Here are some reviews from the vendors we used on our 9/12 wedding. Please feel free to email me if you had a question on any of them! cmk1215 at gmail dot comHyatt Lodge, Oak Brook, IL: A - This place was AMAZING. It was so beautiful we fell in love the second we saw it. We had some issues with the sales staff because of another event taking place at the hotel that weekend, but besides that they were great. We received so many compliments on our wedding! Plus it is on the McDonalds campus so they served McDonald's cheeseburgers as a late night snack. Our guests loved that. The service was great and the food was amazing. We had our ceremony and reception here.Rev. Roy Frye: A Rev. Fry and his wife made the process so much easier. They sent us a HUGE packet with common readings to help us write our ceremony. HE did a great job during the ceremony. We did not get married in a church - we met him once before the wedding and then for the rehearsal but he sincerely seemed to care about what he was doing. So many people told us what a beautiful ceremony it was.Jane's Blue Iris Florist: A Jane did a great job. She tries to be there for the set up for each wedding. I am not great at explaining my ideas or what I wanted but she really seemed to get the look I wanted. We were so impressed when we went in to see the mock up centerpieces. She was there the day of the wedding making sure everything was perfect. We got a call from her days before the wedding (which really worried me!) and she was just calling to tell me some of the flowers were a little lighter than she expected that time of year. Then I knew I would have nothing to worry about!Sonia Roselli: A I used Jo who works with Sonia. I did my trial in January for my September wedding so they let me come in again in the summer for another trial. Jo is GREAT to work with! She is so sweet and really listened to what I wanted and gave good suggestions on what would look best. I highly recommend her and will miss going into the shop! My make up lasted all night and I didnot reapply once. Morgan Blaul: A Morgan also did a great job. For my first trial I thought I wanted my hair to look a certain way - she kept telling me she thought it would look better another way but I did not listen. When I got home I realized I didn't like it so Morgan let me come back for another hair trial so I could see what she suggested. She was right. I got a ton of compliments on my hair and am glad I took her advice!!White Satin Bridal, Plainfield: B I bought my first dress here. They were not pushy like many other dress shops were but they also were not too helpful. We got a deal on the bridesmaid dresses since I got my dress there. I did not end up liking my dress once it was in because it did not fit properly. One of the salesladies then said it was because my torso was too long for that dress....I wish they would have told me that before I bought it! But it was my decision to buy it and I thought it would fit better once it was in my size and altered.A Joyful Occasion: A+++++ Freyda is amazing. That is all I can say. I went there 15 days before my wedding date because I had tried a dress before (I went looking for dresses after I bought my first dress) that I really liked and knew was the one. I was lucky enough it was in my size and color and Freyda worked with me and let me purchase it as a sample. She made my wedding day! She owns the shop herself and it is by appointment only. She seems to do it because she loves to help brides out. I highly recommend going to this store. There were a lot of dresses that I did not see anywhere else.Fred Fox: A- We used Dennis from Fred Fox. I had one issue with the photos, but overall the quality was great. I did not get one full length photo of me in my dress with my entire family. I am sure it was an oversight because there were these pictures with my parents, sister, bridal party, groom's family, just not with my entire family. But they were able to edit her in one and you would never know it was edited. I think my parents think that is an actual picture. They are also going to try to pull a picture from the video. Other than that Dennis was great to work with. I should have explained more what I wanted but overall we ended up with tons of gorgeous pictures and we will have a hard time choosing pictures for our album. Sounds Abound: A We went with Craig Mohler - he was fantastic. He did exactly what we wanted and he really knew how to pick the right songs to get the dance floor going. Many of our guest said he did a great job. He sounded very professional and not cheesy at all. They also acted as coordinators making sure the photographer and other important people were there before doing anything. Windy City Chamber Musicians: B+ They were great - I really don't have too much to say since I didn't get to hear a lot of what they played. From what I heard they were great and looked professional. They played the songs we wanted. We chose them because they were much less than other string quartets. Kathy Nicolet, Piano: A She played piano during our cocktail hour and did a good job. She was very responsive to emails and played the type of music we requested.Alterations - Mary Burlingame: A+ As I said before, I bought my wedding dress 15 days before the wedding and she was able to get the alterations done. She works out of her home and charged a reasonable amount, especially considering the short time frame. The dress fit great and looked great! I highly recommend her, she really made sure the dress fit the way I wanted it to.Occansey Veils (online): A I bought my veil about 2 weeks before the wedding and I had it a few days after ordering. It was exactly what I was looking for. I sent many emails making sure I ordered the right veil and found them to be VERY helpful. This was much cheaper than buying from a shop.