Illinois-Chicago

10/24 Vendor Reviews - A City Wedding

Hi Everyone - I wanted to share my vendor reviews for my 10/24 wedding since I always appreciated reading others!Venue - Prairie ProductionPrairie Production is an amazing loft space. It's modern, urban, sleek, and a little industrial. I fell in love with it the first time we saw it, and knew I wanted to book it.  We looked at a lot of loft-type spaces that were very cool (Ravenswood Billboard Factory, West Loop Studio, Architectural Artifacts) but Prairie was my favorite.   Michael and Kristin, the owners, were a pleasure to work with.  They were very responsive to all our questions and additional decor requests. We had about 165 there. Florist - Flora ChicagoWe worked with the event coordinator, Randy.  He was incredible and totally got what we wanted even though I didn't give him much direction at all.   We wanted urban, sleek, small, textural, and modern.  I didn't want any large centerpieces; instead, at his suggestion, we did about 5 small pieces per table with votives.  Randy used flowers I've never seen before, and everything looked just incredible.  DJ - Beep Media - Barry PhippsBarry, the owner,  was really outstanding to work with. He already had a great list of stuff he doesn't typically play, and it was right up our alley.  We didn't offer him much direction either, and he did a fantastic job of keeping the dance floor packed all night.  He's a true professional.DOC - Shelly - Honeybee WeddingsI love Shelly.   She was fantastic. She always responded to my e-mails immediately. She always made me feel very reassured, and she was always calm and in control of everything.  She started working with us about a month out to figure out our timeline.  She must have answered a hundred emails from me, always with good advice and always very happily.  The Sunday before our wedding, we had a conference call with her to go over everything.  At the end of the call she said, "I am taking over from here - you  don't need to worry about anything" and she did. She confirmed every last detail the week of the wedding and had the actual wedding day running like clockwork. She was some of the best money we spent.  Dinner - Smoque BBQSmoque is an incredible BBQ restaurant in Chicago that we love. We love good food, and we wanted memorable food. No less than a dozen people told me that this was hands down the best wedding food they'd ever had. Not to mention it was incredibly reasonably priced.  We had pulled pork, brisket, BBQ chicken, mac and cheese, baked beans, corn bread, and slaw. It was all amazing.  Needless to say, I had a second meal at the end of the night! Passed Hors D'oeuvres/Rentals/Waitstaff - Limelight CateringDay-of execution was great.Photographer - Chad HusarChad rocks. He's incredible. We wanted modern, urban shots, and he took us to fantastic spots all around the west loop.  Just amazing. We  just got our engagement pics back and they are incredible.  In addition to being a great talent, he's incredibly easy going and really funny, which made the day alot of fun.  He was a great communicator throughout the whole process, which I really appreciated. Hope this helps!

Re: 10/24 Vendor Reviews - A City Wedding

  • edited December 2011
    that just sounds like a day we all dream about. sounds like you had an amazing experience with all your vendors.
  • edited December 2011
    Glad everything went well :)  Btw, I love Smoque!  So good!
  • lebresnahanlebresnahan member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I am sure this is totally random, but we are using Prairie Production next summer and having a difficult time with the catering. We looked into Limelight, but they came back with $18k. We would like to use food from La Scrola and find someone to serve it. It sounds like you did something similar. Can you give me an estimate as to how much you paid for that service? Thank you.
  • edited December 2011
    Hi Lebresnahan - Yes - we had Smoque come in and do the dinner buffet, then we paid limelight to basically staff the whole night, provide the rentals,  and provide the passed HDs.  It was still costly to have Limelight there, but Smoque was insanely reasonable.  Are you looking to do a sit down meal or more of a cocktail party?  If you'd like me to email you with more specifics, just let me know the best place to send you an email.
  • lebresnahanlebresnahan member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. We are planning a sit down dinner. We are also looking for a company to staff, provide rental and prepare and serve appetizers during coctail hour. I would really appreciate any advice you have. You can reach me at lebresnahan@gmail.com. Thank you for your assistance. It is really nice to hear from someone who just had the experience.
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