Peggy & Carl
Italian Center, Stamford Connecticut
​
Vision to Fruition
We met Peggy about 3 months before her wedding. She hired us after one phone call & we needed to work quickly. Our challenge was to make an oversized tent which the Italian Center mostly used for camps in the summer into a wedding space for 150 guests. Accomplished by installing tall white curtains around the perimeters & lots of uplighting. Adding elegant centerpieces filled with white flowers & greens. A gobo with their names shined above their sweetheart table. Peggy added special DIY elements to make it personal & intimate. When they entered the tent for the first time, she gasped” This is more than what I expected. It is so beautiful” That made us so happy!
"I would first like to say, that I'm very honored to provide this review for Eileen Smith. She was absolutely the best to work with! I'm still in awe of how she pulled off my wedding in less than three months. With that said, here's why I feel this way. I was contracted with the Italian Center in Stamford, CT to have my wedding on August 26, 2023, in their summer tent. I knew there would be some work required to bring my vision to fruition, so I hired what I thought was a "wedding planner". This individual turned out to be a "party decorator", which I quickly realized, as soon as I spoke with Eileen, is a big difference from an experienced and professional Wedding Planner. The "party decorator" had no idea of all the intricate details required for a wedding. As the days grew close to my date, I was in complete shambles, frustrated and defeated. My wedding was going to be disaster! I could feel depression setting in, so I just started Googling every wedding planner in the tri-state (NY, NJ & CT) area. Most were already booked for the summer and not accepting any new gigs. I had called so many planners that my head was spinning, but I remember one agreed to speak with me on a Sunday afternoon in June. When she called me, she asked me to tell her what was going on. I started to explain my situation and the time constraint I was under. The first thing Eileen said to me was, "I'm so sorry you're going through this, so close to your wedding". It brought me to tears then, just as it's doing right now. I immediately felt like she cared and was going to rescue me. After some discussions, I hired Eileen and she took off from that point. She met with the venue representative several times, had countless calls and email communication with her to ensure I received the best service they could provide. She then informed me (unlike the "party decorator"), that the tent was way too big for my 100 guests and needed to be closed in. She had a decorator come in to drape off the tent which gave it a more intimate look. We then work with what I consider to be one of the coolest florist around. They absolutely understood the assigment. The centerpieces for the table were tall with white flowers, just how I envisioned it and the pillars of flowers at the altar were phenomenal. Everyone is still talking about how beautiful everthing was til this day. I could not have planned a better wedding if I started two years prior. Eileen stayed close to me throughout the entire process. She made sure all the vendors had their COI and performed the services they were hired for. Eileen packed up my husbands SUV at the end of the night with the two slices of cake I asked her to save for me. I would recommend her for her caring first, her professionalism and attention to detail. She definitely rescued my me!"
– Peggy Williams-Fraiser