Illinois

Vendor Review for July wedding in Naperville

Hey everyone! FInally back from the honeymoon and am going through a bit of the wedding blues :0P But hopefully this may help those of you who are looking for various vendors along the way...

White Eagle Golf Club, Naperville; Lillian Doran
http://www.whiteeaglegc.com/default.aspx?p=DynamicModule&pageid=257332&ssid=118179&vnf=1

The short: (B) Friendly, approachable, very busy, but is willing to negotiate deals around the prices of meals, etc. The venue was absolutely beautiful for an outdoor ceremony and indoor reception, will post pictures when our photographer gets back to us! Excellent food and some minimal and/or nice deals with other participating vendors (depending on the vendor)

The long: Some miscommunications about pricing and what is included in each package; was more helpful to handle business with her in person; She can be difficult to get a hold of sometimes, but does check her email and does follow up with phone calls, although not the most promptly. She initially came off as cold to us, but by the time the wedding rolled around, she was very friendly and inviting. we were hoping that she would be there the day of the wedding to help direct people where they needed to go, but after 5PM she was no where to be seen and we had guests running all over the place trying to figure out how to get to the outdoor ceremony. Our wedding planner and her assistant were only able to be in so many places at once, so it would have been helpful if Lillian had stuck around to help direct traffic (like she said she was going to when we booked with her), but that didn't happen. Also, when looking through the brochures, it said that two deposits of $1K were needed before the wedding, but when we went there, she said it was actually $2K....so we made sure to have a thorough dialogue with her about pricing.

Officiant: Toni Maddi
http://www.tonimaddi.com/

The short: (A-) very organized, made it very easy to create a personalized ceremony; she had pre written scripts we could simply cut, erase and add to. I had three cultural elements in our wedding: the Filipino coins, cord and veil, and she incorporated these beautifully in them. Very funny, easy to get along with, strong personality.

The long: We had her come in the day before for the wedding rehearsal (which was additional $) but it made a huge difference with the different elements we were incorporating in the wedding. She was super friendly and easy to communicate with over the phone and via email. After meeting with her, we decided to go with her because she really knows what she is doing and seemed to be the type of person who got the job done. Although she was really nice and friendly with us, we found out several days later, that she was actually quite rude and condescending to my husband's sister who did a reading for us at our wedding.Not totally sure the reasons behind that, but she seemed to do such a good job for us. Again, its just one of those things we were glad we didn't know about until after the wedding or else it may have just put a bit of a damper on the day. But overall, we are happy we chose her, but if you are put off by very strong personalities, it may be a hard fit.

Wedding Planner: LK Events, Lauren Kneupfer
http://www.lkeventschicago.com/

The short: (A+) Fantastic, highly organized, great communicator, great organizer of people, thoughtful, straightforward, and will speak up for you and address concerns you would have never even thought of.

The long: We hired her to manage the day of the wedding, however, she considers it really the "week of the wedding" as she is communicating with vendors, making your time line and talking with you about what you need to get done. We booked her approximately 6 mos before the wedding and we met with her at least once a month, and probalby emailed each other more than that. She's very responsive to email, and if we needed to meet, she was very flexible. We found out the day after how many small little things happened (i.e. not having a place card for a guest, snafus with the timing and the photogs and videographers almost missing a speech) until the next day. She was always on top of it, and we didn't even have to worry. We even were able to enjoy and finish our dinners!

Videographer: Shadetree Films
http://www.shadetreefilms.net/

Our wedding video (Same day edit:) http://www.vimeo.com/13136625

The Short: (A+) What can I say? AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING! Moderately priced, but so WORTH IT. Flew them out from CA. No one in the Chicago area (that we know of) does anything comparable, period.

The Long: We just were not satisfied with the videographers in the Chicago area until my brother's friend introduced us to their work. They are from CA, but we flew them out here cause they did some fantastic, creative work.
Great to work with, really fun guys, totally know what they are doing, and completely delivered. Great communication from the moment we booked them to the day of the wedding, they were so thoughtful and understanding. They were an hour late in showing the same day edit, which is a short wedding video that is meant to be shown the day of the wedding, but the hour wait was worth it: people were mesmerized by the video and could not stop talking about it (we still get emails from people talking about the video!)

Innocenti Strings
http://www.innocentiquartet.com/Home.html

The short & long: D. To be honest, I didn't think they were that great. We had a string trio with an outdoor ceremony, and I honestly had the hardest time hearing them. I don't even remember them playing the prelude music before the ceremony, and we were right next to them! We even paid extra for some songs that we wanted them to learn, and we didn't even hear them! Very dissapointed.

Photographer: Marc Edwards Photography
http://www.marc-edwards.com/

The short & Long: (A+) Ok, I'm biased because I am his sister and yes, I have not seen the photos yet, but here's the skinny: he is very laid back, but definitely has an idea and vision of how he wants the photography to look like. He's very much into the vintage look, but is totally open to new ideas and our vision of how we like the wedding photos to look like. Will post when the photos are ready! But see for yourself on his blog =)

Florist: Floral Events, Ivone Da Silva
http://www.chicagofloralevents.com/

The short: (A) Very engaged, more than willing to meet with us to discuss flowers. She really knows what she is doing. Works out of her home. She is very flexible in regards to delivery, and always has great ideas. Can seem a bit disorganized, now store front. On the day of the wedding though, she really delivered and made for a beautiful wedding.

The long: We met with her twice and she was more than willing to accomodate our budget needs. She was also great at offering ideas when we really had no clue what to get, for example, the groomsmen boutineers. Our reception hall had a deal with them where you could get either free/discounted flowers. It was not very clear what came discounted or not as part of the reception package, but I think this is more so a result of miscommunication between ourselves and the reception hall than Ivone's problem.

DJ: JJ Liwanag

THe short & long: (A+) He was brand new to the scene; this was actually his first wedding! We were definitely taking a risk in booking someone new, however, he was able to get the party started! We had the luck of having a good friend of ours MC the wedding, so that was covered, however with musical selections from dinner to dancing were great. We didn't have to worry about sound, however, we did hear from some guests who sat further away from the dance floor that sound did not carry as well when the MC was speaking .

Chair Covers: MD Decor
http://www.mddecorchaircovers.com/

The short & long: (A+) Milica and Dan were very nice and responsive, especially when we booked with them and had them show us the different chaircovers and ways of wrapping the sash around the chair. They were even so accomodating when we had a last minute change in guests and they were totally accomodating. they were also amazingly cheap!!!

Cake: Oak Mill Bakery
http://www.oakmillbakery.com/

The short & long: (B) Simply: Good cake. We got a great deal cause our vendor had an agreement with them. We were able to get a 5 tier cake for $130! And the flavors were good, although I feel I had better cake from them.

I think that's it....if any of you have additional questions, feel free to ask! Hope that any of this was helpful for those of you who are looking for vendors!






Re: Vendor Review for July wedding in Naperville

  • edited December 2011
    Hey everyone! FInally back from the honeymoon and am going through a bit of the wedding blues :0P But hopefully this may help those of you who are looking for various vendors along the way...

    White Eagle Golf Club, Naperville; Lillian Doran
    http://www.whiteeaglegc.com/default.aspx?p=DynamicModule&pageid=257332&ssid=118179&vnf=1

    The short: (B) Friendly, approachable, very busy, but is willing to negotiate deals around the prices of meals, etc. The venue was absolutely beautiful for an outdoor ceremony and indoor reception, will post pictures when our photographer gets back to us! Excellent food and some minimal and/or nice deals with other participating vendors (depending on the vendor)

    The long: Some miscommunications about pricing and what is included in each package; was more helpful to handle business with her in person; She can be difficult to get a hold of sometimes, but does check her email and does follow up with phone calls, although not the most promptly. She initially came off as cold to us, but by the time the wedding rolled around, she was very friendly and inviting. we were hoping that she would be there the day of the wedding to help direct people where they needed to go, but after 5PM she was no where to be seen and we had guests running all over the place trying to figure out how to get to the outdoor ceremony. Our wedding planner and her assistant were only able to be in so many places at once, so it would have been helpful if Lillian had stuck around to help direct traffic (like she said she was going to when we booked with her), but that didn't happen. Also, when looking through the brochures, it said that two deposits of $1K were needed before the wedding, but when we went there, she said it was actually $2K....so we made sure to have a thorough dialogue with her about pricing.

    Officiant: Toni Maddi
    http://www.tonimaddi.com/

    The short: (A-) very organized, made it very easy to create a personalized ceremony; she had pre written scripts we could simply cut, erase and add to. I had three cultural elements in our wedding: the Filipino coins, cord and veil, and she incorporated these beautifully in them. Very funny, easy to get along with, strong personality.

    The long: We had her come in the day before for the wedding rehearsal (which was additional $) but it made a huge difference with the different elements we were incorporating in the wedding. She was super friendly and easy to communicate with over the phone and via email. After meeting with her, we decided to go with her because she really knows what she is doing and seemed to be the type of person who got the job done. Although she was really nice and friendly with us, we found out several days later, that she was actually quite rude and condescending to my husband's sister who did a reading for us at our wedding.Not totally sure the reasons behind that, but she seemed to do such a good job for us. Again, its just one of those things we were glad we didn't know about until after the wedding or else it may have just put a bit of a damper on the day. But overall, we are happy we chose her, but if you are put off by very strong personalities, it may be a hard fit.

    Wedding Planner: LK Events, Lauren Kneupfer
    http://www.lkeventschicago.com/

    The short: (A+) Fantastic, highly organized, great communicator, great organizer of people, thoughtful, straightforward, and will speak up for you and address concerns you would have never even thought of.

    The long: We hired her to manage the day of the wedding, however, she considers it really the "week of the wedding" as she is communicating with vendors, making your time line and talking with you about what you need to get done. We booked her approximately 6 mos before the wedding and we met with her at least once a month, and probalby emailed each other more than that. She's very responsive to email, and if we needed to meet, she was very flexible. We found out the day after how many small little things happened (i.e. not having a place card for a guest, snafus with the timing and the photogs and videographers almost missing a speech) until the next day. She was always on top of it, and we didn't even have to worry. We even were able to enjoy and finish our dinners!

    Videographer: Shadetree Films
    http://www.shadetreefilms.net/

    Our wedding video (Same day edit:) http://www.vimeo.com/13136625

    The Short: (A+) What can I say? AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING! Moderately priced, but so WORTH IT. Flew them out from CA. No one in the Chicago area (that we know of) does anything comparable, period.

    The Long: We just were not satisfied with the videographers in the Chicago area until my brother's friend introduced us to their work. They are from CA, but we flew them out here cause they did some fantastic, creative work.
    Great to work with, really fun guys, totally know what they are doing, and completely delivered. Great communication from the moment we booked them to the day of the wedding, they were so thoughtful and understanding. They were an hour late in showing the same day edit, which is a short wedding video that is meant to be shown the day of the wedding, but the hour wait was worth it: people were mesmerized by the video and could not stop talking about it (we still get emails from people talking about the video!)

    Innocenti Strings
    http://www.innocentiquartet.com/Home.html

    The short & long: D. To be honest, I didn't think they were that great. We had a string trio with an outdoor ceremony, and I honestly had the hardest time hearing them. I don't even remember them playing the prelude music before the ceremony, and we were right next to them! We even paid extra for some songs that we wanted them to learn, and we didn't even hear them! Very dissapointed.

    Photographer: Marc Edwards Photography
    http://www.marc-edwards.com/

    The short & Long: (A+) Ok, I'm biased because I am his sister and yes, I have not seen the photos yet, but here's the skinny: he is very laid back, but definitely has an idea and vision of how he wants the photography to look like. He's very much into the vintage look, but is totally open to new ideas and our vision of how we like the wedding photos to look like. Will post when the photos are ready! But see for yourself on his blog =)

    Florist: Floral Events, Ivone Da Silva
    http://www.chicagofloralevents.com/

    The short: (A) Very engaged, more than willing to meet with us to discuss flowers. She really knows what she is doing. Works out of her home. She is very flexible in regards to delivery, and always has great ideas. Can seem a bit disorganized, now store front. On the day of the wedding though, she really delivered and made for a beautiful wedding.

    The long: We met with her twice and she was more than willing to accomodate our budget needs. She was also great at offering ideas when we really had no clue what to get, for example, the groomsmen boutineers. Our reception hall had a deal with them where you could get either free/discounted flowers. It was not very clear what came discounted or not as part of the reception package, but I think this is more so a result of miscommunication between ourselves and the reception hall than Ivone's problem.

    DJ: JJ Liwanag

    THe short & long: (A+) He was brand new to the scene; this was actually his first wedding! We were definitely taking a risk in booking someone new, however, he was able to get the party started! We had the luck of having a good friend of ours MC the wedding, so that was covered, however with musical selections from dinner to dancing were great. We didn't have to worry about sound, however, we did hear from some guests who sat further away from the dance floor that sound did not carry as well when the MC was speaking .

    Chair Covers: MD Decor
    http://www.mddecorchaircovers.com/

    The short & long: (A+) Milica and Dan were very nice and responsive, especially when we booked with them and had them show us the different chaircovers and ways of wrapping the sash around the chair. They were even so accomodating when we had a last minute change in guests and they were totally accomodating. they were also amazingly cheap!!!

    Cake: Oak Mill Bakery
    http://www.oakmillbakery.com/

    The short & long: (B) Simply: Good cake. We got a great deal cause our vendor had an agreement with them. We were able to get a 5 tier cake for $130! And the flavors were good, although I feel I had better cake from them.

    I think that's it....if any of you have additional questions, feel free to ask! Hope that any of this was helpful for those of you who are looking for vendors!






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