Michigan Avenue Events - Chicago, Illinois

Sunny H

Brianne and her team went above and beyond to ensure that we had the wedding of our dreams at the Waldorf Astoria. From our very first meeting, Brianne was attentive, knowledgeable, and energetic. My fiance and I planned our wedding in Chicago while long-distance and Brianne made our planning process so much less stressful with her expertise and attention to detail. I am especially grateful for how Brianne jugggled multiple asks from our family members and helped walk them through everything over a zoom call leading up to the wedding to address any and all concerns and questions. Any time a potential issue came up, Brianne was ready with a plan of action and always asked for our input to make sure everyone was happy. On the day of, she and her team truly delivered on their promise that they would be there for me from start to finish. She had multiple team members present to handle logistics with vendors, timelines/schedule, and even be literally by my side throughout the day, helping with my dress and my outfit change and everything in between. Wedding planning is such a stressful time and I can’t imagine how we could have gotten through it without Brianne. While Michigan Avenue Events does specialize in luxury events, we really appreciated how Brianne helped us stay within our desired budget and helped negotiate our contracts with vendors. We are so incredibly happy with our wedding and can’t recommend Brianne and her team enough. Brianne is an absolute gem and you will love working with her.

Genevieve Carter

I would give Brianne 100 stars if I could. Do not hesitate to book her and her team for your wedding. We threw a lot at her team: a large irish catholic guest list, small children that needed to be corralled, old people with a strong likelihood to wander off, pretty much the works. Brianne and her team handled the entire day with grace and efficiency. Brianne truly went above and beyond and I'll give you a few examples:

- the Mother/MIL zoom conference two weeks before the wedding. I did not think we needed this, but Brianne insisted and we definitely needed it. She sat down with my mom and MIL for over an hour, answered every question, made them feel great about the day, went through the entire minute by minute schedule that she created until both my MIL/Mom were satisfied. You know who didn't have to answer random questions from her family the whole two weeks leading up to her wedding? Me, the bride. The moms, armed with the info they needed handled everything. It was amazing.

- The aforementioned minute-by-minute schedule. Brianne and her team work with you very closely to plan your whole day down to the minute. They worked with our vendors to make sure everyone was on the same page, and they baked in special time and moments for just me and my husband to spend together away from all the people to take it all in together. It seems unnecessary when you are in the midst of planning it, but it is both necessary and wonderful.

-Brianne even asked us what songs we didn't want to miss the band play and made sure we were in the room and dancing for all of our favorites. It's the small things that she definitely wasn't required to care about but because she did care about made our wedding all the more special.

I think the best part about hiring Brianne was that I never for a second worried or even thought about the operations or logistics of our wedding and neither did our immediate families. We all got to attend/experience it pretty much how our guests did- and that is a pretty magical gift to give a person.

I really could go on and on but the point is, Brianne is a superwoman and if you are concerned (like I was) about the prospect of planning a 260 person wedding (but really any size) in downtown Chicago, hire this gem of a human.

Rina & Gobie

My husband and I are based in New York, but I wanted to have a hometown wedding in Chicago. I was looking for the right planner and team to deliver on my vision of a sleek and modern Indian wedding in the heart of the city—and Brianne did just that.

From the very beginning, it was clear she was the perfect fit for us. She was diligent, detail-oriented, and incredibly communicative—all the qualities you hope for in a planner. With her wealth of experience, she brought invaluable insight and had connections to a variety of vendors, making the planning process seamless.

What truly stood out, though, was Brianne’s cultural sensitivity and her genuine effort to understand the specific traditions we wanted to incorporate. Our wedding was a fusion of Indian and Sri Lankan traditions, and she not only took the time to learn but was already well-versed in many aspects, which made the process so much easier.

Brianne’s creativity shone through in her innovative ideas, from the tablescape design to finding thoughtful ways to incorporate our stories and work into the wedding itself. It felt so personalized and unique to us.

Her day-of coordination was simply impeccable. She brought her incredible team, and they executed everything flawlessly. My husband and I felt completely supported the entire time. If anything went off schedule or didn’t go as planned, we had no idea—Brianne was always there with a solution and kept us on track.

I cannot say enough good things about Brianne and her team. She made the entire process stress-free and brought our dream wedding to life. If you're considering her for your wedding, don’t hesitate—I’m also happy to chat further if you want to hear more about our experience!

Mark W

Brianne and her talented team were beyond amazing. We had the perfect day for our daughter's wedding and it was all made possible through the care, professionalism, and attention to detail from Marquette Avenue Events. Since this was held on our property, there was a ton of extra planning necessary to pull all the vendors and plans together seamlessly. And that's exactly what Brianne and team did. Fabulous!

I recommend MAE to anyone wanting to enjoy a perfect day!

Celeste Botelho

Brianne and Team MAE are truly the best! I hired Brianne for month-of wedding planning and I was so relieved when she took the wheel about 6 weeks out from my wedding day. She gave great recommendations for vendors while keeping our budget in mind. Her expertise helped us consider details that I would not have thought of myself. I had complete faith in all of her recommendations from vendors, itinerary, and wedding day details. My family was very impressed with the attention to details and we were so happy to have a detailed timeline. Brianne and Team MAE are professional, organized, and fun to be around! We had 300 guests at the Four Seasons Chicago and everything truly turned out perfectly. MAE is a MUST for wedding planning, I cannot recommend them enough. Thank you, Brianne!!

Melanie Richards

Brianne and her team were one of the best investments we made for our wedding! From meeting weekly to help bring my vision to life, hearing her knowledge about best practices, to helping negotiate pricing with vendors, her support was invaluable. Over the course of a year we worked intimately through every detail of my wedding (as I had full planning support). During this time Brianne made herself available, day and night, and was even a shoulder to cry on from time to time (THANKS Brianne!). Her expertise, organization and emotional support helped set up our day to be the most meaningful moment of my life. My husband and I are grateful for her support and HIGHLY recommend her!

Lauren Brownstein

Brianne is amazing! She was referred to me by my cousin, who is in the wedding industry - so I knew I would be in good hands. Marquette Avenue Events went above and beyond and exceeded all of my expectations! I was so relieved to have Brianne and her team help my husband and I create and plan the wedding of our dreams!!! Looking back, there is truly not one thing that went wrong (or that I know about) because every step of the wedding process was handled so professionally. At the beginning of the process, I explained to Brianne that I did not have a clear vision and I was not the common bride who had Pinterest boards/clear ideas of what they wanted in their wedding. When I look back at videos and pictures, I am in awe with how well Brianne helped me follow a vision I never knew a had, from the smallest to the largest details. Brianne has impeccable taste and I fully trusted her with her amazing ideas. When I was stuck between two choices of something, she always knew what would work best for our special day and she was right. My husband and I are so pleased with Marquette Avenue Events and I am so glad that I was referred to her! If you are in the process of looking for a wedding planner, look no further- you are absolutely in the right place. I will share some pictures below of our perfect day, because Marquette Avenue Events made it all happen 🙂

Jennifer Parker

Brianne Garritano and her MAE team are outstanding! As busy professionals we wanted someone we could rely on to help execute our wedding vision. We trust Bri wholeheartedly to help
plan and coordinate any event we have. Getting married out of the country added another layer of uncertainty. We hired to help with the entire wedding planning process from venue selection to the day of the wedding. Her professionalism, knowledge, expertise, and connections made planning a destination wedding a seamless experience. We appreciated her availability throughout the process. Any questions and concerns we had she would respond to in a timely manner. She made working with the vendors in Mexico a much easier process than it would have been on our own. She truly went above and beyond to make sure we had what we wanted for our wedding and we will always be grateful for her. Bri and her MAE team are the best! Do yourself a favor and hire her!!