Ceremony Venue - Outside at Reception Venue
Reception Venue - Bolingbrook Golf Club, A+. Working with Taryn was amazing. She was quick with emails. The food was delcious- pork chops, salmon, chicken options. Everything was landscaped so beautifully. The outside balcony overlooking the golf course was perfect for guests. We had the venue until 1am and the dance floor was packed until then. It is a bit on the pricey side, but now that it's all over and done with, it was worth every penny. Plus we did it on a Friday, so there was a little discount. I really liked that there wasn't a 'per plate' minimum. THere is a price minimum, but you can use it any way you want on food and alcohol. (ie, if you have less people, have more open bar time and more food options). We were able to add a lot of late night snacks that we weren't going to intiially have.
Ceremony Music: personal friend did acoustics
Reception Music - We used the local cover band, MAGGIE SPEAKS, A++. absolutely amazing. Like I said previously the dance floor was packed the entire night. Worth every penny for the live music. Played a great variety of music for the older and younger crowd. Tons of compliments on the music, and people who I never thought I'd see dancing were up on the floor!
Photograher - Essence Photography, Orland Park- we used Mike. He was really friendly and went off my 'must have list'. He pretty much stayed out of the way, but I can't grade yet as I haven't seen a final product.
Videographer-Go Wedding Video, Lockport- Sara, she was so sweet. She just let the photographer do his thing for the most part, and she voiced her opinion a couple times if she wanted something different, but other than that, I didn't really know she was there, which was nice. Again, no grade yet as haven't seen it.
Florist - Rosemary's Garden, Tinley Park, D. The reason for the poor grade with Rosemary's Garden is because I didn't get what I ordered. And when my mom called him on it, he said his reasoning was because 'that was all he had in stock'. Not really sure why he didn't have what I ordered in stock, but it was all wrong. My bouqet was 'ok', I didn't love it. Wrong colors and flowers. I asked for purple, hot pink and a splash of white. He gave me maroon and ivory with a splash of a bluish purple. My girls were spsd to have hot pink and white with a splash of purple, and theirs were all maroon. the flower girls stuff was all the wrong color too. Not happy at all with the florist. The only thing he got right was the centerpiece colors.
Linens/Lighting/Rentals: all through Bolingbrook Golf Club.
Entertainment (Photobooth, etc): just the band.
Wedding Coordinator: Taryn, she came with Bolingbrook Golf Club. She was absolutely amazing!
Makeup & Hair - Tre Volte Salon, Orland Park, A. The ONLY reason I didn't give a + is because it was a bit pricey. However, I have a ton of thick hair, and I didnt have it all up- so Aimee spent one day straightening it for me, then the day of the wedding, it took almost 2 hours for her to curl it and pin it exactly how I wanted. Jen P did make up, and she was great as well. Everything stayed on in place until th next morning! All my girls looked phenomenal as well, they were all happy with their look.
Dress: La Joli Mode, Oak Lawn, B. I loved my dress. It came in so quick (8 weeks). But then I added on a thick halter strap, and I ordered the strap in April. It didnt come in until the end of August. The girls are friendly, but the seamstress doesn't speak English very well so it was kind of hard to understand her. Also, with how much money I spent on the dress and alterations, I was severely unimpressed with the fact that they didn't throw in the garment bag. I had to buy a garment bag, from them, (as it was raining out and I assumed they'd just giv eme one so I didn't come with one) for $22. Really?! Just throw it in.
Accessories (Veil/shoes/hair pieces, etc) : veil was from the La Joli Mode where I got my dress. Shoes, got dyed purple from David's bridal, headband- LOVED it. David's bridal. IT was the only one I found that was the wrap around kind, elastic at the bottom? All diamond and sparkly on top. I wear those sports head bands all the time so I was so happy I found one similar.
Alterations - La Joli Mode. Again, wish she spoke better English. But oh well.
Cleaning/Preservation: n/a
Tux/Suits - Formally Modern, Orland Park. B+. Nice sales guy, Nick. Not sure who measured my dad tho, but he was all wrong when he went in to get picked up. Everything was too small, and no, he didn't gain weight! But luckily they did have extra on hand and was able to give him a new shirt and vest right away.
Invitations - Tootsies, Orland Park. B-. The woman I worked with isn't working there anymore, so I won't name names. But basically they apologized as I'm not sure she was working out well with the company. I had very simple and elegant invites, with my only request being a purple crystal. And it wasn't purple. It was clear. Also, she sent me an email saying 'do you want me to address the outside of the envelopes?' and I said sure. Shame on me for not asking, but she added $1 each envelope. I fought that though, and said she should have informed me it was an extra cost, so shame on her for not telling me. I didn't end up having to pay that extra price. But again, don't let my review stop you. It was the woman, not the place.
Bakery - The Cake Box, New Lenox, IL. A. Tia and Holly are great, so friendly. Easy to work with as I gave them a picture exactly how I wanted it and it turned out exactly like the picture. We had 3 layers, and 2 sheet cakes to serve as well which made the price a lot less. We went with funfetti cake all around. Delievered on time and looked great.
Transportation - Holiday Limo, Mokena, (to take us from my parents to venue) A, right on time.
Oak Brook Access Transportation (for shuttle), Oak Brook, A. perfect. Such a nice guy, we had non stop shuttle from 11-1am to take guests from venue to hotel and we had so many people that he ended up coming back until about 1:20.
Hotel Block - Country Inn, Romeoville. B+. Julie was great. Answered all my questions, and even gave us a free room even though we didn't book the minimum by the reserve date. My guests only complaint (some got there early, and wanted to use the pool, was that they couldn't bring a beer by the pool. I'm sure that's pretty standard for most hotels, but I still felt bad when my guests mentioned that b/c that was their plan.
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