Willow Events for "day of coordination". However, Taylor did so much more than I could have possibly imagined or hoped for. She seamlessly put together the wedding of my dreams and was patient with all of my ideas and suggestions. Further, because of her and her "day of coordination" the day was thought out and organized... she kept people moving and helped direct traffic! She was amazing.... our guests even commented on how much they enjoyed her!
Taylor is AMAZING. She took care of every single detail. I didn't have to worry about a thing. And when we hit a snag in the wedding day, she totally took care of it. I can't express enough how grateful and thankful I am to have found her! She's worth every penny and more!
Taylor was a terrific person to work with. She listened to what I wanted and delivered. She was always pleasant and professional. She made the planning much easier, and I felt confident that the day would go well. And it did! Everything turned out very beautiful! Thanks, Taylor!
Hiring White Willow Events for our day of coordinator was one of the best wedding planning decisions that I made. Taylor was welcoming, and friendly through the entire process. She was very prompt at responding to emails, and helped me out tremendously the entire month before the wedding.
She confirmed with my vendors, and worked hand in hand with the coordinator at our reception venue.
A few days before, we had the most adorable daily schedule packets. The entire wedding party loved them, and it saved me a ton of work. She attended the rehearsal so she knew what to expect the day of. Surprisingly, some other coordinators that I looked into, charged extra for attending rehearsal, and for the services that were included in White Willow's package. This made for an amazing value.
On the day of, Taylor did amazing. No one had to worry about doing really anything the day of. She took care of everything. She transported things from the church, and took care of all the clean up. At the reception, she made sure everything was on track, and stayed until after all the main events.
I would whole heartedly recommend White Willow Events to anyone, and for the brides who want to plan themselves, having a day of coordinator saves so much stress, and is worth the money.
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3801 Ingersoll Avenue, Des Moines, IA
White Willow Events
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