Ohana Events is a luxury event planning company with planners based in Miami, Chicago, Grand Rapids, and St. Louis! The Ohana team strives to make the entire planning process, from first meeting to the big day a stress-free experience. Let’s face it, weddings and events are more than just one long day. Months, and sometimes years, of hard work are put into building a celebration – hopefully with lots of champagne toasts and happy tears along the way! Because so much time, money and effort are put into every single event, the team at Ohana Events feels it’s important to make the entire experience one that you will cherish and remember forever.
Miami, Chicago, Grand Rapids, and destination!
“We invite you to be part of the OE family with open arms.
There is no need to stress, no need to worry, and no need to look any further. We may start as your planner, but you’ll quickly realize we’re here for more than that. We will happily be your confidant, educator & hopefully your lifelong friend.”
And beyond just the LGBTQ community, we do not discriminate based on race or religion either. In fact, we absolutely adore working with diverse clients because it allows each event we orchestrate to have their own character and charm. We’re always learning and growing as a team and we are eager to become more cultured and worldly individuals
The moral of the story is we love LOVE and welcome any clients with open arms.
danielle
“When I’m not planning & executing events, I love to play beach volleyball, cuddle with my cat named Cheeto, and travel across the world with my hubs.”
Miami + Destination + Chicago
rachel
“If you catch me in my free time, I'm either on a run, reading a new novel, or playing with my berner, Rainie!"
Destination + Chicago
Meet Danielle, the official boss-babe of Ohana Events! Within her 9+ years as an event planner, she has planned and designed some of the most elaborate and memorable events in Miami, Chicago, Austin, Mexico, Italy, and many places in between.
Meet Rachel! She was planning weddings and events with Danielle before Ohana Events was open. As a lead planner in the Destination division, it's easy to say she is obsessed with the uniqueness of every event. She loves how no two events are ever the same, pushing the envelope with new trends year after year.
jENNA
When I’m not dreaming about my upcoming events, I’ll grab a latte at Dunkin and hit an OrangeTheory class – blasting some Country music on the way”
Chicago
mara
Chicago
Meet Jenna, the lady who brings her expertise in hospitality management to every single one of her clients. Due to her background in floral design, she is able to tap into her creative side for all the events she designs and builds from ground zero.
“In my free time you can find me at hotworx or drinking a dirty martini with blue cheese olives”
Meet Mara, the morning workout queen and driven corporate event + wedding specialist. She’s passionate about maintaining efficient timelines and making sure nothing falls through the cracks. Leave it to her to become your friend after your event, especially if you’re a concertgoer.
"When I'm not updating timelines or scheduling meetings, you'll find me out at my favorite restaurants, online shopping, or redecorating my apartment (again...)."
sonya
"In my free time, you can likely find me exploring Chicago or eating out at a restaurant, stuffing my face with a potato dish and a cocktail in my hand."
Chicago
emily
Chicago
Meet Sonya! While she’s based in the Windy City now, she is the only planner not born in Chicagoland. From meeting the sweetest couples to working with talented vendors to making her couple's day relaxing as possible and making friends along the way - it's Sonya's dream!
Meet Emily, our lead planner based in Michigan, servicing all around the Great Lakes, Northern Indiana and Chicagoland – as that’s where she began her career. Emily has been a part of the events industry since 2016; with past experience in catering, venue management, and working as a bridal stylist – so you can imagine she's obsessed with the wedding world.
At Ohana Events, we strive towards being a green, eco-friendly & sustainable company. We try our best to maintain the nani maoli of our planet, one of our favorite Hawaiian terms that translates to natural / true beauty.
We do this by following green practices in our daily lives both at home and at work. We will continue to educate our clients and raise awareness by encouraging eco-friendly events and alternatives. Together, we can make this a more beautiful planet.
The first step is partnering with other environmentally-friendly companies to ensure the bones of your event have the same intentions, morals and goals to being green. We then encourage our clients to consider a variety of ways they can single handedly help the environment by printing less paper goods, composting, being efficient with in-person meetings, and instilling the ways to create less waste with the catering aspect of their event.
If sustainability is one of your missions, we would love to hear from you so we can help you create a beautiful & green event!
“Planning a wedding can be SO stressful- but you already know that if you’re looking for a planner! Look NO FURTHER. Hire Ohana Events and you will be in the best hands! Sonya was our partial planner, and there is absolutely no way we could have done it all without her. Leading up to the wedding she managed all the vendor contacts, arranged a detailed timeline and was in constant communication with everyone. She shared a list of tasks my fiancé and I had to complete which was incredibly helpful - things we would have never thought about.
The day of the wedding- Sonya was the real MVP. Not only did she make sure that the day flowed PERFECTLY, she handled any minor issues with grace, and adjusted timelines wherever needed. We actually got to enjoy the day knowing that we had the greatest support. Sonya is an angel, so if you are looking for a planner, please reach out to this group. You will be forever thankful, and most importantly anxiety free!”
“When we first got engaged, everyone had the same advice: HIRE A WEDDING PLANNER. Mara was incredibly, calm, confident and helpful throughout our entire process. She was so on top of communication with all vendors, she made me feel so sure everything was covered. When I had concerns about some of the decor one week out, Mara jumped into action and got in touch with all vendors, formulated a plan and took all the stress away. She was incredibly responsive, easy to work with and such a joy. I was COMPLETELY STRESS-FREE on wedding day and I believe a lot of that has to do with Mara running the show. HIGHLY recommend working with Ohana Events for your wedding - they are experts, they are incredibly helpful and above all, they are GOOD, KIND HUMANS. We’re so grateful they helped make all of our wedding dreams come true!”
“Cannot say enough good things about Ohana Events and especially our planner, Jenna!! From the second we hired Ohana for partial planning services, we immediately knew we made the right decision. They provided us with detailed to do lists and checklists that helped to make sure every single detail of our day was perfect. Jenna was also always so helpful with all our questions and making sure we had everything buttoned up with all of our vendors leading up to our big day! Our wedding day went off without a single hitch and that’s all thanks to the eye for detail of Jenna and the rest Ohana team! Seriously don’t think twice about hiring them for your big day!!”