We were married on July 18th and had a wonderful day. As a whole, our vendors were amazing and all went above what we expected. As you'll read below, I highly recommend the people we worked with. Kudos if you get through all of this...VENUES Tiburon Clubhouse – A We used Tiburon for our rehearsal dinner. The room was perfect for our group and we had access to a balcony. The weather was perfect, so the balcony was wonderful to have! We had a heavy hors d’oeuvres buffet and they allowed us to bring in our own desserts. St. Stephen the Martyr Catholic Church/Fr. Jim Tiegs – A Justin grew up at this church, so it was important to have our ceremony here. Not being Catholic, I was a little nervous about being married in a Catholic church. Father Jim did an amazing job of making it a Christian ceremony (not specifically Catholic) and honoring both of our families. Livestock Exchange Building (North Ballroom)/Carolyn – A Gorgeous! We loved this place the first time we set foot in it. Carolyn was great to work with, as was the rest of the staff the night of the reception. We wanted a place that was affordable, inclusive (linens, plates, flatware, etc. were included), and would set up and clean up for us. We found that at Livestock. They did exactly what they said they would and the entire night went by flawlessly. VENDORS Photography – Farrah and Nick Grant – A+ Farrah and her husband, Nick, were wonderful to work with. She is down to earth, doesn’t charge an arm and a leg, and is very talented. Throughout the day, Farrah would be taking the more formal pictures and Nick was always snapping candids and ‘behind the scenes’ photos. Farrah rode along with us on the trolley and Nick met us in the Old Market for pictures and a quick trip to the bar at Old Chicago. We are still waiting on our wedding photos, but we were really happy with our engagement shoot. I’ll post the link to our wedding photos as soon as I get it. We are so excited to see their work! Videography – Peter Soby (sobyVISION) – A We hired Peter for just the ceremony. Our biggest regret of the day is that we didn’t hire him for the entire day. We are so happy with the final product – high quality, great footage, and affordable. He had two cameras running the entire time – he had one in hand and the other was stationary. He was not obtrusive at all. In fact, I don’t even remember seeing him during the ceremony. I was really on the fence about videography, but I am soooo glad we went ahead with it. The ceremony went by so quickly and as we were watching it last night, we were reminded of so many things. I will cherish this video for many, many years. Flowers – Frank at Mulhall’s – A+ Our flowers were absolutely gorgeous! I think my first tears of the day were when the flowers arrived. I had a rough idea in my head of what they would look like, but I had no idea they would be as beautiful as they were. Our bouquets lasted for over two weeks before we decided to dry them. Awesome! I would definitely use him again. DJ – Mark at Bandstand – A+ Sooo glad I took other girls’ advice on him! Mark was wonderful! He kept the reception moving, checked in with us periodically, kept people dancing, and played music that everyone enjoyed. We’ve received tons of compliments on him. I would highly recommend him! Cake – Diane Severson – A+ Oh my gosh… so good! We loved Diane’s cake! We gave her a rough idea of what we wanted and the damask pattern that was on our invitations, and she nailed it! It was exactly what we wanted. Hair – Avant Salon – A Avant was great. They did my hair, five bridesmaids, and three flower girls in two hours. We brought in bagels, coffee, and juice for breakfast – so fun! Ellynne Bridal – A My dress came in early and with the correct customizations, so they get an A. MW Tux – B We changed the color of the vests and ties a few weeks before the wedding. Despite three follow-up phone calls and assurance that each order would be correct, two of our guys still ended up with the wrong color vest. We probably should not have changed the color so close to the wedding, but none of the orders had been filled and we were assured that it was no problem to change. Apparently, it was a problem. It all worked out fine in the end, and the guys all looked so handsome! Net Bride – A The dresses came in exactly when Net Bride said they would, the sizes were what we ordered, and the dresses looked perfect. The problem was that the sizes were completely off (too big, not too small, thankfully). I’m not sure if that was our fault for not measuring correctly or the dress company’s (After Six by Dessy) size chart. Despite the fact that the girls needed some serious alterations, Net Bride saved the girls a lot of money ($80), and I would use them again. Alterations – Karen Tangeman – A/B Karen gets an A for my dress and a B for everyone else. My dress was perfectly done, fit me like a glove, and I loved the bustle. We were frustrated with her over my mom’s dress, however. She was waiting for a shipment of bra cups to put in my mom’s dress for nearly 4 weeks. The week of the wedding, my mom just decided to pick up the dress, buy the bra cups and sew them in herself. I don’t understand why Karen never took the initiative to pick up bra cups at a fabric store and finish the dress in a reasonable time.