Hi all! I found the vendor reviews incredibly helpful when I was wedding planning so I wanted to pay it forward. Overall, I was very happy with all of my vendors and would recommend any of them. Good luck!
Ceremony/Reception Venue:
Galleria Marchetti – highly recommend
We looked at a few venues in
the city and ultimately decided on GM because of the location (near downtown),
gorgeous space, and the fact that food/drink was included with the venue (we
didn’t want to deal with a separate venue, caterer, bar, etc.) It took us sometime to finalize the date but
the team over there was patient, responsive and helpful the entire time. Once we finally did, everything was really
smooth sailing. Jessica, our main
contact, handled every question/issue/concern I had up until the very last
minute. And she did it all with a smile
and kind tone in her voice/emails. If
you’re looking for a unique space (ie, not a hotel ballroom), I would highly recommend
Galleria Marchetti.
Cake: Alliance Bakery – recommend
Our venue has preferred
vendors for cakes and you get to dodge a cake cutting fee if you go with
one. We had the “cake is cake” attitude
and only sampled the preferred vendors.
We ultimately went with Alliance (over another) because the price was
much better. We loved the cake too, but
it was the price that drove it. All our
interactions with them were positive and the cake was great on the day of the
wedding. I would not hesitate to recommend
them to anyone.
Photographer: Brian Kinyon Photography
– highly recommend
My “highly recommend” might
be a little eager as I haven’t seen the final product yet, but judging from the
quick preview I did see, and our engagement pictures, I have faith in it! Brian is one of the nicest guys ever and is
just really pleasant to be around. This
makes a big difference as you are with the photog for about 8+ hours on your
wedding day, not to mention working with them up until the big day. He was helpful in suggesting photo sites,
timeline edits, general ideas and most importantly, was patient with us. He doesn’t offer a variety of price package
options like some of the other bigger studios might but you are able to make
some tweaks to customize it for what you need.
Flowers: Celidan Creations – recommend
Admittedly, flowers aren’t
really my thing. I wanted pretty flowers
that would last all day… and that’s exactly what I got with Celidan. One of the things that really sold me on them
was during our consultation meeting, I was having a hard time visualizing what
the florist was describing. And instead
of just showing me a picture in a book, she just whipped it up right there on
the spot. I thought the fact that she
really wanted me to see what she had in mind and get my feedback on it spoke to
their customer service. They were easy
to work with and the flowers were beautiful.
They are based in Naperville and were easy to work with for a city
wedding (didn’t charge an enormous delivery fee) but they did underestimate
traffic time to the city and were almost late.
Regardless, the flowers were gorgeous and I was very happy with them.
Videographer: REM Video &
Photography – TBD
My interactions with the
entire company has been great so far and they were flexible with me on the
packages/prices. I can’t give a final
answer on them until I see the video though.
Day of Coordinator: Just
Ducky Events (Barb Duckworth) – highly recommend
Barb was amazing. From the moment I first emailed her she was
responsive, helpful, had good ideas and easy to work with. My mom and I put together everything we
needed to be set up at the ceremony and reception, with a detailed instruction
list, and Barb executed PERFECTLY. I
also trusted her to make any “on the spot” decisions as she completely had my
vision understood. I would absolutely recommend
her to anyone needing a day of coordinator.
(I think she might offer more planning services now too)
Transportation: Chicago
Trolley – recommend
Not too much to say other
than they were easy to work with and on time!
Our driver was also very friendly, flexible and knew his way all around
the city.
Hotel: Hyatt Regency – recommend
We used the Hyatt as our hotel room block and its also where I got ready with my bridemaids the morning of the wedding. This is a huge hotel with
lots of space. The room rates were competitive considering it was a summer
weekend downtown. We had no issues
getting all out of town guests into the block either. The rooms and lobby have been renovated recently
and its really beautiful. Also, location
is great for anyone wanting to do anything touristy while in town.
Band: Final Say (a Maggie
Speaks band) – highly recommend
If you want a band, call this
group. They were energetic, read the
crowd, and most importantly kept people on the dance floor until the very
end! The lead singer acts as an MC too
and he was so great to work with, even with some last minute mother/son dance
song changes the day before! We are
still getting compliments on how great they were!
Tuxes: Formerlly Modern
Tuxedo – highly recommend
GREAT customer service! My finance didn’t really want a formal
looking tux, so the staff there was able to help him find the perfect tux that
was classy, without looking overly formal.
They were a breeze to work with and have a lot of great options.
Bridesmaid Dresses: Bella
Bridesmaid – moderately recommend
I loved our bridesmaid
dresses and so did my BMs. We went with
the LulaKate line, which I highly recommend.
The experience with Bella Bridesmaid was just so-so though. They were great at letting me and my friends
come in and try on dress styles as much as we wanted but when it came time to
ordering, they were not as helpful. You
have to order the dresses online (at least with the LulaKates, maybe not all
their lines) and the website is not very user friendly. I frequently had to call Bella to confirm the
orders were correctly submitted and didn’t receive as much help as I felt I
needed. A plus is that dresses came in
about a month before we expected them and for the most part, the girls didn’t
need alterations. One of my friends
dresses had a stain on it and (according to her) Bella wasn’t super helpful
with it and just suggested she get it dry cleaned. It ended up fine, but without assistance from
Bella. I know other brides that worked
with them and have glowing reviews so I know they are good, I just wasn’t as
impressed.
Makeup: Beauty by Brush, Kim
Nather – recommend
Kim has done the make up for
4 of my friends weddings and had done mine in 3 of those 4. So I knew I liked her work! She was easy to work with and very
professional. Her rates for the bride
are a bit high but the rates for the bridesmaids/moms are definitely reasonable. She was flexible with setting up the
date/time/location of my trial date and I was thrilled with my make up that
day. And it lasted all night long!
Definitely recommend her.
Wedding Dress: Bella Bridal
& Formal Wear – OUT OF BUSINESS
I would have recommended them
but sadly they have gone out of business.
Hope that helps some of you... happy planning!