Bridesmaid Dresses—J Crew
A
This isn't your traditional bridal/bridesmaid shop but my girls all ordered their dresses from J Crew. The store in the 900 N Michigan mall carries their bridal collection and they have wedding specialists. We worked with Sara Mikkelson and she was awesome, she was able to swing an additional 20% off the dresses even though they were already on sale with free delivery to each girls house (3 girls are out of state). She also honored the discount for me when I later decided I wanted to order a sale dress for me to wear to the rehearsal. They carry sample sizes in all the dresses but they have some of the styles in multiple sizes (due to returns). In fact, two of my BM's were able to try on their exact size dress (a 4 and a 12) in a different color at the store.
Bridal Dress—Filene’s Running of the Brides
A
My dress is Anna Maijer/Ulla-Maija Couture Danielle.
I met 3 of my bridesmaids and my MOH at Filene’s during the July 2009 event. This was my first time dress shopping and I hadn’t planned on buying my dress (I intended to shop with my Mother when she came to visit later in the year) but thought it would be a good way to try on a lot of different styles and get a sense of what I was looking for without the pressures of a stuffy bridal salon. The second dress I tried on was the one I ended up buying (after trying on 20+ other dresses, just to be sure). I don’t care for crowds and standing in line for hours so we showed up in the afternoon around 2:45pm. There were maybe 15-20 other brides looking for dresses and well over 1400 dresses to pick from (I know this because when I purchased my dress I was told by the cashier that I was the 250ish person to do so and they started out with 1700 dresses). Because we got there after the rush, most of the dresses had been put back on the racks making it easy to comb through them (there were still a few piles of dresses scattered throughout the store left by other brides). Since there are no dressing rooms, I came prepared wearing a camisole and a stretch jersey strapless dress that I could easily pull up and down. We had our own space in front of a mirror (not private) and my bridesmaids had fun combing the racks and grabbing any dress they thought I wanted to try and bringing it back to "our area". Most of the dresses I tried on were sample sizes (8, 10) but there were also sizes smaller and larger than the typical sample sizes. All of the dresses in the store were priced at $249.99, $499.99 or $699.99. There were also representatives from Davis Cleaners giving alterations and cleaning advice and giving out coupons (we picked their brains about what could and couldn’t be done to alter/clean my dress before I bought it—this gave me some peace of mind). All the dresses are samples so some of them had missing buttons or light dirt around the bottom of the skirt.
Dress Cleaning—Ann’s Cleaners
A
After I purchased my sample dress, I took it to Ann’s Cleaners to have it cleaned (the bottom hem had some light dirt). This was the dry cleaner I used when I lived in that neighborhood. She wasn’t accustomed to cleaning dresses before they were worn so she said she cleaned it and pressed it twice and because I didn’t need it boxed, she only charged me $80.
4157 North Damen Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 281-3111
Alterations—Mary Catomy
A
Mary is known as the “Boob Fairy” and she is very popular and books up quickly. I contacted Mary in October 2009 for my July 2010 wedding. My first fitting was at the end of April and since the dress needed very minor alterations, I didn’t need another fitting until I picked up the dress 3 days before the wedding. Mary did the following for $135:
-Added bra cups
-Fixed a few seams that had ripped on the inner lining of the dress
-Added a hook and loop at the top of the zipper
-Added a few darts at the top of the dress so it laid flat against my chest
-Added a one-point bustle
-Steamed the dress
I was very pleased with the result and the bustle held up until 30 minutes or so before the end of the reception. This is no fault of Mary’s but my dress had a complicated hemline (pseudo bubble hem with a lot of draping in the front) and so I kept tripping over the front of my dress. She tried to address the issue during my last fitting but there was no way of knowing the extent of the problem until I walked around in the dress for longer than a few minutes. I had to lift the front of my dress with one hand when I walked around but I’m not sure if there was anything she could have done to prevent this.
(847) 678-7226
[email protected]
Ceremony—St. Vincent de Paul
A
My husband isn’t Catholic but he is a DePaul Alumni so he really wanted to get married here. We called in May of 2009 to check availability for the Spring/Summer of 2010 and only two dates were available, May 8th and July 3rd. We were lucky that there was even an available date left because the church is so beautiful and we hear it books up very fast. Father Chris Robinson is great to work with, we mostly communicated via email.
We went to Pre Cana at St. Tarcissus ($190) and took the FOCCUS test online ($25). We were required to use the church’s organist, Bob, ($250) but it was worth it because he was very easy to work with and we were able to have our good friend (who is an opera singer) sing during our ceremony (she sang from the balcony of the church which sounded amazing!). The church’s fee was $500 which is a lot cheaper than the other popular, older churches in the city.
The only thing negative I can say was that at the very last minute (literally right after the ceremony) we were told that we only had 15 minutes for pictures on the altar instead of 30 minutes. We had to take the rest of the pictures in the courtyard.
www.stvdep.org
Reception—Embassy Suites Lakefront, Tia Williams
A (Hotel), B+ (Hotel Coordinator)
The Embassy Suites Lakefront is a really nice, modern hotel in a convenient location (in between Navy Pier and Michigan Avenue). When we booked, they were offering a 10% discount and we further negotiated an extra $1,000 discount. They included our hotel room for the night of the wedding and upgraded table linens. The hotel’s free cooked to order breakfast made for an easy morning after brunch (they also let us use a meeting room for our guests to eat breakfast in free of charge.) The cocktail hour and reception were beautiful. The staff was also friendly and very helpful. Really the only thing that went wrong was that they couldn’t dim the lights during dinner so it was a little brighter than what we would have liked. However, the lights lowered later on in the evening while we were dancing. For the price, we felt like we got a really upscale and elegant wedding reception (this was easily the cheapest downtown hotel option we found).
The reason for the two grades is because working with the hotel’s coordinator, Tia, was a little frustrating at times. Although she was a nice person, Tia would sometimes take over a week to respond or I would have to follow up with her on nearly every question. This made me feel uneasy and made me wonder if she would make sure all the details were executed on the day of the wedding (which is why I hired a day of coordinator). There were also really random things that bothered me like she kept misspelling FI’s name (and it’s a common name, too) and she incorrectly told the Chef that I had a cheese allergy prior to our food tasting so nothing had cheese in it (I’m not allergic to any foods and have never mentioned an allergy to her at any point).
I never saw Tia on the day of the wedding (I’m not sure if that’s good or bad) but our reception was awesome and the hotel was beautiful.
Room Block—Embassy Suites Lakefront and Hyatt Regency (via hotelplanner.com)
B, A-/A
ES: When we originally inquired about having our reception at the Embassy Suites, they said they could give us a guest rate of $149 which we thought was great. When we actually booked, the rate jumped to $189. They explained that the guest rates change daily and that they expected the hotel to be sold out the weekend of our wedding (4th of July weekend). I argued that part of the reason we were having our reception there was because the original rate was affordable for all of our guests. They ended up giving us 10 rooms at a rate of $169 and 10 rooms at a rate of $199. As the wedding date got closer, though, the regular hotel rate dropped substantially (about $100) and they still wouldn’t change our room block rate. It just didn’t seem like they were cutting us much of a deal for booking so many rooms with them (and having my reception there). Also, a few guests had issues booking over the phone because the room block was under my first and last name (instead of our two last names, like I was told).
Hyatt: They gave us a rate of $142. Their guest rate also dropped as our wedding date neared but they wouldn’t reduce our room block rate, either. We had five guests book a room at the Hyatt and when we dropped off Welcome Bags per the instructions of my contact, the staff wasn’t really sure what to do with them. Finally someone was able to help us. They charged us $3.50 per bag to deliver them.
Hotelplanner.com: This site was really easy to use. I found the Hyatt through this website.
Florist—Linda, Miller’s Florist
B+
Linda came to meet me in the city for our initial consultation. She was very affordable and provided references that gave positive reviews. I was ready to sign a contract and put a deposit down with another florist but she hadn’t responded to my phone calls and emails for about a month (to this day, she has not responded, btw) so I was intent on finding another florist quickly. I booked with Linda for this reason combined with her affordability.
I ordered the following:
1 Bride's bouquet
6 BM bouquets
2 Mother's corsages
2 special attendant corsages
2 flower girl bouquets
13 bouts
Toss bouquet, Virgin Mary flowers, Peace flowers
14 centerpieces (I got to keep the vases, which I’m selling).
The flowers I wanted were hydrangea, roses, spray roses, dahlias, peonies, button mums and gladiolus (for the centerpieces) . She made a replica of my bouquet and my FI’s bout a few weeks before the wedding. I made changes to the bouquet and it came out exactly how I wanted on the day of the wedding. I had sent her pictures of centerpieces I liked and she used those to make our table centerpieces. The centerpieces turned out to be really nice but they didn’t look like the pictures. This didn’t bother me because I wasn’t passionate about the centerpieces and they still looked beautiful.
The reason for the B+ grade is for the following:
-The flower girl bouquets were two different sizes. The planner found out it was because the hydrangea the florist was supposed to use was wilting so she didn’t want to add it to the bouquet. I wished she would have evened out the other bouquet instead of having two different ones. I just gave the bigger bouquet to the older flower girl.
-About a week before the wedding I emailed her asking to change the ribbon color on my Mom’s corsage (from silver to gold to match her dress) and to add another Groom’s boutonniere (since I thought his might get damaged from all the hugging and the heat). She responded confirming the changes but then didn’t do them. When I asked about it she said that she made the order based on the final list that I sent her a few weeks before the wedding (meaning she forgot about the email I had sent?)
-The bridesmaids bouquets weren’t as big as I thought they were going to be but I still liked them a lot and so did the girls.
- Without explanation, she didn’t use dahlias. I plan on contacting her about this out of curiosity.
Ultimately, for the price I paid and for what I wanted, I was pleased with Miller’s Florist.
http://www.artmillersflorist.com/
[email protected]
Transportation—Aries Charter Transportations and M&M Limousine
A/A
Aries: Aries was the most affordable option for a charter bus. We hired a charter bus to transport the bridal party from the hotel to the ceremony and then the entire wedding party back to the hotel after the ceremony. They accept credit cards which made for an easy transaction. They were also quick to respond to my emails. We paid for a 25 passenger bus but they gave us a 35 passenger charter bus. The driver was friendly, the bus was clean and it had air conditioning (which the driver didn’t have on at first?).
http://www.ariescharter.com/
M&M: We hired a point to point van to transport the guys from our condo to the church (it was the cheapest option). They sent a limo bus because they were using it after our event so the guys got to ride in a party bus for 20 minutes for the price of a van.
http://www.chicagolandlimo.com/
Cake—Rolf’s Patisserie
A
The cake was included in our package with the hotel. Our consultant was Jill. We showed up for our 2:00pm appointment a little early but she couldn’t meet with us until about 2:20 (apparently, they were busy making a wedding cake that was called in the day before). The cake was included with our package so we were allowed to choose from Type I or Type II (there are 5 types) but since we had to wait a little bit, Jill let us choose from any type we wanted, we ended up choosing a Type IV cake. We adjusted one of the designs they already had.
The hotel coordinated with Rolf’s to make sure the cake was delivered on time. When I saw it at the reception, it was exactly how we had ordered it. I was able to try both pieces and they were delicious and moist; many guests complimented on how good the cake was and a few even asked for the name of the bakery. We ordered two tiers of almond pound cake with a passion fruit mousse filling and two tiers of marble chiffon cake with alternating chocolate and vanilla custard filling.
http://rolfspatisserie.com/
Spray Tan—ASHA Aveda Gold Coast
D
I decided to try out a spray tan before my bridal shower to see if it was something I wanted to do for the wedding. I had my spray tan with Amanda, who was very nice. The experience at the salon itself was fine and I didn't feel uncomfortable at all. The spray tan cost $40 for a full body tan which I think is pretty standard in the Chicago area.
I did a lot of research on spray tanning (talking to friends and talking to google) to ensure I had an even tan. I shaved and exfoliated the morning before I went and I even used a body scrub without moisturizers (epsom salt!) and skipped the body lotion. I went last Thursday night after work and brought loose, dark fitting clothing and flip flops to wear on my way home. I didn't shower for at least 8 hours (it was longer than that because I slept with it on, gross). The next morning, I used regular bar soap and tried to be gentle when I was drying off.
Unfortunately, all of my precautions didn't help as I still ended up being streaky, and kind of orange. My face and neck looked fine, but my wrists, forearms (not sure why), calves, and ankles were awful. I went back on Friday afternoon to ask if this was normal since I had my bridal shower the next day and didn't want to look goofy. The girl at the counter said that after another shower, some of it would come off but she also gave me some cream to use called Vanish that was supposed to help. I used Vanish that night and the next morning but I was still panicked on Saturday morning because I was still streaky. I used a lot of makeup to cover up the line on my chest and wore a cardigan to hide the lines on my arms and hoped that people didn’t stare at my legs/feet. My future sisters in law said they hardly noticed until I said something but I was so self-conscious. Fortunately, it faded after a few days (but still very unevenly).
I know it is different for every skin tone. A good friend of mine has done it a few times and gets great results. I have medium/olive skin and usually tan very easily. Amanda thought that I would get great results from the spray tan because of this. Sadly, she was wrong. I will NOT be doing this right before the wedding as planned. If any of you ladies are thinking of doing it, definitely try it out a few weeks (or months) in advance.
1135 North State Street
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 664-1600
Day of Coordinator--Sweet Pea Wedding Studio, Katie Cavarretta and Britta Savaglio
A
Overall, I would highly recommend Sweet Pea. Sweet Pea was offering a special for summer 2010 weddings so I felt like I got a great deal. Katie was my DOC and she also brought an assistant, Britta. Katie was the "on site" coordinator and Britta was the coordinator that traveled with us. It was great to have Britta there to ask her questions or to communicate with certain vendors. The weeks leading up to the wedding, Katie and Kristin (the owner) spent a lot of time helping me with timelines, contacting vendors, and general assistance. They knew nearly every detail about my wedding day. The peace of mind they gave me was well worth their fee.
However, I do want to mention a few minor things that came up on the day of the wedding.
The photographer and videographer came to the hotel where we were getting ready at 12:00pm. Both the videographer and photographer texted/called me to find out which room we were staying in even though the planners were supposed to give this information to them the night before. I’m not really sure what happened, it could have been just a matter of miscommunication.
Our florist dropped off all of the flowers to the reception site. Katie took the ceremony flowers and boutonnieres to the church to set things up and pin the guys. The boutonnieres were pinned on the right side even though all other wedding pictures that I've seen have the bouts on the left side. Again, this isn't a huge deal but it was something I noticed and couldn’t really change since I didn’t see it until I arrived at the church right before the ceremony. Also, our two readers never got their pin corsages until the reception.
We were rushed for time after the ceremony since the priest cut our picture time short by 15 minutes. I'm not sure where the coordinators were at this point (gathering church items?) but they had the Must Take Photo List with them. We ended up getting all the pictures we wanted anyway (thanks to my Photographer and my memory) but it would have been nice to have them around with that list.
Other than those things, everything else was executed flawlessly. All my family and 3 of my bridesmaids were from out of town so I relied on Sweet Pea a lot the weeks leading up to the wedding and on the day of the wedding since they were really the only ones that knew of all the details. They even stayed later than the time they were supposed to in order to get all of our things (overnight bags, cards/gifts, etc.) to our honeymoon suite that they decorated! I was stress-free on my wedding day and that was largely due to the fact that I knew Katie and Britta were capable of handling everything.
http://www.sweetpeaweddingstudio.com/
[email protected]
Invitations—Invitations by Gloria
A
We designed our invitations and found someone through Etsy to make them. At the last minute, the Etsy person backed out and we were left hanging. Gloria is the sister-in-law of my co worker and I was thrilled to have found out about her. She created our invitations on a really short notice and her prices were competitive. She also suggested some things to make our invitation even better. They came out exactly how we wanted and we received so many compliments on them!
[email protected]
Save the Dates, Thank You Cards, Photo Share Cards, Favor Tags, Second Reception Invitations—Vistaprint
A
Vistaprint is awesome, sign up for their emails for the coupons and free products.
www.vistaprint.com
Audio Visual—Allen Childs, All Pro Visual
A
I found Allen through Craigslist. The hotel wanted to charge $2,000 to set up AV equipment in order to play our Boy Meets Girl film (see Videographer review) at the reception. We hired All Pro Visual to set up the screen, DVD player and projector. Allen showed up early to set everything up, stayed to play the video and then took everything down very discreetly during the beginning of dinner. He worked with the DJ to hook up his equipment to the DJ’s speakers so that he wouldn’t have to charge us for speaker rental. He charged us less than $250 which was the most affordable option we found. He was really easy to work with and communicated quickly via email.
[email protected]
www.allproaudiovisual.com
(312) 613-2080
Chair Covers/Sashes, Table Runners, Linens—The Chair Couture, Czarina Melo
A
The Chair Couture has the best prices around. We ordered ivory chair covers, fuchsia sashes and fuchsia and orange linens for the sweetheart table and the cake table (she gave us our table runners for free). Czarina came to my condo to show me swatches and design options and everything was set up perfectly on the day of the wedding.
http://www.thechaircouture.com/
[email protected]
(630) 677-3899
Photographer—Erica Rose Photography (pending final photos)
A+
Erica Rose was the third vendor we booked (after the Church and Reception venue) because photography was so important to us. We met with Erica in September of 2009; she was the first photographer we met with and definitely left an impression on us. There are many talented photographers in Chicago but what makes Erica stand out is her personality. I’ve always heard that you should “make sure you get along with your wedding photographer because they are going to spend all day with you.” Erica is definitely someone you want to be around you on your wedding day. My husband and I had never had a portrait session before so we expected the engagement session to be awkward. Erica made us feel so comfortable and we got along with her so well during our engagement session that I knew we would both feel comfortable in front of the camera on the wedding day. She was so calm and laid back and made everyone feel at ease. We hardly noticed her throughout the day (in a good way!) and everyone was able to act naturally, which is why she was able to capture the feelings/emotions of the day on camera so well. At the last minute, the church told us we only had 15 minutes for pictures after the ceremony (instead of the original 30 minutes). She got all of the important pictures we wanted and was able to coordinate 20+ people (including crabby little kids). She posted some pictures on her blog within a week of the wedding and we were stunned at how they turned out. I have no doubt that the rest of the pictures will be phenomenal.
www.erosephoto.com
[email protected]
Videography—Jeff Manimbo, Shoot the Bride Films (pending final video)
A+
Like most brides, hiring a videographer wasn’t in our initial budget. I am so glad that my husband convinced me otherwise. We met with Jeff in January 2010 and he was the first and only videographer we met with. We were so impressed by his work and his cinematic style that we knew right away that we wanted to work with him. We had footage from our engagement that we wanted to incorporate into a video to show at the reception right before our grand entrance. We didn’t give many guidelines, and Jeff was able to create such an amazing “Boy Meets Girl” video—all of our guests were blown away and couldn’t stop talking about it.
Jeff went above and beyond the day of our wedding. He arrived early and brought an assistant to make sure we got all the shots we wanted/needed. When he showed up, I was genuinely happy that he was there because he is so friendly and laid back. He was with the bridal party while we were getting ready at the hotel and wasn’t obtrusive at all.
If you are on the fence about hiring a videographer, check out a few of Jeff’s video trailers (he already posted two previews for us within a few days of our wedding). His work speaks for itself.
www.shootthebridefilms.com
[email protected]
DJ—Digital Extasy Entertainment, David Olivares
A+
Music is very important to my husband and me. We were looking for a DJ that could play American, Arabic, Spanish and Greek music at our wedding reception. We put an ad on Craigslist after months of searching for the right DJ. I am so glad David responded to our ad! We met him at a Panera close to our condo and we immediately were impressed by his professionalism. He spins at Nacional 27 in River North every week so we checked him out one Friday night. He is definitely NOT your average cheesy wedding DJ which is exactly what we wanted. David knows how to get people on the dance floor and keep them there. We were very specific about our MUST PLAY and DO NOT PLAY lists and David was able to incorporate our favorite songs while still appealing to all of the guests. He played Spanish music that appealed to my family from Honduras and also got our American friends dancing. We received so many compliments on the music. My husband and I danced the whole night with family, co-workers and friends and we had a blast at our reception, thanks to David.
[email protected]
Hair—Goca’s Salon, Goca Ristic
A
Goca is my regular hair stylist and she is a perfectionist so it was easy to decide that she would be doing my hair on my wedding day. It also helps that she is less expensive than most other hair stylists in Chicago. I had my trial with her at her salon at the end of April. She was able to match the pictures I brought in almost exactly. I loved the trial but after a few weeks of staring at it, I decided I wanted it done a little differently on the wedding day. She made the changes that I wanted and my hair was exactly how I imagined it. I received so many compliments on my hair and it lasted the whole day. She came to the hotel where we were getting ready and did the hair for myself, my mom and three of my bridesmaids who all loved their hair as well!
(773) 777-1010
Makeup—Olivera Gligorevic
A
My hair stylist, Goca, recommended her friend who is a certified makeup artist. Olivera came to Goca’s salon the day I had my hair trial to do my makeup trial. I brought her pictures of the look I was going for (smoky eye, neutral lip) and she gave me exactly what I wanted. She uses professional brand makeup that lasts a long time, holds up to the heat, and looks great in pictures. She also came to the hotel where we were getting ready and did my makeup along with the makeup for my mom and three of my bridesmaids (who loved her work). I received a lot of compliments on my makeup and it lasted the whole day. Like Goca, Olivera is less expensive than most other makeup artists in Chicago.
[email protected]
Cocktail Hour Jazz Band— Joel Paterson and the Modern Sounds
A
This was sort of a splurge for us since my husband really wanted a live band during cocktail hour. The Modern Sounds are a three piece jazz band that performs rockabilly, hot jazz, western swing and classic blues. We saw them perform at Uncommon Ground on Devon St. and we just had to have them perform. They gave our cocktail hour the upbeat vibe we were going for. My husband was adamant that we went to at least half of our cocktail hour so we could hear them play and I’m so glad we did. Their performance was awesome and got everyone in the mood to party!
http://www.myspace.com/joelpaterson
[email protected]
A
This isn't your traditional bridal/bridesmaid shop but my girls all ordered their dresses from J Crew. The store in the 900 N Michigan mall carries their bridal collection and they have wedding specialists. We worked with Sara Mikkelson and she was awesome, she was able to swing an additional 20% off the dresses even though they were already on sale with free delivery to each girls house (3 girls are out of state). She also honored the discount for me when I later decided I wanted to order a sale dress for me to wear to the rehearsal. They carry sample sizes in all the dresses but they have some of the styles in multiple sizes (due to returns). In fact, two of my BM's were able to try on their exact size dress (a 4 and a 12) in a different color at the store.
Bridal Dress—Filene’s Running of the Brides
A
My dress is Anna Maijer/Ulla-Maija Couture Danielle.
I met 3 of my bridesmaids and my MOH at Filene’s during the July 2009 event. This was my first time dress shopping and I hadn’t planned on buying my dress (I intended to shop with my Mother when she came to visit later in the year) but thought it would be a good way to try on a lot of different styles and get a sense of what I was looking for without the pressures of a stuffy bridal salon. The second dress I tried on was the one I ended up buying (after trying on 20+ other dresses, just to be sure). I don’t care for crowds and standing in line for hours so we showed up in the afternoon around 2:45pm. There were maybe 15-20 other brides looking for dresses and well over 1400 dresses to pick from (I know this because when I purchased my dress I was told by the cashier that I was the 250ish person to do so and they started out with 1700 dresses). Because we got there after the rush, most of the dresses had been put back on the racks making it easy to comb through them (there were still a few piles of dresses scattered throughout the store left by other brides). Since there are no dressing rooms, I came prepared wearing a camisole and a stretch jersey strapless dress that I could easily pull up and down. We had our own space in front of a mirror (not private) and my bridesmaids had fun combing the racks and grabbing any dress they thought I wanted to try and bringing it back to "our area". Most of the dresses I tried on were sample sizes (8, 10) but there were also sizes smaller and larger than the typical sample sizes. All of the dresses in the store were priced at $249.99, $499.99 or $699.99. There were also representatives from Davis Cleaners giving alterations and cleaning advice and giving out coupons (we picked their brains about what could and couldn’t be done to alter/clean my dress before I bought it—this gave me some peace of mind). All the dresses are samples so some of them had missing buttons or light dirt around the bottom of the skirt.
Dress Cleaning—Ann’s Cleaners
A
After I purchased my sample dress, I took it to Ann’s Cleaners to have it cleaned (the bottom hem had some light dirt). This was the dry cleaner I used when I lived in that neighborhood. She wasn’t accustomed to cleaning dresses before they were worn so she said she cleaned it and pressed it twice and because I didn’t need it boxed, she only charged me $80.
4157 North Damen Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 281-3111
Alterations—Mary Catomy
A
Mary is known as the “Boob Fairy” and she is very popular and books up quickly. I contacted Mary in October 2009 for my July 2010 wedding. My first fitting was at the end of April and since the dress needed very minor alterations, I didn’t need another fitting until I picked up the dress 3 days before the wedding. Mary did the following for $135:
-Added bra cups
-Fixed a few seams that had ripped on the inner lining of the dress
-Added a hook and loop at the top of the zipper
-Added a few darts at the top of the dress so it laid flat against my chest
-Added a one-point bustle
-Steamed the dress
I was very pleased with the result and the bustle held up until 30 minutes or so before the end of the reception. This is no fault of Mary’s but my dress had a complicated hemline (pseudo bubble hem with a lot of draping in the front) and so I kept tripping over the front of my dress. She tried to address the issue during my last fitting but there was no way of knowing the extent of the problem until I walked around in the dress for longer than a few minutes. I had to lift the front of my dress with one hand when I walked around but I’m not sure if there was anything she could have done to prevent this.
(847) 678-7226
[email protected]
Ceremony—St. Vincent de Paul
A
My husband isn’t Catholic but he is a DePaul Alumni so he really wanted to get married here. We called in May of 2009 to check availability for the Spring/Summer of 2010 and only two dates were available, May 8th and July 3rd. We were lucky that there was even an available date left because the church is so beautiful and we hear it books up very fast. Father Chris Robinson is great to work with, we mostly communicated via email.
We went to Pre Cana at St. Tarcissus ($190) and took the FOCCUS test online ($25). We were required to use the church’s organist, Bob, ($250) but it was worth it because he was very easy to work with and we were able to have our good friend (who is an opera singer) sing during our ceremony (she sang from the balcony of the church which sounded amazing!). The church’s fee was $500 which is a lot cheaper than the other popular, older churches in the city.
The only thing negative I can say was that at the very last minute (literally right after the ceremony) we were told that we only had 15 minutes for pictures on the altar instead of 30 minutes. We had to take the rest of the pictures in the courtyard.
www.stvdep.org
Reception—Embassy Suites Lakefront, Tia Williams
A (Hotel), B+ (Hotel Coordinator)
The Embassy Suites Lakefront is a really nice, modern hotel in a convenient location (in between Navy Pier and Michigan Avenue). When we booked, they were offering a 10% discount and we further negotiated an extra $1,000 discount. They included our hotel room for the night of the wedding and upgraded table linens. The hotel’s free cooked to order breakfast made for an easy morning after brunch (they also let us use a meeting room for our guests to eat breakfast in free of charge.) The cocktail hour and reception were beautiful. The staff was also friendly and very helpful. Really the only thing that went wrong was that they couldn’t dim the lights during dinner so it was a little brighter than what we would have liked. However, the lights lowered later on in the evening while we were dancing. For the price, we felt like we got a really upscale and elegant wedding reception (this was easily the cheapest downtown hotel option we found).
The reason for the two grades is because working with the hotel’s coordinator, Tia, was a little frustrating at times. Although she was a nice person, Tia would sometimes take over a week to respond or I would have to follow up with her on nearly every question. This made me feel uneasy and made me wonder if she would make sure all the details were executed on the day of the wedding (which is why I hired a day of coordinator). There were also really random things that bothered me like she kept misspelling FI’s name (and it’s a common name, too) and she incorrectly told the Chef that I had a cheese allergy prior to our food tasting so nothing had cheese in it (I’m not allergic to any foods and have never mentioned an allergy to her at any point).
I never saw Tia on the day of the wedding (I’m not sure if that’s good or bad) but our reception was awesome and the hotel was beautiful.
Room Block—Embassy Suites Lakefront and Hyatt Regency (via hotelplanner.com)
B, A-/A
ES: When we originally inquired about having our reception at the Embassy Suites, they said they could give us a guest rate of $149 which we thought was great. When we actually booked, the rate jumped to $189. They explained that the guest rates change daily and that they expected the hotel to be sold out the weekend of our wedding (4th of July weekend). I argued that part of the reason we were having our reception there was because the original rate was affordable for all of our guests. They ended up giving us 10 rooms at a rate of $169 and 10 rooms at a rate of $199. As the wedding date got closer, though, the regular hotel rate dropped substantially (about $100) and they still wouldn’t change our room block rate. It just didn’t seem like they were cutting us much of a deal for booking so many rooms with them (and having my reception there). Also, a few guests had issues booking over the phone because the room block was under my first and last name (instead of our two last names, like I was told).
Hyatt: They gave us a rate of $142. Their guest rate also dropped as our wedding date neared but they wouldn’t reduce our room block rate, either. We had five guests book a room at the Hyatt and when we dropped off Welcome Bags per the instructions of my contact, the staff wasn’t really sure what to do with them. Finally someone was able to help us. They charged us $3.50 per bag to deliver them.
Hotelplanner.com: This site was really easy to use. I found the Hyatt through this website.
Florist—Linda, Miller’s Florist
B+
Linda came to meet me in the city for our initial consultation. She was very affordable and provided references that gave positive reviews. I was ready to sign a contract and put a deposit down with another florist but she hadn’t responded to my phone calls and emails for about a month (to this day, she has not responded, btw) so I was intent on finding another florist quickly. I booked with Linda for this reason combined with her affordability.
I ordered the following:
1 Bride's bouquet
6 BM bouquets
2 Mother's corsages
2 special attendant corsages
2 flower girl bouquets
13 bouts
Toss bouquet, Virgin Mary flowers, Peace flowers
14 centerpieces (I got to keep the vases, which I’m selling).
The flowers I wanted were hydrangea, roses, spray roses, dahlias, peonies, button mums and gladiolus (for the centerpieces) . She made a replica of my bouquet and my FI’s bout a few weeks before the wedding. I made changes to the bouquet and it came out exactly how I wanted on the day of the wedding. I had sent her pictures of centerpieces I liked and she used those to make our table centerpieces. The centerpieces turned out to be really nice but they didn’t look like the pictures. This didn’t bother me because I wasn’t passionate about the centerpieces and they still looked beautiful.
The reason for the B+ grade is for the following:
-The flower girl bouquets were two different sizes. The planner found out it was because the hydrangea the florist was supposed to use was wilting so she didn’t want to add it to the bouquet. I wished she would have evened out the other bouquet instead of having two different ones. I just gave the bigger bouquet to the older flower girl.
-About a week before the wedding I emailed her asking to change the ribbon color on my Mom’s corsage (from silver to gold to match her dress) and to add another Groom’s boutonniere (since I thought his might get damaged from all the hugging and the heat). She responded confirming the changes but then didn’t do them. When I asked about it she said that she made the order based on the final list that I sent her a few weeks before the wedding (meaning she forgot about the email I had sent?)
-The bridesmaids bouquets weren’t as big as I thought they were going to be but I still liked them a lot and so did the girls.
- Without explanation, she didn’t use dahlias. I plan on contacting her about this out of curiosity.
Ultimately, for the price I paid and for what I wanted, I was pleased with Miller’s Florist.
http://www.artmillersflorist.com/
[email protected]
Transportation—Aries Charter Transportations and M&M Limousine
A/A
Aries: Aries was the most affordable option for a charter bus. We hired a charter bus to transport the bridal party from the hotel to the ceremony and then the entire wedding party back to the hotel after the ceremony. They accept credit cards which made for an easy transaction. They were also quick to respond to my emails. We paid for a 25 passenger bus but they gave us a 35 passenger charter bus. The driver was friendly, the bus was clean and it had air conditioning (which the driver didn’t have on at first?).
http://www.ariescharter.com/
M&M: We hired a point to point van to transport the guys from our condo to the church (it was the cheapest option). They sent a limo bus because they were using it after our event so the guys got to ride in a party bus for 20 minutes for the price of a van.
http://www.chicagolandlimo.com/
Cake—Rolf’s Patisserie
A
The cake was included in our package with the hotel. Our consultant was Jill. We showed up for our 2:00pm appointment a little early but she couldn’t meet with us until about 2:20 (apparently, they were busy making a wedding cake that was called in the day before). The cake was included with our package so we were allowed to choose from Type I or Type II (there are 5 types) but since we had to wait a little bit, Jill let us choose from any type we wanted, we ended up choosing a Type IV cake. We adjusted one of the designs they already had.
The hotel coordinated with Rolf’s to make sure the cake was delivered on time. When I saw it at the reception, it was exactly how we had ordered it. I was able to try both pieces and they were delicious and moist; many guests complimented on how good the cake was and a few even asked for the name of the bakery. We ordered two tiers of almond pound cake with a passion fruit mousse filling and two tiers of marble chiffon cake with alternating chocolate and vanilla custard filling.
http://rolfspatisserie.com/
Spray Tan—ASHA Aveda Gold Coast
D
I decided to try out a spray tan before my bridal shower to see if it was something I wanted to do for the wedding. I had my spray tan with Amanda, who was very nice. The experience at the salon itself was fine and I didn't feel uncomfortable at all. The spray tan cost $40 for a full body tan which I think is pretty standard in the Chicago area.
I did a lot of research on spray tanning (talking to friends and talking to google) to ensure I had an even tan. I shaved and exfoliated the morning before I went and I even used a body scrub without moisturizers (epsom salt!) and skipped the body lotion. I went last Thursday night after work and brought loose, dark fitting clothing and flip flops to wear on my way home. I didn't shower for at least 8 hours (it was longer than that because I slept with it on, gross). The next morning, I used regular bar soap and tried to be gentle when I was drying off.
Unfortunately, all of my precautions didn't help as I still ended up being streaky, and kind of orange. My face and neck looked fine, but my wrists, forearms (not sure why), calves, and ankles were awful. I went back on Friday afternoon to ask if this was normal since I had my bridal shower the next day and didn't want to look goofy. The girl at the counter said that after another shower, some of it would come off but she also gave me some cream to use called Vanish that was supposed to help. I used Vanish that night and the next morning but I was still panicked on Saturday morning because I was still streaky. I used a lot of makeup to cover up the line on my chest and wore a cardigan to hide the lines on my arms and hoped that people didn’t stare at my legs/feet. My future sisters in law said they hardly noticed until I said something but I was so self-conscious. Fortunately, it faded after a few days (but still very unevenly).
I know it is different for every skin tone. A good friend of mine has done it a few times and gets great results. I have medium/olive skin and usually tan very easily. Amanda thought that I would get great results from the spray tan because of this. Sadly, she was wrong. I will NOT be doing this right before the wedding as planned. If any of you ladies are thinking of doing it, definitely try it out a few weeks (or months) in advance.
1135 North State Street
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 664-1600
Day of Coordinator--Sweet Pea Wedding Studio, Katie Cavarretta and Britta Savaglio
A
Overall, I would highly recommend Sweet Pea. Sweet Pea was offering a special for summer 2010 weddings so I felt like I got a great deal. Katie was my DOC and she also brought an assistant, Britta. Katie was the "on site" coordinator and Britta was the coordinator that traveled with us. It was great to have Britta there to ask her questions or to communicate with certain vendors. The weeks leading up to the wedding, Katie and Kristin (the owner) spent a lot of time helping me with timelines, contacting vendors, and general assistance. They knew nearly every detail about my wedding day. The peace of mind they gave me was well worth their fee.
However, I do want to mention a few minor things that came up on the day of the wedding.
The photographer and videographer came to the hotel where we were getting ready at 12:00pm. Both the videographer and photographer texted/called me to find out which room we were staying in even though the planners were supposed to give this information to them the night before. I’m not really sure what happened, it could have been just a matter of miscommunication.
Our florist dropped off all of the flowers to the reception site. Katie took the ceremony flowers and boutonnieres to the church to set things up and pin the guys. The boutonnieres were pinned on the right side even though all other wedding pictures that I've seen have the bouts on the left side. Again, this isn't a huge deal but it was something I noticed and couldn’t really change since I didn’t see it until I arrived at the church right before the ceremony. Also, our two readers never got their pin corsages until the reception.
We were rushed for time after the ceremony since the priest cut our picture time short by 15 minutes. I'm not sure where the coordinators were at this point (gathering church items?) but they had the Must Take Photo List with them. We ended up getting all the pictures we wanted anyway (thanks to my Photographer and my memory) but it would have been nice to have them around with that list.
Other than those things, everything else was executed flawlessly. All my family and 3 of my bridesmaids were from out of town so I relied on Sweet Pea a lot the weeks leading up to the wedding and on the day of the wedding since they were really the only ones that knew of all the details. They even stayed later than the time they were supposed to in order to get all of our things (overnight bags, cards/gifts, etc.) to our honeymoon suite that they decorated! I was stress-free on my wedding day and that was largely due to the fact that I knew Katie and Britta were capable of handling everything.
http://www.sweetpeaweddingstudio.com/
[email protected]
Invitations—Invitations by Gloria
A
We designed our invitations and found someone through Etsy to make them. At the last minute, the Etsy person backed out and we were left hanging. Gloria is the sister-in-law of my co worker and I was thrilled to have found out about her. She created our invitations on a really short notice and her prices were competitive. She also suggested some things to make our invitation even better. They came out exactly how we wanted and we received so many compliments on them!
[email protected]
Save the Dates, Thank You Cards, Photo Share Cards, Favor Tags, Second Reception Invitations—Vistaprint
A
Vistaprint is awesome, sign up for their emails for the coupons and free products.
www.vistaprint.com
Audio Visual—Allen Childs, All Pro Visual
A
I found Allen through Craigslist. The hotel wanted to charge $2,000 to set up AV equipment in order to play our Boy Meets Girl film (see Videographer review) at the reception. We hired All Pro Visual to set up the screen, DVD player and projector. Allen showed up early to set everything up, stayed to play the video and then took everything down very discreetly during the beginning of dinner. He worked with the DJ to hook up his equipment to the DJ’s speakers so that he wouldn’t have to charge us for speaker rental. He charged us less than $250 which was the most affordable option we found. He was really easy to work with and communicated quickly via email.
[email protected]
www.allproaudiovisual.com
(312) 613-2080
Chair Covers/Sashes, Table Runners, Linens—The Chair Couture, Czarina Melo
A
The Chair Couture has the best prices around. We ordered ivory chair covers, fuchsia sashes and fuchsia and orange linens for the sweetheart table and the cake table (she gave us our table runners for free). Czarina came to my condo to show me swatches and design options and everything was set up perfectly on the day of the wedding.
http://www.thechaircouture.com/
[email protected]
(630) 677-3899
Photographer—Erica Rose Photography (pending final photos)
A+
Erica Rose was the third vendor we booked (after the Church and Reception venue) because photography was so important to us. We met with Erica in September of 2009; she was the first photographer we met with and definitely left an impression on us. There are many talented photographers in Chicago but what makes Erica stand out is her personality. I’ve always heard that you should “make sure you get along with your wedding photographer because they are going to spend all day with you.” Erica is definitely someone you want to be around you on your wedding day. My husband and I had never had a portrait session before so we expected the engagement session to be awkward. Erica made us feel so comfortable and we got along with her so well during our engagement session that I knew we would both feel comfortable in front of the camera on the wedding day. She was so calm and laid back and made everyone feel at ease. We hardly noticed her throughout the day (in a good way!) and everyone was able to act naturally, which is why she was able to capture the feelings/emotions of the day on camera so well. At the last minute, the church told us we only had 15 minutes for pictures after the ceremony (instead of the original 30 minutes). She got all of the important pictures we wanted and was able to coordinate 20+ people (including crabby little kids). She posted some pictures on her blog within a week of the wedding and we were stunned at how they turned out. I have no doubt that the rest of the pictures will be phenomenal.
www.erosephoto.com
[email protected]
Videography—Jeff Manimbo, Shoot the Bride Films (pending final video)
A+
Like most brides, hiring a videographer wasn’t in our initial budget. I am so glad that my husband convinced me otherwise. We met with Jeff in January 2010 and he was the first and only videographer we met with. We were so impressed by his work and his cinematic style that we knew right away that we wanted to work with him. We had footage from our engagement that we wanted to incorporate into a video to show at the reception right before our grand entrance. We didn’t give many guidelines, and Jeff was able to create such an amazing “Boy Meets Girl” video—all of our guests were blown away and couldn’t stop talking about it.
Jeff went above and beyond the day of our wedding. He arrived early and brought an assistant to make sure we got all the shots we wanted/needed. When he showed up, I was genuinely happy that he was there because he is so friendly and laid back. He was with the bridal party while we were getting ready at the hotel and wasn’t obtrusive at all.
If you are on the fence about hiring a videographer, check out a few of Jeff’s video trailers (he already posted two previews for us within a few days of our wedding). His work speaks for itself.
www.shootthebridefilms.com
[email protected]
DJ—Digital Extasy Entertainment, David Olivares
A+
Music is very important to my husband and me. We were looking for a DJ that could play American, Arabic, Spanish and Greek music at our wedding reception. We put an ad on Craigslist after months of searching for the right DJ. I am so glad David responded to our ad! We met him at a Panera close to our condo and we immediately were impressed by his professionalism. He spins at Nacional 27 in River North every week so we checked him out one Friday night. He is definitely NOT your average cheesy wedding DJ which is exactly what we wanted. David knows how to get people on the dance floor and keep them there. We were very specific about our MUST PLAY and DO NOT PLAY lists and David was able to incorporate our favorite songs while still appealing to all of the guests. He played Spanish music that appealed to my family from Honduras and also got our American friends dancing. We received so many compliments on the music. My husband and I danced the whole night with family, co-workers and friends and we had a blast at our reception, thanks to David.
[email protected]
Hair—Goca’s Salon, Goca Ristic
A
Goca is my regular hair stylist and she is a perfectionist so it was easy to decide that she would be doing my hair on my wedding day. It also helps that she is less expensive than most other hair stylists in Chicago. I had my trial with her at her salon at the end of April. She was able to match the pictures I brought in almost exactly. I loved the trial but after a few weeks of staring at it, I decided I wanted it done a little differently on the wedding day. She made the changes that I wanted and my hair was exactly how I imagined it. I received so many compliments on my hair and it lasted the whole day. She came to the hotel where we were getting ready and did the hair for myself, my mom and three of my bridesmaids who all loved their hair as well!
(773) 777-1010
Makeup—Olivera Gligorevic
A
My hair stylist, Goca, recommended her friend who is a certified makeup artist. Olivera came to Goca’s salon the day I had my hair trial to do my makeup trial. I brought her pictures of the look I was going for (smoky eye, neutral lip) and she gave me exactly what I wanted. She uses professional brand makeup that lasts a long time, holds up to the heat, and looks great in pictures. She also came to the hotel where we were getting ready and did my makeup along with the makeup for my mom and three of my bridesmaids (who loved her work). I received a lot of compliments on my makeup and it lasted the whole day. Like Goca, Olivera is less expensive than most other makeup artists in Chicago.
[email protected]
Cocktail Hour Jazz Band— Joel Paterson and the Modern Sounds
A
This was sort of a splurge for us since my husband really wanted a live band during cocktail hour. The Modern Sounds are a three piece jazz band that performs rockabilly, hot jazz, western swing and classic blues. We saw them perform at Uncommon Ground on Devon St. and we just had to have them perform. They gave our cocktail hour the upbeat vibe we were going for. My husband was adamant that we went to at least half of our cocktail hour so we could hear them play and I’m so glad we did. Their performance was awesome and got everyone in the mood to party!
http://www.myspace.com/joelpaterson
[email protected]
