ABOUT US

HappiLily Events is a Minnesota-based wedding planning company for couples who love a good party.

We plan thoughtfully designed, authentically you, and crazy-fun weddings. We also love to plan bridal showers, surprise engagements, elopements, and celebrations of all kinds! Love is love and if you’re celebrating, so are we.

Founded by your go-to events gal Lily Hansen, a Master Certified Wedding Planner, the name is a playful combination of happily and Lily. It’s pronounced like happily (“hap-ih-ly”), but better — “hap-ih-Lily!”

Let’s get one thing straight: We believe this whole wedding planning thing should be fun.

Wedding planning shouldn’t be so time-consuming or stressful that you feel relieved when it’s finally your wedding day. You should be having fun choosing your vendors and designing your day, and you should still have time for work and social activities and enjoying your engagement! Wedding planning isn’t your full-time job. It’s ours!

The HappiLily Experience is what we call best-friend-level support. Owner + Lead Planner Lily Hansen works directly with each couple, no matter which planning package you choose, to ensure you have the best wedding day.

As a Master Certified Wedding Planner, Lily’s process is personal, collaborative, and intentionally structured to help you stay organized and stress less. Our phase-based planning process will keep you living in the moment, with breaks built in so you can take a pause from all the details. We’re simplifying your choices, prioritizing your to-dos, and making it easier to make all those wedding day decisions.

Working with HappiLily Events means you’re treated like a friend. We choose to take on only a select number of weddings each year to ensure you get the one-on-one attention you deserve while planning such a special event. With a more personal planning process, your wedding will better reflect the two of you and this whole wedding planning thing is going to be as fun as your wedding day will be!

You deserve a carefree wedding day.

From budget-setting and vendor booking to refining your wedding design, creating the perfect timeline, and managing all the dainty details, our job is to look out for you and we’re going to do it oh so well.

A bride and groom in front of the ceremony arbor at the Hutton House in MN

A spring wedding at the Hutton House // Carly Mac

Once upon a time in the land of 10,000 lakes, a little girl was born to plan things…

Meet Lily

Lead Wedding Planner + Designer, and the founder of HappiLily Events

Hi, I’m Lily, your go-to gal when you have a party to plan!

As with most wedding planners, my story starts somewhere along the lines of… “I’ve always loved planning events!” Yep, same! I’ve always had a passion for bringing people together and wanting to plan and execute the most amazing, memorable events — and this passion started long before I was ever engaged or planning my own wedding.

Starting HappiLily Events was one of the scariest yet most fulfilling things I have ever done. After several years of experience in catering sales and venue management, I came to realize that I cared most about advocating for the client’s needs, rather than focusing on the venue’s bottom line. I wanted to help each client through the planning process, from concept to execution, so they could have the best experience (it’s hard for someone to plan a rehearsal dinner or a wedding when they’ve never done it before!).

What inspired me to open my own business was when a client at a venue I managed asked me if she could hire me to plan her wedding. At the time, I was already planning to leave my venue job (honestly without a plan of where I’d work next). It was so serendipitous and I felt so honored that a bride trusted me to plan her wedding! This was the push I needed to quit my job and I jumped full-time into professional wedding planning.

As of 2021, I founded HappiLily Events and completed my certification in Wedding Planning & Event Design from the Certified Wedding Planner Society. Ever since, I can say I truly love what I do! I thrive in the fast-paced, remember-all-the-details, on-your-feet-all-day world of events and I love that I get to work with such fun people (couples and vendors, alike).

It is an honor to work alongside people like you to plan some of your most memorable moments!

A lil’ more about me:

  • I became a Master Certified Wedding Planner in 2022.

  • I love lake days and being at my cabin, Sunday brunch, live music, reading mystery novels (paperback over Kindle any day), and gardening (ask me about my 27-pound watermelon!).

  • Post-college, I worked at an advertising agency for 3 years. I’ve had experience working with some pretty cool brands, but planning meaningful events is so much more fulfilling.

  • I married my childhood crush in 2023 and after celebrating our own wedding, I have a whole new understanding of the emotions my couples experience!

  • I identify as a “dog person” but we don’t yet have a pup… :(

  • and I live in my home state of Minnesota, but as a proud Badger, I’m always eager to plan celebrations in Wisconsin, too! (and, really anywhere).

 

  • "Let me just start by saying that working with Lily was an absolute DREAM. She talks about bringing “best friend energy” to your wedding day, and that’s exactly what she did. All throughout the planning process and the wedding weekend, Lily was there to answer all of our questions, refine our vision, help us make decisions, and overall just HANDLE THINGS. I quite sincerely did not have one single worry on my wedding day because I just knew: Lily’s got it."

    Katie & Nate

    Partial Planning + Design | The Hutton House

  • “Lily was an amazing addition to our day! The organization tools and structure she brought to the planning process took away so much of our stress. On the day of she made sure my husband and I didn't have to worry about doing anything, so we could just relax and enjoy our day. We would highly recommend her services to anyone planning a wedding!”

    Grace & Andrew

    Wedding Management | La Pointe Events

  • “Lily has now worked two weddings our company has DJ'ed at and she is so much fun to work with. As a vendor, it's always comforting to spend the day with people that are easy going, yet extremely organized. Can't wait to work with her again! Hire her as your planner you won't be disappointed!”

    — Cody Christensen, Sweet Life DJs

  • "Lily is absolutely incredible!! We hired her for day of wedding coordination and she went above and beyond to make our dream wedding come true! She took care of everything on the day and took away all the stress of vendor coordination, set up, take down, ensuring the ceremony runs smoothly, and much more. Because of Lily we were able to have a stress free wedding day and truly take everything in."

    Ali & Logan

    Wedding Management | Royal Golf Club

  • “Working with Lily was like working with a best friend. She is honest, dedicated, friendly, and organized. We had interviewed a couple of other coordinators but when we met Lily we knew she was the one, and we have never been more right! We really can’t say enough good things!"

    Courtney & Jesse

    Partial Planning | The Hutton House

  • "Lily is wonderful! My now-husband knows I can plan and plan and over-plan BUT he also knew we both needed to keep our lives/careers on the rails in the run up to our August wedding. Lily was incredibly kind and patient with all my whacky ideas, slow replies and clearly knew all the ins & outs & vendors in the industry. She totally got our vision and I never felt she was imposing her own. And, come the day of the wedding, Lily and her assistant Brooke worked their asses off. We ended up having an absolutely gorgeous wedding weekend."

    Rachel & Tom

    Partial Planning + Design | Private Property

  • “When we hired HappiLily, we knew we would be getting some great help with our wedding, but we had no idea just how helpful and essential Lily & team would be to us! We got to enjoy both our wedding day and the planning leading up to it much more because of HappiLily. We give our strongest recommendation to hire this team!”

    Jordan & Eric

    Wedding Management | Camrose Hill

  • "I felt like Lily really cared about us not only as her clients, but as people and as a couple. She spent the time really getting to know us, and what we wanted, which left me free to fully enjoy my wedding day. I continue to tell everyone how much pressure and stress HappiLily Events took away from planning our wedding day, and I cannot sing her praises more."

    Claire & Eliot

    Full Planning | FIVE Event Center

  • “Lily is one of the best people I have worked with in all my years in the wedding industry.  As a DJ and Event Host, having worked with a large number of planners over hundreds of weddings, her professionalism immediately stood out to me. Lily's team is competent, and an absolute pleasure to work with. She and her team will handle everything on your wedding day so that you, especially your family, can enjoy your big day!”

    Zach Sames, Ambient Entertainment

  • "Lily is an AMAZING wedding planner. Her attention to detail is top notch. Being in the wedding industry myself, I have watched Lily transform people's visions into reality with a giant smile on her face. If you are on the fence about wedding planning, THIS IS YOUR SIGN to book Lily — you will NOT be disappointed.”

    Andrea LaViolette, Catering Manager at Marna’s Catering

  • "If you are in need of a wedding coordinator — hire Lily! She offers multiple packages that are honestly a steal for the amount of effort/work she and her team puts in. We went with a smaller coordination package but wish we would have brought her in sooner to help."

    Dani & Jake

    Wedding Management | Bunker Hills Golf Course

  • "Lily was the BEST!!! The tools she sends you to plan for your big day are so helpful! From there, she makes sure you stay on top of it, while also helping in any way she can. Having her part of meetings was so helpful, as she knew what questions to ask. On our big day, she was able to handle everything, so we could just enjoy the day! We couldn’t have asked for a better person to be there for us on our day!"

    Aundrea & Blake

    Wedding Management | The Hutton House