I've been one of the laziest brides on this site (or in general actually). I haven't shared much until now, never created a website (though I’ve gotten a lot of valuable advice!), and procrastinated in every aspect of my wedding planning (didn't get my dress until 2 months before and got my florist a week before!). So it's only fitting that my "vendor reviews" are an abbreviated version. Basically, I just want to give shout-outs to vendors that truly stood out and made my wedding special. For photos see: lingyank.myphotoalbum.com Dress - Impressions Bridal - not exactly a vendor but want to say I got an incredible amount of compliments on my dress. Maybe one day I will actually load some photos up but for now if you google Impressions Bridal 3003 that's the dress. My friends who've been to weddings before said they've never heard a bride get so many compliments on her dress. It's comfortable - has a "semi corset top" - none of that complicated lacing that you can't even breathe, but still has a hard "shell" in the front that people think you have perfect abs. It looks like an elegant evening gown type dress but still has enough volume (it has 3 layers underneath). In any case, I LOVED my dress! (This is after visiting about 30 bridal stores and thinking I would never be satisfied with one). Venue (Both Ceremony and Reception) - Peninsula Hotel - Unbelievable food & service! A big thank you to Jennifer Clarke! She's been the most responsive of all my vendors and so organized in coordinating every detail. We had a very NON-traditional wedding (complete with dramatic entrance song, game shows, two part ceremony, etc so had to explain lotsa details to her). She stayed professional throughout. The day of the wedding guests could not stop commenting on how great the set up was and the amazing food and drinks. Their package comes with a 5 course dinner (which makes an amazing 10 course tasting!!) and 5 hour premium brand open bar. It’s not cheap, but one way to mitigate the high minimums if you don’t have over 100 guests is to rent the 2 smaller rooms (for ceremony and reception, respectively) – you get the whole upstairs (6th floor) with a large cocktail area for less than ½ the minimum of the ballroom. Design / Floral – Kehoe Designs – Designs turned out beautifully. We had ivory aisle runners with sprinkled rose petals, canopy and backdrop with red uplighting. Glowing columns with a collection of tall vases line the aisle with flowy fabric in between. In the vases there were red orchids and red crystals submerged in water with floating candle on top. Along with mini vases of red roses and small candles. Renee Price was great to work with – she put together a creative and glowing design in less than a week (recall that’s when I got my florist!). She even threw in bathroom décor! Their prices are at the higher end of designers/florist, so if price is an issue I suggest going with them for lighting, centerpiece, and ceremony décor – they do a lot of corporate designs too so work with spaces very well. You can save quite a bit of money by going with someone else for bridal and bridal party bouquets. My bouquet was $250 whereas I was quoted $100 elsewhere. The bouquet was pretty but didn’t seem to stand out from others, so again lighting and décor is their specialty. Shoes – Skyscraper heels – no it’s not a joke. I got my wedding shoes at skyscraper heels – thanks to fellow knotties that recommended them when I asked for high heel bridal shoes. They custom make the shoes to fit your feet, which was just what I needed as I have very wide and fat feet that gets killed in stilettos. I was ON MY FEET or walking for about 14 hours on my wedding day and they stayed comfortable the whole time. It’s also fun to look through their selections, though after doing so I decided to go with one of their shorter shoes at 4 inches lol. DJ – One Stop DJs – Peggy – Thanks for our DJ who spoke both Mandarin and English! I searched all over Chicago for a Chinese DJ to speak 2 languages and she’s the only one we found and was amazing! She gave us gameshow ideas, brought a fog machine for our entrance, and kept the mood alive the whole night! Honorable Mentions – I was pleased with all my vendors, but the above 4 are what stood out. Here are some others that made my day special. Feel free to message me if you want to know more about them! Bridal Cake – Café Selmarie – Birgit was so sweet throughout my tasting and finalizing our cake design. Prices are also great - $400 for a 4 tier cake. Grooms Cake – Dina’s Cakes – not only are they cheap (mine was $50 to serve 20) and look amazing, they actually taste good! Most people are more fascinated by her designs but the cake is actually delicious! We went with red velvet and raspberry filling. Photography / Videography – Emotia – Pending photos but Ray takes home the prize for most determined vendor. In order to get a good angle of the bridal party walking towards Water Tower, he stopped traffic on Michigan avenue, laid down on the ROAD, and told another bride and bridal party to leave the area where we wanted to take photos! Wow! Makeup – Starlight Makeup – I’m more about looking like a “star” than “barely there makeup.” Lillian was not only fun to work with, flexible with her schedule, but made all 6 of my bridesmaids, the 2 moms, and myself glow! Engagement / Wedding Rings – Cartier – not much said. Great ring, great service at high price. Bridal Party Gifts – Tiffany Necklaces for the ladies and Armani ties for the gentlemen. We wanted to thank our bridal party a lot because they are all from out of town and threw us amazing bachelor and bachelorette parties. One thing to note is that good, classy brands like those are always appreciated, but really not much higher in price than normal bridal party gifts esp if you seek out outlet stores or simpler designs. But the appreciation from the guests is memorable. Engagement Party – Megu in New York – though there might be a Chicago one as well? Rehearsal Dinner – Chinatown!! Lao Beijing – a nice intro for our guests. We thought the next night would be all fancy so why not rent out the upstairs of a Chinatown restaurant so we can be as loud as we can and catchup with old friends. One danger is you can get too much to drink – we had almost too much Chinese liquor to make it to the wedding the next day!