I finally did them!
Meridian Banquets and Conference Center in Rolling Meadows – A+
Our Contact at the Meridian was Joyce. She was great and responsive from start to finish with all my questions and believe me -I had a lot of them. She never made me feel like I was asking too many. We stopped by a couple of times without appointments to show the reception hall to my in-laws before we got married and to ask more questions and to see the room again.
The Bride’s Room had water and Champagne and a cheese plate. They also gave us some of the hot appetizers that were being served at the reception. We didn’t really have time to get away from the reception to go in there but we were in there a little bit before the wedding began. I kept my purse and a couple of things in the room so I didn’t have to worry about them. I was the only with the key to the room.
The room was beautiful. It was just like I imagined. There were no problems. The waitress at the head table (I forgot her name) was accommodating, attentive and nice.
The food was great. We had a combination dish of chicken and beef and also chose to have a pasta course. We have gotten a lot of compliments on the food. None went home hungry! We would definitely recommend them to our friends and family.
First Presbyterian Church Itasca – A+
It was hard finding a church since we didn’t want to do a lot of driving on the wedding day and we wanted a church with air conditioning and we were not members of any church.
First Presbyterian Church Itasca was perfect for us. They were willing to work with us despite not being members. The church was so beautiful. It was similar to the church I grew up in.
We had to take 3 pre-martial classes over the course of the year. Pastor Jim called them pre-martial classes but they didn’t even feel like that. The first time we met with him we just talked about how met and where we grew up ----pretty much background information. He gave us a 110 multiple choice “test” to each fill out individually and drop off to him before our 2nd class. He was still going to marry us regardless of our answers but he just wanted to make sure we both knew things about what we wanted out of our future life together and that we were on the same page. The 3rd class was just going over the ceremony and the script. Pastor Jim asked us to write down what we love about each other which he incorporated in the ceremony. We made us kind of funny since we were already writing our own vows.
The fee included two church wedding coordinators who were a big help and I can’t imagine not having them there. Both of them attended the rehearsal and the wedding ceremony.
Spinnin Discs – A+
Our DJ was Tom. My FI found information about them online and we actually went to an open house at their office last summer. We met with the owner, Laura and she had us meet with 3 or 4 DJs based on what we said we were looking for. We just connected with Tom more than the other ones. He understood exactly what we were looking for. We emailed them over the course of the next year and they always responded promptly. We met with our DJ and the owner again about 2 weeks before the wedding. We have had a lot of people tell us how great the music was and how good of DJ Tom was. We would definitely recommend them.
When we got back from our honeymoon, we were going through our cards and gifts and opened a card from Tom thanking us for having him as our DJ. I think that was an extra nice touch.
George Street Photo – A
We worked with Dione at the George Street Schaumburg Office when we booked with them and Ashley was our wedding coordinator throughout the planning process and the album process. They answered all of our questions and provided great ideas.
We chose Dan D. as our photographer. He was professional and didn’t get in the way. We didn’t even notice that he was there sometimes. He would tell the bridesmaids to move their bangs so you could see their eyes because their hair was in their faces. When my face was getting shiny because I was so warm and stressed, he would tell me so I could blot it off a little bit. Overall, I really didn’t end up with a shiny face in most of the pictures because of that. He took all the pictures I wanted and more. I don’t even know when he took some of those pictures. We are very happy with the pictures. We would recommend Dan D at George Street Photo.
We received our digital copies. We are still waiting for our album. We had a hard time picking out pictures for the album since we liked too many.
House of Brides - Schaumburg – A-
I went to couple of stores looking at dresses before I ended up going to House of Brides Schaumburg. I was a little nervous because everything I have read about them. But I had checked out some other stores that friends had recommended and not had a good bridal experience.
Brides Dress: Linda C. was my consultant. She was great, nice, not pushy, and made it fun. She let me pick out dresses and she suggested dresses. She even mentioned some that I picked probably wouldn’t be the one because of the style and my body type but she said I should still try it on to get that style out of my head. She was right! I even stopped by without an appointment a couple months after I bought my dress to show my grandma and dad before the dress came in. She was so accommodating. The dress came in early.
Bridesmaid Dresses: I was looking for something different. I ended up going with the same dress for each girl. We tried dresses that came in all styles to fit the different body types in the bridal party. But a couple of girls thought none of those styles looked good on them. We ended up with a floral/water color print strapless dress with a purple sash and sweetheart neckline. The dress came with a flower shawl and spaghetti straps. I left it up to the girls if they wanted to add straps. I told them that I wanted to be comfortable. They all opted to leave the dress strapless. The photographer and florist commented on great the dresses were going to be for photos. I had some many family members and friends come up to me saying how different the dresses were. The bridesmaids all liked their dresses and couple of them plan on wearing them to other events that they attend.
Linda C. was also the consultant on the bridesmaid dresses. Their dresses came in about 2 months ahead of time. One bridesmaid was out of state and the experience seemed to work out well even for her.
Men’s Wearhouse Schaumburg- A
Since we had one guy that lived in North Carolina, one guy that was living in Iowa but would be moving to Indiana sometime before the wedding, two guys that lived in the Schaumburg area, we chose Men’s Wearhouse. It worked out great. It was pretty straightforward process.
Lynfred Winery B&B – A+
We spent our wedding night at the Lynfred Winery B & B. They were so accommodating. We were getting married at 4 but we had pictures before the wedding and my husband had to get dressed and run some errands so he was hoping to check in early. They gave him the key and information and told him that they would bring the bags up to the room since the room was used the night before and still had to be clean. It worked out perfect. When we came back to our room, they had a cheese and fruit plate and dessert and 2 bottles of wine waiting for us. They also left us a bag of stuff filled with other snacks and a bottle of wine. They served us breakfast in our room. We also got a free tour of the winery the next day before we went home. We are hoping to stay there again…..maybe for our first anniversary! It was so nice and romantic. We would definitely recommend them for a nice romantic anniversary or a wedding night!
H&M Limo –A
My parents have used H &M limo several times for airport drop offs and pickups. My FI and I have also used them for airport drop offs and pickups. So we felt comfortable going with them since we had used them before. We had heard the horror stories of limos not showing up. We had the 14 passenger limo bus. It was comfortable. The driver was great. She had an umbrella ready for when I got on and off the bus since it rained on our wedding day. She knew the plan for the day. There was no confusion. It worked out well.
Sheraton Maui- A+
The hotel was beautiful and the location was great for us. We enjoyed being able to snorkel right from their beach. That part of the beach was called Black Rock and they are known for the sea turtles swimming right there. On the first day we snorkeled, sea turtles were swimming right next to us and underneath us. We saw them a couple more times on our visit. We saw plenty of fish and even an eel. The breakfast buffet was included in our stay which offered us a variety of options. They offered different items every day and always had fresh fruit. We also went to the Luau at the hotel since the luau in town that we wanted to was sold out. The food and entertainment was great at the luau.
The concierge helped us plan some of our activities like the lavender farm and fly to Hana/Van Tour back, etc. It was worth it!
Marriott Kauai – A-/ B+
The hotel was beautiful and in a great location. They had some different kinds of birds in a little water area near their lobby. They had beach but it was too cloudy and rough for snorkeling and for swimming from the beach. That was a disappointment. The only thing we would do different if we stayed here again would be is we would not want the breakfast buffet. It was included in our package. The fruit wasn’t that fresh and food didn’t seem to stay hot. They pretty much had the same items in their breakfast buffet every day and that got old quickly.
The concierge helped us find some restaurants and to book our sunset dinner cruise. We were not disappointed with their suggestions.
Rehearsal Dinner – Pilot Pete’s Restaurant at the Schaumburg Airport - A
My FI and I were looking for a place where we could have a room to have some privacy but at an affordable price. We weren’t sure if we were going to be paying for it or if his parents were going to be paying for it when we booked it. They have affordable prices and the staff was friendly. We picked 4 items off the menu and picked out a soup and they printed up little menus with our names on them so people could order one of the 4 items we picked out. We had the room for 3 hours which was plenty of time. You can bring your own store bought dessert which we did or you can buy some dessert from them to serve. Soft drinks and ice tea are included. We decided that the bar drinks would be a cash bar. My bridal shower was also in this room at Pilot Pete’s.