For those of you in the NW burbs needing some vendor recommendations, the following vendors were phenomenal and I would use them again in a heartbeat.
Flowers: Balloons and Flowers by Haley, located in Rockford IL
Our florist did an amazing job. Our flowers were so beautiful and absolutely the most reasonable price we were quoted. The owner Jill is a gem to work with, she's got such a great vision and so many ideas.
Here was my bouquet:
Cake: Cakes by Dea, located in Marengo
www.cakesbydea.com
Hands down, the best cakes I have ever had. Ever.
Our main wedding cake was pumpkin with cream cheese frosting, and the grooms cake was chocolate with cookies and creme filing, and *unbelievably* awesome.
Her prices are great, and the quality of the cake is amazing-so moist and flavorful.
Photobooth: Spotlight Photobooth in Rockford
We "won" a free upgrade for props during a bridal expo (Stateline Splendor, which was actually co-founded by our florist!), but judging by the number of people that were on the 'congratulations, you won' email, I think they probably sent that to everyone that attended the expo.
So anyways, our photobooth was great. The attendant was awesome, she made an album for us of all the pictures that were taken, and added in a copy of our invitation that a guest gave her to put in there, then also added a placecard and our personalized napkins into the album as well. They even gave us an extra free upgrade to a booth with a monitor on the outside so you can see what's going on inside the booth-it was SO much fun to watch other people inside the booth, I would have never thought of that, and the photos could be taken in color or black and white-each person got to choose how they wanted theirs done. The price was slightly lower than average, but I felt the quality was great. Good service.
Mini-pie favors: Friends Country Market in Harvard IL
We originally wanted to do individual pies as favors, but after researching and finding most places wanted anywhere from $5 to $8 each for them, we abandoned the idea.
We saw 5" individual pies for sale at the Harvard Farmers Market for $3 each over the summer, and Tammy from Friends Country Market agreed to do them for our wedding at that price. They looked great and tasted awesome, and they were a huge hit with the guests-and $3 a pie for a 5" pie-amazing. She rocks!!!!
