Well we made it!! We got married on October 10th and the day was fantastic!! I just refused to get upset about anything, and it seemed to work out well for me. LoL I highly recommend it, actually. Anyway, here are the vendors and venues we used and what we thought of them. :-)~Mane Attraction Hair Studio in Collinsville, IL~Makeup was one of the last things that I had booked for our wedding. I went to a bridal show, saw that these guys did airbrush, and booked them on the spot. AM I EVER GLAD THAT I DID THAT! I wasn't super impressed with my trial because it was done at that same show and she was in a very obvious hurry to get me done and get to the ever growing line behind me. I had seen pictures of their work online and was confident that they would be great on wedding day, though. Three days before the wedding I get a panic call from my Mom about the hairdresser. She had half backed out and, since it was my Mom's friend, my Mom was freaking. I kept my cool and picked up the phone. Carla at Mane Attraction told me to stay calm, they would make it work. She asked me what time I could be there and I told her 5 am if that is what she needed. LOL She told us to come in at 8 for makeup and, since we would have downtime between makeup and hair, to bring some food and whatever to keep ourselves comfy. My MOH brought trays of bagels and donuts, OJ and diet soda (my one vice in life) and we took over their kitchen area. The girl doing our makeup, whose name I can't remember, was great!!! She took her time and asked each of us what we wanted. She had another job to go to but didn't rush through anything and all of us loved our makeup, from the Moms to me. :-) My mother in law had actually face planted a week before and had two black eyes from where her glasses hit, and you couldn't tell at ALL when they were done! We had five makeup to do and nine heads of hair. They were working us in while they were doing the weddings that had longstanding appointments. We did alot of hopping from chair to chair, but they had ALL of the weddings done and out the door by 12:15. There were easily 25 people in that salon between 8 and 12. All of their stylists were fantastic! We had several of us that were set by one person and styled by another, anything to make sure that we all got done and were happy. None of us knew exactly what we wanted and I refused to be that psycho bride that wanted everyone to be done SPECIFICALLY like this or that, so the girls worked with their stylists and each got whatever they felt great in. It was a great experience and I have already recommended them numerous times!~First Christian Church of Belleville~ Let me begin by saying, Tonya is awesome!! She is the minister's wife and their coordinator. She is so much fun! She told us straight up when we first met her that she loves fun and pretty weddings, and it was her job to make sure both of those things happened. This is my brother's church and, while I don't attend, he has always said wonderful things about it. The other thing we needed was to be able to bring in our own officiant, which the church was more than happy to do with NO problem or extra charge. That is extremely unusual! I was pleasantly surprised. We found this out BEFORE the church figured out who I was and that my brother attended there, so this is the norm for them. She made sure we were able to get in whenever we wanted, we were able to do any decorating we desired and they did everything they could FOR us so that we didn't have to deal with it. We did our rehearsal on a Thursday and were in the church before noon on Saturday and Tonya was on time and ready to go with everything we needed. My only complaint was the sound person. While my brother does sound alot for the church, he was in the wedding so that wasn't possible. The person that DID do sound faded a song that we specifically asked him not to, so the flower girls walked down with no music. Minor detail, but it was a flaw that we wished would have been different. If you use this church, ask for Chris to do your sound/music. ;-)~Roger Hartmann Sr ~ Roger is a friend of my Dad and a friend of mine as well. He wanted to officiate our wedding, and we were happy to let him! He is more laid back, FUN to be around and much less religious than many, which we appreciated. He told us straight up at the beginning that he doesn't wear a suit. He showed up at the church in his slacks and tux tshirt. I told him that was cool!! Of course, he had a button down shirt and tie with him too, but he was trying to rile me up. LoL He kept our ceremony light hearted and fun with just a touch of religion. He customizes each ceremony to whatever the couple wants. He is ordained and has done weddings in both Illinois and Missouri. If you want a fun wedding, he is the guy! Very serious when he needs to be, but so much fun to be around in the planning stages. He and his wife are wonderful, and that isn't me speaking just as a friend! That is me speaking as a satisfied customer. :-) Several people asked me what church he preaches at so they could go and see him. LoL I told him he better set up some chairs in his living room because people are coming to visit. Hahahaha ~Kelly's Limousine from Belleville IL~My mother in law insisted that we needed a limo, so we got one. Our driver was the BOMB! His name was Greg and he was awesome. He picked us up at the salon and was ten minutes early. I introduced myself when we got in, asked him his name and told him to get ready to have fun. He had water and soda in the limo (they won't provide alcohol if children are in the car) and got us on our way! The kids were playing their music on the radio and he was jamming right along with us. It was awesome! We warned him that the boys wouldn't be near as much fun, and he told me later we were right. Hehehehe We were running slightly over our time because I forgot what time it was that we were supposed to be done and he assured me that we had ten more minutes. I know darn good and well that we were over, but he wanted us to be able to get some outside pictures so he "adjusted his watch" for us. I sure hope we didn't get him in trouble, because he was great! Fun, outgoing, helpful getting us in and out with all of those dresses, GREAT driver and great experience. ~Knights of Columbus in Cahokia, IL~We had so many people tell us it was the best reception they had ever been to. While some people see it as "just a bingo hall", we had a bigger vision. The hall set up our tables and then we adjusted them from there. We wanted a little more space between the tables so people wouldn't have to squeeze in and out. We were able to get in the night before to decorate. They set out the trees with the lights and have the tulle across the ceiling with lights. When they turned the lights down, the entire place changed. It was stunning, if I do say so myself! We had candlelight on all of the tables (shop after holidays, we got all of our jar candles for half off and they were the really pretty decorative Christmas ones so they really looked awesome) and candy sprinkled out between the candles. We had chicken, roast beef, green beans, corn, rolls, salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, coffee and tea for $10.50 a person. We got raves for the food. Simple, yes, but cooked perfectly. I have never had such a juicy chicken breast in my life. We had the full hall with food for 250, three half barrels of beer, soda for the entire night, an ice sculpture and seven hours reserved. With the extra beer (four extra kegs that we know of LoL) and mixed drinks that we picked up for several people there (bridal party and out of town guests) the whole thing was just under $6000. Most of that was hall rental. For a 250 person reception, I was thrilled with that price! Their standard four hour reception and half the hall (which would have been plenty of space for us, we just wanted the extra room for the kids to play) would have cut about $500 off of that. We also would have saved about $300 in alcohol because that would have been less drinking time. LoL Don't knock places like this for your reception. You just might be pleasantly surprised!~Natural Aspects Photography~Regina was so much fun! She was very patient with the kids and made sure that she got all of our shots that we wanted. She took us aside to get intimate shots outside after we were done eating and everyone else was still finishing up so we could get the sunset lighting. While we were visiting with our guests she took whatever props she needed and took care of pictures that we didn't have to be right there for. At one point, she took our rings, my shoes and my bouquet and off she went. I can't wait to see what kind of setup she was doing with that!! LoL She worked very well with our other vendors to make sure that everything we needed pictures of, we got. She also helped to keep things running smoothly throughout the night. Their office person, Christine, made sure that everything pre wedding went smoothly. Our engagement pictures got to us in plenty of time to use for the reception and she actually told us that we didn't need to pay for the full day coverage instead of just letting us pay for something we didn't need. There is a reason that these guys are a top pick here on the Knot. They are really great, and I can't wait to see all of our pictures! Their packages work well for every budget. His uncle is getting married in November and booked Natural Aspects after seeing our engagement pics and the package that we got. They did a great job! ~Patty Cakes in Highland IL~Another Knot recommendation that we are very glad we took. Our deciding factor for using Patty Cakes was the supports that they use in their cakes. They are acrylic and stainless steel so that your cake doesn't taste like a wooden dowel rod. The topper we were using had pink in it and our colors were red and white. Patty piped red flowers over the flowers on our topper so that everything would match perfectly. Our cakes were vanilla with strawberry and cream cheese filling, chocolate with fudge, butter pecan and amaretto. We had a four tier cake (top tier we took home, of course) and a groom's cake. We took home our top tier and eight pieces. Eight. We had enough cake for 300 people. Needless to say, the cake was a hit. LoL The groom's cake had dipped strawberries around it that looked like footballs and baseballs. He's a bit of a sports nut. We got raves about the cakes. They came in and set everything up beautifully. Again, TOTALLY thrilled with this vendor. I think that was everyone. I was told by several people that I was a very easy to get along with bride, so maybe that was why I was so happy. I just took the mindset that whatever is going to happen is going to happen. This is something else that I recommend!!! The cake didn't get cut exactly on time, but I didn't sweat it. The bridal party wore the dresses that they felt great in but in the same color, everyone picked their own shoes, everyone picked their hairstyle, etc. Don't sweat the small stuff!!! Your bridal party will be much happier if you let them have some say in the day and their happiness will show in the pictures. My maid of honor has been in numerous weddings, many of which she was the maid of honor in. She told me that, hands down, I was the easiest to get along with. I think we all enjoyed the day alot more because I wasn't fretting over every single tiny little thing. Also, remember that your bridal party is there to stand for you, not wait on you. My maid of honor was actually getting annoyed because I was doing things for myself. LMAO Treat it like a fantastic, fun day with a big party at the end. After all, that's what it is! It's supposed to be fun for you and for all of the people you love. Let it happen that way! Don't fret, everything will work out, even if the cake isn't cut on time and the sound guy cuts a song short. Getting angry about it will just ruin YOUR day, the vendor couldn't give a rat's butt less. Trying to pass words of wisdom. :-)I hope all our reviews help you ladies. If I can answer any questions, please feel free to ask!