I am willing to provide pics of anything discussed, just ask!
Wedding Dress- A Joyful Occasion, Naperville --- AThis process was easy and enjoyable. The boutique is extremely small, but they had many popular brands of dresses and I found the one I wore for my wedding after my 6th dress. Dress arrived when it was supposed to, and overall, they were a pleasure to deal with. My dress was a Paloma Blanca and I received a ton of compliments on it. It was simple but beautiful.
www.ajoyfuloccasionbridal.com
Tuxes- Black Tie Formal Wear, Glen Ellyn ----- A Extremely easy to deal with even though we had groomsmen in different states. We also changed our minds three times and the tuxes were all correct. The day we went to pick up my hubby's tux, the vest had a small stain on it, we had to wait till the next day, but they dry cleaned it, and it looked great. All in all easy to deal with.
Jewelry - Lori Frantz-Koenig Jewelry Design, Chicago ----- A+My Jewelry was amazingly gorgeous, one of a kind, and I received comments on it allllll night long. I looked like I was red carpet ready with all the bling I had. I was dripping in swarovski crystals and pearls and the jewelry went perfectly with my dress. Lori is a Chicago area designer who has even had her jewelry worn in Hollywood, so I felt pretty special to snag her. I also had jewelry made for all the bridesmaids, and they looked pretty fabulous if I do say so myself. Check her out- I've seen her stuff at Von Maur or at
www.LoriFrantz-Koenig.com.
Venue- Entertainment Cruises/ Mystic Blue Cruise, Navy Pier ----- AI was overall very happy with my experience with the people I dealt with at Entertainment Cruises. They also were fairly quick to email me and help with questions I had, and any snag we hit, was quickly fixed. We were even given a day of coordinator, which was extremely helpful. Also, nice is they offer "package deals" which included the officiant and the DJ and cake and stuff. Made my life tons easier. Also, included all tax and gratuities which was also nice. My biggest complaints? My gift table seemed to be in no where land, and a lot of people had trouble finding it for some reason. Also, the wedding reception itself was too short. Honestly. It ended at 10pm, and I barely was able to take pics, and do the normal things one does at a wedding reception. Everyone commented on it that another hour would have been perfect. A few people got seasick but I thought it was fine. And we couldn't have gotten a better view with a 3 hours skyline cruise. It was wonderful overall. The food was amazing, and hot! And plenty of it! Plus, there were a ton of desserts. My guests keep commmenting on how great the food was so I was overjoyed to hear that, as most wedding food sucks. Drinks were good and plentiful. Overall, everyone was friendly on the boat and easy to deal with.
Officiant- Joanne with Amethyst Engagements, Chicago ---- AEntertainment Cruises assigned her to me, but nontheless, she was a pleasure to deal with. Very kind and responsive. I mostly figured vows and all that through email form, but she made everything very easy to deal with. No mistakes were made and it was a breeze to deal with Joanne. I would use her again in a heartbeat.
DJ- Chas Verba- Entertainment Cruises, Chicago ---- AChas was assigned to me based on my music likes, and I thought he was perfect. Very personable and he played all the music EXACTLY to my liking. He has great taste and I would use him again as well. I was afraid to use a DJ given to me, but honestly, he was great. And I'm extremely picky when it comes to music. We also emailed back and forth several times, and he was responsive and energetic and creative with ideas. Highly recommend.
Cake- Oak Mill Bakery, Niles ----- BThis bakery was also assigned to me with Entertainment Cruises. When I made the initial appt. for a cake tasting they were very responsive and quick to reply. After meeting with the coordinator and planner for the wedding, I called them to see if I could also get favors made. Three emails went ignored and were never responded to. I called several times and played phone tag, and never got my answer. I gave up and got my favors on my own. By the time I had my appt. they didn't seem to have a clue who I was, nor that I had attempted to contact them several times in the past. While they were friendly and tried to be helpful, I was also disappointed that there was an upcharge for nearly everything. I picked a very simply cake and was told my design would be an extra dollar per person. And this was for a simple ribbon swirl going up my cake. It all worked out in the end, and the day of -- the cake was exactly as I has asked. It was moist and some told me it was the best cake they had ever had. My suggestion: be very specific and find out up front what things cost. They are very hard to get a hold of sometimes, so be patient. But all in all, the cake was wonderful. I did a pear charlotte-- which was a layer of pear filling, and a layer of chocolate mousse. It was yummy.
115 Made the cut!
90 Are ready to party and cruise Lake Michigan!
21 Are party poopers and would rather be lame at home!
4 Are actually really making me pissy now